Player Watch #11: Luke "Two Dogs" McDonald - Roo til end '26

[ansonholt]

No you're not.

People are really clutching at straws for a whipping boy. Alot of "experts" acting like he had 5 touches at 50%.

If anyone wants to join me, I'll be over here in the supporting our players for great effort and very solid games section.

I'll join you. Have never wanted to do anything other than support our players. They're doing a hell of a lot more than I ever could.

 

[Passmore]

Yeah, at the game, while he wasn't exactly surgical with his ball use my general vibe was that he was attacking the contest with poise and confidence, willing to take it on, and generally fine.

Player Ratings had him 6th best on for us and above his 2-year average, albeit a fair gap behind the top 5 and below where we would have hoped he'd be this year.

In that type of pressure game who is surgical with ball use?

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[RobZombie]

In that type of pressure game who is surgical with ball use?

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True. If I get time later I'll see if I can have a look at Richmond's general effect on teams' DE%/turnovers/K-HB ratios. Nevertheless there is a touch of the Spud Firritos about him - get the ball and immediately get it as far away down the other end as possible.

 

[Heaps of fun]

Ryan Clarke has gone past him.

 

[RobZombie]

Ryan Clarke has gone past him.

nah

 

[Caracas]

Congratulations. You've nailed it. Maximum word count for minimal accountability. You are mighty and soo worthy of praise. Please continue to fill otherwise empty space with your vacuous thoughts. I'd hate to login and not find something, anything, utter s**t dribble such as yours to read. Your filling a void that needs filling. Well done.

I missed watching Utopia but shame on me I should've realised I could just follow Caracas instead.

Lol. Remind me not to press that button again...


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[Waynesworld]

Such a liability with ball in hand - atrocious kicking technique costly in tight games. Was 60 out, did his primary school standard long wheel onto his left and butchered it right, gave the forwards no chance.

Then off the half back flank, goes in board, shanks a short pass, luckily for him he got it back.

Then off half back again had a loose man on the wing, couldn't straighten to kick on his left, can't kick it on his right so kicked it out of bounds.

Just habitual turn overs that he's done nothing to address.

He had 24 possessions at 75% DE.

Atley had 18 at 75%.

Anderson 28 at 68%.

Cunnington 38 at 66%.

Get your hand off it.

 

[Waynesworld]

Lmac is lucky we have no one pushing up from below - his 'form' simply would not be tolerated at successful clubs.

We will keep playing him - a bit like we keep playing Goldie - because it feels like the right thing to do.

We will never be successful until we set the bar at a higher level than we do now.

His form on field is significantly better than yours here.

 

[Waynesworld]

G

Congratulations. You've nailed it. Maximum word count for minimal accountability. You are mighty and soo worthy of praise. Please continue to fill otherwise empty space with your vacuous thoughts. I'd hate to login and not find something, anything, utter s**t dribble such as yours to read. Your filling a void that needs filling. Well done.

I missed watching Utopia but shame on me I should've realised I could just follow Caracas instead.

Good correlation of username with posting ability here

 

[arden station]

I think the most disappointing thing about Luke's game was his decision-making and disposal when he had time. When he had Cunners was rarely afforded more than a nan0second which accounts for his DE%.

Nailed it - DE doesn't take into account contested v uncontested, degree of difficulty, area of ground , length of kick.

So that means Cunnington's disposals under pressure, kicking to outnumbers in congested inside 50s are viewed the same as McDonald switching with no pressure, to an uncongested team mate all by himself.

That's why defenders typically have 80+ DE, and so they should - degree of difficulty is low of chipping to a free man or bombing to the pack on the boundary. Compare that to hitting a target inside 50 with 16 opposition players.

So I would say to those who are outraged at criticism of McDonald that he makes kicking errors under little or no pressure every week because of his poor technique which he has not addressed despite having multiple preseasons to do so.

His preferred method is to swing his hips left, tilt his body right, then his leg and foot go from inside the vertical to outside to inside on a tilt. If you put a hoop on an angle from his body, that's his preferred leg path. To make this work, he has to push-drop the ball to the left and on an angle. So many variables requiring a lot of hand-eye with little margin for error. E.g. pulling the ball right after the wind up from 60.

When he has to line up straight and kick with his leg going in a straight line on the vertical, he's not used to dropping the ball straight so that can result in shanks too. E.g. turn over at half back and the kick out of bounds missing a free target.

My frustration isn't with the rest of his game because he's got himself fitter and he's a competitor. But I'm annoyed that he hasn't fixed his kicking action because it costs us.

 

[shimaburnsgrieg]

His form on field is significantly better than yours here.

LOL - give Lukey a nice warm cuddle next time you seem him and a big Go Lukey from me FFS.

 

[Waynesworld]

Nailed it - DE doesn't take into account contested v uncontested, degree of difficulty, area of ground , length of kick.

So that means Cunnington's disposals under pressure, kicking to outnumbers in congested inside 50s are viewed the same as McDonald switching with no pressure, to an uncongested team mate all by himself.

That's why defenders typically have 80+ DE, and so they should - degree of difficulty is low of chipping to a free man or bombing to the pack on the boundary. Compare that to hitting a target inside 50 with 16 opposition players.

So I would say to those who are outraged at criticism of McDonald that he makes kicking errors under little or no pressure every week because of his poor technique which he has not addressed despite having multiple preseasons to do so.

Dude, did you even watch the game???

Oh, by the way:
Scott Thompson 15 @ 46.7%
Robbie Tarrant 16 @ 62.5%

Certainly proves your point

So sick of people on here potting every player after 2 of our better performances

 

[Waynesworld]

LOL - give Lukey a nice warm cuddle next time you seem him and a big Go Lukey from me FFS.

Will do. I'd suggest that you haven't been close to a game to enable you to do so.

 

[Val Keating]

What I find strange is that he’s playing even less time up the ground then last year. Maybe he’s stuck back there because out of the medium half backs he can actually defend well

Ryan Clarke has gone past him.

Are you having a laugh? I’m yet to see McDonald pull out of a contest.

Luke is so far ahead of himself it is not funny. Thinks he’s Hollywood, but he’s not even a B grader right now.

Needs to know his limitations & do the fundamentals well. Almost every time he tries to do some kind of game/line breaking kick he screws it up.

I doubt he’d be going for those kicks if he didn’t have license from the coaches.

 

[Harris 10]

I've just watched a replay because i wanted to see what all the rage about Luke is about.
So far i don't see it, he's been ok, without being outstanding.

i'll watch the last 1/2 now.

 

[arden station]

He had 24 possessions at 75% DE.

Atley had 18 at 75%.

Anderson 28 at 68%.

Cunnington 38 at 66%.

Get your hand off it.

Thanks stats zombie - no doubt you reckon Goddard has had a good year averaging 20+ at 80% while having zero impact.

Atley playing forward - kicking into 50 to outnumbers under pressure. Cunnington and Anderson winning the hard ball, under pressure, handballing through congestion, kicking inside 50.

 

[arden station]

Dude, did you even watch the game???

Oh, by the way:
Scott Thompson 15 @ 46.7%
Robbie Tarrant 16 @ 62.5%

Certainly proves your point

So sick of people on here potting every player after 2 of our better performances

I watch the games and don't accept AFL stats as the source of truth. I look at our players and look at the reasons they're doing the same good things most weeks and the same bad things most weeks.

Who's potting every player? Tarrant had a poor game by his standards but does he make those mistakes every week? No. He is a good kick and rarely fumbles.

Thompson tried a higher-than-usual risk kick down the centre but put it on top of Tarrant's head from the kick out. Then got
the ball back under pressure and had to handball to open space - goes down as a negative in DE when actually he had no option. Had Thompson kicked an easy chip to the back pocket from the initial kick in, his DE would've been higher but we're still stuck in back 50. Again, DE stats are misleading. I hope we continue to attack from kick outs.

USUALLY defenders' DE is high because they have spare numbers, kick to easy targets with a low degree of difficulty. Against Richmond, who press high and pressure well, different story.

 

[Reginald0]

look Arden,

no-one is overly fussed by you have a differing opinion on Lmac
but you picked a very bad week to make it a thing

The age bloke had him best 6 the AFL bloke had him best 6
I mean to suggest dropping him
LIKE 6 POSTERS DID ON PAGE 1 OF THE CHANGES THREAD
and you start wondering who people support around here

A better poster wld admit they got it wrong Man up

 

[benbanjo]

Is he facing a ban? If so might have to work his way back into the team which is good.
Has been really disappointing after showing so much last year.

 

[giantroo]

Is he facing a ban? If so might have to work his way back into the team which is good.
Has been really disappointing after showing so much last year.

Nick Bowen thinks he will cop a fine.

 

[arden station]

look Arden,

no-one is overly fussed by you have a differing opinion on Lmac
but you picked a very bad week to make it a thing

The age bloke had him best 6 the AFL bloke had him best 6
I mean to suggest dropping him
LIKE 6 POSTERS DID ON PAGE 1 OF THE CHANGES THREAD
and you start wondering who people support around here

A better poster wld admit they got it wrong Man up

Who cares what some journo thinks printing off the stats and then awarding his best? Not me. Have I called for him to be dropped? No. Does he need to improve his kicking - you bet.

So he had 24 touches - well done. Did he make 3 bad kicking errors, yes he did.

Has he fixed his kicking after 5 years plus? No, not by a long shot. When he does, I'll be the first one praising him. Not going to sweep it under the carpet just because a first round draft pick now in his prime years had 20+ possessions. Get real.

 

[Waynesworld]

Thanks stats zombie - no doubt you reckon Goddard has had a good year averaging 20+ at 80% while having zero impact.

Atley playing forward - kicking into 50 to outnumbers under pressure. Cunnington and Anderson winning the hard ball, under pressure, handballing through congestion, kicking inside 50.

I really don't give a * about Goddard. Although with supporters like you bagging our players sometimes I think I am on the Essendon board.

What I do care about is so-called North "supporters" potting our players on the back of a season that to date, has exceeded expectations.

And that doesn't happen if the team as a whole, and the playing group as individuals, are failing.

One week it's MacMillan. The next it's McDonald. This week someone is asking for Ziebell to be dropped FFS. And every other week it's the coach.

Thank christ that some of you morons aren't in the coaching group. We would have 4 changes every single week and wouldn't win a game.

 

[Crock Hunter]

Congratulations. You've nailed it. Maximum word count for minimal accountability. You are mighty and soo worthy of praise. Please continue to fill otherwise empty space with your vacuous thoughts. I'd hate to login and not find something, anything, utter s**t dribble such as yours to read. Your filling a void that needs filling. Well done.

I missed watching Utopia but shame on me I should've realised I could just follow Caracas instead.

Mate, pull your head in. The utter tripe that you dribble out wouldn't look out of place if it was dripping from a rabid dogs mouth. I would rather watch Luke's 24 touches against the best team in the comp (while playing in defence...) than have to listen to you throw the toys out of the cot on what was actually a pretty decent Sunday.

 

[GreatBradScott]

Honestly, I'm not even mad, just frustrated he's no midfield rotation.

He always has a dip, which probably why the coach wants him in defence.

With Jacobs and Anderson killing it in the guts and Hibberd somewhat stalling, he's stuck down back.

 

[Harris 10]

Just finished watching the replay and I also watched it live.

No chance Luke is getting dropped, I thought he was ok live and the replay confirmed it.