Player Watch #3 Christian Salem

[Sando22]

That bullet pass to Hogan when Salem was storming through the middle in the third quarter, I think, was a thing of beauty. Nearly tore a hole through Hogan's chest!

Yep that was great!

 

[harry000]

His disposal is getting better with each game it seems. Did some good things against Norf. Set up a couple of goals by putting the ball into dangerous positions where our forwards had 2 on 2 contests which a lot of the time our players don't have the guts to do.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

Only needs a few touches to have an impact. Went into the guts a few times and spread to really dangerous positions by hand.

 

[Demonated]

Waste of a thread, could do this with 22 player at Melbourne. It no always about how many touches, he does a lot of work off the ball and its not his fault the other players cant get it to him.

How many touches did his player get? What impact did he have?

You don't want his going in getting the ball you want him on the end of it ..

Accountability is important but well run teams manage to cover their offensive threats defensively. I don't want Salem getting 15 touches and his opponent getting 10. It's a win on the matchup, but it means one of our few creative options by foot isn't having as much impact as he could. There are ways to get him the ball more if we can execute, it's up to Salem and the coaches to do this.

Some players jobs are to be lockdown players (Jetta is mostly lockdown). Salem if he is being played as equal lockdown, line-breaker isn't the best use of his talents. For him there has to be a greater emphasis on attack. I know Salem isn't close to this level but when Mitchell plays off the back flank for Hawks, he finds a way to be their main distributor in the back half and his teammates look for him. He isn't expected to blanket a dangerous forward, just be reasonably accountable. Same should apply for Salem.

 

[schmuttt]

Thought he was poor on Saturday before his concussion. I've always had him pegged as a gun ball user and composed under pressure, but he is fluffing a lot of kicks and panicking with the ball. Prime examples were that kick that dribbled through CHF, then later on we got a centre clearance, he sweeps through and has Watts by himself 60m out as his man had peeled back to 2v1 Hogan, and Salem just bombs it in to no-one.

I'm not writing him off, he is my favourite player alongside Viney but he has some work to do. Should he play VFL for a few weeks and let him dominate that level to get some confidence? I can see the pros and cons, the biggest problem is we don't really have anyone to play his role in the 2s (Never thought I'd say this but Melksham would be very handy right about now).

 

[TheCount]

Thought he was poor on Saturday before his concussion. I've always had him pegged as a gun ball user and composed under pressure, but he is fluffing a lot of kicks and panicking with the ball. Prime examples were that kick that dribbled through CHF, then later on we got a centre clearance, he sweeps through and has Watts by himself 60m out as his man had peeled back to 2v1 Hogan, and Salem just bombs it in to no-one.

I'm not writing him off, he is my favourite player alongside Viney but he has some work to do. Should he play VFL for a few weeks and let him dominate that level to get some confidence? I can see the pros and cons, the biggest problem is we don't really have anyone to play his role in the 2s (Never thought I'd say this but Melksham would be very handy right about now).

I agree that he's not playing as well as I think he can, but I think he's one player that won't necessarily benefit from time in the twos, because I don't think its exclusively a confidence thing. I think its more about knowing his role, and being comfortable in it to take the best option, which I think will come with some coaching, and simply more experience playing it. He's playing an extremely important role, and the weekend was his 28th game.

 

[The Dr]

I would still love him to play further up the ground, on a wing or even HFF, especially considering we are using Vince, Hunt, Wagner, Lumumba, Jetta as small/mid-sized defenders.

 

[stretcharmstrong]

I reckon he's fine. He's learning to play the role he's in. What's he played - 20 games between injuries? Cbf checking.

 

[Dancing Potato]

It's a young side and there's a lot of pressure on players without many games under their belt.

Give him time, he'll be fine

 

[ThePuppetMaster]

Classic lack of patience with Salem here - he's playing his role every week from my point of view.

Wins a lot of one on ones, even against bigger players - does anyone remember him beating Jeremy Cameron 1v1 in R23 last year in the air?

He's not doing a lot of flashy things, but is clean and consistent.

 

[stabler]

Still young and developing. Enough said really

 

[Topkent]

The most important position on the ground almost filled by a 25 game player
Dogs have Boyd Murphy Suckling Joho. .. all experienced we have Hunt Wagner and Salem
Lumumba and Vince add the experience but they were down on the weekend and we still nearly scored 100 again

I don't like the fact we have 3 blokes learning to play defence in the back 6 at the same time but maybe it's a necessary evil

 

[TheCount]

So just looking at Salem's career to date ...

Debut Season (2014): Rounds 6 - 16, 21,22. Played 10 consecutive games, missed 4, then played the last 2 of the season
Second Season (2015): Rounds 1 - 7, 21, 22, 23. Played first 6 games before injuring himself early in the 7th. Came back for the last 3 games
Third Season: Every round so far.

Lacks experience, and has lacked continuity, while being asked a hell of a lot of. He'll come out the other side of it a better player.

 

[rhaz]

Lacks experience, and has lack continuity, while being asked a hell of a lot of. He'll come out the other side of it a better player.

Agreed, I don't think he's the type of player who will 'learn' or 'refresh' from time in the VFL, nor has he been playing that poorly that we need to, for lack of better word, 'punish' him with a spell in the twos.

 

[Sando22]

He needs to be persisted with.
Take the good with the bad as a kid who will be one of those blokes who only needs to get 15 stats to play a considerable role if he beats his man also.
I think his mistakes probably seem worse too due to the area of the ground he operates in - it comes straight back.
Agree with a few on here he'd possibly be more useful up on a wing delivering it inside 50

 

[The Dr]

Still don't doubt this kid's talent but really unsure about his current role.

As a defender he's still shaky and we need more class on the outside. I reckon he would be a lot more impactful if given the licence to attack the game from the wing and midfield.

 

[ThePuppetMaster]

I don't see why we bump this thread every week - he's not starring yet, but he plays his role every week, goes hard and is a clean player with class.

 

[The Professor]

Talent wise he is up with petracca, Oliver, brayshaw but never gets spoken about in those terms. He needs to get his tank up n get more involved. Good things happen when he's around the ball. Underachieving atm

 

[The Dr]

I don't see why we bump this thread every week - he's not starring yet, but he plays his role every week, goes hard and is a clean player with class.

I bumped it because he's not giving us a lot. I was hoping for a lot more from him this year.

I still believe in him but I'm still not sure a small defensive spot is what brings out his best qualities.

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

Patience is wearing thin but he wasnt our worst today. Showed some signs i thought but nowhere near his best.. Looking a bit lost down back atm (who isnt apart from Jetta though?)

Wouldnt mind him being used across half forward more often until he gets back into form, Harmes and Petracca butchering the ball on a few entries today. Would like someone who can hit up targets.

 

[Darhkuan]

would love him on the wing, given more license to use that great ball movement into the forward fifty, to be honest that is a massive break in our game plan atm getting clean entry

 

[schmuttt]

Patience is wearing thin but he wasnt our worst today. Showed some signs i thought but nowhere near his best.. Looking a bit lost down back atm (who isnt apart from Jetta though?)

Wouldnt mind him being used across half forward more often until he gets back into form, Harmes and Petracca butchering the ball on a few entries today. Would like someone who can hit up targets.

Agree, needs to play further up the ground. If he gets 15-20 touches a game in the forward half he will be extremely damaging.

 

[Tulip]

Why can't he kick anymore? I'm not writing him off, will be a star if we get him right, but he's not contributing to the team in any valuable way on current form.

 

[ponsdale]

Why can't he kick anymore?

Because he tripped over a black cat while walking under a ladder and landed breaking a mirror.

 

[Sando22]

I don't see why we bump this thread every week - he's not starring yet, but he plays his role every week, goes hard and is a clean player with class.

Agree.
He's doing enough.
When it all clicks, look out