Player Watch #30: Reece Conca

[Grrr]

His disposal is fine as long as he's not rushing. Down back this happened too much. Playing midfield takes a lot of pressure of him and suits him far better.

Has a lot to do with confidence.

 

[DrMike]

Has a lot to do with confidence.

More games will help that.

Look at Broad, his biggest knock was his use by foot but now people barely mention it.

Knows his role.

 

[parmy2balmey]

long season and at the moment he’s absorbing the hits that our better players usual have to take

cannon fodder atm but he may just come out the other side a good little player

 

[Drunken Wookie]

Each game he seems to find a little more time and space in traffic. Is nailing tackles too. Tracking nicely in 2018.

 

[Del65166]

Conca is becoming another great 'return from injury' story. Astbury, Grimes a few years back. Broad last year. Well done to everyone involved with keeping him on the park.

 

[Drunken Wookie]

Conca is becoming another great 'return from injury' story. Astbury, Grimes a few years back. Broad last year. Well done to everyone involved with keeping him on the park.

Drummond next

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

Would not trade for Heppeel

Heppills! Get it right fat one...

 

[Sir_Rancelot]

I have been really impressed with Reese as a mid.
His ability to win one on ones and stick tackles has been impressive.

 

[Dr Tigris]

Conca is playing quite well right now. He's always been a contested player, and is where he should be. His disposal is usually pretty good - but then does something appalling. Hopefully he'll clean that up a bit.

He is adding a lot to the team right now, getting hard ball, applying pressure, 1%'s, and adding run and carry. He's not top line. But is good solid mid.

Saying something else is saying you see what he has been, rather than what he is now. Of course with Reece there is always a ?

 

[_RT_]

Stats don’t paint the whole picture. Martin lead the league in changers last year but does that mean you think he’s the shittest kick in the league? Hell I’ve just been told in another thread the Bellis went at 100% the other night, but there’s about 21 blokes that played that I’d rather have the ball before him (including Conca obviously).

From watching the game, Cotch, Martin, Prestia and Edwards all go for quite risky options at times. Nank can be very suspect by foot and Caddy I’d honestly not noticed being the poor.

Do you honestly feel that Conca’s disposal is as reliable as those four?

Yesterday you said his DE would be much lower than the likes of Cotchin and co. Now that it's shown to be quite similar it's stats don't always paint the full picture.

For a contested ball winner Conca is right in the ball park for every contested ball winner in the league not just our side.

 

[26_Miles]

I don't mind when Conca makes a mistake trying a risky kick, he's pulled off plenty of spearing passes and he's capable of pulling off those risky kicks that open the game up, hopefully the more confidence he gets the less mistakes he makes.

Our whole game plan in attack revolves around players using their creative instincts at times to open the game up and not dwelllng on mistakes, all for it.

 

[Madison]

Yesterday you said his DE would be much lower than the likes of Cotchin and co. Now that it's shown to be quite similar it's stats don't always paint the full picture.

For a contested ball winner Conca is right in the ball park for every contested ball winner in the league not just our side.

I never mentioned anything about disposal efficiency. You’re putting words in my mouth.

I said the other mids have better disposal, which I believe they do.

 

[Madison]

His disposal is fine as long as he's not rushing. Down back this happened too much. Playing midfield takes a lot of pressure of him and suits him far better.

He’ll have to rush it a lot more in finals when the pressure and intensity goes up a few notches.

That’s all I’m saying.

 

[DrMike]

He’ll have to rush it a lot more in finals when the pressure and intensity goes up a few notches.

That’s all I’m saying.

And by that point, assuming he's not injured, he'll have a lot more continuity in his game so it won't be a problem.

In the past 3 years he has averaged 5 senior games. It's completely expected that he's not used to the pace of the game. That's without even mentioning the lack of confidence he'd likely have in his body.

The only knock there ever was on Reece was his injuries. He needs to stay fit, simple as that.

 

[JR#8]

Unrestricted free agent at the end of the year...

 

[_RT_]

I never mentioned anything about disposal efficiency. You’re putting words in my mouth.

I said the other mids have better disposal, which I believe they do.

Sorry my mistake, I thought this was you yesterday afternoon:

I’d say he goes for less. Dusty, Cotch and Edwards in particular.

I also think the thing with Conca is he makes errors when he shouldn’t. So they stand out a lot more.

Which was in response to the suggestion that his DE would be quite similar to those guys.

 

[Madison]

Sorry my mistake, I thought this was you yesterday afternoon:



Which was in response to the suggestion that his DE would be quite similar to those guys.

I’m not interested in getting into an internet argument where we fight about technicalities for the next 8 pages.

I was talking about how good his disposal is. Not specifically about his DE. People can have better or worse DE based on the level of difficulty of their attempted disposals. Pretty sure champion data has even got a separate stat for that.

Guys like Cotch, Martin, Edwards often try to go for quite difficult kicks, look away handballs and difficult things like that.

So that’s why I said his disposal (not his DE stat) isn’t as good as those other mids.

Do you legit believe that he is as good a kick as Martin? Is that really what you are trying to argue?

I’ve never said Conca is hopeless or should be dropped, I’ve questioned whether he will be as effective in finals as he is now. All I said is I’m not sold on him. I even acknowledged his strengths. He’s good in traffic and maybe our best tackler. I just said his disposal and decision making is average. Not terrible, average.

 

[DrMike]

Unrestricted free agent at the end of the year...

We effectively offered him up for free last year and no one wanted him. He's happy in Melbourne playing for us and will cost minimal coin. If he's not injured he won't go anywhere.

 

[_RT_]

I’m not interested in getting into an internet argument where we fight about technicalities for the next 8 pages.

I was talking about how good his disposal is. Not specifically about his DE. People can have better or worse DE based on the level of difficulty of their attempted disposals. Pretty sure champion data has even got a separate stat for that.

Guys like Cotch, Martin, Edwards often try to go for quite difficult kicks, look away handballs and difficult things like that.

So that’s why I said his disposal (not his DE stat) isn’t as good as those other mids.

Do you legit believe that he is as good a kick as Martin? Is that really what you are trying to argue?

I’ve never said Conca is hopeless or should be dropped, I’ve questioned whether he will be as effective in finals as he is now. All I said is I’m not sold on him. I even acknowledged his strengths. He’s good in traffic and maybe our best tackler. I just said his disposal and decision making is average. Not terrible, average.

What I'm saying is that Concas disposal is no worse than any other contested ball winning midfielder, where most of their disposals are under duress and prone to not hitting the target. Like them Conca is also prone to missing the simplest of kicks as well. Unlike some of them Concas whipping boy status means that when he screws up it gets examined to within an inch of its life. On the flip side when he displays some good form it is often questioned about whether it is sustainable.

People need to go back to 2013-2014 when Conca had established himself as a member of our midfield, as he had started to silence the doubters over the picking of him ahead of Heppell. Had he not suffered multiple injuries since then he'd be closing in on 150 games and nobody would be questioning. AS others have said if he stays fit he'll be important for us this year.

 

[JR#8]

We effectively offered him up for free last year and no one wanted him. He's happy in Melbourne playing for us and will cost minimal coin. If he's not injured he won't go anywhere.

This year could be different though. Starting 22, uninjured in a top 4 team (if we finish top 4).

I think he'll stay though.

 

[DrMike]

This year could be different though. Starting 22, uninjured in a top 4 team (if we finish top 4).

I think he'll stay though.

I expect we'll do exactly what we did last year. Leave him until the rest of the year, if a club wants him and he wants to go then let him.

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

He’ll have to rush it a lot more in finals when the pressure and intensity goes up a few notches.

That’s all I’m saying.

That was Final's intensity against the Dees...

 

[Bojangles17]

Conca is playing quite well right now. He's always been a contested player, and is where he should be. His disposal is usually pretty good - but then does something appalling. Hopefully he'll clean that up a bit.

He is adding a lot to the team right now, getting hard ball, applying pressure, 1%'s, and adding run and carry. He's not top line. But is good solid mid.

Saying something else is saying you see what he has been, rather than what he is now. Of course with Reece there is always a ?

Not sure any of our mids never make a mistake , cotch buggered a i50 with a botched pass when we had a 3 on 1 last week dusty passed into the corridor directly to oppo , it happens

 

[Rance2Mewtwo]

Shane Edwards used to make a few risky mistakes, but it comes from being creative and assertive with the ball.

Happy to see 1-2 mistakes per week if he’s trying to win the game.

 

[tony__montana]

I’m not interested in getting into an internet argument where we fight about technicalities for the next 8 pages.

I was talking about how good his disposal is. Not specifically about his DE. People can have better or worse DE based on the level of difficulty of their attempted disposals. Pretty sure champion data has even got a separate stat for that.

Guys like Cotch, Martin, Edwards often try to go for quite difficult kicks, look away handballs and difficult things like that.

So that’s why I said his disposal (not his DE stat) isn’t as good as those other mids.

Do you legit believe that he is as good a kick as Martin? Is that really what you are trying to argue?

I’ve never said Conca is hopeless or should be dropped, I’ve questioned whether he will be as effective in finals as he is now. All I said is I’m not sold on him. I even acknowledged his strengths. He’s good in traffic and maybe our best tackler. I just said his disposal and decision making is average. Not terrible, average.

Spot on, I’m glad someone else can see past bullshit DE stats which have absolutely no bearing on showing who can kick it well and who can’t. Useless misleading stat.

I really like what Conca is doing this season in the guts, it’s legit the best he’s ever looked for us, he just needs to learn to play within his limitations bc his kicking is suspect and always will be under pressure with that ball drop. If he learns to do that (which I suspect he will given our coaches records with other players) he will be a very handy “recruit” to our midfield.