Past #35: Aaron Black - 50 NM games - 64 goals - traded to Geelong for pick 92 in '16 trade period

Kangaroos4eva

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Maybe they did. I don't agree.

Black was invisible most of the year and pathetic in prelim, so for mine it was a lose lose persisting.

Young gun not getting AFL time, and we go in to games basically one down.
We'll never truly know, all l know is that there were queries about Wood's defensive work as a forward mid year and that's all l heard.
 

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We'll never truly know, all l know is that there were queries about Wood's defensive work as a forward mid year and that's all l heard.
Yeah Wood does have defensive issues, pretty sure Black couldn't even tackle. Can't see it being much different.

So yeah, pretty hypocritical selection. I think we carried Black too long.

I really like him as a player, made threads about it whilst we persisted with Taz despite offering little. Just hope he can start playing to his ability, which clearly is plenty.
 

Black2Blue

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We'll never truly know, all l know is that there were queries about Wood's defensive work as a forward mid year and that's all l heard.
I do remember at one point, pretty much everyone was expecting Wood to claim a spot but he picked up some niggle that set him back 2 or 3 weeks. It was at the worst time, as Black was struggling and Wood was killing it in the 2s, but who knows whether Blacky was close to being rested at that time.
 

Reginald0

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Rather than setting too many personal goals, Thompson said he and his fellow defenders will again set group targets, looking at ways to nullify their opponents’ influence.

“We have team goals each week – maybe marks inside 50, how many scoring shots they have inside 50, things like that – and I think that’s a better way as a team rather than an individual because it’s not an individual game,” he said.

“I more like to set team goals for the defence and if I can help us achieve that.”

This is Thompson talking

The fact Black played every game more or less, bung shoulder or not, he was part of a winning team setup mostly
Synergy
The Whole is greater than the Parts
 
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We'll never truly know, all l know is that there were queries about Wood's defensive work as a forward mid year and that's all l heard.
Queries?? I think we all saw that first hand against the rabble that is Melbourne.

His opponent kicked three goals from half back. Hate to think what might have happened had he played against a decent side.

Wood looks very likely for sure, but I'm in no hurry for him to cement his place in the side.
 

RobZombie

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I do remember at one point, pretty much everyone was expecting Wood to claim a spot but he picked up some niggle that set him back 2 or 3 weeks. It was at the worst time, as Black was struggling and Wood was killing it in the 2s, but who knows whether Blacky was close to being rested at that time.
Inconvenient truth for the Blackists. And when Wood got right, Black had a run of decent games, including a pretty good one against Hawthorn. In one of the club's stats rundowns they pointed to his improved marks/possies/assist rate after Rd16.

Don't expect people to use actual facts to run down blokes they don't rate when "the vibe" will do.
 

ArjenTheGreat

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Yeah, but Wood still kicked and created more goals than Black had in a month.

Perhaps take into consideration the amount of changes we made in that team which may have affected our already leaky defence.

In our best team with our best forwards, defenders and Goldy ffs, Wood would have conceivably created more, kicked more and had fewer mistakes punished.

I'd play both of them, they both move bloody well and are point of difference forwards requiring uniquely shaped defenders.

Clubs may have one such defender, but no club has two.
 

Black2Blue

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Inconvenient truth for the Blackists. And when Wood got right, Black had a run of decent games, including a pretty good one against Hawthorn. In one of the club's stats rundowns they pointed to his improved marks/possies/assist rate after Rd16.

Don't expect people to use actual facts to run down blokes they don't rate when "the vibe" will do.
Good call RZ. "The vibe" is a scientific term on BigFooty. Gotta say I'm a vibeist myself, but guilty of excessive pumping up rather than extreme putting down.

I was a big advocate for Wood last year too and felt he could have been selected around mid-season, but after he picked up an injury, things were put on the back burner. As good as he looked in his debut, it was a bit of NAB Cup game intensity and I didn't want him replacing Black in the run up to finals. A forward line with two kids (Wood, Brown) with a handful of games between them would have been a huge risk (ie. the Steinberg-Brown matchup wouldn't have happened).

Anyway, I'm getting the vibe that Black will return to his best this year and Wood get his chances a make a mark, so it will be quickly forgotten, filed in the 'who gives a shit' BigFooty annals.
 
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Yeah, but Wood still kicked and created more goals than Black had in a month.

Perhaps take into consideration the amount of changes we made in that team which may have affected our already leaky defence.

In our best team with our best forwards, defenders and Goldy ffs, Wood would have conceivably created more, kicked more and had fewer mistakes punished.

I'd play both of them, they both move bloody well and are point of difference forwards requiring uniquely shaped defenders.

Clubs may have one such defender, but no club has two.
What's the point if the bloke he has on him kicks the same amount of goals?
 
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Yeah, for those who won't click on the above link:

AARON Black says his performance in last year's preliminary final loss to the Sydney Swans was probably the worst of his career.

As North Melbourne was dealt a 71-point September reality check, Black had just two possessions – one of which was a clanger – and was substituted from the match in the third quarter, by which time the rampant Swans had all but booked a Grand Final spot.

For Black, it was the nadir of a disappointing season.

The 192cm forward played every game last year but kicked just 26 goals in 25 games, down from 33 goals in 18 games in his breakthrough 2013 season.
And in the first four days leading up to the preliminary final Black could barely get out of bed.

The West Australian's problems began when he ran out to play Geelong in the second semi-final.

Ducking down to find a clear path through the Roos' banner, he felt his back seize.

Black was able to get through the game after some boundary line treatment and a few painkillers, but next morning he could barely move.

It was not until the day before the Roos' Friday night clash with the Swans that he felt confident he would be fit to play.

For much of the previous four days he had been lying flat on his back, unable to bend over let alone train.
"It was probably the worst game of my career," Black said at Werribee's Mercy Hospital on Thursday.

"I didn't train at all in the lead-up to the prelim, but I was right to go by Thursday and I had a half-decent game the week before against Geelong, so I was actually feeling pretty confident.

"The lead-up to the game was pretty frustrating, but there were no excuses really. I just played shocking that game."

Black downplayed the impact his shoulder injury had on his form last season, saying it had affected him mentally more than physically.

"It only hampers you the tiniest bit (physically) but I guess that little bit does mean you lose confidence in yourself," Black said.

"Whereas I might have been getting to balls and marking them the previous year, last year I couldn't get my arm up as much at times, I dropped some marks I should have taken and I let it affect me too much.

"The biggest thing with the shoulder was just that I couldn't do weights properly, so I lost a couple of kilos during the year and my strength dropped away and my marking just wasn't as good as 2013.

"It was frustrating."
Black says his shoulder now feels stronger than ever, but his rehabilitation meant he did return to North's main training group until four weeks ago, while he will finally resume full contact work on Monday.

Black had been hoping to make the weights room his second home this summer in a bid to improve his strength in one-on-one marking contests, but he was only able to start upper-body weights again six weeks ago.

The 24-year-old hopes he can make up for lost time in the gym over the next two or three months, and has already dramatically improved his endurance after completing a full pre-season of running.

Black has also worked hard to improve his goalkicking this summer. Unhappy with his 26.23 return last year, he has tweaked his run-up to make it more fluent and says he is feeling more confident with his set shots.

It's all part of the forward's determination to put 2014 behind him.

"I know that last year as a whole was pretty average, so I just want to make amends for that this season," he says.
 

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DarkPhoenix

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Anyone who says the injury didn't affect him just needs to read that article. He tried to downplay it but from what was said it was constantly on his mind.

Had no idea about the back issue against Geelong, they kept that one quiet.

What I mainly took from that article is he's not making excuses for himself and understands how poorly he was performing and is unhappy with how it all went down.

Here's to a much better year.
 

Devington

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Still believe he will become one of the most dangerous forwards in the game.
If he's fit and healthy I'm convinced he has all the tools. Really hoping he plays some NAB challenge, though I can understand why they might hold him back for 1 or 2. He's the regular 22 member I want to see the most.
 
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RobZombie

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Yeah, but Wood still kicked and created more goals than Black had in a month.
In one dead rubber against a bottom 4 team going through the motions. Come on man, sometimes it's like you're not even trying. Are you seriously trying to say that on exposed form Wood > Black? I'm as impatient as anyone here to see what he can deliver given a decent run, but please.

Anyway, this shit's not even hard to look up. In his last 5[1] H&A games Black had 5.5 and 7 goal assists. That's more assists than goals and decent for a hit-up forward. Wood in one game had 3.1 and zero assists (though AFLTables may be wrong. Thought I remembered at least 1).

[1]Yeah, I chose 5 games instead of 4 because it props up my argument better. At least I admit it when I cherry-pick.
 
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In one dead rubber against a bottom 4 team going through the motions. Come on man, sometimes it's like you're not even trying. Are you seriously trying to say that on exposed form Wood > Black? I'm as impatient as anyone here to see what he can deliver given a decent run, but please.

Anyway, this shit's not even hard to look up. In his last 5[1] H&A games Black had 5.5 and 7 goal assists. That's more assists than goals and decent for a hit-up forward. Wood in one game had 3.1 and zero assists (though AFLTables may be wrong. Thought I remembered at least 1).

[1]Yeah, I chose 5 games instead of 4 because it props up my argument better. At least I admit it when I cherry-pick.
You remember correctly. He drilled one running through the corridor to Petrie in the first quarter. Was quite sexy.
 

Rod Stroker

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Wtf is going on down there.

If he was ******* bed ridden he should not have played that Prelim.
Agree Entirely. Reading this shit jacks me off because it's piss poor player management by the club. We selected a bloke who was clearly not right to play and was ultimately a liability to the team. Sure, he wasn't the reason we got flogged by 12 goals, but we couldn't afford to have any weak links out there. We needed 22 fit blokes if we were going to be any chance.
I just don't understand why we sent him out there when it was known he wasn't right.
 
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