Delisted #41: Ben McNiece

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Kakkle said:
I didn't notice him at all until those two great defensive spoils, which is ideal for a small defender playing his first game.
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Top comment.

Some absolute ham beast behind me yelled out "he's done * all, all game" so I turned around and said "how's his opponent going?" she said "who is it?" to which I replied "exactly" then right as I do it, he does a superman spoil when Collingwood get some ascendancy. You can only imagine the grin I gave her.
 
Beerfish said:
Was just going to say this. Those spoils were great. He looked amazed walking back down the race after the win.
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Just imagine the feels he would have got when he received his first 80k cheer and applause when he made that huge spoil.
 

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Its clear that when we are introducing these defenders that we are stressing defense first then attack. His game reminded me of McGrath's first 2 games where he only showed a bit of his offensive capabilities but what he did was good. Defensively he was very reliable.
I hope he stays in next week.

Having another genuine kick-in option is really nice too.
 
Bipolarbear said:
Top comment.

Some absolute ham beast behind me yelled out "he's done **** all, all game" so I turned around and said "how's his opponent going?" she said "who is it?" to which I replied "exactly" then right as I do it, he does a superman spoil when Collingwood get some ascendancy. You can only imagine the grin I gave her.
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Out of interest, who was his direct opponent?

Fasolo and Elliott were the only forwards who looked at all threatening for Collingwood, and he wasn't on either of those blokes - so looks like he did a good job.

That diving spoil was so good, would have been such a good feeling running back to his position.
 
He took a few kick ins and did really well so id like him to take them more often, its good for getting him touch if he isn't getting much of the ball. Very skilful player so id like it in his hands more often than not. Defensive stuff is a bonus because he can be a real offensive weapon.
 
bombreys said:
Out of interest, who was his direct opponent?

Fasolo and Elliott were the only forwards who looked at all threatening for Collingwood, and he wasn't on either of those blokes - so looks like he did a good job.

That diving spoil was so good, would have been such a good feeling running back to his position.
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Looked like he was on Sidebottom early.
 
bombreys said:
Out of interest, who was his direct opponent?

Fasolo and Elliott were the only forwards who looked at all threatening for Collingwood, and he wasn't on either of those blokes - so looks like he did a good job.

That diving spoil was so good, would have been such a good feeling running back to his position.
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Sidebottom for the first half.
 
Cant see how he doesn't become an AFL standard player. My only worry I have is how many sub 180cm players can we play in the one side and how many sub 185cm players can we play in our back 6.

On the weekend we had McGrath, Colyer, Fantasia, Walla, Green, Parish, Z.Merrett, Zaharakis and Mcniece who are all 180cm or shorter.
 
Ambrosia said:
Cant see how he doesn't become an AFL standard player. My only worry I have is how many sub 180cm players can we play in the one side and how many sub 185cm players can we play in our back 6.

On the weekend we had McGrath, Colyer, Fantasia, Walla, Green, Parish, Z.Merrett, Zaharakis and Mcniece who are all 180cm or shorter.
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It's why Francis/Langford/Laverde are all very important pieces going forward as bigger, mobile guys.
 
Ambrosia said:
Cant see how he doesn't become an AFL standard player. My only worry I have is how many sub 180cm players can we play in the one side and how many sub 185cm players can we play in our back 6.

On the weekend we had McGrath, Colyer, Fantasia, Walla, Green, Parish, Z.Merrett, Zaharakis and Mcniece who are all 180cm or shorter.
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Wow i couldn't believe that Fantasia was under 180 cm however according to Essendon FC he's 177 so even if he's grown a few cm's he's still shorter than I realised.
I would say its not such a big problem for the 4 guys who roll through the small forward positions in Fantasia, Colyer, Walla and Green to be short because of the position they play and because they are all quite quick which mitigates the issue a fair bit (ie you can get create space to take uncontested marks). Fantasia and Colyer are actually pretty good overhead. I would also say that McGrath with his leap and general athleticism doesn't have too many problems either.

That said we probably wouldn't want to carry any more short players to add to the current group. It will also be a challenge for us in the midfield in the future when 3 of our future elite mids in Zerrett, Parish and McGrath are all on the smaller side with only Heppell being a tall mid. It really would help if some of Langford, Laverde or Francis succeed as mids in the future to balance out the side but only time will tell.
 
blitzer said:
Wow i couldn't believe that Fantasia was under 180 cm however according to Essendon FC he's 177 so even if he's grown a few cm's he's still shorter than I realised.
I would say its not such a big problem for the 4 guys who roll through the small forward positions in Fantasia, Colyer, Walla and Green to be short because of the position they play and because they are all quite quick which mitigates the issue a fair bit (ie you can get create space to take uncontested marks). Fantasia and Colyer are actually pretty good overhead. I would also say that McGrath with his leap and general athleticism doesn't have too many problems either.

That said we probably wouldn't want to carry any more short players to add to the current group. It will also be a challenge for us in the midfield in the future when 3 of our future elite mids in Zerrett, Parish and McGrath are all on the smaller side with only Heppell being a tall mid. It really would help if some of Langford, Laverde or Francis succeed as mids in the future to balance out the side but only time will tell.
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Latest batch of recruits (except McGrath) are also 186-192 (and being young may still grow some more).
 

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I liked him. As said previously, I hardly noticed him til the last quarter which is what you want for a small defender.

Ideally I'd have him replacing Baguely in the medium-term onwards but tbh I don't know enough about his game to know if that's really where he belongs in our structure. I do know that you can never have too much pace or too many good kicks in your backline, and he's certainly got those over Bags.

McNiece, McKenna, McGrath makes a super quick, skilful and offensively creative backline that I love the idea of (not to mention the 3 Mc's). Whether it's too short or defensively suspect, I dunno.
 
Liked his game - positioned well, wasn't outmuscled, kept his opponent in check, used the ball well, spoiled well. Exactly what you want from a small lockdown defender.
 
yaco55 said:
Waiting to see more of his kicking - He will be a weapon if this translates to the AFL.
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It might be a while before we get to see it.

It's pretty clear, their experience aside, he and McGrath are the best options we have of standing small forwards. I think that we'll use Baguley as more of a half back for now to use his overhead strength to prop up the half back line (which is struggling a bit defensively).

Happy for McNiece to simply make sure that opposition smalls are dealt with.
 
Ambrosia said:
how many sub 185cm players can we play in our back 6.
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Great point, been pretty evident for the better part of a decade that the best sides have 3-4 talls and a few mediums who can play tall in the backline. Right now we are running with 3 talls and no mediums and the balance seems a bit off.
 
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