Game Day AFLW: WCE Rnd 3 vs Essendon

[Monocle]

Ella Roberts must be so frustrated.

She would be wishing that her team mates delivered the ball to her in the forward line, in the same manner in which she delivers it to them.
That being out front of them, or slightly to the side, whereby they can run on to the marking contest.
What her teammates do when the deliver it to her is, they put it on her head and expect her to take a contested mark every time.
Easiest trick in town as a defender, spoiling your opponents ball delivery when it’s put on her head to mark, the punch and spoil works a treat all game long.



Oh and Prior you *ing muppet, for God sake keep Roberts out of the ruck duties.

She is only 17 and you are banging her body up, from the get go, by asking her to do ruck duties.

One thing that Roberts has already shown in spades is footy smarts.

She is going to be a star….. I just hope we can keep her.

 

[HoneyBadger35]

Ella Roberts must be so frustrated.

She would be wishing that her team mates delivered the ball to her in the forward line, in the same manner in which she delivers it to them.
That being out front of them, or slightly to the side, whereby they can run on to the marking contest.
What her teammates do when the deliver it to her is, they put it on her head and expect her to take a contested mark every time.
Easiest trick in town as a defender, spoiling your opponents ball delivery when it’s put on her head to mark, the punch and spoil works a treat all game long.



Oh and Prior you *ing muppet, for God sake keep Roberts out of the ruck duties.

She is only 17 and you are banging her body up, from the get go, by asking her to do ruck duties.

One thing that Roberts has already shown in spades is footy smarts.

She is going to be a star….. I just hope we can keep her.

She’s 17 and clearly very good. A natural footballer in a way we are crying out for.

But her disposal efficiency for the year is 39%. It was 29% yesterday, second worst on the team. If she’s complaining about service (which she’s not I don’t think, but if she hypothetically were) a great place to start would be lifting those numbers, or marking the uncontested chest marks on the wing when teammates do find her.

She’s three games in to what will be a very long and hopefully very successful career, and none of them are being given much of a chance at success with the current system, but let’s not pretend she’s been a flawless lone hand out there.

 

[Monocle]

She’s 17 and clearly very good. A natural footballer in a way we are crying out for.

But her disposal efficiency for the year is 39%. It was 29% yesterday, second worst on the team. If she’s complaining about service (which she’s not I don’t think, but if she hypothetically were) a great place to start would be lifting those numbers, or marking the uncontested chest marks on the wing when teammates do find her.

She’s three games in to what will be a very long and hopefully very successful career, and none of them are being given much of a chance at success with the current system, but let’s not pretend she’s been a flawless lone hand out there.

Jesus ….. who’s saying she is flawless.

But she has already, set up more goals than any other of our players.

I wonder who Schmidt, Bartlett and Cameron would prefer to have on the end of the passes to them into the forward line …. Roberts or Swanson …… I think we all know the answer to that question.


She isn’t complaining about service of ball to her …. I was ……. on her behalf….. cause it’s been s**t.

Sometimes Badger you seem to miss a lot of the basics and fundamentals, a lot of her kicks are astray because she is needing to play the role of the extractor.
With the style of play we are executing, she, as are most of our forwards are on a hiding to nothing.

Her two key strengths are her awareness and her finishing.
I don’t think we are giving her the best opportunity to showcase her strengths, with the roles we are asking her to play.

If we could afford to play her in the Bartlett role I am sure she would have played much better than she has done thus far.

Trouble is we can’t afford that luxury.

In that regard she is a victim of the lack of any depth of quality on our list.

She is also playing at a level considerably higher than she has ever been exposed to previously, every step up in standard takes time to adjust too.

Playing her as a ruck - chop out, isn’t going to help her disposal efficiency, she is just a kid, it requires more physicality playing ruck than most of the other positions, that will tire her and the first thing that goes with fatigue is skill level. - ie disposal efficiency is but one of the skills that fall away rapidly when you tire.

Yeah she has dropped some marks that she normally would have nailed.

My concern is that we are asking and expecting, her to do too much in her first few games.

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

You’d think they would’ve learned from the Oscar Allen

12

Oscar Allen

Age

25

Ht

196cm

Wt

96kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.8

2star

K

6.6

3star

HB

3.2

3star

M

3.8

4star

T

2.4

4star

G

1.1

4star

No current season stats available

D

8.6

3star

K

5.8

3star

HB

2.8

3star

M

3.8

4star

T

2.0

4star

G

1.2

4star

experience that you don’t chuck a young star in the ruck.

 

[Ochre]

You’d think they would’ve learned from the Oscar Allen experience that you don’t chuck a young star in the ruck.

I didn't notice it have any negative effects on Oscar when he was on the field this year.

 

[Biggie]

You’d think they would’ve learned from the Oscar Allen experience that you don’t chuck a young star in the ruck.

Haha this *ing club I tell you

 

[Dark Sharks]

you don’t chuck a young star in the ruck.

Not true, what about Fraser?

 

[Monocle]

Not true, what about Fraser?

DS …..You missed the star bit .

That’s not like you as you usually are extremely observant.

 

[Monocle]

You’d think they would’ve learned from the Oscar Allen experience that you don’t chuck a young star in the ruck.

Bingo.

 

[AlphaSheep]

Jesus ….. who’s saying she is flawless.

But she has already, set up more goals than any other of our players.

I wonder who Schmidt, Bartlett and Cameron would prefer to have on the end of the passes to them into the forward line …. Roberts or Swanson …… I think we all know the answer to that question.


She isn’t complaining about service of ball to her …. I was ……. on her behalf….. cause it’s been s**t.

Sometimes Badger you seem to miss a lot of the basics and fundamentals, a lot of her kicks are astray because she is needing to play the role of the extractor.
With the style of play we are executing, she, as are most of our forwards are on a hiding to nothing.

Her two key strengths are her awareness and her finishing.
I don’t think we are giving her the best opportunity to showcase her strengths, with the roles we are asking her to play.

If we could afford to play her in the Bartlett role I am sure she would have played much better than she has done thus far.

Trouble is we can’t afford that luxury.

In that regard she is a victim of the lack of any depth of quality on our list.

She is also playing at a level considerably higher than she has ever been exposed to previously, every step up in standard takes time to adjust too.

Playing her as a ruck - chop out, isn’t going to help her disposal efficiency, she is just a kid, it requires more physicality playing ruck than most of the other positions, that will tire her and the first thing that goes with fatigue is skill level. - ie disposal efficiency is but one of the skills that fall away rapidly when you tire.

Yeah she has dropped some marks that she normally would have nailed.

My concern is that we are asking and expecting, her to do too much in her first few games.

I think I agree with a lot of this, BUT I'll just point out that she has played ruck quite a bit in WAFLW. I'm not convinced it's a good idea at this level for the reasons you've said, but it's not new to her. Thus far she's only done it in the forward line (that I've seen) whereas in the WAFLW she'd sometimes do it elsewhere around the ground.

I think the logic may be that when you get these huge congested pileups in the forward line, you need as many agile, fast players in there as possible. Lackay's neither, so by putting Ella in ruck you have an extra player who can be useful in the second efforts off the ground, where Lackay will contribute nothing but clog up space. It also allows them to have Lackay set up further back, in case the defence gets a rushed clearing kick -- which is where Lackay is best, contested marking.

Also, there's no way Ella should be used in the Bartlett role even if we had that luxury -- she's an up-the-ground player, all the most deadly AFLW players can play forward or mid, like Phillips, Garner, Davey, Blackburn, (Ham and Rowbottom eventually), even Conti in her last game. Ella's first two games were quiet because she wasn't getting her hands on the ball much, while in this game she was much better simply for getting lots of touches, and getting her confidence up. She'll develop much faster getting 17 touches a game than 8, especially in a short season, and a few short stints in the ruck could be good for that.

So while I agree with your concerns, for now I'm keeping an open mind.

 

[Monocle]

I think I agree with a lot of this, BUT I'll just point out that she has played ruck quite a bit in WAFLW. I'm not convinced it's a good idea at this level for the reasons you've said, but it's not new to her. Thus far she's only done it in the forward line (that I've seen) whereas in the WAFLW she'd sometimes do it elsewhere around the ground.

I think the logic may be that when you get these huge congested pileups in the forward line, you need as many agile, fast players in there as possible. Lackay's neither, so by putting Ella in ruck you have an extra player who can be useful in the second efforts off the ground, where Lackay will contribute nothing but clog up space. It also allows them to have Lackay set up further back, in case the defence gets a rushed clearing kick -- which is where Lackay is best, contested marking.

Also, there's no way Ella should be used in the Bartlett role even if we had that luxury -- she's an up-the-ground player, all the most deadly AFLW players can play forward or mid, like Phillips, Garner, Davey, Blackburn, (Ham and Rowbottom eventually), even Conti in her last game. Ella's first two games were quiet because she wasn't getting her hands on the ball much, while in this game she was much better simply for getting lots of touches, and getting her confidence up. She'll develop much faster getting 17 touches a game than 8, especially in a short season, and a few short stints in the ruck could be good for that.

So while I agree with your concerns, for now I'm keeping an open mind.

Oh Agree with the best role and position for her bit 100 %.

I wasn’t advocating using her in that role, I was only using the Bartlett role as an example of the sort of production she could have achieved in her first three games…… , to illustrate that we are asking a lot from her and she has by no means been given an easy job.

We need her up the ground as her link up work is elite, once she gets her confidence I can see her being able to also kick the goals on the run.

100% we want her to become at least the Blackburn type role.

Because of her outstanding overhead marking I see her becoming a similar player to Ellie McKenzie at Richmond.

Real shame that French Truck retired as she would have been handy for one more year as Lakay develops.
On a side not I am really happy with the way Lakay has improved and she looks to have a really good future for us.

 

[AlphaSheep]

Yep, she's certainly been given a lot on her plate. Most first-year players get dropped mostly in the forward line for a year or two to learn the craft -- Conti and FitzGerald at first at the Bulldogs, McKenzie only became a full-time mid this year at Richmond, Ty Smith at St Kilda, etc. But Ella's already been given forward, mid and now occasional ruck too. If the coaching staff are unprofessional enough to put her development in danger by overloading her, that'll be awful.

But on the other hand, they're in a position to know far better than us, and everyone says what a physical freak she is, and how she's been putting professional-level work into her body for the last couple of years, unlike some first-year players who've never trained at this level before. So maybe they've judged her right, who knows.

I like Lackay too, but she's not likely to win many contested ball clearances from below her knees, so I can kind of see what they're thinking, using her to set up a contested marking wall behind the play instead. So using Ella ONLY rucking in the forward 50 does make some sense, I think. Taps to genuine advantage in the forward 50 are nearly impossible these days, with 20 players around the ball, so pure rucks just take up space better used by someone else.

Speaking of rucks -- didn't mind Hartill either, for a first gamer who's barely played. Can certainly move.

 

[Biggie]

didn't mind Hartill either, for a first gamer who's barely played.

Must get stronger. Too easily pushed off the ball, but as you say barely played and got thrown into the deep end.