Alessio

[Dan26]

Alessio is a much maligned player at our club. I beleive unfairly so.

He was a consistent leader in hard-ball gets from 1996 through to 1999 and has always been a skillful player, which is surprising given his great height.

I thought his performance against the Kangaroos was very good. He didn't get a heap of the ball, but kicked a goal, attacked the ball hard (which i thought was the most impressive feature) and contested well all night.

If Barnes can play a full season in the ruck, Alessio will be a major thorn in the oppositions side.

What did everyone else think of his game?

 

[Darky]

If he gets a Cochrane-type 189cm half back flanker minding him every week, even Alessio can have a decent year. He wouldn't have fared as well on McCartney (had Watt stayed on Lloyd).
At North we have a similar situation with McKernan, who has probably achieved more than Alessio (his Clayton's Brownlow and all), but also underperforms. Yet if you take him out of the side, you no longer have the height to exploit short defences and thin ruck divisions.

 

[mantis]

I said in the Mc Veigh topic that I thought Stevie played a good game, I am not one of his knockers, I know he has had some shockers, but he has also played some brilliant games & he is a great kick for goal, I think he is a confidence player, as long as his confidence is up he will play well.
Go SES, hope you have a brilliant season & shove it up the knockers.

 

[walshy1993]

Originally posted by Darky:
If he gets a Cochrane-type 189cm half back flanker minding him every week, even Alessio can have a decent year. .

darky i think thats the exact point, whether you rate the guy or not (i do) he still takes a good defender. especially with lloyd, lucas, hird, rioli and mercuri taking the top 5 it leaves someone to pick up alessio
its a huge headache for opposition clubs and whether ses fires or not it takes pressure off others

he is also a more than handy back up for barnes

 

[James2]

I'm a critic of Alessio in my opinion he does not do enough for someone with his height, strength and ability. His career is riddled with insipid performances.

I agree that he had a good year in 99, but apart from that has done little to justify his position in the side. The theory that "at least he takes up a defender" does not commend itself to me. He may well do so, but unless he is actually doing anything, he is not causing problems for the opposition at all and just clogging the foward line.

Having said that, he was one of the better players during the pre-season and was all right on Friday. Maybe he'll return to the form (circa 1999) we know he is capable of.


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"Strangely enough, in the midst of change, the present course may often be the most risky one. It may only serve to perpetuate the irrelevancy."

 

[Anton Grbac]

i'm not his biggest fan either, but i thought he went awright on Friday night.

where's wally?

 

[TD]

His form so far this year in practice games and on Friday night has been promising. Back to his form of 99 perhaps