Player Watch Ben Crocker (Delisted 2019, Pies VFL 2024)

[Thatsmyname]

Everything he touched turned to sh**.

The one where it was kicked over his head, for him to be tackled and Jetta waltz out of D50 was particularly damning. At least hold it in there

The winning point was ok surely?

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Everything he touched turned to sh**.

The one where it was kicked over his head, for him to be tackled and Jetta waltz out of D50 was particularly damning. At least hold it in there

The s**t disposal to him hardly gave him much chance. Crocker had s Barry but his teammates seemed hellbent on making him look bad.

 

[frantelle]

The winning point was ok surely?

A strategic goal is better than a strategic point

The s**t disposal to him hardly gave him much chance. Crocker had s Barry but his teammates seemed hellbent on making him look bad.

He was leading his player to the ball, got hands on ball and this somehow results in a quick counterattack from the guy chasing him?

 

[mike123]

Maybe Mayne having 200 games under his belt when he had his horror first year at the club just further emphasises why crock shouldn't be written off just yet....
Experience aside... They are very similar physically and in terms of skill sets and athletic ability. Mayne was recruited as a forward and we turned him into a role playing mid... We are doing this with Crocker. Both players are likeable popular blue collar team players. Watching Crocker running around trying his guts out and failing dismally and looking like he's not even vfl level quality also reminded me a lot of Maynes first games for the club. And I felt similarly sorry for them both. I wrote Mayne off at the time and that's where my 'rediculous ' comparison between them ends.

If Mayne is Crocker’s ceiling we shouldn’t bother with him then.

 

[Thatsmyname]

A strategic goal is better than a strategic point

Yes but given how much worse he could have done I'm willing to tick it off

 

[DaVe86]

Credit to him for forcing his way into the side through sheer weight of VFL numbers.

At this stage though, I don't see it with Crocker. Just don't think he has the tricks of a forward or the skills of a midfielder. Has a dip so he is a handy depth player. And credit to him for kicking the winning point on the weekend. But I have him a long way off our best 22 at full strength.

He might get another crack at it given we had 2 injuries on the weekend, and Bucks won't want to make wholesale changes to a winning side. Plus, it's always good to give guys 2 or 3 weeks to see if they can adjust to the pace. But personally I'd prefer seeing Shaz in the side as an extra tall defender which I think we need going forward.

 

[Mooresome]

Shaz back, Noble to forward line . Easy

 

[mike123]

Shaz back, Noble to forward line . Easy

Nah we need Noble’s pace back there.

 

[Saintly Viewed]

WalterBlaknWhte did you see the genius of this tweet? Where is the wag Ben Reid equivalent excellent tweet?

PicaBoo you’d appreciate this genius.

 

[76woodenspooners]

I reckon he needs to hang out at the local schools at lunch time and play ‘tiggy’ with the kids. Build up his evasion skills, work on his dexterity.

 

[Thatsmyname]

If Pendles doesn't come up I'd love to see them play him on a wing where he's been accumulating, we did it for Mayne and he came good

 

[Scritchyscroony]

If Mayne is Crocker’s ceiling we shouldn’t bother with him then.

You still don't think Mayne is a worthwhile player Mikey? Every team needs their honest foot soldiers. You will never get a list of 45 players all with uber high talent ceilings.

 

[Saintly Viewed]

I reckon he needs to hang out at the local schools at lunch time and play ‘tiggy’ with the kids. Build up his evasion skills, work on his dexterity.

Not sure that’s going to work.

Can see Martin King of A Current Affair running out to Crocker asking what is he doing with kids....

 

[Vicky Park]

Just watched the last quarter for the third time (gulp). Nothing beats watching premiership football.

Re Crocker, while clearly outclassed for most of the game, he never stopped trying. When Bucks asked for a monumental effort at 3/4 time, he did his bit. He didnt drop his head when beaten by Jetta, and in his limited way he helped us win. He may not keep his place next week, for a variety of good reasons, but so be it. At the very least, he was part of a significant win and hopefully one which we look back on and see as the turning point in our season.

 

[SwanDaneFan1991]

Betty Crocker. Winning in the kitchen, and at Optus Stadium. I'm spewing this won't get likes but, on account of nobody reading the Crocker thread

 

[nahnah]

Well and truly in the delist basket with Wills and Madgen

 

[Visions]

He was terrible BUT he came in for his first game against the red hot reigning Premiers at a fortress people struggle to win at.

He gets another 2 games

Why not give him 12 or so games like we did for Thomas and basically play one short before we realise he’s not up to it?

 

[Hardas]

Credit to him for forcing his way into the side through sheer weight of VFL numbers.

At this stage though, I don't see it with Crocker. Just don't think he has the tricks of a forward or the skills of a midfielder. Has a dip so he is a handy depth player. And credit to him for kicking the winning point on the weekend. But I have him a long way off our best 22 at full strength.

He might get another crack at it given we had 2 injuries on the weekend, and Bucks won't want to make wholesale changes to a winning side. Plus, it's always good to give guys 2 or 3 weeks to see if they can adjust to the pace. But personally I'd prefer seeing Shaz in the side as an extra tall defender which I think we need going forward.

Can't really disagree with any of that, but especially his limited AFL-level potential.
It was already clearly apparent last year.

 

[lenny20]

Re Crocker, while clearly outclassed for most of the game, he never stopped trying. When Bucks asked for a monumental effort at 3/4 time, he did his bit. He didnt drop his head when beaten by Jetta, and in his limited way he helped us win.

I gotta say I disagree with you there, VP. I think dropping his head and giving up was exactly what he did:



He gets beaten hands down by Jetta - that's fine, that's gonna happen to everybody, Jetta is a good player - but then he drops his head and chases him at a lazy three-quarter pace. And the worst part is, Jetta then cuts inside to dodge a tackler... and ends up exactly where Crocker would have been if he hadn't given up so easily. Crocker breaks into a sprint to try and catch him, but it's too little, too late. Jetta starts another attacking thrust for the Eagles.

That footage is absolutely damning for Ben. Not only was he beaten, he then gave up and put in a half-hearted defensive effort which directly cost the team what could have been a match-losing rebound 50. Bucks would have been fuming with that.

 

[Thatsmyname]

I gotta say I disagree with you there, VP. I think dropping his head and giving up was exactly what he did:



He gets beaten hands down by Jetta, then chases him at a lazy three-quarter pace. And the worst part is, Jetta then cuts inside to dodge a tackler... and ends up exactly where Crocker would have been if he hadn't given up so easily. Ben then breaks into a sprint to try and catch him, but it's too little, too late. Jetta starts another attacking thrust for the Eagles.

That footage is absolutely damning for Ben. Not only was he beaten, he then gave up and put in a half-hearted defensive effort which directly cost the team what could have been a match-losing rebound 50. Bucks would have been fuming with that.

Sure he shouldn't have dropped his head but he's young and knew how important that moment was, a moment like that can kill a career, but all that footage really proves is he is being played out of position, that could have been a clip of Mayne when he first came to us, but we put him on a wing and he thrived... the way Crocker has been thriving on a wing in the magoos

Don't blame him for being thrown to the wolves, he's not Stevo, he can't match a Jetta for pace, he wasn't given the chance he's been groomed for all year in the reserves so it's a bit rough highlighting him on the spud reel... it pisses me off because I wanted to see if we could add him to the roster, if he could step up and take a wing and give us an extra player with all these frickin injuries, instead he gets crucified in another defensive forward graveyard role yet again!

 

[Vicky Park]

I gotta say I disagree with you there, VP. I think dropping his head was exactly what he did:



He gets beaten hands down by Jetta, then drops his head and chases lazily back at three-quarter pace. And the worst part is, Jetta then cuts inside to dodge a tackler, exactly where Crocker would have been if he hadn't given up so easily. Ben then breaks into a sprint, but it's too late, and Jetta starts another Eagles attacking thrust.

That footage is absolutely damning for Ben. Not only was he beaten, he then gave up and put in a half-hearted defensive effort. Bucks would have been fuming with that.

Fair enough. Maybe I chose not to see it that way, especially as we got over the line. I saw an inexperienced and limited footballer under enormous pressure in the last quarter, and thought he deserved some praise. But if we'd lost the match, the criticism of him would be far greater, and I acknowledge that.

 

[lenny20]

Fair enough. Maybe I chose not to see it that way, especially as we got over the line. I saw an inexperienced and limited footballer under enormous pressure in the last quarter, and thought he deserved some praise. But if we'd lost the match, the criticism of him would be far greater, and I acknowledge that.

He was certainly better after the incident above (which was very early in the last). I wonder whether he may have been on the receiving end of a rocket because of it.

But yeah, I'm not keen to crucify him for some skill errors, or for being on the end of some hospital handpasses. The above effort was pretty dodgy, though, and he'd want to eliminate that sort of stuff from his game. It's not typical for him to drop his head so readily. He's a fighter.

 

[Kappa]

I gotta say I disagree with you there, VP. I think dropping his head and giving up was exactly what he did:



He gets beaten hands down by Jetta - that's fine, that's gonna happen to everybody, Jetta is a good player - but then he drops his head and chases him at a lazy three-quarter pace. And the worst part is, Jetta then cuts inside to dodge a tackler... and ends up exactly where Crocker would have been if he hadn't given up so easily. Crocker breaks into a sprint to try and catch him, but it's too little, too late. Jetta starts another attacking thrust for the Eagles.

That footage is absolutely damning for Ben. Not only was he beaten, he then gave up and put in a half-hearted defensive effort which directly cost the team what could have been a match-losing rebound 50. Bucks would have been fuming with that.

Jeez...that was the one thing in the entire game people were praising him for then you've just gone and ruined that...

But I'm sure there was a moment in the 2nd quarter when he put on a half decent sheppard so people will still demand he gets 1-2 more games though

 

[The Royal Sampler]

Jeez...that was the one thing in the entire game people were praising him for then you've just gone and ruined that...

But I'm sure there was a moment in the 2nd quarter when he put on a half decent sheppard so people will still demand he gets 1-2 more games though

No, that wasn’t it.

There was another contest where the ball comes in, he has two defenders to deal with and he manages to hold the ball in our forward line without giving away a free. That’s the one he deservedly received praise for.

 

[Gaben]

STeal