Toast Ben Griffiths

[DoItForCaptBlood]

Re: How good has Ben Griffiths been down back?

Something the radio said, his 70 m kicks were becoming a little predictable....

Excellent news....he can now start taking those extra few steps to the square line and we can enjoy watching them 'predictably' sail through half way up the posts

 

[Calcium Man]

Re: How good has Ben Griffiths been down back?

Something the radio said, his 70 m kicks were becoming a little predictable....

And yet he kicked out half a dozen times to 50m out to hit up a teammate in space. His kicking ability pushes zones/presses back about 15-20 metres opening up gaps. So the occasional wind up for 70m bombs is great.

 

[zipper12]

Excellent news....he can now start taking those extra few steps to the square line and we can enjoy watching them 'predictably' sail through half way up the posts

Predictable like dusty's fend-off, cotchy's evasive skills, rance's courage, lids dobbing goals on the run from 50 etc

 

[DoItForCaptBlood]

Re: How good has Ben Griffiths been down back?

Predictable like dusty's fend-off

Funny you should say that, because on Fri night I saw a tackler coming hard at Dusty, and I thought...."No, he can't try to fend this off...too predictable....".

Then I saw his arm extend and while I waiting for the crunching tackle, or wrap up..........

..... tackler is seen with a thought bubble above his head (WTF) as he shoots backwards by a metre!

What was I thinking!!

 

[juss]

Re: How good has Ben Griffiths been down back?

Something the radio said, his 70 m kicks were becoming a little predictable....

Although other people have been taking the piss a bit, it's a valid point. Just because he can kick 65 metres, doesn't mean it's always the best play. Nothing wrong with hitting a shorter option say 30-40 out, don't need to go down the line 70m on every kick.

It's definetely a weapon, but like everything (dusty martin fend off etc), it has a time and a place. And I know he doesn't do it every time, but yeh, hope he doesn't get too caught up in it. For example, from 65m out he could probably have a shot, but the best play might be to put it to the top of the goalsquare. I think once or twice if he just shortened the kick a bit he could have put a few balls to the hot spot.

 

[delediofan3]

Re: How good has Ben Griffiths been down back?

Don't think he's been tested in the air much yet and I'm yet to see much body on body from him as well. Signs are good and hopefully he gets a run of games into his body but I might hold off the circle jerk for a while.

wha...??? look below... even i saw the mark and it was pretty much body on body stuff

The bit of play in the third where he marked strongly on the wing, kicked it to TV, then ran back hard to spoil Reiwoldt in the Saints forward pocket was very, very good.

Lots of work still to come for the lad, but going OK.

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griffiths needs to sometimes put less power into his handballs as he puts too much on it and it goes over the teammates' head although at times he is quite creative and gives others space to run and carry.
his long bombs from the kick ins are 50/50 and it can sometimes go our way but i think he should only kick those long bombs when there is a really hard forward press and nobody is presenting

 

[Frank Grimes]

Re: How good has Ben Griffiths been down back?

Although other people have been taking the piss a bit, it's a valid point. Just because he can kick 65 metres, doesn't mean it's always the best play. Nothing wrong with hitting a shorter option say 30-40 out, don't need to go down the line 70m on every kick.

It's definetely a weapon, but like everything (dusty martin fend off etc), it has a time and a place. And I know he doesn't do it every time, but yeh, hope he doesn't get too caught up in it. For example, from 65m out he could probably have a shot, but the best play might be to put it to the top of the goalsquare. I think once or twice if he just shortened the kick a bit he could have put a few balls to the hot spot.

It's just something he will learn with experience. He's going to have to learn to keep an eye out on the formation ahead of him and determine if it's best to kick it short or long. Simply put he need to kick to the best option. His booming kick is a massive weopon because it adds to his flexibility. The opposition can't cover both in close and out far of the kick out without opening space on the ground for our players to run into. Which will make our rebound from defence very potent.

 

[RichoLedio]

I love how he looks like he's been in the side all year

 

[zipper12]

Although other people have been taking the piss a bit, it's a valid point. Just because he can kick 65 metres, doesn't mean it's always the best play. Nothing wrong with hitting a shorter option say 30-40 out, don't need to go down the line 70m on every kick.

It's definetely a weapon, but like everything (dusty martin fend off etc), it has a time and a place. And I know he doesn't do it every time, but yeh, hope he doesn't get too caught up in it. For example, from 65m out he could probably have a shot, but the best play might be to put it to the top of the goalsquare. I think once or twice if he just shortened the kick a bit he could have put a few balls to the hot spot.

Agree Juss- but on Friday night he didn't just bag it and did hit shorter options

 

[Bazzar]

Re: How good has Ben Griffiths been down back?

Although other people have been taking the piss a bit, it's a valid point. Just because he can kick 65 metres, doesn't mean it's always the best play. Nothing wrong with hitting a shorter option say 30-40 out, don't need to go down the line 70m on every kick.

It's definetely a weapon, but like everything (dusty martin fend off etc), it has a time and a place. And I know he doesn't do it every time, but yeh, hope he doesn't get too caught up in it. For example, from 65m out he could probably have a shot, but the best play might be to put it to the top of the goalsquare. I think once or twice if he just shortened the kick a bit he could have put a few balls to the hot spot.

Second or third kickout for the night went almost 70 and Kosi marked it, not sure who the commentator was but he said it only takes 5 minutes in the AFL for a new tactic to be worked out.

 

[zipper12]

Second or third kickout for the night went almost 70 and Kosi marked it, not sure who the commentator was but he said it only takes 5 minutes in the AFL for a new tactic to be worked out.

It's difficult to surprise people twice with the same trick. All the same 70 metres out is my preferred distance for the opposition marking kickins

 

[DrMike]

It's not meant to be a surprise, it's used to get over opposition defence and push the ball out further from our defensive 50. It opens up more area for our team to run to as well.

Also it was a surprise on Friday when the ball was passed to Griff at 60 out and he kicked the massive bomb which resulted in the Edwards goal, it means the opposition need to cover him.

 

[SumTingWong]

I love how he looks like he's been in the side all year

That's because he's been playing the exact same role at Coburg.

 

[Nostradumbass]

It's not meant to be a surprise, it's used to get over opposition defence and push the ball out further from our defensive 50. It opens up more area for our team to run to as well.

Also it was a surprise on Friday when the ball was passed to Griff at 60 out and he kicked the massive bomb which resulted in the Edwards goal, it means the opposition need to cover him.

Spot on.

 

[zipper12]

It's not meant to be a surprise, it's used to get over opposition defence and push the ball out further from our defensive 50. It opens up more area for our team to run to as well.

Also it was a surprise on Friday when the ball was passed to Griff at 60 out and he kicked the massive bomb which resulted in the Edwards goal, it means the opposition need to cover him.

Agree totally- just pointing out that it's no real biggie that sides have worked out that Ben can bang it 70- a lot of people struggle with the idea that because something doesn't come off doesn't necessarily make it a bad option. Rather be able to kick it 70 than not.

 

[Infamy]

Just the fact that they know he can kick it that far should result in the opposition needing to spread out their defensive zone which makes it easier to get through it.

 

[zipper12]

Just the fact that they know he can kick it that far should result in the opposition needing to spread out their defensive zone which makes it easier to get through it.

Good point particularly as he's also able hit short targets- it's certainly a weapon and beautiful to watch

 

[Morro]

I don't want this to come across as bagging him as I am a fan but his fitness isn't up to it yet IMO.

Whilst I agree with many of the positives in here I did notice him on many occasions just simply stop running or not contest as he had nothing left in the tank.

I wonder if this is why he isn't playing CHF yet? I mean let's be honest a CHF covers ground like a midfielder these days.

 

[zipper12]

I don't want this to come across as bagging him as I am a fan but his fitness isn't up to it yet IMO.

Whilst I agree with many of the positives in here I did notice him on many occasions just simply stop running or not contest as he had nothing left in the tank.

I wonder if this is why he isn't playing CHF yet? I mean let's be honest a CHF covers ground like a midfielder these days.

You're probably right but he's a big unit- I think it was the third quarter where one minute he had mark on wing/forward flank and a minute later was spoiling in the opposite back pocket so he did some motoring there

 

[TigerTime88]

He needs to be the short option 30 out because he can then roost it 70m to the wing/HF lol.

 

[DeeKaay]

Can Dusty teach Griff the throat high "don't argue"?

Imagine this: Griffiths does the kick in, kicks to himself, lays off a don't argue, takes a bounce, another don't argue then:

BOOOoooooooooOOOOOMM

Goal!

 

[DrMike]

Can Dusty teach Griff the throat high "don't argue"?

Imagine this: Griffiths does the kick in, kicks to himself, lays off a don't argue, takes a bounce, another don't argue then:

BOOOoooooooooOOOOOMM

Goal!

Reminds me of the Simpsons episode where they're playing pee wee football and Nelson picks up Milhouse and uses him to block all the other players to score the touchdown.

 

[TOOs_Finest]

Something the radio said, his 70 m kicks were becoming a little predictable....

And yet he kicked out half a dozen times to 50m out to hit up a teammate in space. His kicking ability pushes zones/presses back about 15-20 metres opening up gaps. So the occasional wind up for 70m bombs is great.

Although other people have been taking the piss a bit, it's a valid point. Just because he can kick 65 metres, doesn't mean it's always the best play. Nothing wrong with hitting a shorter option say 30-40 out, don't need to go down the line 70m on every kick.

It's definetely a weapon, but like everything (dusty martin fend off etc), it has a time and a place. And I know he doesn't do it every time, but yeh, hope he doesn't get too caught up in it. For example, from 65m out he could probably have a shot, but the best play might be to put it to the top of the goalsquare. I think once or twice if he just shortened the kick a bit he could have put a few balls to the hot spot.

Heh, I reckon they actually played for the predictability.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but for what I can remember, his first kick out was a bomb which Kosi or someone marked. From then on, every other kick out was a short-medium kick to a team mate on his own or leading.

It was like they threw out the bait with his first kick, had the Saints reeling back every time after, allowing him to pick off an easy short target 30-40m away.

The most predictable thing was that the Saints were predicting what was about to happen

 

[Underarm]

the predictable call was in the 3rd quarter when they had like 3 or 4 behinds in a row where he used it a couple of times.

And yet he kicked out half a dozen times to 50m out to hit up a teammate in space. His kicking ability pushes zones/presses back about 15-20 metres opening up gaps. So the occasional wind up for 70m bombs is great.

Nah fair point. his area he can kick it to is bigger so when Sandilands sits on the wing to take the easy mark from the opposition kick out, he will need to be a few Meters back from normal. There is no surprise factor any more.

Just the fact that they know he can kick it that far should result in the opposition needing to spread out their defensive zone which makes it easier to get through it.

yeah it should make the release kick 30m out from our goals easier to hit up for him. Thats the real benefit of it.

 

[Haggard H]

Just thinking of Benny "The Boot", as I often seem to do, and wanted to get in early to request that we never start up any sort of 'woof' thing when he goes the roost. I can just see some sectors of the crowd trying this and dragging us down to the level of Carlton/Stkilda/Collingwood supporters.