Chris Dawes: Key to the Premiership

[themulletking]

http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/ch...to-magpies-dream/story-fnelctok-1226465957531

"When involved at centre bounces, the Magpies have cleared the ball away cleanly 62per cent of the time.
He has taken the centre bounce 81 times, but the strike rate is No.1 in the competition for all players who have competed in at least 40.
Darren Jolly, the Pies' main man in the ruck, has a 43per cent clearance rate from 410 centre bounce involvements." .... WHAT surely this cannot be true?

and ruck aside, when we won the premiership? we had dawes in form. first half of the season last year? dawes in form. since then? he has been out of form, and we have not been anywhere near as good. i believe it would not be a stretch to say an in-form chris dawes coincides with a successful collingwood unit.
opinions?

 

[TradeDraft]

I reckon Jolly is the Key to a Flag. A dominate Ruckman would go along way to getting us a Chance at the Flag

 

[themulletking]

I reckon Jolly is the Key to a Flag. A dominate Ruckman would go along way to getting us a Chance at the Flag

Jolly is definitely an essential ingredient, but i'm starting to think dawes is just as important.

and may i say, i can't believe his strike rate is so good in the ruck. that can't be right, that make's him more potent then jolly.

 

[MeisterBot]

Maybe Dawes should be #1 Ruckman. Park Jolly in the forward line.

 

[Football God]

I reckon Jolly is the Key to a Flag. A dominate Ruckman would go along way to getting us a Chance at the Flag

No shit TD, but he can't do that on his own, that's why Goldsack has too step up as our 3rd tall to help Dawes out. That is my opinion anyway.

 

[themulletking]

Maybe Dawes should be #1 Ruckman. Park Jolly in the forward line.

imagine that. surely there must be something stopping us from doing that, because from the information we've been provided, switching the role's looks pretty tempting!

 

[TheWoodsOf72]

I reckon Jolly is the Key to a Flag. A dominate Ruckman would go along way to getting us a Chance at the Flag

And some decisive strength in the back half Johnson, Toovey and Brown.

 

[Football God]

And some decisive strength in the back half Johnson, Toovey and Brown.

plus we have got O'brien, mawell, reid and tarrant. we could play 6 back and maxwell as the floater, would help heaps off the half back with a quick counter attack.

 

[Somebody]

Maybe Dawes should be #1 Ruckman. Park Jolly in the forward line.

Dawes usually rucks against the second/relieving ruck of the opposition (eg Roughhead), so it doesn't translate into him being a good 1st ruck. See how many clearances he gets against WC where they always have a top ruck on the ball.

that said, it does suggest he is surprisingly effective as a 2nd ruck.

 

[Axl the great]

Dawes needs time to get in to a game as a forward, he was just starting to gel with Cloke and they threw his world upside down, Cant get the hang of being a ruck and was just getting the hang of being a forward.

Rather than let him settle into the forward role as a still young player games wise Bucks threw a curveball and asked something of Dawes he was not ready for IMO.

 

[noideaatall]

ruck stats are more meaningless than any other kind and this article demonstrates this. The only stats I see as much use is effective hit outs. Not sure where dawes is at but doubt he has many: relevant issue is how many are had against him.

From what I've seen Dawes hasn't done much in the ruck this year but during his stints there the opposition haven't looked like tearing us a new one - unlike Sat night when maxwell was in there. I'd love to see the pies risk him in the ruck a bit more on friday nigbht and let jolly rest up forward. Jolly is undoubtedly one key to the premiership and should be managed to produce his best not ground in the dirt.

 

[speedytiger]

Ruck stats v clearance can be odd. Our mids are more likely to rove to the opposition ruck while Dawes is in there. Freo over time win more clearances with Sandilands out, as opposition mids simply rove to him.

 

[jonbe54]

Those of you bagging Chris REALLY need to go back and LOOK at the '10 PF and GF.

Since then he's had a fairly significant hand injury, eye surgery and been asked to take over second ruck duties.

It's clear his confidence is down but the potential is still there, end the second ruck experiment and let him concentrate on his main role.

He can be as good again as he was if he's just given a decent run at it.

 

[Paul Kersey]

Dawes has to play this Friday night but I think that article is drawing a long bow. Jolly, Pendlebury & Cloke are the keys.

 

[Shade]

How many times have we heard Chris dawes is the key to anything then he goes out and plays an absolute stinker

 

[GibboPAL]

If Dawes is the key to unlock our premiership hopes, then we must find the key to unlock the Dawes. </deep>

 

[jmac70]

At the very least he should be nice and fresh for Friday night. It's up to him now to bring it like we know he can.

 

[Yidaki]

Dawes is not the key to the premiership. The key is to get our manic pressure back again.

 

[noideaatall]

Those of you bagging Chris REALLY need to go back and LOOK at the '10 PF and GF.

Since then he's had a fairly significant hand injury, eye surgery and been asked to take over second ruck duties.

It's clear his confidence is down but the potential is still there, end the second ruck experiment and let him concentrate on his main role.

He can be as good again as he was if he's just given a decent run at it.

If this was a statement about 2013 I'd totally agree but not about tommorrow night. The h&a season is over, we have had a good look at Dawes and know what to expect. A week off might have freshened him up but if we go in expecting a totally revamped Dawes and a five goal haul we are kidding ourselves.

Playing Dawes solely as a forward would put more pressure on him to mark the ball and kick straight: the two things he has struggled with this year.

Playing him as 2nd ruck minimises the chances of getting smashed with maxy in there and means jolly can maximise his performance, not simply his time on the ground. Outside that give him a decoy role and instructions to crash as many packs/bodies as possible.

This is a low risk stratedgy: Dawes won't win the game for us but then we won't lose the game with maxy as 2nd ruck.

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

Playing him as 2nd ruck minimises the chances of getting smashed with maxy in there and means jolly can maximise his performance, not simply his time on the ground. Outside that give him a decoy role and instructions to crash as many packs/bodies as possible.

This is a low risk stratedgy: Dawes won't win the game for us but then we won't lose the game with maxy as 2nd ruck.

Rubbish. Chris Dawes won ZERO hitouts against West Coast as a 2nd ruck and averages only 4 hitouts a game in 2012. When he is in the ruck, we still get smashed so saying he is significant upgrade on Maxwell is wrong. As for crashing packs, when does Dawes ever to do this? If he is not running under the ball, he tries to mark every ball on his chest, which either gets spoiled or lately comes flying off like a trampoline.

I would rather have Maxwell lose every hitout but show aggression at every contest, than a timid big man like Dawes who might win 4 hitouts but can't mark to save himself.

 

[jonbe54]

If this was a statement about 2013 I'd totally agree but not about tommorrow night. The h&a season is over, we have had a good look at Dawes and know what to expect. A week off might have freshened him up but if we go in expecting a totally revamped Dawes and a five goal haul we are kidding ourselves.

Playing Dawes solely as a forward would put more pressure on him to mark the ball and kick straight: the two things he has struggled with this year.

Playing him as 2nd ruck minimises the chances of getting smashed with maxy in there and means jolly can maximise his performance, not simply his time on the ground. Outside that give him a decoy role and instructions to crash as many packs/bodies as possible.

This is a low risk stratedgy: Dawes won't win the game for us but then we won't lose the game with maxy as 2nd ruck.

Agreed about this year we have no alternative but next year he must be given his chance to settle again. Also agreed about Maxy, he competed his heart out last week but he isn't a ruckman's a-hole (as you would expect), deadWood is a big disappointment, it's too bad he never really gave it his best shot - has always had the potential in my opinion but failed to deliver on too many occasions.

This comes to the core of our scoring problems this year (apart from 18 months of F@@$##ing injuries), we have a dud 2nd ruck, this has forced us to use Dawes in a way which he's not suited to and unbalanced our forward line, added to that the Cloke BS and its a recipe for a goal drought.

 

[Pie 4 Life]

We get the clearances because we read the opposition ruckman's taps

 

[doppleganger]

Interesting stats....

The additional information required would be the effectiveness of the clearnace.

Ie under Dawes, are we getting rushed clearances after sharking oppo HO, that result in a TO across half forward and the opposition launching a quick counter attack.

Under Jolly, do we get more quality clearances where we can break free and hit up a target and maintain possession.

At face value it highlights why Dawes was kept in the side for so long, people bemoan his lack of HOs....but his job his to nullify the oppo ruck and enable our mids to win the scrap....which he is clearly doing. If he can chip in with a goal or two we are laughing.....

Remember he is now playing the L.Brown role, and L.Brown at his best in 2010 only avg 1 goal, 4 marks per game....hardly a big forward threat.

 

[jannerman]

He was set for big things at the start of the year, how did it all go so pear shaped?

 

[Rusty22]

He was set for big things at the start of the year, how did it all go so pear shaped?

eye surgery or somethign