Chris Dawes - My two cents

[Yidaki]

Who is coaching Dawes? Honestly, his marking ability has become worse since last year. He puts his hands out in the air in an attempt to mark the ball, but more often than not, he fails to grab a hold. Actually, his arms look like a ton of cement just waving about in the air.

I am dubious on Dawes to be honest. If I don't see anything in the next couple of weeks, I am writing him off completely.

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

Trade him for Jack Watts

 

[TheGreatGrundy]

Why not throw Tarrant up forward and play Dawes in the forward pocket or off a forward flank like we did with Leigh Brown?

Good idea in one sense. There will be less pressure on him to perform from a flank.

 

[Number 10]

Surely the best mark in the comp could teach him a thing or two! They are team mates after all. He is seriously pissing me off and right now I would be happy if we dropped him for Paine.

 

[FAIRANDBALANCED]

Why does everyone expect Chris Dawes to be Travis Cloke?

He played fine against GC, except for one missed chest mark. He was great with his second and third efforts when the ball hit the ground and also threw his weight around at the stoppages.
How many times did he get a one on one opportunity in the forward 50 to take a mark and kick a goal? I can only remember the missed chest mark. So we went to him 2 or 3 times in the whole game because we were preoccupied with kicking long to Cloke so he could regain his confidence, and because he didn't kick a lot of goals or take a lot of marks he should be dropped?
Let him develop into the role.

 

[Number 10]

Because he is our second tall forward and has kicked 4 goals for the season.............

4 GOALS!!!!

FOUR

 

[TheFreshBanana]

Argh people need to realise that if we play Wood/Jolly as a Ruck combo and Dawes as a permanent forward, it means we have 1 less non KP player on the field.

And it's not like any of our midfielders have genuine pace on them, I've seen it countless times when our players have been turned inside out by faster opposition players. Haven't seen it much this time because we've fixed that by playing 1 less KP!

Stick with it. Dawes is good enough to pass in the ruck, he's still a genuine target up forward and rarely get's outmarked and he takes away the focus on Cloke.

Also, even if Paine were to come in, it's not like he'll have immediate impact ffs. Plus theres only about 10 matches until finals, do you actually think he'll be finals worthy

 

[legendstatus]

Because he is our second tall forward and has kicked 4 goals for the season.............

4 GOALS!!!!

FOUR

Spot on..... Anyone defending Dawes doesn't know anything about the game.

 

[Hotpiescoldbeers]

We need to try either Witts or ceglar and drop Dawes, it is worth the risk as they couldn't play any worse then Dawes is playing

 

[grokq]

Wood or Jolly forward is a terrible option. They might give a solid initial contest, but their second and third efforts are non-existent. Dawes might struggle in games, but have a look at his second and third efforts - go through just about every game this year and you'll find at least two or three goals that come from Dawes' contests. He does the things Jolly and Wood are incapable of doing, which are critical for our forward line - he stays in the team, for mine. Without doubt.

This. Dawes has mobility where Jolly and Wood don't. When Dawes goes forward he takes the second back which leaves Goldsack to have his way with the third. I agree with many other posters that Wood is OK in the taps but second rate around the ground, but I think Jolly is also living on past glory. Wood or Jolly (not both) with a chop-out from Dawes for mine.

 

[BEEG]

Now everybody stay calm Buckley has not done wrong yet look what he did with Sinclair

Geelong put faith in Tom Hawkins he returned the faith we do not have any better options so we have nothing to lose

 

[PreciousPossum]

This. Dawes has mobility where Jolly and Wood don't. When Dawes goes forward he takes the second back which leaves Goldsack to have his way with the third. I agree with many other posters that Wood is OK in the taps but second rate around the ground, but I think Jolly is also living on past glory. Wood or Jolly (not both) with a chop-out from Dawes for mine.

Dawes against Hickey was truly second rate around the ground. He was beaten for marks time after time, and could not even spoil Hickey. He might have mobility but he has no presence at the moment against other big men. We probably have to play him because Paine will not be playing in our final's team and Wood and Jolly are not a good combination with the forward line in mind.

 

[Maggie5]

Why does everyone expect Chris Dawes to be Travis Cloke?

He played fine against GC, except for one missed chest mark. He was great with his second and third efforts when the ball hit the ground and also threw his weight around at the stoppages.
How many times did he get a one on one opportunity in the forward 50 to take a mark and kick a goal? I can only remember the missed chest mark. So we went to him 2 or 3 times in the whole game because we were preoccupied with kicking long to Cloke so he could regain his confidence, and because he didn't kick a lot of goals or take a lot of marks he should be dropped?
Let him develop into the role.

Totally agree, he is no longer the stay at home forward, he is in a new role and the club is giving him time to settle into the role (just like Geelong did with Hawkins). Wood is not the answer maybe as a tap ruckman he is good but does not do enough around the ground. (Falling back to help defenders, doesn't really go on hard enough for the ball and even going for the mark does not do enough damage.
Memo: Legendstatus - I have been following football since 1950, think I can have an opinion about the game as others are entitled to.

 

[look at him goooo!]

The choice comes down to Wood or Dawes, because the other options don't play 2nd ruck.

Wood marginally beat a 2nd gamer in the ruck yesterday, but was pantsed around the ground by him. Dawes was ok in the ruck, but only really competed with Day - who was worst on ground and was destroyed by Brown when he was forward.

Dawes had a great start to the game as a forward, then immediately went missing when he had a spell in the ruck. He then went back forward but it was almost as if his teammated had forgotten he was there - he got on his bike a few times and had good seperation on his opponent, only to watch the ball bombed over his head.

He's not in great nick, but given the choice between Dawes and Wood - I'll take Dawes all day at this stage.

If Paine can come in an also shoulder 2nd ruck duties, all for him being given a go - but I don't think its realistic to expect it.

Define marginally? id have thought 14 hitouts to advantage against 5 hitouts to advantage is a pretty comprehensive win in the ruck.

I'd rather try the wood and jolly combo for next week, see how that goes

 

[tattooedswan]

Trade him for Jack Watts

Huge LOL

 

[Copeland]

I think his team mates have lost a bit of faith in his marking so he is not one of the first options they look for which compounds the problem. With Leroy gone he's our best option when in form but the question is can he regain that form.

 

[Pie eyed]

I re-watched the whole match yesterday.

Dawes was just not that bad.
His form is down, but he had plenty of input.
Dropped two he should have taken, but then so did plenty of others.

I would persist.

Love to see him relieved of ruck duties to focus on his strengths.

 

[cleomenes]

Chris Dawes is playing an essential role for the team, and playing it reasonably well. His only failing is that he drops marks that we would expect him to take. Remember though, he is always in front and if there is a contest, the ball comes to ground, where he is superior to most opponents, and the small forwards have a chance at it. His knock on work is creative, and although not always successful, often produces a scoring opportunity for a team mate. His ruck work is better than one might expect, given his lack of height in that kind of contest. In short, there is little excuse for the constant carping about his play, especially as his overhead marking seems to be improving to me, particularly where htere is an actual contest. The ones he drops where there is only an anticipation of a contest are the problem area that he can work on, but I have few complaints about other aspects of his play.

 

[Pies12]

i dont know how any can defend him? its pure jargon this effort stuff. i mean come on.
hes our second tall forward who trys to mark the ball in the fashion in which youd "spike" a volleyball. He drops simple chestmarks. isnt kicking goals and offers little to nothing in the ruck, Hes just a pure liability at the moment and must be sent to the twos.

 

[Markfs]

Jolly and Wood must play together for Melbourne game try it honestly i know bucks wont have the balls to do something like that because he will say Dawes is too important to the structure and all this

yeh, bucks wont have the balls... you are so cool shady...

 

[Captivating]

i dont know how any can defend him? its pure jargon this effort stuff. i mean come on.
hes our second tall forward who trys to mark the ball in the fashion in which youd "spike" a volleyball. He drops simple chestmarks. isnt kicking goals and offers little to nothing in the ruck, Hes just a pure liability at the moment and must be sent to the twos.

He is just woeful at the moment. He has gone from at least contesting marks to now being comprehensively out marked in the contest. His positioning in the marking contest is amateurish.

 

[loki04]

I don't understand people's insistence that Ceglar would not be up for playing the 2nd ruck/ fwd role, his VFL form has been good and he looked good in the NAB against AFL quality opponents.

Dawes is woefully out of form and really needs to regain the confidence he has lost over the last 12 months, his first couple of overhead marks against the GC was encouraging to see then he went to water there in after.

Bring in Ceglar and see how he goes because he couldn't be worse then Dawes currently.

 

[Pie eyed]

I don't understand people's insistence that Ceglar would not be up for playing the 2nd ruck/ fwd role, his VFL form has been good and he looked good in the NAB against AFL quality opponents.

Dawes is woefully out of form and really needs to regain the confidence he has lost over the last 12 months, his first couple of overhead marks against the GC was encouraging to see then he went to water there in after.

Bring in Ceglar and see how he goes because he couldn't be worse then Dawes currently.

Ceglar apparently had good day out in the VFL, named in the best.
Dying to see this bloke have a go. Dave has wound him up huge....

 

[rose jam]

Ceglar apparently had good day out in the VFL, named in the best.
Dying to see this bloke have a go. Dave has wound him up huge....

He's playing at the level Leigh Brown was last year, which was/is enough to keep him in the side as a role player but got a lot more to give.
I suspect Bucks will play a few games with Jolly and Wood together to give Dawes a rest from rucking and some chances to get some forward form back. Be expecting Trav to get a rest on the way home so hopefully in that game or two he can really shine.

 

[Didak Wine]

I dont think the guy is any better or worse than when he first started. The team was so good he could hide. In the gf that goal he scored made me think if he can score a goal like that 2010 is our year. Id play paine, or plAy our best mid at full forward or interchange our mids through there, or taz if brown and reid can hold the backline together. Keefe would have been handy...jolly full forward just wont cut it in the modern game