Chris Tarrant

[Frigate]

I honestly believed Tarrant would have a break out year this year. No more injury, a year to settle in, new coach.
I selected him in my fantasy team.

I am going to stick by him for now as I think he still will have a huge role in what will be a finals year for us.

I think everyone has made a fair case either way. He still has everything to prove.

 

[chook2734]

I think Taz gets rattled by the Pies and will be better for that game being over. Haven't had a chance to watch the replay of the game, but looking at the stats, he's finished with 6 tackles, so to me that says he's still willing to work even when he is having a dog of a day. The delivery to the forwards on Saturday was awful and neither Pav nor Taz were ever going to have an easy game. Hopefully Taz can repeat his performance against the Hawks from last year - Harvey needs to let him run free at half forward and he will deliver.

 

[newlander77]

I think Taz gets rattled by the Pies and will be better for that game being over.

So your saying Medhurst is mentally stronger than Taz then?

 

[HFF]

Taz has and always will cop alot of crap from many different people- opposition supporters, media etc.

Taz not working hard enough is laughable. I was a big fan when he was one of ours and I still cast an eye over him when he is playing for your mob and from his time with Collingwood- his work rate and burst of speed were the attributes that made him an AA footballer.

Wallsy looked like a fool when he said he doesn't work hard enough- that is clearly not true. He may look disinterested at times, lethargic or may show poor body language but that's just the type of person he is- laid back. It just gets magnified because it is Tarrant.

His goal kicking has always been flawed, but his field kicking is quite good and he ranks very highly in assists- which shows he needs to be played across half-forward with the licence to roam, lead hard and constantly create.

He needs to revert back to being that linkman from half-back to half-forward. He can take big grabs inside 50-evident with a few of his screamers and mark of the year- which evidently becomes a bonus if he can contribute on the scoreboard too.

On Saturday your footskills collectively looked like ours in 2004/2005 when we butchered the ball to Tarrant 90% of the time and just murdered him with kicks dropping short, too long or too wide after he was 20m clear of his opponent most of the time. I can recall Malthouse making that very clear in many of his press conferences during those seasons.

Also, I'd take Tarrant before Murphy or Campbell too.

 

[westy1]

i've been of the opion to play tarrant on the wing for some time now,if only for the reason of trying to get some value for the investment we made in him
the thing i've noticed about taz is that he wins a lot one on one of contests at ground level and despite popular opinion he goes in hard at ground level.This would also let him get his hands on the pill a bit more freaquently thus boosting his confidence,at the same time as taking the pressure him when he kicks for goal,
by doing this it would make room for murph to come in ,while swinging dessie up fwd maybe rotating between the bench and the wing

 

[chook2734]

So your saying Medhurst is mentally stronger than Taz then?

I think they both have their weaknesses in that area. I also think that Taz has gone from being a big fish in a big pool, to a big fish in a very little pool, wile Medders has now become an average sized fish in an an enormous pool. No one cares if Medhurst has a bad game anymore, if Tarrant has one, it's back page news.

 

[The Night Shift]

The pies supporters offer some real insight into Taz. Perhaps that linkman role is worthy of pursuing......

 

[Shaymuhz]

i have faith.

 

[4#Didak#4]

Taz is not a FF, he cannot play deep that well. As has been mentioned he is almost impossible to stop as a long lead up forward and can provide a target on the wing or HFF. However problem with this is he just doesnt hurt you much there, he seems unable to work back the other way and provide a consistent target inside 50 and when he does get it his kicking lets him down.

I have always thought Taz would be a great CHB. This has been thrown out there a few times when he was having lean times at the Pies, however his "potential" as a forward always seems to win out. He reads the ball well, he has pace to go with any forward, would provide run & rebound, can get to contests. He would not have the pressure of being the focus of the team going forward or goalkicking which Taz struggles with a lot. He is an ideal matrch up for someone like Riewolt. I believe he would dominate here but the temptation to play him forward always wins out. Croad is another who was played a long time forward when he was really a backman.

This sort of move would allow young guys like Murphy to step into his forward position. I don't think it would have been the worst move for the Pies to swing him back and allow Cloke to step up, but it seems we have more than enough young guys capable down back so the trade has worked well for us.

 

[theGav56]

This sort of move would allow young guys like Murphy to step into his forward position.

There is only one thing stopping Murphy stepping up, and it is not Tarrant.

 

[nipper]

Taz has and always will cop alot of crap from many different people- opposition supporters, media etc.

Taz not working hard enough is laughable. I was a big fan when he was one of ours and I still cast an eye over him when he is playing for your mob and from his time with Collingwood- his work rate and burst of speed were the attributes that made him an AA footballer.

Wallsy looked like a fool when he said he doesn't work hard enough- that is clearly not true. He may look disinterested at times, lethargic or may show poor body language but that's just the type of person he is- laid back. It just gets magnified because it is Tarrant.

His goal kicking has always been flawed, but his field kicking is quite good and he ranks very highly in assists- which shows he needs to be played across half-forward with the licence to roam, lead hard and constantly create.

He needs to revert back to being that linkman from half-back to half-forward. He can take big grabs inside 50-evident with a few of his screamers and mark of the year- which evidently becomes a bonus if he can contribute on the scoreboard too.

On Saturday your footskills collectively looked like ours in 2004/2005 when we butchered the ball to Tarrant 90% of the time and just murdered him with kicks dropping short, too long or too wide after he was 20m clear of his opponent most of the time. I can recall Malthouse making that very clear in many of his press conferences during those seasons.

Also, I'd take Tarrant before Murphy or Campbell too.

Yes I still follow Taz with interest, however this was the worst game I have witnessed mainly because he is carrying no injury. I am aware though that Taz had his engagement party that night and besides a few players most of the Collingwood players were there including Dale Thomas. Which may be why he struggled to get it together on the day.

 

[Belnakor]

There is only one thing stopping Murphy stepping up, and it is not Tarrant.

talent? guts? determination? A heart bigger than a pea? commitment?

 

[tripple1zero]

The pies supporters offer some real insight into Taz. Perhaps that linkman role is worthy of pursuing......

If only it were our choice!

Doing something different with Tarrant is better than doing nothing.

 

[dominguez]

There is only one thing stopping Murphy stepping up, and it is not Tarrant.

Opportunity?

Murphy had a poor year last season, but Connolly/Schwab kicked him in the guts by bringing in his replacement. Murphy's second half of 2006 was superior to what we have seen so far from Tarrant.

Murphy kicked 3.4 last week, Tarrant kicked 0.1. At what stage do we swap them over? Like the Croad affair Schwab has put us in a shit position, because we really need to keep playing Tarrant and hope that he finds form.

Pav into the middle could solve two problems, fix our midfield and prevent the club from having to choose between an inform Murphy/Campbell and an out of sorts Tarrant.

 

[chook2734]

Opportunity?

Murphy had a poor year last season, but Connolly/Schwab kicked him in the guts by bringing in his replacement. Murphy's second half of 2006 was superior to what we have seen so far from Tarrant.

Murphy kicked 3.4 last week, Tarrant kicked 0.1. At what stage do we swap them over? Like the Croad affair Schwab has put us in a shit position, because we really need to keep playing Tarrant and hope that he finds form.

Pav into the middle could solve two problems, fix our midfield and prevent the club from having to choose between an inform Murphy/Campbell and an out of sorts Tarrant.

I think the answer Gav was looking for was Murphy, dom (more specifically, his attitude).

Murphy has the talent, but he doesn't seem to have the drive. The problem is, he can quite easily kick 3 goals and not be sighted - football supporters are not often patient enough to deal with players like that. Some weeks, he won't kick any and won't be sighted. If he's going to get a game, he needs 4-6 weeks, regardless of how many are nothing games. I'm not sure how many on here are prepared to do that.

Back to Taz, I haven't had a chance to watch the replay yet, but really, was he that bad? It's one game. How about we give the guy a chance?

 

[dominguez]

Back to Taz, I haven't had a chance to watch the replay yet, but really, was he that bad? It's one game. How about we give the guy a chance?

It is one game, but he has only kicked 1 goal in his last 4 games going back to last season.

He'll get another chance but the pressure will be huge if he can't get a kick over the next fortnight. For some reason I'm pretty confident he'll play well over the next month.

 

[Lach72]

It is one game, but he has only kicked 1 goal in his last 4 games going back to last season.

He'll get another chance but the pressure will be huge if he can't get a kick over the next fortnight. For some reason I'm pretty confident he'll play well over the next month.

It suits your Pavlich agenda, Jeff? I mean Dom.

 

[HFF]

Yes I still follow Taz with interest, however this was the worst game I have witnessed mainly because he is carrying no injury. I am aware though that Taz had his engagement party that night and besides a few players most of the Collingwood players were there including Dale Thomas. Which may be why he struggled to get it together on the day.

Congrats on his engagement then.

Good to see he still has close links with our boys- even surprisingly with Daisy.

 

[chook2734]

It is one game, but he has only kicked 1 goal in his last 4 games going back to last season.

He'll get another chance but the pressure will be huge if he can't get a kick over the next fortnight. For some reason I'm pretty confident he'll play well over the next month.

I think it's pretty harsh to judge him on a couple of games at the end of last year dom. You could take 90% of the team and do that and not many would come up favourably. He'd had no pre-season, surgery on both legs, and there wasn't a whole lot to play for at that stage. He had an outstanding game against the Hawks last year, and I'm hoping to see him do the same again this week.

 

[Belnakor]

I hope he has a good game - for both his sake and ours. Otherwise he will be shaping up as one of our worst trades ever.

 

[The Night Shift]

You are just a little ray of sunshine today belnakor

 

[theGav56]

Opportunity?

Murphy had a poor year last season, but Connolly/Schwab kicked him in the guts by bringing in his replacement. Murphy's second half of 2006 was superior to what we have seen so far from Tarrant.

That's nice that Murphy had a good 1/2 of a season. Once. A few years back.

They recruited tarrant then spent the pre-season giving Murphy every opportunity to show why their plan for playing 3 tall, marking forwards would work. Murphy spent it showing why it wouldn't work with him.

Seriously he is at a stage in his career where he should be an absolute world beater at WAFL level, and then he will be selected regardless of Tarrant. Tarrant is selected because he is our second best tall forward.

 

[Belnakor]

You are just a little ray of sunshine today belnakor

I can see why the trade was done at the time - we had deluded ourselves after 2006 that we were only a couple of kicks from winning a premiership. We now know that was false, and hence the Tarrant trade isn't looking so good - and Tarrants form is not improving.

 

[Belnakor]

That's nice that Murphy had a good 1/2 of a season. Once. A few years back.

They recruited tarrant then spent the pre-season giving Murphy every opportunity to show why their plan for playing 3 tall, marking forwards would work. Murphy spent it showing why it wouldn't work with him.

Seriously he is at a stage in his career where he should be an absolute world beater at WAFL level, and then he will be selected regardless of Tarrant. Tarrant is selected because he is our second best tall forward.

Agreed - people pushing Murphy seem to be remembering back to a purple patch he had in 2006 and ignoring his terrible, terrible 2007. Murphy was lucky to get another contract and he'll be waiting awhile for another call up.

 

[chook2734]

Agreed - people pushing Murphy seem to be remembering back to a purple patch he had in 2006 and ignoring his terrible, terrible 2007. Murphy was lucky to get another contract and he'll be waiting awhile for another call up.

Belnakor, I think you'll find he's out of contract at the end of this year. He's going to need to show he wants it, or he'll be heading back to Victoria.