Eagleton and Ray!

[JorgePosada]

Eagle usually only plays about 75% of game time, however he is also generally in the top 5 to 10 possession getters.

Yes, they are not always heavily contested - but he is a wing guy - he is the link man - he does that very well.

Defensively - he has improved considerably.

Can be very frustrating though. Still in the top 22 by a long way.

He is this period's Jose Romero. He is likely to have someone killed with those high short kicks that he insists on sitting on top of peoples heads.

His defensive pressure is poor. He rarely works hard to get to a one on one defensive match up.

He sits on the wing for cheap positions. Rarely works hard unless he is the direct recipient of something good.

He has no right foot which was shown on Saturday when, despite being well inside 50, he refused to kick at goal and the ball ended up going back outside 50. Twice.

He maybe in our best 22 now, but he better enjoy it, because when the likes of Ward and Higgins start to bloom, he'll be done.

 

[lindsay_bulldogs]

Personally this outside inside player stuff I consider rubbish. Maybe in the old days when 90% off football was considered contested you needed a couple off outside runners. These days every one runs. Now there is either blokes who go harder when needed and there are blokes that just can't or don't.

Ray I have no issues with as he can get in and under when needed. Eagleton I would rate the worst one on one contested player I have ever seen pull on a bulldogs jumper. To top that I would say he is the teams worst tackler.

Thats my opinion so don't put me in fifty quotes about this as no point you won't be changing my mind.

 

[cookieDogs]

haha i like it how whenever someone bags Ray for being unaccountable they always say hes playing on some player that actually isnt his direct opponent haha
makes you look silly

 

[Bulldog1954]

Did I read in this thread Eagleton doesn't work hard? He does a hell of a lot of gut running that goes un-noticed. Eagle is still a good player, every year people doubt if he'll still be in our best 22 the following year. He will be in our best 22 for at least two more years after this

 

[stevebiscuit]

Eagleton I would rate the worst one on one contested player I have ever seen pull on a bulldogs jumper. To top that I would say he is the teams worst tackler.

Eagleton is actually currently ranked 7th at the bulldogs for tackles per game and has had 9 tackles in a game twice this season - vs Fremantle and St.Kilda - for what its worth.

 

[jeemak]

Eagleton is actually currently ranked 7th at the bulldogs for tackles per game and has had 9 tackles in a game twice this season - vs Fremantle and St.Kilda - for what its worth.

That's pretty impressive for somebody with terrible work ethic and an innability to tackle.

With our will to progress as a club and the depth of runners we seem to have I often wonder why we keep giving this bloke a game. Perhaps it's because the coaching staff dictate to him what type of roll he has to play each week and are satisfied with his performance and work rate. A little bit like Gia over the years.

Farren is a player with a massive upside. He is on a steep learning curve but the progress has been pretty good so far this year and if he didn't cop the injury in the first NAB game he'd be ahead of where he is now. His kicking is an issue, particularly on the left like people have mentioned. I was under the impression he was a relatively late starter to the game, and from my experience, the guys who I have played with in the past who started late but had talent often didn't know when to use their natural foot over their non-preferred. They eventually all develop this skill but in the meantime make significant gains on their non-preferred. Hopefully Ray does the same.

 

[acker]

Neither of them will be anywhere near the trade or retire edge of the team list at the end of this year.

 

[johnmandiddy]

ever thought the reason why eagle gets so much uncontested possession is because his gut busting running mean his opponent can't keep up?

it's not like he's getting cheap possessions, he's running hard into space and quite often in the middle of an attacking thrust.

Excellent post. A lot of goals are created by Eagleton doing this.

 

[lindsay_bulldogs]

Eagleton is actually currently ranked 7th at the bulldogs for tackles per game and has had 9 tackles in a game twice this season - vs Fremantle and St.Kilda - for what its worth.

Here is his stats for 2008

http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pp-western-bulldogs--nathan-eagleton

Averages just over two tackles a game.

Highest was 7 against Freo take that out off his total of 30 and well you get the picture.

 

[bludger]

100% correct!!

I've noticed (I'm sure everyone else has too!)...this year he seems to be kicking on his right foot most of the time.

Last year was a horror...he went onto the left every single time!!...but he;s been so much better at steadying on the right...and clearly had been told to do so.

I never really "understood" Eagelton's kicking power until I saw him live this season...impressive.

(Same as about 3 years ago I saw Wheatley playing a VFL game against Tassie and was absolutely bloody impressed with his kicking. Amazingly good! )

I think he kicks more on the left than he ever did. It isn't as if he is Leon Cameron, Darren Jarman or Aker who can kick nearly equally as well with either foot. He is noticeably weaker on the left, almost like when Bubba Smith kicked on the left (he shouldn't have).

 

[Dry Rot]

Eagle might be in trouble next .

How long is his contract? This is the last draft as we know them for a few years and there could be a surprise or two if Clayton wanted say 5 picks at the end of this season.

 

[Cyberdoggie]

And here I was thinking there would be no Ray and Eagleton bashing this week as they both played well on weekend and the bashers wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

People like to think back to the 1 or 2 bad mistakes and forget the other 18 that hit the target perfect. The stats simply do not support you, since Ray came back into team, he has improved every week and last two weeks has been in better players. Taking out his first two weeks back, he has one of the highest effective disposal rates at the club in the last month.

Eagleton has also been very consistent over the last month as well. These two players are not taggers, they are wingers and there job is to run hard down the lines to create opportunities, not to shut down opposition players

Ray
17 - 23 posessions at 87% effective
16 - 20 posessions at 85% effective
15 - 22 posessions at 77% effective
14 - 17 posessions at 88% effective
13 - 21 posessions at 76% effective
12 - 12 posessions at 75% effective


Eagleton
17 - 23 posessions at 78% effective
16 - 21 posessions at at 71% effective
15 - 25 posessions at at 64% effective
14 - 22 posessions at at 81% effective
13 - 21 posessions at at 71% effective
12 - 17 posessions at at 88% effective

you cannot use these stats to tell the story, they don't tell you if the possesions were under pressure, contested, and it gives you absolutely no insight into the players decision making.

 

[doggiesin08]

How long is his contract? This is the last draft as we know them for a few years and there could be a surprise or two if Clayton wanted say 5 picks at the end of this season.

I've asked about this before, if the GC team is coming in for the 2011 season then wouldn't it be the 2010 draft that is the first affected (other than Queensland teenagers) and not the 2009? I though the whole GC team getting 15 of the first 25 picks or whatever was for the 2010 draft not 2009?