Toast Esava

[iameviljez]

Coaching staff need to be smarter with his workload during games, when the game has been there to be won he's been out there absolutely stuffed both games, bench him more often early in games so he can win it for us when it counts in last quarters.

Bit hard to do when your side is the walking bloody wounded both times.

 

[WillJaffa32]

When Buzza made his debut last year and his couple of games after, I thought 'he's a good athlete that crashes the packs and has a bright future' and though he has a bright future, geez Sav is so much more agile and mobile and reckon will be better in the long run. Good hands, ability to win the ball in the air and on the ground and has good goal sense. Hopefully Smith/Stanley are in this week so Sav can play up the ground a lot more against the Saints

 

[Spazz Cat]

Thing I love about him is that he competes hard every single time, weather in a marking contest, rucking or on the ground.
Seems to never get pushed under the ball or get caught behind his opponent either.
Leads straight at the ball carrier too.
Quite impressive.

 

[RegHickeyStand]

When Buzza made his debut last year and his couple of games after, I thought 'he's a good athlete that crashes the packs and has a bright future' and though he has a bright future, geez Sav is so much more agile and mobile and reckon will be better in the long run. Good hands, ability to win the ball in the air and on the ground and has good goal sense. Hopefully Smith/Stanley are in this week so Sav can play up the ground a lot more against the Saints

With Buzza I thought here is a kid who might really make it. Sav has already got it. He needs to be bought along slowly. Get him out of the ruck. Needs a week off every now and then. What is he, 19? Ridiculous. I know the GFC likes nothing more than putting their stars in rehab, but I hoope they don't do it this time.

 

[calder_daddy]

This needs another post

 

[Strange Cat]

View attachment 481073 This needs another post

*Swoon*

Get him up here...

 

[dazbroncos]

View attachment 481073 This needs another post

If ever a player could do something to appeal to the fan base..

Well played son!

Go Catters

 

[volcboy]

I didn't read the rest of the thread, but my thoughts are that Sav needs to be fast-tracked into becoming our #1 ruckman who rests forward. Get him training with Otto for the technique and work on his physical endurance, and in 2019 and beyond he could easily surpass anything that Smith and Stanley can dish up.

 

[Down at K Park]

I didn't read the rest of the thread, but my thoughts are that Sav needs to be fast-tracked into becoming our #1 ruckman who rests forward. Get him training with Otto for the technique and work on his physical endurance, and in 2019 and beyond he could easily surpass anything that Smith and Stanley can dish up.

I would rather him a lead up forward who pinch hits in the ruck.

Why waste him as a ruck?

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

I would rather him a lead up forward who pinch hits in the ruck.

Why waste him as a ruck?

Totally agree , after all he's only 197cm so small by first ruck standards
Looks comfortable up forward though , lot to work with there

 

[volcboy]

I would rather him a lead up forward who pinch hits in the ruck.

Why waste him as a ruck?

I don't see it as a waste - there is a board full of whiners here that complain that we haven't had a real ruckman since Otto.

Esava is 1cm taller than Paddy Ryder, who was All-Australian as a ruckman last year, so I don't see his height as an issue given his athleticism.

 

[Strange Cat]

I don't see it as a waste - there is a board full of whiners here that complain that we haven't had a real ruckman since Otto.

Esava is 1cm taller than Paddy Ryder, who was All-Australian as a ruckman last year, so I don't see his height as an issue given his athleticism.

Hawkins isn’t going to be around forever

A replacement will be hard to get, so why waste his potential filling in for the Rucks we already have . Hopefully once Smith is math fit or whatever he comes back and performs better.

Can’t believe people want him as a ruck despite whinging for years and years about the lack of support for Hawkins or a replacement in that area.

Utter madness

 

[splashwave]

Hawkins isn’t going to be around forever

A replacement will be hard to get, so why waste his potential filling in for the Rucks we already have . Hopefully once Smith is math fit or whatever he comes back and performs better.

Can’t believe people want him as a ruck despite whinging for years and years about the lack of support for Hawkins or a replacement in that area.

Utter madness

he looks promising in both positions, people are going to say he should be playing in whichever part of the ground they think is the bigger weakness for us.

personally I think it will cost us a lot more to try to bring in a good key forward than a good ruckman so it would make more sense to use him as a forward, but it's exciting either way.

 

[volcboy]

Hawkins isn’t going to be around forever

A replacement will be hard to get, so why waste his potential filling in for the Rucks we already have . Hopefully once Smith is math fit or whatever he comes back and performs better.

Can’t believe people want him as a ruck despite whinging for years and years about the lack of support for Hawkins or a replacement in that area.

Utter madness

Note: People have different opinions. Insulting them does not change this. "The rucks we already have" have been savaged on here for their mediocrity this year (and previous years), and rightfully so to a degree. The 'Hopefully he performs better' statement about Zac Smith is just that; a hope. He's also 28 years old, and won't be around for ever. What other ruckmen do we have in the VFL on our list who are both young and have potential?

I haven't whined for years about a lack of support for Hawkins - I would prefer we play only one marking target surrounded by mid-sized and smaller players that can apply more pressure personally. Our forward woes of the past few years have had more to do with structure and how we use the ball going forward rather than personnel IMHO.

Another comparison as a player to Esava would be Roughead, who has kicked 50+ goals while playing significant time in the ruck over a number of years. Just because I think he should be developed as a ruckman doesn't mean I don't think he should also be developed as a marking forward.

Heads up for the future; learn to argue facts and distinguish what is an opinion before name-calling and insulting people you don't know when discussing issues online from behind your keyboard.

 

[Ratcat]

The excuse by many for non draft of tall forwards is that they always go early , then wouldn't you think now we have one to fill that role we'd major on his development as a key forward?
Leave most of the crash and bash to a 203cm ruck who is replaceable.
Some rucking in the forward area acceptable but the rest is for the permanent ruckman.
We need big forwards badly.

 

[Warhorse]

The excuse by many for non draft of tall forwards is that they always go early , then wouldn't you think now we have one to fill that role we'd major on his development as a key forward?
Leave most of the crash and bash to a 203cm ruck who is replaceable.
Some rucking in the forward area acceptable but the rest is for the permanent ruckman.
We need big forwards badly.

Agree. Much easier to find a ruck with a late pick than a forward

 

[Strange Cat]

Note: People have different opinions. Insulting them does not change this. "The rucks we already have" have been savaged on here for their mediocrity this year (and previous years), and rightfully so to a degree. The 'Hopefully he performs better' statement about Zac Smith is just that; a hope. He's also 28 years old, and won't be around for ever. What other ruckmen do we have in the VFL on our list who are both young and have potential?

I haven't whined for years about a lack of support for Hawkins - I would prefer we play only one marking target surrounded by mid-sized and smaller players that can apply more pressure personally. Our forward woes of the past few years have had more to do with structure and how we use the ball going forward rather than personnel IMHO.

Another comparison as a player to Esava would be Roughead, who has kicked 50+ goals while playing significant time in the ruck over a number of years. Just because I think he should be developed as a ruckman doesn't mean I don't think he should also be developed as a marking forward.

Heads up for the future; learn to argue facts and distinguish what is an opinion before name-calling and insulting people you don't know when discussing issues online from behind your keyboard.

Where in my post have I insulted anyone personally?

All I did was stated my opnion that it is madness to leave him in the ruck.

Maybe in the future you can not be so sensitive about soneone’s Opnion that wasn’t directed to yourself personally.

 

[Ratcat]

Agree. Much easier to find a ruck with a late pick than a forward

The small forwardline advocates want to throw him to the ruck, trash him there and also expect him to be a goalkicking marking forward while all these little forwards are expected to do is chase occasionally.
The small forwardline at Geelong is a failure because there's no advantage offensively.
Our forwardline is ineffective basic and covered to easily, we need power players like Sav to turn that around.
Playing without a ruckman stuffed that last week if not we could have won.

 

[Zeroman]

Let Sav play fwd With Hawkins. Settle the fwd line.

 

[Down at K Park]

I don't see it as a waste - there is a board full of whiners here that complain that we haven't had a real ruckman since Otto.

Esava is 1cm taller than Paddy Ryder, who was All-Australian as a ruckman last year, so I don't see his height as an issue given his athleticism.

But he isn't a ruckman. Has always played forward and was drafted as a forward, and has never played for us as the no1 ruck. He might pinch hit there but thats it. There's been a lot of talk on here about the club trying to make players what they aren't. And that's exactly what you are now suggesting.

We can get a young ruck with a mid to late pick in the draft, and they should do that this year imo.

 

[Fyre]

But he isn't a ruckman. Has always played forward and was drafted as a forward, and has never played for us as the no1 ruck. He might pinch hit there but thats it. There's been a lot of talk on here about the club trying to make players what they aren't. And that's exactly what you are now suggesting.

We can get a young ruck with a mid to late pick in the draft, and they should do that this year imo.

Given they potentially burn a lot of the early picks matching or taking F/S picks in this years draft, makes even more sense to aim for a ruck pick later in the draft.

 

[strauchnyy]

We all know (and at least now we all know for all the lovers) that Scott is a terrible coach with monumental stuff up after monumental stuff up.

But now, after the same problems have f*cked us for the first 3 games (not to mention the same weakenesses that have f*cked us for years that remain unfixed) he SURELY now has realised that we need to make the following changes:

1. Blicavs to KPD as a FB or CHB.

This stops stupid match ups like Zuthrie on Roughead. We effectively go Blicavs and Kolo as 2 tall defenders, Stewart as the 3rd rebounding defender. Frees up the smaller players too.

2. Bring Smith in to replace Blitz in the ruck.

Smith is our no.1 ruck who should NEVER have been dropped after round one. He is superior to Stanley and 1 bag game shouldn't banish him to the VFL when he is one of our more important players. If Scott played a ruck v West Coast (and I mean 17 other coaches and 99.999999% of Australians would have played a ruck against west coast) the outcome would've been different as Naitanui killed us (as expected) and drove them over the line with 3 goals directly from his taps.

3. Play Esava as a key forward together with Hawkins.

FFS scott, don't ruin this kid too by playing him all over the place (think Gregson, Gurthrie Parfitt playing forward, Lang even Smedts were all played out of position and lost confidence etc.) settle him as a second tall forward. Esava and Blitz can provide relief minutes to Smith, but Smith should be rucking the same minutes as Nank for tigs or Sandi for freo.. ie the maximum.

This give us STRUCTURE. It settles the team and it will improve our defence, ruck and gives Esava more rest up forward to impact games.

It is the most simple, logical and OBVIOUS coaching amendment... surely Scott will know to do this.... surely.... (he probably won't know to do this and will continue with our current set up... what's the definition of insanity again?)

 

[And_ROOS]

Esava needs to be forward. The only one to consistently crash packs and hold his marks. The tank will run dry at some point since he hasn't been in the AFL system too long, silly not to use him while we have him and can maximize his output.

 

[Ratcat]

We all know (and at least now we all know for all the lovers) that Scott is a terrible coach with monumental stuff up after monumental stuff up.

But now, after the same problems have f*cked us for the first 3 games (not to mention the same weakenesses that have f*cked us for years that remain unfixed) he SURELY now has realised that we need to make the following changes:

1. Blicavs to KPD as a FB or CHB.

This stops stupid match ups like Zuthrie on Roughead. We effectively go Blicavs and Kolo as 2 tall defenders, Stewart as the 3rd rebounding defender. Frees up the smaller players too.

2. Bring Smith in to replace Blitz in the ruck.

Smith is our no.1 ruck who should NEVER have been dropped after round one. He is superior to Stanley and 1 bag game shouldn't banish him to the VFL when he is one of our more important players. If Scott played a ruck v West Coast (and I mean 17 other coaches and 99.999999% of Australians would have played a ruck against west coast) the outcome would've been different as Naitanui killed us (as expected) and drove them over the line with 3 goals directly from his taps.

3. Play Esava as a key forward together with Hawkins.

FFS scott, don't ruin this kid too by playing him all over the place (think Gregson, Gurthrie Parfitt playing forward, Lang even Smedts were all played out of position and lost confidence etc.) settle him as a second tall forward. Esava and Blitz can provide relief minutes to Smith, but Smith should be rucking the same minutes as Nank for tigs or Sandi for freo.. ie the maximum.

This give us STRUCTURE. It settles the team and it will improve our defence, ruck and gives Esava more rest up forward to impact games.

It is the most simple, logical and OBVIOUS coaching amendment... surely Scott will know to do this.... surely.... (he probably won't know to do this and will continue with our current set up... what's the definition of insanity again?)

Hopefully this week won't see anymore strokes of genius from our Scottie
Just balance it out, that's all l want from him.

 

[bph25]

I hoped he would develop to this level say by 2020.
Very impressive so far. He will hit a wall at some stage but I've seen enough to confidently say he will be around a long while.
Not many big blokes have his toughness, agility, leap, ability to sit at FF and ruck. Very exciting.
I think long term after Hawkins big Sav sits at FF rucks the Forward 50.
Buzza will sit at CHF Cam mooney style.
Will be a nice duo and both very happy to hurt people which will make life great for our small forwards