Toast Esava

[Cursed Cat]

I don't mind persisting with him, and I acknowledge he has a lot of raw talent in a few particular areas, but my opinion is that we need to develop him as a ruck. I don't think he'll make it as a KPF.

cheers; interesting, you're not alone in thinking his best position is ruck it seems - personally I like him splitting his time up forward and in relieving in the ruck, but he does look pretty comfortable at the centre bounces, particularly once the ball hits the deck ..

 

[Mr Meow]

When he builds a tank hopefully he could be quite an asset as a dual role player. One either playing permanently in the ruck with chop outs up forward, or vice versa. Which I guess is sort of what he's doing already (the latter) but it will be effective once he's developed and got that mojo going. Seems to be a confidence player but I still think his upside is AFL level, especially in a team bereft of quality key forward or ruck options.

 

[dazbroncos]

Massive improvement - he didt reduce our score in this game.

I am bieng a bit silly but also he got some confidence up - and thats huge for him.

Hes gonna end up on a poster soon...

GO Catters

 

[Spearman]

Hawkins' goalkicking accuracy during his first five years:

2007: 12.10
2008: 13.5
2009: 34.17
2010: 21.13
2011: 27.17

Ratugolea's goalkicking accuracy thus far:

2018: 7.7
2019: 15.15
2020: 1.3

Sav's is much worse.

did't have a barn hayloft to kick at as a kid

 

[Spearman]

I liked that during the game yesterday, seemed to get a bit pissed off at himself and immediately went up a notch. I'm bullish on his continued improvement ad would keep him where he is now.

 

[Cronin]

I liked that during the game yesterday, seemed to get a bit pissed off at himself and immediately went up a notch. I'm bullish on his continued improvement ad would keep him where he is now.

We NEED him to come on, cause what else have we got?

 

[Landgraft]

I liked that during the game yesterday, seemed to get a bit pissed off at himself and immediately went up a notch. I'm bullish on his continued improvement ad would keep him where he is now.

If he can play like last night I think he's definitely staying in the team. It's not a perfect game, but his consistent impact on contests give us a huge weapon in the forward half (while it's not misfiring). That and he still probably isn't at his ceiling, and will benefit from continuity.

 

[calder_daddy]

I’ve found the last month he has started pretty average and then had an extended period of a game in the ruck which has got his confidence up in each game.
Would love to see him start with the first 10 minutes in the ruck and see how his entire game turns out from there.

 

[David the Cat]

I’ve found the last month he has started pretty average and then had an extended period of a game in the ruck which has got his confidence up in each game.
Would love to see him start with the first 10 minutes in the ruck and see how his entire game turns out from there.

Yes, I'm with you. I like him up field, competing in the air just as he did Saturday. He had a significant impact on the game.

From halfway through the 3rd quarter to the end Geelong outscored Gold Coast 53-7....Sav's impact from mid 3rd term seemed to inspire his team mates. I'd like to see more.

 

[dazbroncos]

Building slowly.. the big ones always do.

There will be ebbs abd flows but his confidence is getting there.

Still not convinced ling term the ruck is his go - however if its getting him touching the ball and allowing him to work into the game more then great.

2nd half much better this week..

The most important thing for me is his gettiing involved as the link up target up the ground.

Like the direction he is going. Ans yes, there is a poster in the making.

GO Catters

 

[Spearman]

In a way he is, right now, like Josh Walker a few years ago for us. Dynamic, pack smashing, but inconsistent. Difference being, Esava has a mountain of upcurve still in front of him. I liked JW, but its hard not to get excited about what Esava might become.
I agree with getting him into the game early with easier marks on the wings or in a couple of early ruck contests. He would be virtually unstoppable if he caught fire.

 

[My Tilly]

In a way he is, right now, like Josh Walker a few years ago for us. Dynamic, pack smashing, but inconsistent. Difference being, Esava has a mountain of upcurve still in front of him. I liked JW, but its hard not to get excited about what Esava might become.
I agree with getting him into the game early with easier marks on the wings or in a couple of early ruck contests. He would be virtually unstoppable if he caught fire.

He's a significantly better kick than Walker. Esava's style is text book perfect.
The guy just needs some time to put it all together. He's a massive unit and they always take years to build on their tank.

 

[God Mode]

In a way he is, right now, like Josh Walker a few years ago for us. Dynamic, pack smashing, but inconsistent. Difference being, Esava has a mountain of upcurve still in front of him. I liked JW, but its hard not to get excited about what Esava might become.
I agree with getting him into the game early with easier marks on the wings or in a couple of early ruck contests. He would be virtually unstoppable if he caught fire.

He has an IT factor that Walker didn't have. Something in the way he moves and grabs marks when he's full of confidence just clicks with the eye.

 

[cats_09]

When Ratugolea first broke into the scene a couple of years back, one of his upsides/positives was his willingness to jump for marks, crash packs etc

After he broken his ankle/lower leg, we didn't really see a lot of that last year, and there was some questions around his impact in the team because he wasn't really a marking target, wasn't crashing packs and not really hitting the scoreboard. The differences in his averages last season versus his first season were:
+0.2 disposals, -0.6 marks, -0.1 goals, -0.3 goal assists, -1.5 hitouts & +0.3 tackles


One part of his game where he seems to have turned the corner over the past fortnight is with his attack on the ball when it's in the air - and it's not just that he took 4 marks last week & 5 this week, but that he seemed to actually be reading the ball better. In the past it seemed that he would crash a pack in marking contest but not necessarily (positively) impact the contest.

The last fortnight we have started to see him holding some of those pack marks, but even when not marking, he's impacting the contest in a manner that's positive for teammates, especially teammates front & centre. And it's those things which are just as important or impactful as actually holding the marks

I hope he's taking confidence from the past fortnight and is feeling like he can compete & contribute at this level

 

[jim boy]

Hawkins' goalkicking accuracy during his first five years:

2007: 12.10
2008: 13.5
2009: 34.17
2010: 21.13
2011: 27.17

Ratugolea's goalkicking accuracy thus far:

2018: 7.7
2019: 15.15
2020: 1.3

Sav's is much worse.

I don't think the comparison is fair, Hawkins played full forward, Esava more centre-half forward and further up the ground. Naturally the accuracy is going to be less. In his early years Hawkins was not considered very reliable. Even in his breakout 2011 finals he was handing off to SJ from positions that the current Hawkins would (rightly) never consider.

 

[FredLeDeux]

I don't think the comparison is fair, Hawkins played full forward, Esava more centre-half forward and further up the ground. Naturally the accuracy is going to be less. In his early years Hawkins was not considered very reliable. Even in his breakout 2011 finals he was handing off to SJ from positions that the current Hawkins would (rightly) never consider.

And of course, Hawkins was probably playing kick to kick with his grandad, dad and uncles from the time he was 2 years old, which gave him about 12 or 14 years start on Ratugolea.

 

[cats_09]

Nine things we learned: The big Cat crucial to their premiership hopes:

1. Esava Ratugolea is crucial to the Cats' premiership hopes
In a team containing the midfield brilliance of Patrick Dangerfield and Joel Selwood, and the all-round champion skills of 350-gamer Gary Ablett, it might seem incongruous to suggest a raw 33-gamer is one of Geelong's most pivotal players. But Ratugolea sits in that group for the Cats. Structurally, Ratugolea is crucial for Geelong's hopes this year, which was evident on Saturday night against Gold Coast. Ratugolea wasn't a standout, but his second half – when he flew for several big marks and competed as a target up the ground – was critical in the Cats' 37-point victory. With Tom Hawkins the Cats' focal point deep in attack, Ratugolea needs to become more hit and less miss and be a consistent centre half-forward option if Geelong is to challenge for the flag. - Callum Twomey

Nine things we learned: The big Cat crucial to their premiership hopes

The Dogs don't always need a dominant Bont, the Blues have an over-reliance on their co-captain, plus more round five lessons

www.afl.com.au

 

[geelong_crazy26]

he's not useless when the ball hits the deck, either, nor when linking up in general play - agile enough to buy himself some time and space, then generally uses it reasonably well - he'll get even better at all that, too, presumably

a lot of it seems a combination of lack of fitness and football smarts mixed in.

the fitness part will come naturally, the footballing intelligence is the hard part to coach in and can take time to effect.

being able to not only learn these quality habits and reading of the situations at training and drills, but then having the ability to execute it within half a second in a game as a Reflex is the harder part and takes time.

I’m assuming he probably looks a lot better at training and match simulations than he does in games which would have the club and coaches excited and a part of why they persist so consistently with him even despite output.

next 1-2 years will be the defining ones for sav and when we should start to expect to see what his true upper limits are.

 

[Mr Meow]

When Ratugolea first broke into the scene a couple of years back, one of his upsides/positives was his willingness to jump for marks, crash packs etc

After he broken his ankle/lower leg, we didn't really see a lot of that last year, and there was some questions around his impact in the team because he wasn't really a marking target, wasn't crashing packs and not really hitting the scoreboard. The differences in his averages last season versus his first season were:
+0.2 disposals, -0.6 marks, -0.1 goals, -0.3 goal assists, -1.5 hitouts & +0.3 tackles


One part of his game where he seems to have turned the corner over the past fortnight is with his attack on the ball when it's in the air - and it's not just that he took 4 marks last week & 5 this week, but that he seemed to actually be reading the ball better. In the past it seemed that he would crash a pack in marking contest but not necessarily (positively) impact the contest.

The last fortnight we have started to see him holding some of those pack marks, but even when not marking, he's impacting the contest in a manner that's positive for teammates, especially teammates front & centre. And it's those things which are just as important or impactful as actually holding the marks

I hope he's taking confidence from the past fortnight and is feeling like he can compete & contribute at this level

Nice post, but I thought last season he made quite a lot of jumps at the footy - just failing to clunk the mark as it spilled out. I agree that this season so far he had been failing to display such an attack at the aerial ball, but there have been spurts. It just finally clicked into gear multiple efforts in a row on Saturday.

You're right though I think some of it comes down to anticipation rather than an actual hunger. Needs to work on his game smarts. When he has that focus and anticipation Sav has the natural attributes to win a lot of these contests.

 

[cats_09]

 

[dazbroncos]

The poster is coming this year I reckon... just a matter of time.

Go Catters

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

And of course, Hawkins was probably playing kick to kick with his grandad, dad and uncles from the time he was 2 years old, which gave him about 12 or 14 years start on Ratugolea.

People tend to overlook this

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

At least we now know why he drops marks.

His eyes are closed.

 

[bulletproof]

I wonder if people questioning Esava’s place in the side place enough emphasis on the joy of footy. The guy is just great fun to watch. Flying for marks, crashing through packs, galloping after the second ball in a ruck contest. He stuffs a few things up, sure, but he is one of the most interesting players in the league to watch.

League would be pretty boring with 22 Sam Walsh’s.

I’m a huge Esava fan. If he can tidy up the hands, very dangerous player too.

 

[TheWoodenSlug]

I wonder if people questioning Esava’s place in the side place enough emphasis on the joy of footy. The guy is just great fun to watch. Flying for marks, crashing through packs, galloping after the second ball in a ruck contest. He stuffs a few things up, sure, but he is one of the most interesting players in the league to watch.

League would be pretty boring with 22 Sam Walsh’s.

I’m a huge Esava fan. If he can tidy up the hands, very dangerous player too.

Admittedly, I have had Sav dropped at half time the past two weeks only for him to show in the second half why he's being persisted with. That said, I couldn't agree with you more - particularly with the boring standard of footy we've seen so far this year, guys like Sav are a godsend.

I can't shake the feeling that his kicking significantly lowers his potential ceiling, particularly as a key forward (I'm in the "play him as a ruckman" camp), but for now seeing him pull down those huge pack marks is about the most exciting thing in footy for me.