Player Watch Finlay Macrae

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It’s such a tough position to be in for Fin. He tears it pre season and then isn’t picked for round 0, then with no form is made sub next 2 games.

Finally gets a crack against a Brisbane and unsurprisingly doesn’t set the world on fire, the. Subbed out again.

I would back him in and play him the next 4 games and see where he’s at then


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Kes1984 said:
I’d persist with him for now. Give him another game. Not much else in the cupboards. He can’t get any better if not given game time.
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He can though. For all the talk of him being too good for VFL, he's not. Last year he was a good VFL mid. He wasn't tearing the vfl apart. He didn't outperform the bloke we brought in from Footscray or a heap of other VFL mids. He got good VFL midfielder stats and wasn't elevated above the pack of blokes who do that by being really damaging.
 

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peter9789 said:
It’s such a tough position to be in for Fin. He tears it pre season and then isn’t picked for round 0, then with no form is made sub next 2 games.

Finally gets a crack against a Brisbane and unsurprisingly doesn’t set the world on fire, the. Subbed out again.

I would back him in and play him the next 4 games and see where he’s at then


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I'd put our best team on the park and try to win the next 4 to get us well positioned to qualify for the finals. And I don't think Finn is in that best team. I think he needs injuries.
 
jase038 said:
People expecting macrae to come straight in and dominate? Who has ever done that playing as a sub week in week out

Young mids get given games to develop not 10 minutes as a sub

Either play him and find out or let him leave


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Most of the game’s best midfielders have looked like they belong at AFL level almost immediately.

Much more rare is a player suddenly making a huge step up to top tier impactful midfielder after 3-4 years of mediocrity.


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sr36 said:
He can though. For all the talk of him being too good for VFL, he's not. Last year he was a good VFL mid. He wasn't tearing the vfl apart. He didn't outperform the bloke we brought in from Footscray or a heap of other VFL mids. He got good VFL midfielder stats and wasn't elevated above the pack of blokes who do that by being really damaging.
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I had hopes for him but I’m starting to agree with you now.

There’s been a lot of discussion on here previously about mids and when they play.
I think it’s clear that if a mid is to become elite and part of a flag capable team he’d be well entrenched in the team by year 4.

Sadly I’m starting to think fin can’t quite get the lvl required. We don’t need him to be average, we need an elite mid. You can get by with role players in some roles, but not mids.

It’s a tough gig.

Anyone doubting this needs to look at Errol Gulden and Fin. Both were taken in the same draft but are worlds apart. Ones elite dominating the afl, ones a very good vfl player

he will back to vfl next week and a few will be angry about it but it’s the right decision IMO. We need to win.
 
LuckyLee said:
Most of the game’s best midfielders have looked like they belong at AFL level almost immediately.

Much more rare is a player suddenly making a huge step up to top tier impactful midfielder after 3-4 years of mediocrity.


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Yeah however finn hasn’t had a chance but I guess the club would know more internally than what we see although there’s been a few handy players overlooked ie Liam picken Michael Barlow Zorko


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stormskye said:
I had hopes for him but I’m starting to agree with you now.

There’s been a lot of discussion on here previously about mids and when they play.
I think it’s clear that if a mid is to become elite and part of a flag capable team he’d be well entrenched in the team by year 4.

Sadly I’m starting to think fin can’t quite get the lvl required. We don’t need him to be average, we need an elite mid. You can get by with role players in some roles, but not mids.

It’s a tough gig.

he will back to vfl next week and a few will be angry about it but it’s the right decision IMO. We need to win.
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I don't think the time frame is necessarily relevant. Lots of gun mids weren't AFL mids until 25+. Guys like Mills and Jordy weren't ready to play mid at 22 for different reasons. But the difference is that they could play other AFL roles whilst still developing their game and attributes to become AFL mids. The game has changed towards flankers who fly, so he can't develop there - possibly wing if his endurance is good enough - not sure if he uses it well enough. Maybe Lippas role. That's about it - other than already being good enough.

I'm not writing him off. He may become good enough, but I don't think he is yet, and I wouldn't bet on him making it yet.
 
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sr36 said:
FactsFinn's interests don't sit above the teams.

We need to win games and our other mids are significantly better players than he's shown. For all the talk of too good for VFL, from what I saw he was basically doing what Tom Mitchell does in the AFL in the vfl.

I think the mistake they've made is developing him only as a centre square mid. I'd be sending him back to the vfl to learn wing or Lippas half forward/mid role, so they can bring him back in a less important role where he's not up against the best players in the comp.
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I mean, that’s all well and good in theory but:

  • Round 0 no Fin. We lose
  • Round 1 Fin sub. We lose
  • Round 2 Fin sub. We lose
  • Round 3 Fin starts. We win

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Cousin of Daicos said:
I mean, that’s all well and good in theory but:

  • Round 0 no Fin. We lose
  • Round 1 Fin sub. We lose
  • Round 2 Fin sub. We lose
  • Round 3 Fin starts. We win

African American Reaction GIF
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And we might lose the next 4. It'd be great if we could retrospectively play him in our losses and thus it wouldn't matter if he couldn't match it with guys like Neale, Dunkley and McCluggage - that's the standard of player he has to match it with. And Jordy, Pendles, Mitchell, Naicos and Crisp is the standard of player he has to be as good as to get the opportunity to match it with them. As far as I can see, we're more likely to lose the next 4 if Finn plays midfield and we leave out one or two of those guys. It was great to see Mitchell and Crisp back in town - not great for Finn though
 
Cousin of Daicos said:
I mean, that’s all well and good in theory but:

  • Round 0 no Fin. We lose
  • Round 1 Fin sub. We lose
  • Round 2 Fin sub. We lose
  • Round 3 Fin starts. We win

African American Reaction GIF
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The only problem is that while he was on the field, Neale nearly ripped the game from us. The club obviously feels he has something to offer or they wouldn't have extended his contract but ATM, he's not looking up to it
 
Kes1984 said:
I’d persist with him for now. Give him another game. Not much else in the cupboards. He can’t get any better if not given game time.

I’d also love to see McCreery developed into an inside bull to replace the void left by Adams and cover Mitchell down the track.

I see such potential there for him to do that role.
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We have HH and Sullivan banging down the door plus Sidebottom to come back in, there is a bit in the cupboards imo
 

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nahnah said:
We have HH and Sullivan banging down the door plus Sidebottom to come back in, there is a bit in the cupboards imo
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Yep. And for all the talk of Finn being too good for VFL, Sullivan's Footscray stats suggest he's better at VFL and he looks more capable of playing a half forward pushing into the midfield role like Adams did last year.

And ultimately, if we want to give it a shake this year - which we do want - we need Mitchell and Crisp to continue their second half form, in which case theres no spot for Finn without injuries.
 
Sullivan & Bytel will be auditioning for a midfield role in today’s VFL game for next week in my opinion. Fin May hold a spot because I think Pendles will either miss for the gut slap or it will be his rotation for the veteran managed gig.
 
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sam_e said:
I'd definitely play him next week against the hawks midfield

i thought his 1st Q was reasonable with a couple of CS clearances

he also seemed to be standing L.Neale early doors and Neale was relatively quiet 1Q before he got going

2Q all our mids were down as Brisbane basically owned the footy for the entire Q

compare Finn's stats in 2Q (before he was subbed) to say JDG or Pendles?

Finn deserves another game (minimum) based on his body of work in 2s throughout last year and performances over the summer

ps: i haven't been a fan of his selection (at pick #19) from the get go bc i think there were better (more athletic) options at that pick (eg. M.Holmes #20) but that's a passing swipe at Hiney ..likewise his pick of Ryan (just can't see any real afl traits) given there were better options IMO at that pick as well
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Macrae was a projected top five pick in a non-COVID year. Holmes has had opportunity Fin hasn’t, too.

Ryan isn’t that well-rated. Will need to have some huge games to play AFL. He can run and that’s why he was picked.
 
frizzle said:
Sullivan & Bytel will be auditioning for a midfield role in today’s VFL game for next week in my opinion. Fin May hold a spot because I think Pendles will either miss or it will be his rotation for the veteran managed gig.
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It's a 9 day break with a bye following. I don't think we'll be managing anyone. Best team going flat chat. Let's shred them.
 
Jen2310 said:
Given there is no VFL game during gather round, and they wont want him to miss our on 2 weeks of footy, I reckon they'll back him in (fly always talks about that) and give him a shot to redeem himself against the hawks.
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But without an injury, for the match committee to back him in, they have to not back in Sidebottom and also make someone else from last night the sub - not backing them in. Who would you not back in?
 
sr36 said:
But without an injury, for the match committee to back him in, they have to not back in Sidebottom and also make someone else from last night the sub - not backing them in. Who would you not back in?
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yeah its tough, WHE? Though I'm not convinced they'll do it. Sidey replaces him on the wing. And if nick stays in defence, where does WHE go? Sub?

I just feel that Fin needs a block of games, it'll only make us better in the long run as we need him to come on.
 
jase038 said:
Fly severely outcoached fagan today but macrae running with neale was disastrous and we could have been down 5 goals at half time as a result

And lachie Neale falling to the ground gasping for air over an open handed slap was purely disgusting


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He hit him in an upwards motion in the solar plexus with his palm, perfect spot to wind someone.
 
Jen2310 said:
yeah its tough, WHE? Though I'm not convinced they'll do it. Sidey replaces him on the wing. And if nick stays in defence, where does WHE go? Sub?

I just feel that Fin needs a block of games, it'll only make us better in the long run as we need him to come on.
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If we were 4-0 or even 3-1, I think we could do it, but we need wins.

He needs an injury and to stay ahead of the guys playing VFL. As I just can't see how they can back in Finn over Sidebottom and the other 22 from last night. And Sullivan has been racking it up for years in the VFL, so will likely continue to be putting pressure on. Hopefully a couple of our other kids can do the same.

It remains tough for Finn as our midfield has bloody good footballers in it and his main weakness is the same as our midfield - pace
 
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