Opinion Harry O

[SuperSub17]

Ed it seems to me that you've made your mind up about this and then warped your arguments to suit it. "Disposal isn't something you can teach" - of course it is, where did you get that from? Toovey is a much better player than a lot of people give him credit for.

 

[Ed D]

People are mentioning Harry playing selfish football, I see it more the opposite. Ever since Malthouse got Harry to start playing team football by playing off his man and being third man up, creating run etc he's looked average. It could be time to see him return back to being a good one on one defender and playing a tighter role. He was at his best shutting down players and bursting through packs rather than playing loose. That's how I see it anyway.

 

[jonesy86]

Harry has played well on Cyril before, he just had a 'mare on Friday night.

 

[THATSGOLD]

Had a stinker of a grand final and played poorly against Adelaide in the nab not sure how he went against St kilda but then played the worst game I've seen a defender play.
Not accountable for Rioli at all. You may as well use him as a lose man. He either lifts against Richmond and actually beats his opponent or its Reserves time.

 

[SuperSub17]

Keep in mind that Rioli was ok in qtr 1, did some brilliant things in qtr 2, then was pretty average in the second half. Sure, Harry's attempts at defending Cyrils two goals were pretty bad but as far as riolis influence goes there wasnt anything ekse major that he did.

Taking him on twice was pretty dumb though.

 

[TheGreatGrundy]

The Age game review said Harry 'was poor'. Any other critic comments? The HUN? Harry does get assigned some difficult jobs, and Cyril is a tough opponent. As others have said, he needs to decide, perhaps on a game by game basis, whether defence or attack is the better option and mix his style and method accordingly.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

His strength is winning the ground level ball and using a burst of speed to clear the ball. Hes out of form and he isnt getting away with that. Opposition coaches have woken up to him and force him deep into defence.

 

[FAIRANDBALANCED]

People are mentioning Harry playing selfish football, I see it more the opposite. Ever since Malthouse got Harry to start playing team football by playing off his man and being third man up, creating run etc he's looked average. It could be time to see him return back to being a good one on one defender and playing a tighter role. He was at his best shutting down players and bursting through packs rather than playing loose. That's how I see it anyway.

This.

Harry O is one of those players that people have hugely differing views on. I see him as an excellent one on one defender for smalls and mid sized forwards (shut downs LeCras, Rioli and Stevie J minus last years GF most of the time). He can run with the ball, he can kick a long goal but these things are not his natural game, if they were he would be able to handball off or hit a short spot up kick while he is running. When Harry is in full gallop he very rarely makes the right decision with the ball, when he is not running at full gallop his decision making is ok, not great, but ok. This says to me that when he is running with the ball he is not entirely comfortable. He is fast so he can do it, but I have never thought he looks fluent and natural running with the football. He is simply not a great rebounding defender. Shaw, Enright, Fisher, Birchall those guys are great rebounding defenders, Harry O is better when he can get a man and shut him down for the day. I think he provides great flexibility to our backline and I think more often than not he beats his man convincingly, he just makes a couple of mistakes with his disposal and because people think he is supposed to be a rebounding defender they think he has had an ordinary game. That is the way I see him anyway. He is not in Toovey's class as a pure shutdown defender, because he does have good games when he can rebound, he is just not excellent in this area of the game. I think he is still great in a one on one contest though.

On FRiday I watched the game after the result and readin the boards and I expected to see a terrible game from Harry O. He made about 3 bad errors but other than that he was quite ok. Rioli was on fire, and when Rioli is on fire there really isn't a player in the league that can stop him. I thought Harry fought back really well after halftime and that he did all a defender could do against a brilliant opponent (other than those 3 errors).

I don't think he is soft in the air either, he goes for it and keeps his eyes on it, he just isn't good at catching the bloody thing!!!

 

[Swooop]

I like Harry and think he does 80-90% right.

His marking looks a technique thing to me, he seems to get too far under the ball, then has to mark it, not in front of his eyes, but on top of his head where he can't see it as well.

Also, I think he's a confidence player moreso than the average guy - when it's down it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy by the look.

And compltely agree with others that he's better at HBF than too deep - he looks more comfortable there and then can, and does, sets up play downfield with his bursting runs.

Also, he's said several times how important Maxy is back there and I reckon he gets a lot from Maxy's encouragement and guidance.