Have we seen the best of Jack Viney?

Marc_Remillard

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No question marks over his talent or determination, he has them in spades, but have injuries ruined his career.?
 
No question marks over his talent or determination, he has them in spades, but have injuries ruined his career.?

I don't think so.

We have alot of talented midfielders, most of which have had their share of injury issues. I think it would be helpful if we could have solid chunk of games without any of the key mids having injury issues to see how they can best work together. For mine the only solid thing we know is that Oliver is the main guy we need in there as much as possible.

There are some unanswered questions such as:

Does Brayshaw spend more time on a wing or in the middle?
Could Viney spend more time forward to apply manic pressure?
Can Trac build the tank to spend more time in the middle?
Does Harmes have a defined role? Tagger, mid, wing? Or is he a utility?
How do we get the mix of inside grunt vs outside spread right.

At the moment I think our mids are all going okay as individuals at times but we won't see any of them consistantly dominate until we figure out which midfield mix is best and what secondary roles our guys are playing under 6-6-6 when they're not at the centre bounce.
 

markm106

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It’s something I have worried about this year. I feel the foot injuries may have stunted his career. However he also had some ankle trouble over the last off season so I’d like to give him a full pre season and gauge him from there. Also the shoulder is currently likely to be troubling him.
But he’s a rare player when he gets in beast mode. Built for finals.
 
He was bloody awesome in the finals last year which was literally 10-12 games ago.

Can you get any more premature with your calls?
 
Feb 15, 2015
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Perhaps, but injuries have reduced his output, there's no doubt about that.
Injuries reduce everyone’s output.

It goes one of two ways

a) he overcomes injuries and recovers best form
b) he never recovers best form

Time will tell, this thread won’t
 
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Disclaimer I like Viney

However...

I think the issue isn't so much his body. Its more so that his pride and ego is preventing him from getting him getting to his best.

Sometimes it is the greatest asset to be eternally hungry. Other times it can be a mightily unshakeable burden. A real sword of Damocles pride is.
 
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Feb 15, 2015
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LOL, very true
Don’t get me wrong, I understand the question.

About three times in the past few years I’ve believed Jack Viney though injury won’t become the player we all imagined he would be. Then he proves me wrong and has a Viney style game where he wins it through effort and inspiration.

Likewise every time he has one of those games where he lifts Melbourne through his effort - I breathe out and get comfortable and decide life is good, but the next minute that Mission pseudo science salesman announces a four plus week off legs scenario.

I have no idea about his future any more. If someone put a gun to my head and made me guess I would plump for Viney - that we haven’t seen the best from him because he will somehow Viney his way into immortality even while his arms and legs literally fall off
 
Apr 13, 2015
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He needs to get smarter. The fact he gets injured is a combination of going too hard and also playing through pain. He has a good sidestep and is a pretty good short passer by foot but instead he decides to fly head first into contests with his wheels spinning and tries to break four tacklers simultaneously with his 177cm/80kg frame. If he was the size of his old man, Patrick Cripps or Nat Fyfe, the way he plays would make sense and probably be sustainable. He needs to reinvent himself as a running link player with the ability to go hard, like Harmes.
 

Ando727

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Yeah, think people forget how good his finals series was.
I've definitely forgotten - the first 11 rounds of 2019 have destroyed all good memories I had of last year...

In all seriousness, I doubt he'll ever be properly reliable with his fitness. He's a little guy who knows only one way to play - to bash and crash. I don't even know that he's all that talented - he just has a determination and toughness that helps him to compete against men a lot bigger and more talented. I'd like to see him succeed of course, but I don't think he'll ever be a star of the competition, and I have serious questions about how long he can sustain his type of football as he approaches his late 20's.
 
Feb 15, 2015
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I heard he was a flog, apparently some the guys at the Saints dislike him, have any of you heard similar?
I cut his hair and he seems very nice
 
Curious if he’s the one that leaves via free agency at the end of the year. Band 2 compo (end of first round pick) would probably be a massive coup for us though you’d hate to lose his experience.
 
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