Roast Hayden Ballantyne

[yakka man]

Hoping to receive some honest opinions regarding Ballaz. At his best he is electrifying and brilliant but we only see that once in a blue moon. He is going backwards very fast and has been suspended twice this year for stupid incidents which hurts the team. He slips over all the time and always fumbles and drops marks. He is 25 this year and should be at his absolute prime! It urks me that he can be having a shit game and then he does one good thing comes off for a rest and is given a standing ovation. Yet players like Mzungu, Pearce and Barlow have been critized despite being the same age and off the rookie list. Hill has been roasted also despite being three years younger and constantly tagged. Why does Ballaz get so much leeway?

If only he would drop the childish niggling and worry about the team and the four points up for grabs. It brings too much negative attention to himself and more importantly the team. I don't think he will ever be a midfielder and should be played forward all the time.

His stats this year are:

- 1st in the club for clangers despite missing three games due to suspension
- 16th in the club for total disposals,
- 19th in the club for average disposals
- 14th in the club for 1%'ers
- Equal third in goal kicking with 13 averaging only 1 goal a game.

Against the worst team in the comp (GWS) he had seven clangers from his 13 disposals and one goal at 46% efficiency.

Very poor stats for a high draft pick in a very strong draft. I love Ballaz but he needs to pull his finger out. If he does he could be awesome.

 

[Purple_Passion]

I tend to agree.

I love Ballaz but he needs to concrete on his footy first and foremost, only when he has 5 goals in bag can he piss the opposition off.

I want him to recapture his 2010 Derby Form when he ripped the Wet Toast to shreds.

 

[apuchar]

Think he has been behaving pretty well since the 2nd suspension. He was excellent last week and has some really good games for us this season. Prefer him playing well when the team really needs him, not just be a front runner when the team is cruising like against GWS.

 

[Belnakor]

Really concerned about his judgement of the ball in the air.

The amount of times he gets out pointed by defenders, the way he doesn't seem to read the play, quite concerning.

He dominated in the wafl because he is bloody fast, evasive and gets to alot of contests. I'm not sure he is anything special at AFL level. He isn't a great shot at goal either, which should be a small fwd's bread and butter. Only averages 1.4 goals a game which is not up to the mark for a small forward.

 

[Pusswah]

Still think that our small forwards don't get front and centre often enough.

Only averages 1.4 goals a game which is not up to the mark for a small forward.

I'd keep in mind that the mark for a small forward is 2, so it's not like he's terrible.

 

[Stronzo]

A bit of a learning curve for him this season. Trying to curtail his white line fever, whilst also having the same effect that he does when he's in the face of every opposition player on the ground. Bit like Farmer in that regard, but Farmer had a bigger bag of tricks.

Anyway, not bothered by him. You wouldn't drop him with some massive games coming up.

 

[estibador]

Ballas is like the anti-Pearce - everyone loves him even when he doesn't play well because we know what he's capable of.

Meanwhile poor old Clancee has to prove himself every time he plays or people jump on his back.

 

[AS211]

Can't teach the vision Balla's has with ball in hand.

Goes for high risk high reward kicks.

He'll be fine.

 

[theGav56]

Don't really care about his niggling one way or the other. If it upsets some opponents then niggle. Of course if it distracts him from his role then that is a negative, and getting suspended is never going to be acceptable.

I definitely find his clanger rate to be a real concern.

 

[tacopavlich]

Still think that our small forwards don't get front and centre often enough.


I'd keep in mind that the mark for a small forward is 2, so it's not like he's terrible.

Jeff Farmer one of the best small forwards in his generation only averaged 2 a game. Maybe Ballas isn't performing to his potential which is fair enough, in my eyes he could be a top 5 small forward in the comp which he currently isn't, but he's certainly pulling his weight and there are more pressing concerns in our side than Ballantyne.

Not worried at all about his disposal, he goes for high risk high reward passes and sometimes it doesn't come off but it's nothing like Barlows atm who struggles to do even the simple.

 

[Kepfan]

Ballas run and chase is great hasnt been as clean with the ball this year but he is not playing his natural position and is over thinking it.

 

[pavsbootlace]

So I thought I'd check out Stephen Milne as a comparison, being the AFLs leading small forward in goals per game (equal with M Walters, but Sonny's only played 2 games).

Milne is also first at his club for clangers.
20th in average disposals.
19th for 1%ers.

Milne is 8th in Goal Assists where Ballantyne is 5th.
Milne is 8th in i50s where Ballantyne is 5th.
Milne is 18th for tackles per game where Ballas is 8th.

Milne has kicked 40 goals this year. Other than hitting the scoreboard, Ballantyne is in front in every category.

Ballantyne has been asked to spend significantly more time in the midfield this year than he ever has. He hasn't been as good in the midfield as the coaches would have hoped and has obviously had less opportunity to kick goals because of it. But he's a bloody good forward. As he spends more time down there he'll kick more goals. If he averages 1.4 goals per game for the rest of his career as well as his other contributions to the team, then he'll remain in the best 22 until he retires. I think he has improvement in him though, and if he's played as a permanent forward, he'll be pushing 2 goals a game.

2 Goals a game is not easy though. There's only 8 little fellas in the league who are making the 2 goals per game mark. (If you exclude Walters and McIntyre who've only played 1 or 2 games.)

 

[Kepfan]

Seems to be showing too much of his balls to the opposition.

 

[Schauermann]

Agree, that he hasn't been as good as last year. Think he did more inspiring thing and had more explosive passages of play last year.

 

[yakka man]

So I thought I'd check out Stephen Milne as a comparison, being the AFLs leading small forward in goals per game (equal with M Walters, but Sonny's only played 2 games).

Milne is also first at his club for clangers.
20th in average disposals.
19th for 1%ers.

Milne is 8th in Goal Assists where Ballantyne is 5th.
Milne is 8th in i50s where Ballantyne is 5th.
Milne is 18th for tackles per game where Ballas is 8th.

Milne has kicked 40 goals this year. Other than hitting the scoreboard, Ballantyne is in front in every category.

Ballantyne has been asked to spend significantly more time in the midfield this year than he ever has. He hasn't been as good in the midfield as the coaches would have hoped and has obviously had less opportunity to kick goals because of it. But he's a bloody good forward. As he spends more time down there he'll kick more goals. If he averages 1.4 goals per game for the rest of his career as well as his other contributions to the team, then he'll remain in the best 22 until he retires. I think he has improvement in him though, and if he's played as a permanent forward, he'll be pushing 2 goals a game.

2 Goals a game is not easy though. There's only 8 little fellas in the league who are making the 2 goals per game mark. (If you exclude Walters and McIntyre who've only played 1 or 2 games.)

Good comparison, although keep in mind Milne is 32 and has had a sensational career. The fact that Ballaz is playing midfield means he should be finding a lot more of the footy. I like Ross but Ballaz as a midfielder has been a complete fail and the longer he persists with it the more confidence Ballaz will lose.

 

[Pusswah]

He's almost where he needs to be. A bit of cleanup and he's there. Two goals a game gets it done. He has the potential to do that and more.

 

[BananaOnTheRun]

other than those two brain fades, i actually think he's been pretty good, especially in the past month. there were a few weeks between the reports where he wasn't playing that well but i think he was trying to figure out how to play without the niggle. his solution seems to be just to chase everything, which is working out pretty good.

 

[Wigarus]

He is playing as predominately midfield and is our leading goal kicking mid.

He is also our leading mid for goal assists.

I think he is down on his output as a small forward this year, but he will be a great mid at some point or he will go back to the forward line. He is obviously doing what the match committee wants and I think the team selection this year is the best its ever been at Freo.

I'm not sure he is anything special at AFL level.

A contender for the dumbest thing ever said on BigFooty.

 

[jedi mind tricks]

Ross is trying to mold him into a mid. IMO it's not where he plays his best footy.

I hate to say but he should in the FP mostly doing what he does best and kick goals instead of pushing into the backline and chasing the ball.

 

[Scootyb]

he pressures and chases too much to be considered a liability

 

[Seppo]

So I thought I'd check out Stephen Milne as a comparison, being the AFLs leading small forward in goals per game (equal with M Walters, but Sonny's only played 2 games).

Milne is also first at his club for clangers.
20th in average disposals.
...

Does that mean he is the 20th ranked person in the league at disposing the ball averagely?

 

[Alfonz]

He needs to be in the forward line. He also needs to go back to niggling the opposition and being an annoying little bastard. Screw trying to clean his game up just because other people are upset at the way he plays. He should be aiming to get smacked in the mouth in every game like the Scarlett incident. He plays his best football when he is a pest, so that is how we should let him play.

 

[Admiral Byng]

I love the way he plays, but I got two small ciriticisms:

He sometimes tries to do too much with the ball, looking for that something extra, special sort of play - when just the instinctive but mundane thing to do is the best option.

He needs to know when switch the niggle on and off. Respect the umpire when the whistle is blown and play stops, don't antagonise the umpires or you won't get paid the real free kicks when they are there.

 

[pavsbootlace]

Good comparison, although keep in mind Milne is 32 and has had a sensational career. The fact that Ballaz is playing midfield means he should be finding a lot more of the footy. I like Ross but Ballaz as a midfielder has been a complete fail and the longer he persists with it the more confidence Ballaz will lose.

Correct.

He's a forward. I just hope that Fyfe can hit the ground running and Mundy continues to improve. Then we can stick him in the forward 50 with Pav, Mayne and Son Son and let him kick goals.

 

[Freo2012]

Ballas run and chase is great hasnt been as clean with the ball this year but he is not playing his natural position and is over thinking it.

Yep - I think a lot has to do with his greater responsibilities in new/changed role. A little time will help. Probably is over-thinking - being a live wire forward comes down to natural flare/aggression. With his new role he may also be suffering from "spending it before earning it" - thinking too much about what he's next going to do etc taking a little off the focus of the actual first next step. If so just a self-attitude little tweak required (apart from correcting a little of the opposition niggling to extreme focus).