Is sandilands over rated?

DMan 11

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#76
In my post I said he is more valuable because he wins over 75% of the taps and completely stops the opposition from even thinking of trying set plays.
All they can do is try to stop his influence.
His actual taps and hitouts to advantage stats effectiveness is overrated.
Watch the games again paying close attention to taps/direction.
Hannath taps it right into the hands of players, taps it into better more open areas to freo players advantage.
However because he cant be guaranteed to win more than 50% of taps it means other ruck can compete against him and look to do set plays etc.

I completely understand why his taps aren't effective.
Its because other rucks are just trying to stop him barely even trying to win the taps.

So I stand by what I said.
His tapwork and hitout to advantage stats are overrated when talking about him.
His ability around the ground to give us targets, his ability to completely dominate opposing ruckman stopping them from running set plays etc is his real value and massively underrated.

I would choose Sandi everyday also but I will never rave on about his hitouts or hitouts to advantage numbers because most the time nothing comes from them.
So his value isn't his actual tapwork its his ability to dominate and not let other ruck get taps.
Yeh, nah. I get what you're on about but it still seems contradictory to me. Your first post reminisces about how Sandi used to "tap it over his head for smalls to run onto and kick goals" - this was done numerous times in the final series last year, I just don't get how recent he has to make these sort of taps to be considered relevant still ? Maybe he didn't do it against Hawthorn, so what, everything prior is forgotten ?
I'm even more confused by the oxy moronic statement that you don't rate his hit outs to advantage, because we don't get any advantage from them - think about that ? Would the stat be classed as a hit out to advantage if it wasn't to advantage ?
Maybe you should just accept sandi is the biggest, most friendly, most awesome giant we'll ever see bustle around the centre square and Leigh Matthews is nothing more than an ancient mini-silverback with nothing relevant to comment about :)
 

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UFO Tatsu

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#77
Yeh, nah. I get what you're on about but it still seems contradictory to me. Your first post reminisces about how Sandi used to "tap it over his head for smalls to run onto and kick goals" - this was done numerous times in the final series last year, I just don't get how recent he has to make these sort of taps to be considered relevant still ? Maybe he didn't do it against Hawthorn, so what, everything prior is forgotten ?
I'm even more confused by the oxy moronic statement that you don't rate his hit outs to advantage, because we don't get any advantage from them - think about that ? Would the stat be classed as a hit out to advantage if it wasn't to advantage ?
Maybe you should just accept sandi is the biggest, most friendly, most awesome giant we'll ever see bustle around the centre square and Leigh Matthews is nothing more than an ancient mini-silverback with nothing relevant to comment about :)
if our midfield doesn't take "advantage" of sandi's hit outs to advantages, i do not think it is his fault
 

strobe00

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#78
I don't think his taps are as well directed/accurate as guys like Naitanui, Cox, Ryder or even Clarke.

Partly that's because he is scragged left, right and centre. Partly it's because he is nearly 7 feet tall and around 120 kg, and hand-eye coordination is a little trickier with that kind of frame I suspect.

But he is able to prevent those guys from a lot of taps to advantage, and he's still knocks a pretty solid percentage to advantage. It'd be nice to see more of his taps go to advantage, but there are a lot of factors that go into that, and he can only control a couple of them. And the point that his hitouts prevent the other ruck from directing the tap where the oppo would like, is one that I hadn't thought of before... but makes a lot of sense.

But his contested marking is hugely important in our rebound from defense. And if the umps actually followed the same set of rules for everyone marking in the F50 Sandi would kick a lot of goals through free kicks. But I think they avoid giving him frees through pity for the defender... which is utter sh*t... would love the club to make up a highlight reel of unpaid scrags on Sandi in our F50 to raise the profile.

He used to be one of our top clearance players as well up until we got all three of our top-line inside mids working well together, and more smarts around the clearances with the appearance of Stone and Ross. He can still switch that on when he wants, but would likely prefer those guys to end up with the clearance as they can usually do more damage with it.

So no, he's not over-rated. He adds a lot more than folks with a shallow understanding of his contribution give him credit for.
 
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strobe00

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#79
Wow... and after this comment (I'm glad I actually tracked it down)... Leigh definitely qualifies as one of the shallow understanding mob:

“Hit outs are useless, it’s only what they contribute to the clearance, running the ball away from the pack.

“So I’m going to make a statement, Aaron Sandilands is therefore the most overrated player in footy, because hit-outs is all he does.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/a...-player-in-footy/story-fni5f6su-1226875667504

I mostly agree with what he says in the first paragraph, but the structure around the clearance and if/where the +1 lines up can partly invalidate that statement.

But the bolded just makes it clear that Leigh doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to Sandi.
 

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Fred Ziffel

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#87
I mostly agree with what he says in the first paragraph, but the structure around the clearance and if/where the +1 lines up can partly invalidate that statement.

But the bolded just makes it clear that Leigh doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to Sandi.[/quote]

The problem is Leigh has an agenda.
 

JunglistPosse

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#89
yes he usually dominates hitouts not necessary to advantage. but what else does he do? when he goes forward he can't mark the ball. If he could kick us 2 goals a game resting up forward taking opposition sapping marks then he would be considered a dominant force.
Yep...over rated and useless.
 

MrBomb

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#90
Good one Lethal, overrated indeed, 58 hitouts against GC, and 45 last night. Definitely. I did notice that most of the hitouts that he got yesterday did go to the Freo boys as well. You gotta remember, even if some of his go to opposition, at least he got it. It's better than letting their ruckman get another stat on the board AND letting them get the ball. Right now, Sandi plays both an attacking (hitting to players) and a defensive (being so goddamn tall it's almost impossible to get a hitout against the man) Ruck position. That's perfect for me.
 
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