Jack Anthony.

[mattys123]

After doing my mid season review, the one player that really stood out in comparison to last year was John "Jack" Anthony.

Last year he played 24 games, and kicked 50 goals, which to most was considered to be a great output for his first full year at senior football.

Then comes 2010, and hopes are high, and after 11 rounds, Jack has played 4 senior games and kicked 5 goals.

I know there are other indicators that show a players output, but to me this just seemed like such a huge drop off from last year.

There are lots of rumours going around about Jack, but the questions that may be asked are more like;

* Why can't he even perform at VFL level, against lesser opposition?
* Why has his work rate dropped off so much?
* How can a player with so much potential almost disappear off the senior "radar"?
* Is he injured?
* Has he had other problems off field?

I still see Jack as an integral part of our success going forward.

Simply put, Jack has me confused and perplexed with his form, and he doesn't seem to be showing signs of coming out of it.

I really hope their is a reason behind his "struggles", because he has so much potential to be a top line forward at senior level.

Thoughts?

 

[Optimax]

Interrupted preseason, this preseason was the one he had to put on weight, get stronger physically and a lesser extent mentally fir the extra pressure, attention and bigger opponents.

Injury stopped this from happening, to me he looks smaller this year not bigger. The emergence of Dawes and the fact we use two rucks probably didn't help.

Not time to write him off, needs to improve for next year though

 

[shawthing09]

Correct me if I am wrong but didn't Jack kick two bags of 5 in his first two games back at VFL level?

Jack struggled early due to fitness. Since coming back he has been used in a different role. No longer as the key focal target in the foward line. I think his game against Freo was pretty good mind you. To be honest it may just be a bit of lack of confidence. To go from the number 1 foward (which he was last year) too fighting for a spot in the seniors and being used as more of a third target would probably take a big from your confidence. I am not a huge fan of 3 tall foward lines and he has since regaining fitness only been used in this fashion. It's always going to be hard to replicate last years form if he isn't playing the same role he did last year.

FWIW I think what Jack needs to do is build up a bigger fitness base to allow him to be able to rotate higher up the ground too. It will make fowardlines of Jack and Cloke and even Jack Cloke and Dawes a lot more viable and dangerous.

 

[Histrionics]

I reckon it probably comes down to a confidence issue with Jack.

Injury during pre season and in and out of the side as you said only playing 4 games. It wouldn't be great for his confidence at all.

He will come good.

 

[wicksy]

If the rumours doing the rounds are true then I think his attitude stinks.

Wasn't there a story going about that he ran up the isle at Josh Frasers wedding in trackies to shake his hand even though he wasn't invited? If true, it's clear that he's the kind of guy that would polarise his teammates.

On his footy, he's got a good straight kick and in my opinion, that is all!
Is terrible at ground level and not big enough to dominate through the air.

Would not be terribly disappointed if he was packing his bags to the Gold Coast next year.

In saying all that, I don't claim to be 100% correct on the stories and rumours but if true, it says alot about him as a person.

 

[mdc]

* Why can't he even perform at VFL level, against lesser opposition?
* Why has his work rate dropped off so much?
* How can a player with so much potential almost disappear off the senior "radar"?

All three of these questions are based on false assumptions.

He does perform in the VFL (leading goal-kicker despite only playing a half-dozen games), his work-rate is as good as ever (but his fitness is down), and he hasn't disappeared at all given he played less than a fortnight ago.

 

[mattys123]

All three of these questions are based on false assumptions.

He does perform in the VFL (leading goal-kicker despite only playing a half-dozen games), his work-rate is as good as ever (but his fitness is down), and he hasn't disappeared at all given he played less than a fortnight ago.

They weren't based on false assumptions.

Jack couldn't even be considered for AFL selection this week based on his VFL game.

His game in the wet on Saturday against Sandringham was absolutely woeful.

Yes, it was wet, and not a day for tall forwards, but Nathan Brown, playing in the backline had 26 possessions, and to my knowledge is bigger then Jack.

That was the game that really got me worried, he was just terrible on a day where some of the younger players on our list shone, and some of the more experienced players struggled (Wood, O'Bree, Anthony).

Jack took one mark in the first 3 quarters, I just think that isn't good enough for a player of his talent at VFL level.

I'm a little harsh on Jack though, as I have seen the potential he has, he just hasn't found anywhere near the form or improvement I would have expected him to this year.

 

[mdc]

You're confusing "Why doesn't JA perform at VFL level" with "Why didn't he perform in the VFL last week?".

If it's the latter you're asking, I'd suggest that he just had an off week (and yes, wet weather doesn't help).

 

[Quicky]

FWIW I think what Jack needs to do is build up a bigger fitness base to allow him to be able to rotate higher up the ground too. It will make fowardlines of Jack and Cloke and even Jack Cloke and Dawes a lot more viable and dangerous.

Yeah i've thought this for awhile too. If he could build his fitness up to the point where he could alternate FF with CHF and give the team that added flexibility to play Cloke deep he'd be enormous for us. Fortunately fitness is probably the easiest thing to work on.

To the OP i'd say it's an issue of how he is being utilised and his preseason injury.

 

[TradeDraft]

What I have Read I Think:

• Surgery Did not Help JA so he could not have a Proper Pre-Season
• Dawes taking the Next Step

 

[bucksisbest]

A couple of reasons , most pressing shoulder surgery which interrupted his pre-season.
Secondly he has become to obsessed with finding body contact , rather than the primary focus of leading hard as an option , where he found a lot of goals early to mid last year.
Lack of continuity , he has been in and out of the AFL side , playing up high against Freo , deeper against Brisbane , played a few VFL games , missed some with a bruised foot.

I would say some of his VFL games have been quite good. His game against Geelong was utterly dominant , and this included brilliant pack marks .His kicking was all over the place though. It was officially 4.7 , but I think a few may have been tapped over the line and some OOF.

It wouldn't surprise me to see him back going well later in the year , but he needs a real clean run of it in the pre-season to be back owning that FF position.

 

[The Panther]

Jack didn't have a preseason, raised.

Is never going to work in a forward line containing Travisty, Dawes & Medhurst b/c once the ball hits the deck, his forward pressure is pathetic. They should be playing him at CHB in the 2's.

Travisty is also playing deeper as Jack did last year.

 

[Thommo 42]

* Why can't he even perform at VFL level, against lesser opposition?

He kicked 2 x bags of 5 goals in his first 2 games back in the VFL


* Why has his work rate dropped off so much?

Has it? I thought he worked pretty hard from my spot in the stands of the Gabba, hard to tell in games on TV though. He's obviously nowhere near as aerobically fit as last year though, due to no pre-season


* How can a player with so much potential almost disappear off the senior "radar"?

He can get injured, miss the pre-season, miss the entire NAB Cup, and then still get rolled out for Round 1 when clearly not fit. He then underperforms, cops it from supporters, drops in confidence and gets dropped.

* Is he injured?

Not anymore, but as a reuslt of being injured, he isn't fit.


* Has he had other problems off field?

Depends who you believe, but I don't think so.

 

[Swanny36]

If the rumours doing the rounds are true then I think his attitude stinks.

Wasn't there a story going about that he ran up the isle at Josh Frasers wedding in trackies to shake his hand even though he wasn't invited? If true, it's clear that he's the kind of guy that would polarise his teammates.

On his footy, he's got a good straight kick and in my opinion, that is all!
Is terrible at ground level and not big enough to dominate through the air.

Would not be terribly disappointed if he was packing his bags to the Gold Coast next year.

In saying all that, I don't claim to be 100% correct on the stories and rumours but if true, it says alot about him as a person.

This, except I hadn't heard of any of those particular rumours.

But I just tend to agree with wicksy on the fact that he has a straight kick, and that is literally all he offers, has no other features to his game, well at least none that he has displayed thus far.

But I dunno whether or not it is worth having someone in the team JUST because he has a straight kick, especially when he only gets the ball say 10 times a match, and not all of them are shots on goal, I'd be wrapped if they were though.

Anyway that's just my opinion, I don't expect anyone to agree.

 

[Invigoration]

* Why can't he even perform at VFL level, against lesser opposition?

He kicked 2 x bags of 5 goals in his first 2 games back in the VFL


* Why has his work rate dropped off so much?

Has it? I thought he worked pretty hard from my spot in the stands of the Gabba, hard to tell in games on TV though. He's obviously nowhere near as aerobically fit as last year though, due to no pre-season


* How can a player with so much potential almost disappear off the senior "radar"?

He can get injured, miss the pre-season, miss the entire NAB Cup, and then still get rolled out for Round 1 when clearly not fit. He then underperforms, cops it from supporters, drops in confidence and gets dropped.

* Is he injured?

Not anymore, but as a reuslt of being injured, he isn't fit.


* Has he had other problems off field?

Depends who you believe, but I don't think so.

I don't get where the defensive effort/work ethic myth stems from. I've always noted him for having a pretty high endeavour and willingness to chase, I've certainly always thought he provided better defensive pressure than both Cloke and Dawes.
I thought in the Brissy game he stood out in this area compared to those two boys.

I think the fact he is probably instructed to stay closer to goal (for obvious reasons) probably shines a bad light on him in regards to his chasing and harassing.

The interrupted pre-season certainly isn't helping, but he is still my go to man for the FF spot long term.

 

[magpiewarrior]

This, except I hadn't heard of any of those particular rumours.

But I just tend to agree with wicksy on the fact that he has a straight kick, and that is literally all he offers, has no other features to his game, well at least none that he has displayed thus far.

But I dunno whether or not it is worth having someone in the team JUST because he has a straight kick, especially when he only gets the ball say 10 times a match, and not all of them are shots on goal, I'd be wrapped if they were though.

Anyway that's just my opinion, I don't expect anyone to agree.

In a side that could become famous for it's appalling kicking (especially on goals) I would have thought that these attributes would carry more importance than usual. It would be nice to have one particularly reliable shot for goals in our forward-line. We go inside 50 more than the others but we've got no-one to finish it off, if Jack got the ball 10 times we could reasonably expect 5 goals out of him.
In his Freo game I was there and in my opinion he played pretty well, he was quite often well up the ground, (even helping out in the back-line, I was near the 50 and he marked inside the defensive 50 in front of me) but instead of being the forward target he was doing the team things. He applied pressure all night, shepherded, blocked, got in and under, tackled and made false leads to drag defenders away from Dawes, Cloke and the like. I came away from the game thinking his work levels would keep him in the team and that his season was on the rise. How did I see it so different from everyone else?????

 

[Heater39]

Imo,it's fitness related, which comes down to his interrupted pre-season.

 

[magpiewarrior]

Imo,it's fitness related, which comes down to his interrupted pre-season.

That's part of what I was saying in my previous post, I thought that his work rate in the Freo game was showing that his fitness was coming back up, it will only fully reach AFL standard when he is competing at AFL level. It's a bit like running on your own in the off season, you work real hard, push yourself and are pleased by what you've done, then you get to training and find that you're absolutely buggered by the end. You can push yourself as hard as you can but when your back in a highly competitive environment you just work harder.

 

[the mighty T]

He needs to work very hard, very fast in the VFL and at AFL level if his aim is to keep a spot in that side for the second half of the year and beyond.

Our best performing forwards this year in my opinion are as follows:

Didak
Cloke
Davis
Medhurst
Dawes
Anthony
L. Brown (and thats only because hes only had 1 game up forward)

With Leigh Brown in the side at the moment being the FF choice and with Dawes having played half a dozen or so games so far this year and likely to come back into the side at some point considering how his form was, it seems that JA's role isnt as the FF at the moment. He either needs to learn to perform in a deferent position or he needs to force his way into the team

At the end of the day we can talk about lack of fitness or injury all we like but if he cant perform up to the standard that he needs to, to get in the side he wont be playing that FF role

 

[Swanny36]

In a side that could become famous for it's appalling kicking (especially on goals) I would have thought that these attributes would carry more importance than usual. It would be nice to have one particularly reliable shot for goals in our forward-line. We go inside 50 more than the others but we've got no-one to finish it off, if Jack got the ball 10 times we could reasonably expect 5 goals out of him.

You would think yes, but the thing is, he isn't getting the shots on goal, the most shots he has had on goal in one game this year is two.
Which in my opinion isn't good enough, in one game he had 12 touches and only one shot on goal, so you can't really say from 10 touches you could reasonably expect 5 goals for the match from him.

He has had 10+ disposals 18 times in his career and has never kicked 5+ goals in a match, so it's a bit un-reasonable to expect 5 goals from 10 touches.

 

[SaddaZ]

At what point in the season does one reach peak fitness after a pre season like JA? Cant really judge his work (or lack thereof) yet as his preparations were interrupted. When he was up and running, i really liked his work. Couple of things i noticed last year and was hoping he'd work at this year were that he struggled against a bigger body - tried to outmuscle them too much- and that he had a touch of the Fev's when things didn't quite pan out for him. For mine, this year he probably now needs to work harder than ever as Dawes looks like he is ahead at the moment.

Interesting project is JA.

 

[Thommo 42]

I dunno about this myth about his pressure either.

go and watch the tape from the Adelaide Semi last year, where he spent 3 quarters chasing tail without ever really getting near the footy.

Even better, listen to the Triple M call from BT and the boys where they repeately praise him for his chasing, over and over again, and repeatedly say that he needs some help in the forward line!

 

[SaddaZ]

I dunno about this myth about his pressure either.

go and watch the tape from the Adelaide Semi last year, where he spent 3 quarters chasing tail without ever really getting near the footy.

Even better, listen to the Triple M call from BT and the boys where they repeately praise him for his chasing, over and over again, and repeatedly say that he needs some help in the forward line!

Agree with this. That was last year though. Facts are that this year he has been poor in the AFL, probably due to the bad pre season. Medders showed it last year that an average preparation will hurt you for the season. MM stuck with him for longer than what he is for JA now.

 

[Thommo 42]

Oh yeah, agree completely that he is down this year.

However, people make out that its always been a problem for him and he doesn't work hard off the ball - which is completely false.

He's always been a low posession player and he has always provided a great deal of pressure inside the forward 50.

 

[magpiewarrior]

Oh yeah, agree completely that he is down this year.

However, people make out that its always been a problem for him and he doesn't work hard off the ball - which is completely false.

He's always been a low possession player and he has always provided a great deal of pressure inside the forward 50.

Sometimes I think that Jack just can't win, last year people said it was great that he was kicking goals but he needed to provide more pressure in the forward 50. MM dropped him with the message that he had to provide more defensive pressure in the forward 50 and do more of the team things to get back in the side, so he goes back to the VFL and does what he is told. He gets back into the AFL team against Freo and continues sacrificing his goal scoring to do the team things and he gets carved up on here for not kicking enough goals and then MM drops him. He must be wondering what is actually required of him.