News Jacobs wrap.

[RangaInTeal]

So happy for Benny. I have a love for someone with the same name as me, but I really hope he's in our best this week. Playing in the middle he gives himself every chance. I want him to sail one through from 55 and us to realise that he has a beautiful leg on him

Ild rather he has 55 effective kicks, wow what a game that would be!

 

[El_Scorcho]

Didn't seem to be an issue chucking first gamer Wingard into the midfield rotation.

Hopefully Jacobs is there for the rest of his career now

 

[Jonts]

People do realise that Jacobs played predominantly as a defender (or backline quarterback) in the U18s etc dont they?

In the Vic Metro U18's state team he played predominantly half back yes with stints on the wing and been put the second and third midfield rotation

But for Sandringham Dragons in the TAC Cup he was playing in their first midfield for around 50% of the time. But also note he played more for VM than he did SD

But looking forward to it none the less

 

[FishingRick04]

Didn't seem to be an issue chucking first gamer Wingard into the midfield rotation.

Hopefully Jacobs is there for the rest of his career now

I'm more inclined to tolarate acceptable losses if Jacobs joins Hamish, Boak, Wingard, Ebert, Gray, Moore, JMP, Newton as our key midfielders

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Looks a handy midfielder in this 2009 game v SA.

[YOUTUBE]v_CG9KujaGY[/YOUTUBE]

 

[FishingRick04]

nice reminder Ford and he has been a ball winner of sorts for us. I'm hoping for another improvement this week.

 

[kaysee]

I like that he now seems to be looking quickly for that instinctive 1st give... which keeps play moving quickly. As opposed to some others (old and young) who seem to hold to look for the 'perfect' option which rarely eventuates.

 

[tribey]

Looks a handy midfielder in this 2009 game v SA.

[YOUTUBE]v_CG9KujaGY[/YOUTUBE]

THE AWESOME:

• Bangs in and wins a hot ground contest before spinning away with poise and hitting a teammate on the tit 30m afield with his right foot. (3:37)

THE GOOD:

• Sharks a ball palmed down his throat by the SA ruckman and bangs it on quickly (0:06)
• Once again reads the opposing ruckman's palm and gives off a nice handball in traffic and shepherds well - butters up at the next contest, goes in head first and wins the free (0:13)
• Once again reads the SA ruckman, gathers with poise and hands off nicely to Scully at the back of the square. (1:03)
• Nice standing gather and give to Scully in traffic (1:14)
• Another nice standing gather and give after a fumble by Gaff and wins the free after being slung (1:22)
• Strong mark 3 deep from long kick-out (2:32)
• Part of a nice chain of handballs on the wing - unless I've identified him wrongly he gives solidly with his right hand. (2:58)
• Another good read and quick give under the ruck contest. Made himself big to block immediately afterward although didn't draw contact - good thinking. (3:27)
• Involves himself in chain movement with first a handball then a solid 40m left foot kick to an iffy contest upfield. (3:50)

SO-SO/HO-HUM

• Outmarked by Jack Trengove in a contest he had little hope of winning anyway (0:42)
• Regulation handball receive from Andre Moore and 15m left foot pass to a leading flanker (1:48)
• Handball receive and sidestep and baulk to attempt to get onto his left which works but in doing so arguably wrong-foots his leading forwards before delivering into F50 to a saving mark by SA player, ignores or doesn't see a man to his right streaming into the F50 unopposed (2:18)
• Handball receive in the centre of the ground before delivering a 40-50m direct pass to a lead which doesn't hit its target (2:48)
• Calls for and handball receives on the wing before slow legspeed/hand-to-foot results in a 20m left foot pass under pressure which splits 2 teammates - in his defence the lack of shepherding from his nearby teammate was terrible (3:06)
• Involved in a bit of headless chicken team play with a handball and some oblique run (4:07)
• Sells Scully into trouble with a loopy handball before making amends with a gather and handball to Talia (4:21)

THE BAD:

• Receives, looks up and blazes away from just inside the centre square and puts it straight down the throat of an unopposed SA backman a metre in front of the goalline, bit low-percentage and hungry. (0:54)
• Immediately after the free won for being slung on half-back, chooses to go to a risky 2-on-1 in the centre of the ground. Luckily his teammate takes a solid contested mark. (1:43)
• Good gather but undone by an appalling display of having no right foot 15m out straight in front of goal (1:56)
• Good shark off hands across half-back undone by a combination of slow decision-making and desire to get onto his left side resulting in HTB on SA's 50m arc. (2:06)

Realise it's just one select clip from one game, but the heralded left foot doesn't get much of an airing. His strengths seems to be in-close big-bodied wins with reflex gives by hand. The advantage he clearly had over skinnier opponents is now cancelled out obviously, so it will be interesting to see if he can maintain these attributes at the highest level combined with his supposed left foot of doom.

 

[Wargreymon90]

Also seems that he was against trengove, the best midfielder that year and was also a year younger.

held his own against him

 

[Oliver King]

I like that he now seems to be looking quickly for that instinctive 1st give... which keeps play moving quickly. As opposed to some others (old and young) who seem to hold to look for the 'perfect' option which rarely eventuates.

I noticed in the 4th quarter he had the ball around the 50, he went to go handball to a teammate, but realised he was under pressure, and chose not to give it to him.

He fumbled the ball afterwards, but it was good to see that he could see that another UFH wasn't on, and chose another option. Hopefully with experience he can do that a bit more quickly, and get the disposal off to advantage.

Memories are bit hazy of the game by now, but it stood out to me that we usually with go with that option which puts the teammates under pressure, but he had the vision not to.

 

[Oliver King]

left foot of doom.

I want to see more of this.

 

[Schulzenfest]

But hey, perhaps we should have stuck a 12-game player in the middle of the ground against ... St Kilda?, Essendon?, Collingwood?, Sydney? ... which one and what would that have done for his confidence?

As we've seen in the last few weeks, chances are it would've done a shitload more for his confidence than what playing in defence did.

The way he played in defence the Essendon game we can count ourselves lucky that he didn't retire halfway through the last quarter, let alone gain confidence.

His strengths seems to be in-close big-bodied wins with reflex gives by hand.

His body isn't so big by AFL standards, but his greatest strength that he's shown at AFL level so far is the 'reflex gives by hand' bit. He should be around the congestion, not being protected from it, because that's what he's been best at so far.

 

[MotlopRules]

Yessss, moar please.

I really, really rate Jacobs as a midfielder.

Plus, I can't wait to see him start to tear it up, just so that Boydman has to eat his words and stop being soooo negative about him. The kid can play and he will be a great pick up for us.

Plus he's super good-looking

 

[PowerKat]

wow - the wheel has turned. So many called for him to 'learn in the SANFL' during the early rounds - now he's wanted in a prime position. Maybe young players can learn and improve playing in our AFL team, and the coach(es)/selectors don't always get it wrong.

 

[Portia]

They're only wrong when they disagree with me

 

[Powerade 08]

wow - the wheel has turned. So many called for him to 'learn in the SANFL' during the early rounds - now he's wanted in a prime position. Maybe young players can learn and improve playing in our AFL team, and the coach(es)/selectors don't always get it wrong.

The only thing Jacobs learnt from playing half back is that his strengths are as an inside midfielder and not a half back.

 

[PowerKat]

They're only wrong when they disagree with me

it would help if they knew this

The only thing Jacobs learnt from playing half back is that his strengths are as an inside midfielder and not a half back.

Regardless of the positional debate which is another tangent - he actually gained confidence with each game, learnt from his mistakes and learnt a fair bit about what's required to play at AFL level, to the point that his performance is up to a reasonable standard and he can be damaging (in a positive way). Not sure he'd be at the same stage this week, if he'd been dropped after rnd 2. IMO.

 

[tribey]

To be honest Katburgers, I reckon he's showing a bit in spite of the coaches positioning and blind faith in him. The sort of wringer he was put through needlessly destroyed Pettigrew's career and how Cam O'Shea responds to his equally awful treatment is yet to be seen.

Still don't think it would've hurt for Jacobs to have a couple of months against men in the guts for the Magpies off his shocking preseason and look to bring him into the midfield off the back of genuine form and confidence.

The end result could've been achieved by Round 7 or 8 with far less pain and cost.

 

[Lightning_Rod]

and yet he is still named off the half back line lol p0xmus

 

[Jonts]

and yet he is still named off the half back line lol p0xmus

Primus never actually starts them where he says he will

 

[kaysee]

The only thing Jacobs learnt from playing half back is that his strengths are as an inside midfielder and not a half back.

Not sure about that... I think he could have hopefully learnt the following:

- be accountable for a direct opponent
- how tough it is for the back 6 when the midfield don't help out by running back or preventing opposition i50s.
- how to face criticism from fans/media/coaches and persist through it, so it builds your character.

Hopefully, he's learnt and is learning those things from his defensive roles.

 

[Honeyboy Wilson]

The only good thing about Jacobs being played in defense was the weight tat came off his shoulders and the relief he felt when he was finally moved to the midfield and able to play his natural game.

Just means we wasted his first 15 or so games trying to kill his confidence. If you actually want to see it as a positive, wow - I can't imagine having that much blind faith. Even Catholics would be like "damn son!"

 

[Malibu#27]

and yet he is still named off the half back line lol p0xmus

He was also named at half back against Richmond in the released team, but lined up on the wing from the first bounce.

 

[JMint]

Regardless of the positional debate which is another tangent - he actually gained confidence with each game, learnt from his mistakes and learnt a fair bit about what's required to play at AFL level, to the point that his performance is up to a reasonable standard and he can be damaging (in a positive way). Not sure he'd be at the same stage this week, if he'd been dropped after rnd 2. IMO.

Not sure about that... I think he could have hopefully learnt the following:

- be accountable for a direct opponent
- how tough it is for the back 6 when the midfield don't help out by running back or preventing opposition i50s.
- how to face criticism from fans/media/coaches and persist through it, so it builds your character.

Hopefully, he's learnt and is learning those things from his defensive roles.

Couldn't agree more!

Hindsight is a wonderful thing ... easy to say "should've played him in the middle from the start!"... but there are also some stark realities to deal with. There are probably a multitude of variables and numerous developmental reasons that determined why jacobs has been playing off the back line.

For many on this forum to sit and judge and second-guess the entire coaching panel (with something like a lazy 1500 AFL games experience between them) week-in week-out claiming that they know better is somewhat laughable and smacks of arm-chair arrogance. I generally respect most opinions, but sometimes just have to laugh at the sheer lack of perspective shown by some posters.

sorry - felt like good rant

 

[tribey]

For many on this forum to sit and judge and second-guess the entire coaching panel (with something like a lazy 1500 AFL games experience between them) week-in week-out claiming that they know better is somewhat laughable and smacks of arm-chair arrogance. I generally respect most opinions, but sometimes just have to laugh at the sheer lack of perspective shown by some posters.

You're right, since 2pm, 29/09/07 the club has been an infallible paragon of awesome and all the staff within it from the Board to the Coaches to the Players have been coiled like a black mamba just waiting to strike with the ferocity and consequences of the Big Bang.

Sure we've only won 4 games since the official start of the Primus regime and have suffered the stain of losses stretching into the 130-170 point range, but clearly the decision-making and strategies are beyond reproach.

Even if Jacobs goes on to win a Brownlow at the end of the year it's a long bow you're drawing in terms of "LOL TAEK THAT JOE PUBIC!"