Jarryd Blair and his worth to Collingwood

[PieBeast]

Very interested in public perception of Blair and the attributes he brings to the Pies.
Does his ferocity and tackling justify his spot in the side, do you consider him a vital cog and a permanent fixture or are you of the opinion he's easily replaceable and is in serious danger of losing his spot when and if Daisy comes back for the finals?

ps. I don't post on our board and am more interested in opposition's thoughts on this matter, so save pointing in that direction for some other time.

 

[OniAu]

Under estimated by a lot. He needs to be playing more forward of the ball to be as his most effectiveness. Against the swannies he created so many plays out of nothing and won 50 50 balls. I would have him in ahead of Daisy on the basis Daisy isn't going to be 100% fit. Be silly to drop Blair for Daisy.

Beams back in and Ball back in pushes Blair more up forward. Which is a massive plus

 

[Doss]

If/when Daisy come back in, would Blair be the most likely to make way for him?

I rate Blair, because I reckon his style of game is especially important in the higher pressure atmosphere of finals football.

 

[Righteo]

Hmm, I always assumed Blair was best 22 even with Daisy in the side, are they really in direct competition with each other? Have guys like Josh Thomas/Sinclair etc done enough to cement their position for when Thomas comes back?

I like Blair though, reminds me a lot of Ballantyne and is a pretty good foil for Jamie Elliot.

 

[Stan_Darsh72]

I see him similar to Puopolo from the Hawks. Tackles hard and brings intensity to the midfield and yet also can do a job in the Forward line as a small forward.

 

[PieBeast]

Is the prerogative of a small forward impacting the scoreboard or is it simply laying 5 tackles a game?
And doe averaging 0.6 goals per game constitute having an impact on the scoreboard?

Who has more upside as a small forward out of Josh Thomas and Blair?

How far of his best form of 2010 Blair is atm?

Is Daisy disciplined enough to play a shut down and rebound role Sinclair has been performing of late and wouldn't be Daisy of better use somewhere else? And wouldn't a 90% fit Daisy bring a lot more to the side than the 100% fit Blair is capable of?

And finally who goes out if Daisy makes it back are some of the questions that come to mind after reading the responses to date.

 

[Righteo]

If those 5 tackles a game lead directly to team mates hitting the scoreboard then his spot would be justified IMO, again the comparison to Puopolo or Ballantyne would be apt; not known for kicking bags of goals but their forward pressure and ability to force turnovers that a team mate can benefit from makes them invaluable to their respective sides.

I think Daisy Thomas has evolved from that sort of role though and can be classified as a true midfielder who can influence in all areas of the ground now so again I'm not sure they're in competition for the same spot.

I don't know the Pies list well enough but Blair's spot would be in jeopardy if you had a player who can do all the pressure acts AND hit the scoreboard frequently.

Has Blair ever been tried as a defensive forward in the De boer mould; locking down on the oppositions best rebounding defender to stifle run from the backline?

 

[lenny&carl]

Blair has lots of pressure acts apparently. They used to be called 1%-ers, but now the stats are more fancy. I agree with the fellow who said Blair's style of footy is suited to finals.

 

[PieBeast]

If those 5 tackles a game lead directly to team mates hitting the scoreboard then his spot would be justified IMO, again the comparison to Puopolo or Ballantyne would be apt; not known for kicking bags of goals but their forward pressure and ability to force turnovers that a team mate can benefit from makes them invaluable to their respective sides.

I think Daisy Thomas has evolved from that sort of role though and can be classified as a true midfielder who can influence in all areas of the ground now so again I'm not sure they're in competition for the same spot.

I don't know the Pies list well enough but Blair's spot would be in jeopardy if you had a player who can do all the pressure acts AND hit the scoreboard frequently.

Has Blair ever been tried as a defensive forward in the De boer mould; locking down on the oppositions best rebounding defender to stifle run from the backline?

I find the comparisons with Balla way of the mark, Balla is a far more dangerous proposition around golas and demands a quality defender playing on him. Has kicked more double the amount of goals despite playing a couple of games less this year and has been known to kick bags of 4 on few occasions while Blair's limit seems to be 2 goals once every blue moon.

Josh Thomas has been playing closer to goals only since Beamsy's comeback and already matches Blair's output. Not to mention he holds his own and isn't exposed for pace and size when running through the guts.

Daisy has played as an attacking midfielder for quite some time now, is a far more dangerous proposition around big sticks and is capable of turning the game unlike Blair.

Blair has definitely played plenty of games as a defensive forward but I don't recall him being successful at it.
Blair's last couple of seasons remind me of Leon Davis' 2010, lots of pressure acts that have stuff all bearing on games at the end of the day. Sinclair was providing a better pressure up forward earlier in the year yet was still being lambasted....

IMO we have three obvious weak links in our current line up but one won't be dropped due to his title, the other will only be dropped if Jolly does a Lazarus so that leaves us with Blair as an obvious option to make way for Daisy going on current form.

 

[forwardflanker]

Is the prerogative of a small forward impacting the scoreboard or is it simply laying 5 tackles a game?
And doe averaging 0.6 goals per game constitute having an impact on the scoreboard?

Who has more upside as a small forward out of Josh Thomas and Blair?

How far of his best form of 2010 Blair is atm?

Is Daisy disciplined enough to play a shut down and rebound role Sinclair has been performing of late and wouldn't be Daisy of better use somewhere else? And wouldn't a 90% fit Daisy bring a lot more to the side than the 100% fit Blair is capable of?

And finally who goes out if Daisy makes it back are some of the questions that come to mind after reading the responses to date.

1. I would of thought Josh Thomas has significantly more upside. This is basically his first season of AFL - he is faster, finds the ball more and has great deal more improvement in him than Blair who is not getting any better.

2. I think Blair's been in pretty poor form all season but as a consequence of injuries it's been difficult for him to be dropped. His form has been better the last fortnight however.

3. If Thomas gets back then I'd say it will probably be J Thomas who makes way unless he can maintain the form from the weekend. Personally I'd prefer to see Seedsman playing in our best 22 in front of both Blair and J Thomas.

My biggest issue with Blair is that other than pressure acts this season he has contributed so little. Other than pressure acts, he almost always gets < 20 possessions, is not a damaging user of the ball and doesn't hit the scoreboard very often. Compare this to Jamie Elliot who is near as good as Blair on the 1% but has shown he can hit the scoreboard and be damaging upfied which has made him an auto selection. I just don't get this new age thinking where 1%'s are now all of a sudden more important than 100%'s

 

[forwardflanker]

Hmm, I always assumed Blair was best 22 even with Daisy in the side, are they really in direct competition with each other? Have guys like Josh Thomas/Sinclair etc done enough to cement their position for when Thomas comes back?

I like Blair though, reminds me a lot of Ballantyne and is a pretty good foil for Jamie Elliot.

Sinclair = autoselection
Josh Thomas = is inconsistent but still offers as much as Blair imo because he can play midfield as well, also is very young.

On talent alone Blair is probably not in the best 25 at the club however the coach seems to like him probably because of his pressure acts and attack on the ball.

Young, Martin, Thomas, Toovey, and Seedsman are all players who are better than him now + we have several younger players who will be better than him next season imo.

fwiw the two least talented players in our best 22 by a clear margin are Maxwell and Blair and I doubt either of them will find themselves out of the side for finals.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

One of the last picked, but always picked.

A good quality player to have in your bottom six.

 

[JackoSpades]

I think the way he play he drags his teammates with him. He's very hard, in and under when ball isn't in the play.
Can't put a finger on it but I think he's very important to the team, allows the silk to break away from the packs.

Remember he was also in our premiership team.
Daisy diff type of player so Blair won't make way for him.

If we keep our form up it will be hard for Daisy to make it back in this year with the small amount of game time he has had this year

 

[jonesy86]

I like him better as a small forward who pinch hits in the middle as opposed to a permanent midfielder as he was earlier this year. I think he loses his effectiveness when in the middle for too long due to most mids being much bigger than him and he isn't lightening quick.

The Puopolo comparison is a good one.

 

[Despair]

 

[Pie eyed]

Very interested in public perception of Blair and the attributes he brings to the Pies.
Does his ferocity and tackling justify his spot in the side, do you consider him a vital cog and a permanent fixture or are you of the opinion he's easily replaceable and is in serious danger of losing his spot when and if Daisy comes back for the finals?

ps. I don't post on our board and am more interested in opposition's thoughts on this matter, so save pointing in that direction for some other time.

On form you can't drop Blair.
If Daisy comes in he comes in as the sub replacing Dwyer and even then Dwyer is hard done by.
We play the Hawks and must win.
Certainly not the time to entertain playing fan favorites over players who are delivering just or the lulz.
WC and NM games are dead rubbers, so play him in them to give him a chance to show some form of any kind.

 

[mysainters]

Great work rate, even when the side is losing or not playing well, that says a lot about a player IMO.

 

[MeisterBot]

Blair is a fantastic bottom six player. Effort, intensity and hardness at the ball/contest and always flies the flag. Puopolo is a decent comparison. Also have to remember that he played the first half of the season as a centre square mid, with stints in the forward line due to injuries. Struggled to get on the scoreboard, and struggled to have impact in the middle because of his height and lack of strength against the bigger mids. Not to mention we were running people like Ben Kennedy in the side who is a similar player (though Kennedy has way more potential).

As a small forward with stints in the middle though, he is a good compliment to Elliott and is the third best natural crummer in the squad and the best one actually playing in the team right now (Krakouer and Fasolo are #1/2, with Blair and Sidebottom as #3/4). He gets into dangerous positions, he's creative with his kicks inside F50 (though he is not good at hitting up targets) and his pressure is always top notch. On the tangent of specific defensive forward jobs, he did a number on Hurn in the Semi last year.

Heart and soul player. I see his spot under threat by Kyle Martin and Ben Kennedy next year and beyond, but on current form, you would not drop him going into finals.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

I'd forgotten about Fasolo

 

[PieBeast]

On form you can't drop Blair.
If Daisy comes in he comes in as the sub replacing Dwyer and even then Dwyer is hard done by.
We play the Hawks and must win.
Certainly not the time to entertain playing fan favorites over players who are delivering just or the lulz.
WC and NM games are dead rubbers, so play him in them to give him a chance to show some form of any kind.

Well I'm fairly certain that on actual form you can drop Blair. As far as I'm concerned his only decent game in a long time has been against Essendon.
Dwyer has done well to keep Krak and Dids out of the side and has been of much more value to our side than Blair. Dwyer brings class, speed, flair and finesse to us, his kicking is also quality.

All this talk of Blair being the king of one-percenters is just fluff designed to justify keeping a fan favourite in the side. Like I said, I've heard this talk right through 2010 about Davis and we know how that worked out...
And I have no idea what made you think I'm talking about Daisy coming in this week when everyone knows that the best scenario of him returning to AFL is 3 weeks away, that "storm in the tea cup" affair must've rattled you hard

And HERE is a player comparison between Blair and Josh Thomas for anyone interested, you can see that there's stuff all in it. Apart from the fact JT is producing these numbers on the back of getting a lot less of game time. And JT is improving with every game during his first uninterrupted run at it while Blair has peaked in his debut season and has been gradually getting worse since.
Unless it's wet Blair would be the first one to make way for Daisy for mine.
But as they say in classics - sometimes it's hard to let go. And this seems to be the case, people are choosing a Premiership hero over some new faces despite the glaring facts telling us those new faces are of much more value to the side now.

 

[biggiemediums]

Hmm, I always assumed Blair was best 22 even with Daisy in the side, are they really in direct competition with each other? Have guys like Josh Thomas/Sinclair etc done enough to cement their position for when Thomas comes back?

I like Blair though, reminds me a lot of Ballantyne and is a pretty good foil for Jamie Elliot.

Sinclair is a defender now, only way he's dropped is when Toovey comes back in or Seedsman if we need some run of HB.

Josh Thomas after the Sydney game deserves a spot to see if his form keeps up. As unfortunate as it is, I really rate the bloke but if anyone loses a spot for Daisy, it's Dwyer.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Well I'm fairly certain that on actual form you can drop Blair. As far as I'm concerned his only decent game in a long time has been against Essendon.
Dwyer has done well to keep Krak and Dids out of the side and has been of much more value to our side than Blair. Dwyer brings class, speed, flair and finesse to us, his kicking is also quality.

Krak has kept himself out of the team. Bucks and Father Time have been Didaks enemy.

Dwyer is not quite best 22 when Daisy returns. Its a close call but I'd pick him ahead of Blair.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Josh Thomas needs to keep getting games until Brian Taylor learns he is not Ben Kennedy.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

I see him similar to Puopolo from the Hawks. Tackles hard and brings intensity to the midfield and yet also can do a job in the Forward line as a small forward.

My immediate thought.

All teams love 'spark' players. The ones that chase, tackle and kick opportunist/regular goals. They build energy, and create opportunities for others. They are combative and they set the tone.

Blair is most definitely one of a couple of Collingwood's sparks, and I doubt that he'll be squeezed out of the side.

 

[Collins-Langford-Ayres]

Brings something different to the midfield mix. Easily in Collingwood's best 22.