Kosi

[The Big League]

I'm not trying to stur the pot before this weeks game, but just trying to get an insight into what you guys think about Kosi.

From the outside he frustrates me to no end, last weeks accidental hit on luke ball is the perfect example as to why, he has zero vision and just really has no football brain.

Do you guys see him as someone you want to keep around the club? I know there are far poorer players in the AFL than the big man, but he just seems lost at times. We all know about his 'ability' but is he ever going to utilise it??

 

[Persevering Saint]

He can be frustrating, BL, but he's just such a big-hearted player, I think part of the soul of the place would go if he went.

Remember too, that this is really one of the first really full seasons he's played in a while, and so this year has been a bit of a "finding my feet again" one. Big hopes for him next year.

 

[Squizz]

Annoys the begeezus out of me sometimes, but would not want to see him leave.

Dropped about six marks (including mark of year contender) and nearly killed Bally.

Missed a kick that he nailed with ease during the warm-up (with a friggin different technique - changes every 5 mins).

But will then do something inspirational to make us forget all about it.

At the end of the day, the crumbers love a player like him. Straightens us up and hits the pack hard (too hard if you ask others who try to get a grab in the forward line!).

 

[MIDDO]

I'm not trying to stur the pot before this weeks game, but just trying to get an insight into what you guys think about Kosi.

From the outside he frustrates me to no end, last weeks accidental hit on luke ball is the perfect example as to why, he has zero vision and just really has no football brain.

Do you guys see him as someone you want to keep around the club? I know there are far poorer players in the AFL than the big man, but he just seems lost at times. We all know about his 'ability' but is he ever going to utilise it??

I really think this week he will deliver bigtime ! Has had a couple of quiet games and i think after missing the West Coast game he knows he owe's us a big one,so Magpies look out come Sat night. The big man is back !!!

 

[TassieSaint]

Frustrating player, but we all know what he is capable of and if he does hit form we'd be a much improved team. Even in his current form he's invaluable to our team for structual reasons. Without him our forward line is all over the place and the opposition can pretty much play as many defenders on Riewoldt as they like.

Personally I believe one day he will step up (for more than a 5 week period) and silence his critics, and I would be very very dissappointed if he was traded.

 

[panthers]

Kosi>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>any player from collingdrunk

 

[The Punter]

His ruckwork (tapping) was better on Sunday than previous weeks.

 

[The Big League]

Kosi>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>any player from collingdrunk

I wasn't having a go at him at all, infact I would kill to have a big bloke like him in our team at the moment, it just seems like he isn't really switched on when hes out on the ground.

 

[Sainters66]

I wasn't having a go at him at all, infact I would kill to have a big bloke like him in our team at the moment, it just seems like he isn't really switched on when hes out on the ground.

To be fair on the big fella, delivery was very very ordinary on Sunday. Has been all year. But he is due as someone above wrote .
His best posi is ruck/forward.
Kosi and McEvoy will be our ruck combo going foward so hands off.

 

[Signd Sealed Saint]

That is Kosi mate, he may look disinterested but he can do his stuff. Hoping for him to have a big game on Saturday night.

 

[bubblegoose]

Yeah can be frustrating at times, but how much crap would he cop if he wimped out of going for the ball? Kosi was going for the contested ball - not Ball - so would have been focussed fully on the oncoming footy.

 

[St DAC]

Yep. Bally's injury was really his own fault. Kosi had every right to contest that ball (and may well have marked it if Bally hadn't been there). That young man has far too much courage for his own good.

 

[Speck]

Put him into Geelong/Hawthorn's forwardlines and see what he can do.

Our delivery to him has been pretty poor for the most part.

 

[ChrisFooty]

I still have good hope he could play really well for the remainder of the year.

 

[Fryman]

I worry about Kosi these days. He seems too slow to get separation from his man when playing as a forward and so all his marks end up being pack grabs. He's making it hard for himself by not getting the easy marks on the lead.​

I also think he struggles to get to enough contests whether in the ruck or as a forward, I don't know if it's fitness, work ethic or a lack of confidence but if he could get his disposal average up to around 18 - 20 rather than the 11 that it is at he would be a much more valuable player.​

 

[Persevering Saint]

this from realfooty. You know things are pretty dire when Robert Walls is right about something.

Has Petrie put Kosi in his shadow?

Jake Niall | August 12, 2008

JUSTIN Koschitzke and Drew Petrie were drafted in the same year. One was a feted top-two draft pick, bracketed alongside Nick Riewoldt, the other a speculative pick 23 who, for much of his career, seemed destined to be a mid-range foot soldier.

In their eighth seasons, Petrie has transformed himself from toiling journeyman to the verge of elite status, while Koschitzke remains the St Kilda player with the greatest chasm between public expectation and performance.

Petrie and Koschitzke, both 25 and 197-centimetre forward/ruckmen, are symbols of their respective clubs, in that so much is expected of Kosi and the heavily hyped Saints, while Petrie, like the unfashionable Shinboners, is better than external perceptions suggest.

At least those werethe perceptions of these respective players and clubs; within the football fraternity, there is increasing recognition that Petrie is an A-grade player, simply by dint of what one assistant coach called his "sheer consistency of both performance and effort".

Or as one football department administrator put it: "Petrie gives 100% competitive effort every time he plays." Petrie, he added, gave North Melbourne a constant, bankable output. Coaches cherish that.

On 3AW on Sunday, Robert Walls described Koschitzke as arguably the "most overpaid and overrated player in the competition". Walls based his assessment on the fact that Kosi is among St Kilda's four highest earners, yet has never finished in the top six in the club best and fairest.

Koschitzke is both victim and beneficiary of his high draft position and immense early promise — he won the Rising Star Award in his first season; his courage, good skills and capacity to take the contested mark meant he would forever be a player with a star profile, and he is paid accordingly — an estimated $450,000 or more this year, thanks to the interest of Sydney and Carlton a few years back. Petrie, who has just signed a new contract, isn't in that league of remuneration yet is averaging six more disposals a game this year.

Koschitzke is in a similar boat to Josh Fraser, who carries the burden of a tall man picked early in the draft.

Petrie, meanwhile, reeked of blue-collar player — he's not particularly quick, nor outlandishly skilled.

What Petrie owned, however, was not only work ethic, but a body that would withstand those first 100 games and the aerobic capacity to make his prodigious work rate possible.

Koschitzke has been challenged on both fronts. He does not appear to have a natural aerobic base — Shane Wakelin having exposed him twice on that score this season — and his misfortune with injury have clearly made it harder for him to develop consistency over his eight seasons.

Koschitzke's first coach, North Melbourne great and dual premiership coach Malcolm Blight, has closely followed the careers of both talls. His assessment is that while Kosi was superior in the early years, and Petrie has had the better "mid-section", final judgement should be reserved until their careers are complete.

"I reckon midway through your career — and I've always thought this, not just these two players — I've always thought it's when you've crossed the finishing line, it's much easier to have an opinion.

"Justin's start was probably much better than Drew's. The mid-section, particularly this year and later this year, not earlier, Drew looks to be finding a new level. It's taken some development time.

"So they're roughly the same age … it's an interesting exercise, but you've got to wait. If you said that of Matthew Richardson, let's take that — five years ago, where would you have put that, and what you see of him now."

On the symbolic comparison between these players and their clubs, Blight suggested North was better than St Kilda because it had a larger contingent of capable players.

"If you're just talking about the abilities of two players, the results of the clubs are probably reflective of how many more good players you've got in the club."

 

[Squizz]

I would trust neither of them from 35m directly in front.

 

[Squizz]

Saints want Koschitzke to lift

Football operations manager Matthew Drain says the form of Justin Koschitzke has been solid but admits the club would like to see an improvement from its key big man ahead of the Saints' crucial clash with Freo on Sunday.

Koschitzke was the subject of criticism following the disappointing loss to Collingwood last week but Drain says he is still crucial to the club's success. "He's been really important to us in a number of games with his ruck [work in the] forward [line] and what has been most important… is to give us structure," he said at Moorabbin on Wednesday. "However his performance – and other guys fit into this category as well – at times hasn't been to what Justin would have like or to what we would have liked. He's not Robinson Crusoe there." The last time the Saints travelled west – in round 16 – Koschitzke did not play due to suspension, and Drain noted that the forward/ruckman was sorely missed in the loss to West Coast. "That was one of the things that came out of the game; a number of players were even saying 'gee, we missed Kosi in Perth against West Coast two weeks ago'," he said. "We're back at the same ground – it's a bigger ground, so we think he's going to be very important for us for our structure, and we're sure he will bounce back from last week's performance."

Drain noted that Koschitzke was not the only player that the club was hoping would lift after a poor performance against the Pies, and isolated Nick Dal Santo, despite the silky midfielder playing through an illness in the last two games. "He was cleared to play and at this stage of the year … every player wants to play. So he wasn't unfit to play, but there's no doubt it (the illness) had some effect on his performance. "But Nick would want to play better than that anyway as a number of our guys would want to." Drain would not be drawn on rating the quality of St Kilda's list, saying that the playing personnel would be assessed at the end of the season. But he did foreshadow the club would stick by out-of-form ruckman Michael Gardiner and hot-and-cold goalsneak Stephen Milne. "We'd like to think Michael Gardiner playing well has got a place on the St Kilda list," he said. "Milney's kicked 40 goals so it's been a reasonably good year, but he needs some more consistency in the really crunch games. "We see those guys – historically and even now – as really important parts of our club and important parts of our list, and important parts of us performing this week".

 

[just a line monkey]

Kosi needs to take the blinkers off. A few games left to ease the minds of alot of supportors, but if he is to sink not swim i think his head will be on the chopping block. I still think he is as tough as it gets on the field but that doesn't cover all bases.

 

[Kildonan]

Has Petrie put Kosi in his shadow?

Jake Niall | August 12, 2008

Snip

On the symbolic comparison between these players and their clubs, Blight suggested North was better than St Kilda because it had a larger contingent of capable players.

"If you're just talking about the abilities of two players, the results of the clubs are probably reflective of how many more good players you've got in the club."

It appears that Malcolm Blight can't stop taking pot shots at our club.

You are sounding petulant, Blighty - get over it.

There's almost no-one left at the club that was there when you were sacked. Surely these attacks are hollow to you. All you are doing is damaging your own image.

If you continue to try and wreak revenge against the club, then the AFL should sanction you and Channel 10. Your position in the media requires some accountability of your actions. You are coming off as a spoiled child now and it is not a good "look".

Jake Niall - you are also accountable for your actions and that includes a perpetuation of this unilateral abuse.

 

[Squizz]

Blight seemed in a very chipper mood watching the Saints getting done on Saturday night.

 

[Signd Sealed Saint]

Kosi has the same problem as just about every player on the list apart from a few. Plenty of talent, plenty of promise but doesn't work hard enough to get the most out of himself. Also mentally fragile like the others, if he has a shit start to a game you can just about write him off the rest of it.