Leon

[augie]

Ant22 it sounds to me like you have been waiting for an opportunity to pot Leon and it finally came on Saturday night. Yeah he had a bad game. Probably his first really bad game of the year. But he still worked very hard, and as someone pointed out still had 6 tackles. That is not a front runner.

Your argument is essentially flawed because you say that he never stands up in crunch games, but he has stood up in many crunch games this year. Amazing that you can't turn your mind back to the Essendon game when he kicked that goal. That was surely not the work of a frontrunner.

If you are going to criticise Pies players at least make it somehow based on fact. Relying on a terrible Grand Final performance 5 years ago to criticise him now is just plain silly. He seems to have gotten over that game. Maybe its time you did the same.

 

[ant22]

Ant22 it sounds to me like you have been waiting for an opportunity to pot Leon and it finally came on Saturday night. Yeah he had a bad game. Probably his first really bad game of the year. But he still worked very hard, and as someone pointed out still had 6 tackles. That is not a front runner.

Your argument is essentially flawed because you say that he never stands up in crunch games, but he has stood up in many crunch games this year. Amazing that you can't turn your mind back to the Essendon game when he kicked that goal. That was surely not the work of a frontrunner.

If you are going to criticise Pies players at least make it somehow based on fact. Relying on a terrible Grand Final performance 5 years ago to criticise him now is just plain silly. He seems to have gotten over that game. Maybe its time you did the same.

If you read through my posts I have acknowledged that he has had a decent season and is currently good enough to be in our best 22. But if in what is his 7th or 8th season of footy 11.9 possies 2.5 marks and 1.5 goals and 4 tackles is his best ever season then it tells you something about his career. There ok stats but it nothing to get to excited about and I think it just goes to show how one eyed our supporters are, people get so excited and so defensive about a player who has these kind of stats in his best ever year. People are using his improved defensive pressure as a denfence for leon and I dont disagree that he has improved his chasing and tackling, so what there is not a small forward in todays game who does not do this, if you dont then you will not get a game. Even medhurst did it when he was in the side and dont even get me start on him. In my mind leon is a god compared to medhurst.


My point is not so much based on what has happened this year. Its what has happened in previous years. Yes I did post it intentially after saturday nights game because I thought he was very very poor. I dont care if he had a high tackle count, when your chasing tails you often do.

Perhaps I expect to much of leon. Perhaps after getting excited in the first 7 or 8 games last year and seeing leon not just get 10 touches a game and kick the odd brilliant goal but being an important part of the midfield rotations and actually getting closer to 20 touches a game, actually helping set up goals rather than just kicking them and me actually thinking he might become more the just a freakish goal sneak maybe just maybe I got a glimpse of what I think he is capable of. This is what I think leons role should be. I am not a big fan of opportunist forward pockets. I think the game has moved on the players need to be more flexible than that. I prefer to see attacking midfielders who rotate through the forward line. Leon proved he could do this early last year.

But then he dropped off. Yes I made the mistake of saying he got injured in a willi game(which I honestly thought was the case) but I am quite sure he got droped to the 2s before this injury because of poor form which coincided with the side losing a few games. If not I am sure someone will correct me. My memory might be going but I hope its not that bad.

Perhaps I get annoyed with leon when instead of playing the percentages he tries the brilliant and maybe that makes me boring and maybe it would make the game boring if we did not have leon type players but personally I would rather see him try and kick to the top of the square every now and then. I would like to see him try and mark with 2 hands instead of 1. His efforts in the last quarter of the st kilda game when in wet conditions he tried 3 one handed marks is the exact reason I get frustrated with leon.

You claim my opinion is based on 1 bad game. Well your wrong. Its based on the fact that he has been at the club for about 8 years and it took him 6 years to cement his spot. Its based on the fact that I dont ever recall seeing him play well in a final(im not saying he hasnt I just dont recall it) and its based on the fact that I actually think he can play and I actually want him to play a bigger and better role. I want leon to star In finals. Maybe I have been harsh on him and maybe I should reserve judgement until after the finals and see what he does but this is my opinion and I will stick to it regardless of who agrees and who disagrees.

I ask this question to all those who continually say "how can you not like him and you are wrong?" Has leon done so much over has esteemed career that it is such a suprise that there may actually be people out there who dont rate him or who in my case are concerned that he might not stand up when it counts?

This whole topic just proves something to me. How much supporters love the glamour players. I could have written a criticle thread on obree who has been a very good player over the last couple of years and I would not have coped half the crap I have on this .

My opinion my be biased based on the fact that I prefer the unfashionable hard nut types but It is exactly that-My opinion. I dont think its any reason for people to accuse me of fabricating stuff to back my thoughts and I certainly dont think its any reason for me to be accused of racism or having this opinion for reasons other than the ones I have stated.

 

[shawthing09]

point taken. I think that was probable your best thread of this discussion. I think Leon can and has went into the midfield rotations but i think his size may or may not be a problem for that long term. And i think at times he gets a lil lost in the midfield (not based on any real evidence just a thought)

As for Leon playing the percentages i think if he only did that then with his stats then he would be in more trouble to cement his side then he is. His ability to convert half chances fairly consistantly is what makes him a great small foward and can often largely lift the team moral. As the bristle man says his the "igniter"

 

[doppleganger]

This whole topic just proves something to me. How much supporters love the glamour players. I could have written a criticle thread on obree who has been a very good player over the last couple of years and I would not have coped half the crap I have on this.

If u wrote an thread on O'Bree i would have def arked up, he has been a vital player for us over the last couple of years!

I dont have a problem with people not liking L.Davis, he is very inconsistent but i feel that comes with the position he plays. And he has transformed his game from being just a flashy finisher, to now being a leading defensive forward as well as still doing the flashy things....i felt u didn't acknowledge the change in Leon's game in 07.

I wish he was more consistent with his ball winning and goal scoring, but in 07 the defensive aspect of his game has been greatly improved and very consistent!

 

[Jabso]

There have been times this year when Leon has played predominantly forward but in most games he's been part of the midfield rotation. He leads the club for tackles inside forward 50 so he does work hard and does play in the midfield.

A stat came out 2 weeks ago saying he leads the competition for tackles inside 50.

 

[4#Didak#4]

Leon is going just fine. There are a lot of other places to look in the blame game before you get to Leon. I do think he should be played in the middle a lot more & be given the chance to run the lines and put pressure on opposition quicker runners.