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Matt Taberner - Developing Days

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I believe today Matt played a great game considering he is a developing KPF.. playing in defence today has learnt him some key lessions i think!
People who are saying he should be delisted need to rethink their opinion because this kid is still developing. i think he is the Nick Reiwoldt kind of playing with his running ability (forrest gump) doesnt stop :') funny bugger i am.

I think Matt deserves to not be dropped this week as we are facing the Dee's but play him forward to see if he has learnt from his mistakes from the last time he played. if he can hold his own in contests ie: marks etc and kicking this kid could be a real machine.

Thanks for listening to me dribble on
 
I believe today Matt played a great game considering he is a developing KPF.. playing in defence today has learnt him some key lessions i think!
People who are saying he should be delisted need to rethink their opinion because this kid is still developing. i think he is the Nick Reiwoldt kind of playing with his running ability (forrest gump) doesnt stop :') funny bugger i am.

I think Matt deserves to not be dropped this week as we are facing the Dee's but play him forward to see if he has learnt from his mistakes from the last time he played. if he can hold his own in contests ie: marks etc and kicking this kid could be a real machine.

Thanks for listening to me dribble on
You're most welcome
 
Well, he played about as well as you'd expect a young forward who's thrown into the backline to play. There's no way i'm writing him off, but he aint a key defender. Not yet anyway.

But if McPharlin and/or Silvagni are fit then it's a pretty easy decision.
 

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Ross said in his presser that 'We'd found something there, I think', meaning he thought Tabs showed enough in his first outing as a backman despite having only been advised that he was playing there this morning.
 
Did about as well as could be expected given he was probably 5th choice for the job after McPharlin, SNOS, Smith and Pearce were all out injured.
 
Failed badly at some basics. Nothing to do with his preferred position - didn't show desperation to win the ball when a contest was there to be won.

This, I think we as a group want him to succeed badly because we need him to take over from Pav but reality is he is about as promising as Dan Parker was...except he doesn't have a brother
 
I honestly don't think Tabs did that bad a job frankly. He's no defender, he looked out of place at times and had trouble getting link-up play with other defenders... But he persevered, he fought it out, I thought he did his best with little to no preparation and in the process I think he learned sh*tloads about the pressures the back six are exposed to.

RTB said the original plan was to swing mayne back and have tabs play forward...obviously he changed his mind at the last minute and I'm glad he did. I reckon mayne played his way back into some good form today - his third and forth quarter efforts were much improved over previous weeks, and that was only possible because Tabs was doing just enough back there to allow Chris to stay forward. Tabs played his role today to the best of his ability, he laid more tackles than any other defender and he got his highest possession count and fantasy score of his short career in the process. That's a solid day's work in my book. IMO he deserves another game in a more familiar role to give him his shot at cementing a place in the squad.
 
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Everyone's entitled to their opinion but I can't help thinking that to criticize Tabs is a bit short sighted. He got told today he's playing in defence.He would have had no training with the backs, no tips and corrections from the staff. Nothing. Not only that he's a young developing kid with a handful of games to his name.

Giving him shit for his performance today is unwarranted (IMO). Imagine you start a new job you're there a couple of days learning your role in the company and then someone in a different department calls in sick. You're asked to fill in at short notice. You've never been in that environment before and the short notice prevents you from preparing adequately. How do you reckon you'd go?

Do you think people heckling your performance were giving you a fair shake?

Some perspective from posters would be great.
 
If we had have lost, he would have been public enemy number one. He went ok except when he had possession, was clearly very nervous. Hopefully being exposed to that pressure cooker will stand him in good stead. I think if they give him an extended run of opportunities he will lose the nerves and become a good player. We still need to draft another two key position players this year if possible to give us some depth, at the moment we are still too thin.
 
I Agree that it's still too early to judge the kid, but just because he's tall & can run all day doesn't mean he's going to be a good footballer (have seen a lot of posters likening him to a Riewoldt?). Haven't seen him take many marks under any kind of pressure at all. Maybe Ross is thinking he can be our Zac Dawson Mark II (can't mark or kick reliably but he's a ruck sized mobile close checking spoiling machine).
 
I think he has talent and large upside - just needs to find aggression in his game. Today I thought he toiled hard and showed promise however if McPharlin was fit the Eagles would have scored 3-4 less goals. But that's what happens when you replace a champion with a youngster - he would have learnt a lot today.
 
Probably 5 shots on goal that I can recall coming straight from his mistakes. Ross obviously isn't going to go in to the presser and say "yeah the developing CHF who I decided to play as a KPD had a terrible game and needs to pull his finger out." Even Hardwick wouldn't dump on a youngster asked to play out of position against one of the best tall forward lines in the comp. He was terrible but a little attaboy for giving it a shot is warranted. Secondly it was his call and it would reflect badly on his own ability to pick a side and having the players and fans start to second guess your selection is dangerous.

He's very far from done and hopefully it's a good learning tool but I didn't see anything today that would suggest he'd make a good defender. Quite the opposite.
 

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The kid has being playing forward and then ask to play in the back line with a day notice. Tabs struggled but gave all his best. Talls take time to develop. Giving him a few games a year is good until his mind and co ordination catches up with his body and tank.
 
I wouldn't delist him yet by any means, but I'd think long and hard before playing him as a back again. His workrate was fine, but he wasn't in the right positions and lost a lot of one on ones which led to scoring opportunities. Also, he looked like he couldn't take a mark to save himself, dropped a couple of gettable marks.

His decision making overall was OK, but a couple of his choices had my heart in my throat.
 
I Agree that it's still too early to judge the kid, but just because he's tall & can run all day doesn't mean he's going to be a good footballer (have seen a lot of posters likening him to a Riewoldt?). Haven't seen him take many marks under any kind of pressure at all. Maybe Ross is thinking he can be our Zac Dawson Mark II (can't mark or kick reliably but he's a ruck sized mobile close checking spoiling machine).
He's only played 3 games for Fremantle this year, with one of them being in the back line.

Try catching some Peel games.
 

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