Matt White

[TigerTime88]

We are still going to have to make some hard calls at the end of the year and White will come into consideration. His skills are not great but he has found his calling playing on the forward line.

 

[santa claws]

lol it happens every time. a win a few good games from players and all is forgiven.
is not afl standard and never will be.
its been shown time and time again leopards do not change their spots. they may have the odd decent game now and then but almost to a tee they invariably revert to norm.
ah well this place will be unbelievable if they ever string 3 or 4 games together.

lets see we played a port side virtually minus its entire forward line. it came of a short week after playing in darwin they didnt have a ruckman and had blokes cop injuries thru the game. they also had to endure like us conditions that virtually threw the skill factor out the window.
and ya know what we played with passion pride hunger intensity and i was proud to be a tiger supporter but cmon people his game came down to the lowest common denominator where everything went out the window bar who wanted to win the most. we do this sort of thing every time.

imo i dont believe we have the quality we need in a small nippy goal kicking forward with either nahas or white. sheesh even in the wet where shoddy skills are forgiven and the norm, nahas managed to look ordinary.
all credit to whitey he managed a good game but ffs one game does not make a player.
hes done this before and his skillset over a long period of time invariably sees him struggle.

 

[CallMeAl]

We are still going to have to make some hard calls at the end of the year and White will come into consideration. His skills are not great but he has found his calling playing on the forward line.

His skills are not great?

He did things against port that no one else on the ground could. his ability to stay on his feet, avoid, and run away from players was a standout.
Playing in those conditions he had 13 disposals, nearly half of which were contested possessions and had a disposal efficiency of 84%.

I think he just may have bit of talent.

If he had been offloaded off season I wouldnt have missed him. I'm not so sure now.

I'm wondering if he just needed someone to teach how to use his talent properly?

 

[SteveoTheTiger]

all credit to whitey he managed a good game but ffs one game does not make a player.
hes done this before and his skillset over a long period of time invariably sees him struggle.

At the start of the season i totally agreed with you and Matt White was just about first on my fairly long list of blokes to get shown the door at the end of the year, but he has been playing pretty well for the last month or so IMO. I think we should give him a chance to show if he is just playing above himself or finally starting to play to his ability.

Im not saying he will be a superstar but its in our best interest for him to develop into a solid player if for no other reason than team depth so that we can add to the team at the end of the year rather than just wasting more draft picks on replacing spuds.

 

[santa claws]

Agree with all of that TFL, very well said.

Looking harder and harder to find delistments now some of the expected candidates are performing so well.

lol we are about to win a wooden spoon and rasor cant find anyone to delist.
cmon ferals give the poor deluded bloke a hand.

 

[TFLUA-Tiger]

lol we are about to win a wooden spoon and rasor cant find anyone to delist.
cmon ferals give the poor deluded bloke a hand.

Well - Thomson, McMahon, Simmonds are GAWNSKI.

Polo/King/Hislop would probably be getting a bit nervous.

 

[SteveoTheTiger]

Gone:
Simmo, McMahon

Probably Gone:
Cuz (if he retires), Thomson, Hislop, King

Possibly Gone:
Polak, Polo, Morton, White

 

[Strawbs]

The other thing Whitey did was run hard to make himself dangerous. A few times he was in A-grade position deep in the forward line but we chose the wrong option. Find him and he kicks 3. You need depth. Every Geelong player isn't a gun.

 

[Tiger_Stripes]

The other thing Whitey did was run hard to make himself dangerous. A few times he was in A-grade position deep in the forward line but we chose the wrong option. Find him and he kicks 3. You need depth. Every Geelong player isn't a gun.

That time Griffiths didn't see him and went to Nahas instead and we ended up with nothing, White worked all the way to the square on his lonesome.

Impressed me today and has been improving over the weeks, but, as ever, gets caught SO often, he was brilliant today but I just hope it was because he was brilliant and not because he was playing his usual "run into people" game and simply slipping the otherwise sticky tackles in the wet.

We'll see next week, hope it's the former.

 

[victo76]

As I mentioned earlier, it's nice to see White getting some kudos. Should Farmer be getting some similar love also? Was really impressed with his efforts when the game was up for grabs early.

 

[Tigerballs]

Gone:
Simmo, McMahon

Probably Gone:
Cuz (if he retires), Thomson, Hislop, King

Possibly Gone:
Polak, Polo, Morton, White

Fair go Steveo! I know he is out of form but off the list? Just a lil bit harsh in my opinion!

 

[shububu]

he stays on the list for the one or two times a year it rains?

he has the skills of the school yard of getting the ball and crouching low and hopeing the person behind you falls for it and goes flying over you.

both King and White have to be gone at years end for Hardwicks "blueprint" to make any sense or else it will just be Wallace time again...early false hope

 

[coke_zero]

he stays on the list for the one or two times a year it rains?

he has the skills of the school yard of getting the ball and crouching low and hopeing the person behind you falls for it and goes flying over you.

both King and White have to be gone at years end for Hardwicks "blueprint" to make any sense or else it will just be Wallace time again...early false hope

i understand delisting King, but imagine if we could develop White's kicking. DH can do anything so you never know, then we would have a real gem on our hands.

 

[TigerTime88]

i understand delisting King, but imagine if we could develop White's kicking. DH can do anything so you never know, then we would have a real gem on our hands.

Why? He maxes out at about 10-15 touches. You can't teach a guy how to kick again in his 20s when you have been trying for years. I love his effort but put it this way, he will not be a part of a premiership side.

Compare White to a Ballantyne, Milne, Johnson, Varcoe for example...they all classy skillful players.

IMO the goners need to be:

King (too limited), Simmonds, McMahon, Thompson, White

Skillful players like Nason and Webberley are taking Whites spot in the side.

 

[thegrach]

lets see we played a port side virtually minus its entire forward line. it came of a short week after playing in darwin they didnt have a ruckman and had blokes cop injuries thru the game. they also had to endure like us conditions that virtually threw the skill factor out the window.

And we belted them by a margin that in the dry would be 100 points plus. Your problem?

 

[SteveoTheTiger]

Fair go Steveo! I know he is out of form but off the list? Just a lil bit harsh in my opinion!

Just speculation on my behalf. We have people asking if he has signed for the GC, others saying that he won't play to the gameplan. And the fact that he isn't in the side at the moment.

I used to work with Mortons housemate and when I told her he is one of my favourite players she got him and half of the team to sign my jumper. Wish she still worked here so I could ask what the deal is with him.

 

[richcogs]

Rather get ride of: Cousins, King, POLAK....POLAK, Hislop, Thomson.

Whites in the same position as Farmer for me. But I am more of a White fan than a Farmer one. Few of Farmers games this year were bad IMO!

 

[HobarTiger]

Great game by Matt on Saturday. Surprised there is still a high proportion thinking he is for the chop at season's end.

I've been impressed with his improved form and if it continues he is probably safe.

Matt seems to be one of the main beneficiaries of a proper and professional coaching panel that is starting to show with onfield performances that they can actually develop talent............something we haven't seen at this club in over a decade or 3.

Even King and Tuck are looking like AFL players at the moment!

Kudos to Matt for taking in what the coaches are trying to teach the squad BUT more importantly kudos to DH and the coaching panel for the improvement we are starting to see. This team's performance doesn't resemble what we saw in Round 1 and it is all for the good.

It gives me hope even if we end up with the spoon this season.

 

[richoatthedisco]

What I love about White is he clearly loves the Tigers as much as any of us do, and he plays with the hunger and passion we like to think we would if we ever got a chance to pull on the yellow and black. If he stays on the list he'll be one of the last blokes on it I'd think, and it will be because of this, and his pace and running ability. He is the type of guy who can help you build a club, a culture, an ethos, because he will always do the team/club thing and will give his absolute utmost every time he's called upon. When that's only a few times a year we'll know we're a strong club, and I will have confidence with Whitey coming in for an injury in a big game.

 

[NQTIGER]

Gone:
Simmo, McMahon Thomson,Morton (GC)

Probably Gone:
Hislop, King

Possibly Gone:
Polak, Polo, White

 

[Mario Speedwagon]

Yeah he had a good one....but let's face it all but the most deplorable hacks can pull one out of their arse every now and then...you don't make an AFL list without at least a smidgeon of ability....he has pace, a good sidestep and can boot a big goal....but the fact remains that the gap between his best and worst is yawning....and we still get more of the latter far too often.....not a lost cause, but close...a player that gets dragged up in good team performance...when we're copping a hammering or under the pump, he's invariably one of the main offenders losing composure, making often silly and unforced errors and turning it over...still too many of his kind on our list...

 

[victo76]

Yeah he had a good one....but let's face it all but the most deplorable hacks can pull one out of their arse every now and then...you don't make an AFL list without at least a smidgeon of ability....he has pace, a good sidestep and can boot a big goal....but the fact remains that the gap between his best and worst is yawning....and we still get more of the latter far too often.....not a lost cause, but close...a player that gets dragged up in good team performance...when we're copping a hammering or under the pump, he's invariably one of the main offenders losing composure, making often silly and unforced errors and turning it over...still too many of his kind on our list...

I don't disagree with most of this, but I thought White was one of the players standing up when the game was in the balance. Thought he was good last week also when the Bombers towelled us up.

Not saying he has turned any corners, just that he deserves this credit he's receiving and is worth persisting with.

 

[tigerdan]

It was great to see him have a good game. I liked White when he first started for the Tigers. Looked to be the replacement for Tivendale on the wing. But then he just stalled and seemed one dimensional, just not good enough skills.

In the wet he was one of the few who seemed to cope with it well. I have my doubts whether he will survive at the end of the year, but there may be others who draw the short straw ahead of him.

I think we all agree he'll never be anything more than a depth player, but there is no shame in that.

 

[Mario Speedwagon]

Yes he's been better the last few weeks...but still a borderline candidate for me (was a certain delistment before)....needs to string more together and minimise the stupid stuff....if we can turn him to something servicable & consistant with the odd flash, could be a handy depth player....

 

[robrito]

imho he has always tried to break tackles, but if he got caught was like a rabbit in headlights.. he needed to lookfor a handball option while in the tackle. I agree with previous posters, we've invested heavily in development and its starting to pay off. We are finally teaching them how to play, along with that oft quoted 'steely resolve' quote from Hardwick. Collingwood have had this emphasis for years and get the best out of each player, hence such an even and competitive list. Looks like we're finally moving down the same track. Just sad to think of the talent we've dropped over the years due to lack of development