News New Captain for 2023 - Alex Pearce

Who do you WANT to be Captain

  • Caleb Serong

    Votes: 55 23.6%

  • Andrew Brayshaw

    Votes: 83 35.6%

  • Alex Pearce

    Votes: 88 37.8%

  • Other

    Votes: 7 3.0%
  • Total voters
    233

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hoss said:
Yep, welcome to how this board works. Crickets...

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Or I respond to threads that are at the top of the list and not much else. So - ask the question mate, I have shown over many years that I will not disappear and have no problem replying to questions.

Pearce has been ok. He was beaten against Geelong and won his battle against Melbourne.

He made silly and costly errors by foot against both. I am not talking under pressure errors (like hand balling on the run through traffic into Jacksons head - that was mostly great play and very unlucky). I am talking about a sideway 15m - 20m kick that missed Clark and causeed a rushed next possession and turn over. He did it against Geelong as well and it is an ongoing problem.

Everyone makes them out of contest or when under pressure, this is different.

Has he been better than early in the season? Yes. Is he playing amazingly well? No.

Is my main concern still a problem? Yes. He makes costly disposal errors when he or isn't under pressure.

He did win some good one on one's this week, a mark in the contest in the first quarter was very strong.

Rating over the past 3 weeks = 6.5/10
Rating first 6-7 weeks = 4/10
 
hoss said:
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Pearce is very important to the backline and I am sure that his captaincy has also developed from dealing with the early issues and getting back on track.

Cox and Pearce are true key position size and have limited the monster forwards they have played on. Remember when Hawkins, Buddy even McNaughton were kicking 6-8 goals on us? That just does not happen now (or last year).

It seems that some on here don’t realise what’s likely to happen if either or both get injured - goals and lots of them to opposition key forwards. They are simply two of our most important players in our squad at the moment and are not easily replaced from within our squad.
 
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Not easy on field being a captain at FB. You will get the blame in losses but not as much credit in wins as in other positions. As forward you can kick bags or dominate as midfielder and you are considered matchwinner (or both even in losses) which often kind of make you a good captain automatically.
 
freoextra said:
Pearce is very important to the backline and I am sure that his captaincy has also developed from dealing with the early issues and getting back on track.

He is a true key position size and has limited the monster forwards he has played on. Remember when Hawkins, Buddy even McNaughton were kicking 6-8 goals on us? That just does not happen now (or last year).

It seems that some on here don’t realise what’s likely to happen if either or both get injured - goals and lots of them to opposition key forwards. They are simply two of our most important players in our squad at the moment and are not easily replaced from within our squad.
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Who is the other player you are referring too?
 
freoextra said:
Sorry, wrote about the impact of Pearce and Cox before editing and will put him back in the opinion
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I assumed it was but wasn't sure - no problem.

Yes, your observation is correct bout their importance. I agree they are two of our most important structural players.

Two things can be true at the same time: 1. Pearce is important structurally and does well against big forwards. 2. Pearce started the year horribly (has since improved) and has a tendency to turn the ball over or fumble.

If he is captain based on structural importance then it could be argued: Cox, Darcy, Amiss, Jackson, Young, Serong or Brayshaw are as or more important structurally.

I have not been excessive in my criticism and have also been more than happy to acknowledge his improvement in recent weeks. I have also said I hope he proves me wrong on the turnover/fumble side of his game. Though, not many players at his age improve in that area.
 
poshman said:
I assumed it was but wasn't sure - no problem.

Yes, your observation is correct bout their importance. I agree they are two of our most important structural players.

Two things can be true at the same time: 1. Pearce is important structurally and does well against big forwards. 2. Pearce started the year horribly (has since improved) and has a tendency to turn the ball over or fumble.

If he is captain based on structural importance then it could be argued: Cox, Darcy, Amiss, Jackson, Young, Serong or Brayshaw are as or more important structurally.

I have not been excessive in my criticism and have also been more than happy to acknowledge his improvement in recent weeks. I have also said I hope he proves me wrong on the turnover/fumble side of his game. Though, not many players at his age improve in that area.
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Yep criticism is warranted for any player when out of form.

I didn’t think either was as out of form as others, mainly because the key position forwards are not kicking bags, even when our midfield was getting flogged. However, in my view, defenders get harshly dealt with as any mistake (which all players make) end up in a score to the opposition.

Take Walker for example, we are blessed to have someone with his size and speed to play on the elite small forwards (which he has shown) but as soon as someone gets on top for any period of time he is treated like he is totally inadequate, yet all our defenders have been praising him for taking on the most dangerous and damaging opposition smalls.

We have ready to go depth in most areas of the ground, but I am concerned about who comes in for our key position backs. Hamling 4 years ago, sure would be fine, but could he step up now?
 
freoextra said:
Yep criticism is warranted for any player when out of form.

I didn’t think either was as out of form as others, mainly because the key position forwards are not kicking bags, even when our midfield was getting flogged. However, in my view, defenders get harshly dealt with as any mistake (which all players make) end up in a score to the opposition.

Take Walker for example, we are blessed to have someone with his size and speed to play on the elite small forwards (which he has shown) but as soon as someone gets on top for any period of time he is treated like he is totally inadequate, yet all our defenders have been praising him for taking on the most dangerous and damaging opposition smalls.

We have ready to go depth in most areas of the ground, but I am concerned about who comes in for our key position backs. Hamling 4 years ago, sure would be fine, but could he step up now?
Click to expand...

Agree that we have no one to replace one if they go down. I think Cox would be the bigger loss of the two. We know Ryan will move across onto a bigget player and Hughes will slide over to the next.

This is also why we need chappy fit so he can cover the next guy.

Long term I suppose it would be Watson or someone else. Hamling was great as a pure stopper. I don't know how much we would lose if he was in the team in place of Pearce. It would depend on his mobility with the ankle.

The differences with Pearce compared to Walker (agree he gets marked harshly): The fumbles and missing targets isn't when he is running through traffic. I think that happens to most players. I am talking the simple 20-40m kicks, no pressure and he misses them. Or the simple chest mark - he tends to take them in two hands in front of his chest and often double grabs them. Mostly he is fine but occasionally he drops them. Especially when we are under pressure.

I also think he was woefully out of form in the first 4-5 rounds.

The same people who say he wasn't out of form because it was the mids fault are now saying he played well on hawkins. Hawk kicked 3 in a team that was demolished in the midfield. And I mean demolished. By the weighting others here are using to defend his form in the first ~5 games, how does that mean we should rate the Geelong game?
 
Been much better over the last few weeks, can't complain about anything that he's done, he's made a couple of mistakes here and there, but nothing awful.
 

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If he can keep up his current standard of form which is passable, that should be good enough to carry the captaincy until Serong is ready for it, which could be 2024 but might be 2025.
This needs to be his baseline though. Hopefully the Dogs game was a wake up call.
 
poshman said:
If he is captain based on structural importance then it could be argued: Cox, Darcy, Amiss, Jackson, Young, Serong or Brayshaw are as or more important structurally.
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The thing is, he's not captain based on his structural importance. Nor is he captain because he Brownlow Medalist in waiting.

He's captain because the playing group voted him captain — and because various unnamed "key stakeholders" did not object, which admittedly muddies the waters, but imo doesn't affect the key point that he would not be captain if the players themselves did not see him as a significant leader of the playing group.

Each member of that group may have their own reasons for voting for him, which might include (I doubt it myself, but what would I know?) the fact that he's a key structural component, or he's a Brownlow Medalist in waiting, but are very likely to do with what he does outside the four quarters on game day as much as with whatever he might do on the field. It's also very likely to do less with what AP does according to any objective measures and more to do with how he makes individual players feel (i.e. subjectively).
 
ignoramus said:
The thing is, he's not captain based on his structural importance. Nor is he captain because he Brownlow Medalist in waiting.

He's captain because the playing group voted him captain — and because various unnamed "key stakeholders" did not object, which admittedly muddies the waters, but imo doesn't affect the key point that he would not be captain if the players themselves did not see him as a significant leader of the playing group.

Each member of that group may have their own reasons for voting for him, which might include (I doubt it myself, but what would I know?) the fact that he's a key structural component, or he's a Brownlow Medalist in waiting, but are very likely to do with what he does outside the four quarters on game day as much as with whatever he might do on the field. It's also very likely to do less with what AP does according to any objective measures and more to do with how he makes individual players feel (i.e. subjectively).
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You seem to be making a point that I didn't argue.

I agree on your point about the structure. It was a post I was replying too who said it was partly about importance to structure, which is why I said ' if it is based on structure...'

As to the players voting for him - my understanding (I could be wrong) - was that a he, Brayshaw and Caleb were unanimous and the club higher ups selected him for the role.
 
poshman said:
You seem to be making a point that I didn't argue.

I agree on your point about the structure. It was a post I was replying too who said it was partly about importance to structure, which is why I said ' if it is based on structure...'

As to the players voting for him - my understanding (I could be wrong) - was that a he, Brayshaw and Caleb were unanimous and the club higher ups selected him for the role.
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The only point I'm arguing, if I'm actually arguing a point as such, is that arguments don't come into it. The only relevant point is what the players individually and collectively feel.

Re. voting: I'm just going on the bits that have been reported over the years. I always thought it was a straightforward peer vote, on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis, as that's what had been reported in previous years. But there was a quote from Bell in a presser/club report during the leadership selection process about consulting key stakeholders, which put paid to that idea. In hindsight, given the PR and sponsorship implications, I can't believe I ever thought that the playing group decision wouldn't be vetted by club management and board.

At any rate, in that same presser/club report, Bell said something about AP, Andy and Serong being unanimously selected in the leadership group. No suggestion I saw that they were on equal votes, though. I've assumed that Pearce won the vote, mostly because he was de facto captain for most of 2022, but I have to concede that I don't have anything else to base it on.
 
ignoramus said:
The only point I'm arguing, if I'm actually arguing a point as such, is that arguments don't come into it. The only relevant point is what the players individually and collectively feel.

Re. voting: I'm just going on the bits that have been reported over the years. I always thought it was a straightforward peer vote, on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis, as that's what had been reported in previous years. But there was a quote from Bell in a presser/club report during the leadership selection process about consulting key stakeholders, which put paid to that idea. In hindsight, given the PR and sponsorship implications, I can't believe I ever thought that the playing group decision wouldn't be vetted by club management and board.

At any rate, in that same presser/club report, Bell said something about AP, Andy and Serong being unanimously selected in the leadership group. No suggestion I saw that they were on equal votes, though. I've assumed that Pearce won the vote, mostly because he was de facto captain for most of 2022, but I have to concede that I don't have anything else to base it on.
Click to expand...

I get that - but you based your reply to me on one sentence taken from the whole post. And that was about structure.

And yes - it is clear that he was selected as captain. I don't think it was the best possible choice.

I still have my concerns about his performance under pressure and with disposal errors when not under pressure. I think we can expect a certain amount when under pressure, my concern with Pearce are the regular ones when not under pressure at key stages of games.
 
hoss said:
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To be fair if you criticise the team or a player when they're doing well then you get downvoted into oblivion and have to reply to a bunch of headcases who think Freo and their players are literally perfect 100% of the time

Feels like its the opposite when we are doing terrible too though lol
 
The three weeks have passed.

Good to very good against Melbourne.
Poor to average against Geelong.
Poor to average against Richmond.

I assume the Geelong one will be questioned. We had strong midfield dominance, the numbers were ridiculous and he got scored on, and it would have been worse if Hawkins kicked better.

When in form he can be a strong stopper. He has had a poor season overall. I hope he finds his mojo again and at least becomes very hard to score against again. I am not sure if it was a poor footwear choice on the weekend, although that wouldn't account for him getting lost around the contest.

Either way we need improvement from him. At his best he did some close to heroic things one on one. Not in a one on one he is being found out a bit. As he doesn't offer anything in the ball movement department I am hoping for a strong return to stopping form from the skipper.
 
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