Player Watch Nick (AFL MVP) Daicos

[VinnieB]

On Performance that be about the worst game Nick has played

De Goey still bit away but hopefully Maynard back after the Bye

I disagree. He sacrificed his game for the team.

There were many instances who took Langdon with him to stand beside Petracca creating that 2 on 1 situation.

That meant we had a free player and took away 2 of their prime movers.

 

[Kes1984]

It's all well and good to tag him, you need to.
But you do it LEGALLY, within the rules!

This is now becoming a big issue for us - and for Nick, who is clearly showing his frustrations. He should be getting 10 frees a game for infringements keeping him out of the contest.

100% it is time the club takes this to the AFL - tag within the rules. If you don't, expect to give away free kicks!

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

It's all well and good to tag him, you need to.
But you do it LEGALLY, within the rules!

This is now becoming a big issue for us - and for Nick, who is clearly showing his frustrations. He should be getting 10 frees a game for infringements keeping him out of the contest.

100% it is time the club takes this to the AFL - tag within the rules. If you don't, expect to give away free kicks!

And ironically the outrage will be about him being pushed in the back! To add to the irony, he kicked the “ sealer” with that point

 

[windchimes]

Someone definitely needed to stand up. He wasn’t getting any help. Fly has highlighted it before, so was a shame that no one really helped him out.

Fly actually acknowledged that again post game yesterday - saying there were aspects of that he thought we could have done better.

A couple of our boys did stand up for him once or twice but hopefully after a chat from the coach, and the return of the Bruz after the bye, we’ll see our boys swarm like bees to plonkers hanging off him like that. Langdon wasn’t even facing the ball most of the afternoon.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

I disagree. He sacrificed his game for the team.

There were many instances who took Langdon with him to stand beside Petracca creating that 2 on 1 situation.

That meant we had a free player and took away 2 of their prime movers.

Yes Collingwood have mentioned this many times. If the opposition put too much attention onto Nick, that creates opportunities for Collingwood to capitalise. Even Pendles ? Alluded to it at a half time interview saying something like we need to protect Nick …. But within reason. Sometimes it’s better to not protect him and let the opposition make the tactical error.

We are here to win premierships, not Brownlows..

 

[Pendles!]

If the job was to try and stop Nick having a big influence on the game, whatever it took (including having zero impact offensively as a tagger) then it was actually a job well done. Fly said that himself in the presser. Now Langdon did that playing in the grey area of what’s a holding infringement and what’s regular stoppage stuff. He got pinged a few times, he could have got pinged more but it’s not a great look so the umps aren’t keen on giving too many of those. It’s not the last time that will be a talking point though obviously as the umps will have to adjust. The furthest from the stoppage Nick is when the hold happens the more likely he is to get it. Something for us to ponder.



Thing is players are keen on smashing the tagger if he’s actually playing dirty and peacocking. Happened against Brisbane. Not when he’s just following the player like a sleeve and keeping his hands wrapped around him. That type of tag isn’t one to shake with physicality, you gotta be smarter with different positioning or outrun the tagger. I wouldn’t mind us switching from sending Nick at HF to sending him at HB in these instances even if you give Josh the wing job as a result and reshuffle the midfield mix. Feels like an easy way and as we saw in 23 he can absolutely launch scores from HB and influence the game that way.

That said just like against North there’s a reason Nick lifted in the second half. He’s got a huge tank and really only a few players in the comp can run with him for four quarters (Langdon one of them) and they’re not usually taggers.

I’m not saying they need to smash him. I would have liked to have seen more players go and block to give him 3-4m at a contest. It only happened a few times, and each time Nick got the ball.

 

[Vankri]

I’m not saying they need to smash him. I would have liked to have seen more players go and block to give him 3-4m at a contest. It only happened a few times, and each time Nick got the ball.

But the thing is Langdon was not playing the push and shove game himself, just holding the arms/wrapping his arms around the body. So to go and out a block first you need Nick to start his run early (he couldn’t get going at stoppages in the first half because of the holds) and you need to be comfortable having one player eg Ned focused on that block instead of his own player, which against Melbourne and their one wood around stoppages was not the way to go I reckon.

If you haven’t listen to the presser. Fly is asked about this exact point referring to his past comments and he deflects, talks about doing to within reason and all the scragging being part of ‘winter footy’ (he’s big on the seasons of footy this year).

Plus I suspect if the Oppo is not doing that sort of stuff himself you expose yourself to a free kick against too.

I don’t think yesterday was about not getting enough support, it’s about Nick not being able to outrun his tagger and us refusing to move him to HB because we’re trying to push him harder on his forward game so he gets to move there instead.

 

[Vicky Park]

I’m not all that conversant with the rules and their interpretation - other than to think all our frees are justified and none of the opposition’s ever are - but these are my thoughts on what’s going on with Nick, and it’s based on seeing him live yesterday and at most games.

Is it right for a player to be constantly held or blocked from moving, to be physically constrained? How far away should the ball be to make this legal?

Then there’s the many times when Nick is on the ground getting pummelled and bumped by players, many deliberately falling on him, and then
staying - laying? - on top of him for just that little bit longer when the umpire is trying to clear the congestion. Nick would use a lot of energy and effort in trying to get up, let alone being sore.
And some idiots think he’s soft?

Melbourne were doing this a lot yesterday. Very pleased they were not rewarded with the four points.

I suppose what I’m trying to say is what they were doing seems to be on the edge of what’s legal, and all day they were pushing this line.

Not sure what the answer is if the umpires can’t control it. Pity we don’t have a team ‘enforcer’ in the modern era. Think Fly might want one too.

 

[Pistol Night]

I’m not all that conversant with the rules and their interpretation - other than to think all our frees are justified and none of the opposition’s ever are - but these are my thoughts on what’s going on with Nick, and it’s based on seeing him live yesterday and at most games.

Is it right for a player to be constantly held or blocked from moving, to be physically constrained? How far away should the ball be to make this legal?

Then there’s the many times when Nick is on the ground getting pummelled and bumped by players, many deliberately falling on him, and then
staying - laying? - on top of him for just that little bit longer when the umpire is trying to clear the congestion. Nick would use a lot of energy and effort in trying to get up, let alone being sore.
And some idiots think he’s soft?

Melbourne were doing this a lot yesterday. Very pleased they were not rewarded with the four points.

I suppose what I’m trying to say is what they were doing seems to be on the edge of what’s legal, and all day they were pushing this line.

Not sure what the answer is if the umpires can’t control it. Pity we don’t have a team ‘enforcer’ in the modern era. Think Fly might want one too.

Just roll Maynard onto Langdon for 5 minutes and give him instructions..

 

[Horaceg]

Just roll Maynard onto Langdon for 5 minutes and give him instructions..

All Duck…..

 

[Pistol Night]

All Duck…..

No dinner for Langdon whilst hes in the sick bay

 

[bucksisbest]

Someone definitely needed to stand up. He wasn’t getting any help. Fly has highlighted it before, so was a shame that no one really helped him out.

He was getting some help.
The players also need to play the game.

Nick getting tagged is one small element of a much bigger picture.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Melbourne sacrificed one of their best running players to reduce Nicks impact. It cost them in the end, especially in the second half when Nick started to get his hands on the ball.

We won because we have a better list than Melbourne and we could afford a reduced output from Nick more than they could afford zero output from Langdon

 

[Pendles!]

He was getting some help.
The players also need to play the game.

Nick getting tagged is one small element of a much bigger picture.

I get that, but we need him more involved than yesterday. Whether that’s helping him out around the ball or changing his position, we can’t give up the huge advantage we have when he is running games.

 

[Pistol Night]

Melbourne were "lucky" they had a bloke with a tank able to go with Nick that didn't care if he look ed like a obsessive stalker all day. It resulted in a loss so that worked well. We should thank them actually as with all the attention this is getting he'll get a good ride with he umps next game. Cheers Goody and Toms shit brother

 

[DaicosDisciple35]

I was actually really pleased with how he played, I thought he was physical, didn't back down and was really dangerous when roaming forward. His tackle on Kozzy was ****ing amazing. I don't think teams realise that with this heavy tag on nick they are forcing him to get even better and develop more as a player...

One thing this year I have noticed is a distinct drop in his ability to score set shots, not that he's bad at it but **** me the past 3 years I have never seen someone who I trusted more to kick it right over the umpires head from 55 out, not sure if its a technique thing or just bad luck but he 100% should have slotted that goal from the pocket and if he is going to be forced to be a deadly small forward leading out then he needs to be clinical with the set shot scoring.

Said in the game thread but will repeat here, he won the matchup by ****ing miles. Ed Langon is no slouch, he can have a serious impact on games and he tagged himself out of the game to stop Nick who still had a lot of impact while our other, and easier to tag mids, like Pendles and Steele just split the game open.

In a game like the one just past I genuinely think Pendles and Sidebottom are the two most dangerous midfielders (outside rucks) on the ground because of how clean and composed they are, pendles went at 90% efficiency on a day when nobobdy could use the ball cleanly and that was the difference. Same goes for Steele he was super clean because the Melbourne mids just let them do whatever due to their entire focus being on Nick.

Nick has done so well to fight off the tags BUT the rest of the squad NEED TO STEP UP. I know the boys do a bit to help but we need more blocking, more shepherding and when Nick is free in a hard tag game like this and he doesn't get used it drives me mental.

Overall how could you be anything other than over the ****ing moon stoked with our little legend taking all the pressure in the AFL, taking the hardest tags we've seen in a long time and still finding a way to get on the scoreboard and have an impact.

Did I mention he is closer to 21 years old then he is 23? Freak of nature and I cannot believe I get to watch him run out with Pendles and we are so dominant. I think Fly is a way better coach for Nick than Bucks would have been too, I reckon Bucks in good spirit would have seen too much of himself in Nick and got carried away.

GO PIES. Can't wait to see how we come off the bye, I reckon we have a Geelong 22 run sitting inside us just waiting.

Edit: Just wait for the umpiring correction next time he gets a hard tag like that it will be called in the first 20 seconds. Leigh Matthews calling it out on the couch + a brand new (and actually competent soz Laura love ur work in mental health but stay away from the rules please) footy director means good things for us I think.

 

[Abdul_The_Bull]

Fly actually acknowledged that again post game yesterday - saying there were aspects of that he thought we could have done better.

A couple of our boys did stand up for him once or twice but hopefully after a chat from the coach, and the return of the Bruz after the bye, we’ll see our boys swarm like bees to plonkers hanging off him like that. Langdon wasn’t even facing the ball most of the afternoon.

Ed Allen came to Nick's assistance a few times and I think I remember Ned Long on an occasion. Otherwise, it was a disappointing show. You are correct though, when Bruzzy comes back it will be a different situation!

 

[Pistol Night]

Ed Allen came to Nick's assistance a few times and I think I remember Ned Long on an occasion. Otherwise, it was a disappointing show. You are correct though, when Bruzzy comes back it will be a different situation!

It doesn’t have to be blatant, hero like remonstrating which achieves nothing but fines and a stupid report. Just get Bruz to jog past and tell him “You’ve got a job to do but if you hold and scrag him unfairly I’ll be reuniting you with Brayshaw without any flowers this time”

 

[DaicosDisciple35]

It doesn’t have to be blatant, hero like remonstrating which achieves nothing but fines and a stupid report. Just get Bruz to jog past and tell him “You’ve got a job to do but if you hold and scrag him unfairly I’ll be reuniting you with Brayshaw without any flowers this time”

This goes hard as **** and I reckon would send petty off in tears

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

It doesn’t have to be blatant, hero like remonstrating which achieves nothing but fines and a stupid report. Just get Bruz to jog past and tell him “You’ve got a job to do but if you hold and scrag him unfairly I’ll be seating you next to May at Entricote next time”

EFA

 

[Pistol Night]

EFA

Jesus I’d rather be knocked out stone cold and sent to hospital than have to sit next to Stevey for an hour and make chit chat over a feed

 

[Scodog10]

If the job was to try and stop Nick having a big influence on the game, whatever it took (including having zero impact offensively as a tagger) then it was actually a job well done. Fly said that himself in the presser. Now Langdon did that playing in the grey area of what’s a holding infringement and what’s regular stoppage stuff. He got pinged a few times, he could have got pinged more but it’s not a great look so the umps aren’t keen on giving too many of those. It’s not the last time that will be a talking point though obviously as the umps will have to adjust. The furthest from the stoppage Nick is when the hold happens the more likely he is to get it. Something for us to ponder.

I take a slightly different view. He had 4 touches and his only involvement after half time were two tackles against a guy that had 19, 8 clearances and a goal. That’s a hard L on the basis of what you can normally expect from Langdon and was ultimately the difference in the contest. If they win it’s a different story. I’d also suggest that Fly’s comments in his presser aren’t necessarily indicative of his actual thoughts on it in the context of the contest. It was the shortest presser I’ve seen from him and behind closed doors I’d be surprised if he wasn’t taking a different view on how it played out. I would have liked to know more about whether he wanted the likes of Long, Crisp and Pendles to do more to buffer Langdon, but it wasn’t drilled down on.

 

[sr36]

It's all well and good to tag him, you need to.
But you do it LEGALLY, within the rules!

This is now becoming a big issue for us - and for Nick, who is clearly showing his frustrations. He should be getting 10 frees a game for infringements keeping him out of the contest.

100% it is time the club takes this to the AFL - tag within the rules. If you don't, expect to give away free kicks!

In the big picture, it was probably a bad thing that the umpires corrected in the second half - otherwise there would have been a week of the big media story being what the umpires were allowing.

 

[Kes1984]

In the big picture, it was probably a bad thing that the umpires corrected in the second half - otherwise there would have been a week of the big media story being what the umpires were allowing.

agree - but it did also highlight they did notice it happening during a half time review - so here's hoping it's been flagged already now.

 

[jimmy35]

Langdon probably thinks he’s got a pelt hanging on the wall but he gave up 20+ possessions and a goal to his direct opponent that he was glued to all afternoon with the sole intention of stifling him. He got 4? possessions of his own?
That’s ****ing embarrassing for a league footballer. Celebrate away duck dinner if your 1 wood is as a poor Micky Gayfer clone.