Players who've done their dash

[OldStyle2007]

The match against Brisbane might not have proved who should be in the last few spots but it may well have proved who shouldn’t be.

I would think that 2 players have well and truly done their dash for this year: Stokes and Gamble. These two guys can only hope for injuries to get a spot in the team from now onwards.

Tenace is goooone for good. His only chance may be for Sydney to pick him up in the pre-season. No-one will trade for him


Regarding other players who are still hanging in there:

Byrnes earlier season good work may still give him some currency but back-to-back shockers against the Saints (in a big game) and then the Lions (when experienced players needed to step into the breach) will count against him if everyone else is fit.

Wojo is hanging on by the skin of his teeth, with some good flashes but general poor disposal and not great defensive skills

And last but not least Blake….. He is living on the time borrowed from Brad Ottens.

 

[jakethesnake]

Bit harsh on Stokes, but his form is a big worry.

Byrnes will stay in the 22.

 

[fpm84]

I'd love Stokes to be in form and well and truly in our 22 for finals but he has really dropped off in recent weeks. I really hope he's carrying a niggling injury because there's no excuse for the couple of weak games he's put in otherwise.

Tenace will never play for GFC again unless we have injuries like we did on Saturday night.

Byrnes still has a few credits in the bank and will need a shocker of a month to be dropped for the finals. I agree that he didn't do much against Brisbane or St Kilda but he was one of our best players in the month prior to that, and he's always been one of Bomber's favourites. I hope he can recapture his form of a few weeks ago.

Gamble is the interesting one. We all know he has talent and could provide an X-factor to our forward line but his game on Saturday was so disappointing (I said in another thread that he was our most disappointing player given what was at stake for him) it will be difficult to retain him this week especially if SJ is ready to return.

In theory I'd like to see Gamble get a few more games and have a chance to prove his worth ahead of the finals, but the reality is that his past three senior games (both games in WA and Saturday night) were so average that he doesn't deserve a spot at the moment. Will Bomber do what he's done with Varcoe and Hawkins and continue to play him even though his current form doesn't warrant it?

 

[SmothOperRaider]

Will Bomber do what he's done with Varcoe and Hawkins and continue to play him even though his current form doesn't warrant it?

IMO no, as Gamble has a chance to be a good player but the other two have shown enough signs that they could be great, which has led to them having a continuous spot.

 

[Sttew]

Stokes could well end up being our donation to Gold Coast.

Tenace is completely finished. He knows it and played like he knew it.
Gamble is out of form - what we saw on Saturday night was ordinary, but you know there is something there. We have to persevere with him.
Lonergan - talk of him becoming a defender will now end. Admittedly he played on N0.1, but poor Tom simply is not an A grade footballer
Byrneshas lost form. Is this symptomatic of the rest of the team? We need a Shannon Byrnes who kicks 3 - 4 goals and has blistering speed.

 

[CF]

I think you are wrong about Byrnes. He played OK against St Kilda and Brisbane. Byrnes game against Brisbane was better than Bartels. For a player who would be ranked in the last 6 of our 22 he is pretty good.

Tenace - gone, I agree

Stokes - He may be a good trade option. His lack of form is made worse for him because there are a number of players who are coming through that can fill his roll.

Gamble - They will probably keep him, you can't delist everyone.

D. Johnson - What is his postion like when Josh Hunt is fit again? I think his contract is up this year and I hope he stays. I think if Milburn retires this year he would be the next in line to becoma a regular.

Lonergan - Again if he stays he will mostly be used as a depth player. His AFL career is at a crossroads I think.

Blake - Ottens is injury prone and there is no way they will trade him or delist him. Honestly I don't think Otto has much left in him.

West - Not looking likely to me on getting a regular seniors berth at this stage. May be trade bait or seek to be traded.

Laidler - should be elevated from Rookie list

Mumford - should be elevated from rookie list

 

[bingle]

It's a pity Tenace's disposal lets him down too consistantly because he wins enough of the ball and is very quick across the ground.

Gamble's finishing on Saturday night was very ordinary and disapointing. Stokes gets a game in finals over him any day IMO. Yes he's not playing his best but still contributes more and tackles quite well.

Im a massive fan of Varcoe's run through the middle and his disposal is quite good usually. Love his tackling too. I'd be devistated if he didnt play finals this year.

Byrnes will probably play finals although he may need another big one against a good side like say ADEL or WB to make certain of his spot.

That one Hawkins snagged from the pocket hopefully will give him more confidence to take more set shots. See how excited he got after he kicked it, loosing his mouth gaurd was comical but i like seeing that from the big man.

 

[DanA]

What has Byrnes done wrong? I thought he was solid both games although done of his steller form of the previous month.

Against Brisbane he kicked an really nice goal and racked up 22 posessions and 8 marks. I thought he was one of our better players.

Against St Kilda he missed a goal but overall wasn't too bad.

For me the guys who have done their dash are: Lonergan, Gamble and Tenace. I'd probably delist all three at the end of the year which maybe a bit harsh on Gamble but competition is fierce and an undersized lead up forward needs to show something special.

 

[krisholio14]

What has Byrnes done wrong? I thought he was solid both games although done of his steller form of the previous month.

Against Brisbane he kicked an really nice goal and racked up 22 posessions and 8 marks. I thought he was one of our better players.

Against St Kilda he missed a goal but overall wasn't too bad.

For me the guys who have done their dash are: Lonergan, Gamble and Tenace. I'd probably delist all three at the end of the year which maybe a bit harsh on Gamble but competition is fierce and an undersized lead up forward needs to show something special.

I wouldn't be getting rid of Gamble quite yet.

Methinks theres a bit of an attitude problem going on there, and we may just need to persist a little longer. He has the ability, but from what i've seen of him at both levels this year, he isn't working anywhere near hard enough in any facet of the game.

Not sure what we can do, but we've found ways to turn around wayward forwards in recent years

 

[catempire]

No way is Stokes gone. Just needs to recapture form.

Gamble is slipping away. I hate to say it, but he will need to find something to avoid being on the trade table at year's end.

Byrnes should not be spoken about in this kind of thread given his early season form. That said, in contrast to DanA, I feel his last two weeks have been poor and he has shown similar signs to those which he was criticised for in the past (poor disposal and poor decisions mainly). He got an absolute bake from Thompson at half time on Saturday night coming off the ground. Don't be sucked in to counting his stats, it's all about quality. I want to see him stand up and perform in big games and he'll get that chance against Hawthorn, Adelaide and the Bulldogs before finals.

 

[TMS]

Gamble's finishing on Saturday night was very ordinary and disapointing. Stokes gets a game in finals over him any day IMO. Yes he's not playing his best but still contributes more and tackles quite well.

Stokes is the most disappointing player at the moment for me, because I've been a big supporter of his since he started and it's disheartening to see his output so low.

Lately he seems to be going through the motions of being a footballer, without actually putting in the effort. It's almost as though he thinks a half-arsed chase or waving his arms in an attempt to smother when he's two metres away (because of said half-arsed chase) is enough to hold his spot. And more often than not, his tackles never stick and he ends up on the ground while the opposition player gets away.

It's a big call but - a couple of easy goals aside - Stokesy has been a bit of a passenger recently. I hope he finds his form soon, because when he's playing well he's worth easily three extra goals on the scoreboard. And in-form Stokes is a player I'd rather have in our best 22, not in another team's.

 

[year of the cat]

Stokes just doesn't seem to have the ability to apply any defensive pressure in our forward line. This used to be one of his strengths too. He must be carrying an injury - if so I would hope that he would be putting his hand up this year rather than misleading the team like he did towards the end of last year.

 

[Premiers2007]

Stokes could well end up being our donation to Gold Coast.

Tenace is completely finished. He knows it and played like he knew it.
Gamble is out of form - what we saw on Saturday night was ordinary, but you know there is something there. We have to persevere with him.
Lonergan - talk of him becoming a defender will now end. Admittedly he played on N0.1, but poor Tom simply is not an A grade footballer
Byrneshas lost form. Is this symptomatic of the rest of the team? We need a Shannon Byrnes who kicks 3 - 4 goals and has blistering speed.

Thats a bit harsh on Byrnes. I dont think he lost form, its just that he hasn't kicked as many goals the last two weeks. You cant expect him to kick 3-4 goals a game. If he did he would be leading the goal kicking.

 

[someday-somehow]

Stokes just doesn't seem to have the ability to apply any defensive pressure in our forward line. This used to be one of his strengths too. He must be carrying an injury - if so I would hope that he would be putting his hand up this year rather than misleading the team like he did towards the end of last year.

It was mentioned that Stokes had OP late last year, if this is the case it would certainly explain his form. I am hoping that if this is the case we will see him come good again.

 

[rocker_oz33]

l love little matty "monkey magic" stokes but his form has not been very good of late and looks lazy he really needs to find some form from somewhere.l really don't if he'll stay on at the cattery something about him tells me he'll go anywhere for the coin. and gamble has really not working hard enough l would move him down back to stick on his man.but overall these type of players were all playing quiet well in 07

 

[BigBadCam]

Wojak might be better value in a trade than he is to our team IMO

Tenace wasn't as bad against Brisbane as a lot of you guys are making out. There's no room for him when all our players are back, but he's still a better depth player than any of the younger players who came up.

Stokes is definitely suffering from injury. I think with the plethora of young players who can do what he does though, he might also be better value on the trade table than the field.

Blake... I don't know who'd pick him up... Maybe Sydney? They seem to like our scraps. If not, we could offload him to somebody for a 3rd or 4th rounder.

Harley is gone. Battered workhorse who has already indicated retirement.

Milburn will probably be gone. See above.

 

[Ricketts]

Thread title pun FTW!

 

[The rabbi]

Wojak might be better value in a trade than he is to our team IMO.

I think that Geelong misses the 07 form of Wojak. I feel that too much of the run and carry pressure is placed on Ablett II. He needs some help to break the lines and deliver the ball quickly into the forward line before the flood arrives. Is it any wonder that our forwards cannot find any space this year?

 

[The Riddler]

Tenace wasn't as bad against Brisbane as a lot of you guys are making out. There's no room for him when all our players are back, but he's still a better depth player than any of the younger players who came up.

Really? I don't recall him hitting a target by foot once all night. Actually he might've once, kicking from one back pocket to the other to a 2 on 1 contest.

Just remember guys, it's all well and good listing a bunch of blokes to get rid of but unless we have adequate replacements then it's not gonna happen. Like when people constantly told us that Hunt, DJ & Wojak should be traded last year. Get rid of 3 defenders, that's a brilliant idea!

 

[geelong_boy]

I think that Geelong misses the 07 form of Wojak. I feel that too much of the run and carry pressure is placed on Ablett II. He needs some help to break the lines and deliver the ball quickly into the forward line before the flood arrives. Is it any wonder that our forwards cannot find any space this year?

Maybe we're too one dimensional when kicking inside 50? ie. instead of setting up a set shot 40-50 metres out we too often go deep where the tall forward is outnumbered?

 

[CatFan79]

Tenace wasn't as bad against Brisbane as a lot of you guys are making out.

He was actually worse....

 

[maryjames]

Lose a couple of games and now we are dumping players, lol.

 

[BigBadCam]

I think that Geelong misses the 07 form of Wojak. I feel that too much of the run and carry pressure is placed on Ablett II. He needs some help to break the lines and deliver the ball quickly into the forward line before the flood arrives. Is it any wonder that our forwards cannot find any space this year?

I disagree. There was a big thread here just before the 2007 grand final about whether Wojak was important to the team. On the day, he cold have offered more to Geelong than a few of those guys who went in half injured, but when Geelong is on song we don't need him. He breaks lines, but turns it over all the time. Geelong have mastered the art of keepings off football and efficiency is hte key to our success. That said, when the going gets tough and some of our players go missing, that's when we need him to break the lines... I still think he's worth more on the trade table than he is in our team.

 

[BigBadCam]

Lose a couple of games and now we are dumping players, lol.

Just being realistic. Retirements will happen, and we have to delist a few anyway. Interesting to try and guess who they might be.

 

[Hinkley29]

I think you are wrong about Byrnes. He played OK against St Kilda and Brisbane. Byrnes game against Brisbane was better than Bartels. For a player who would be ranked in the last 6 of our 22 he is pretty good.

Tenace - gone, I agree

Stokes - He may be a good trade option. His lack of form is made worse for him because there are a number of players who are coming through that can fill his roll.

Gamble - They will probably keep him, you can't delist everyone.

D. Johnson - What is his postion like when Josh Hunt is fit again? I think his contract is up this year and I hope he stays. I think if Milburn retires this year he would be the next in line to becoma a regular.

Lonergan - Again if he stays he will mostly be used as a depth player. His AFL career is at a crossroads I think.

Blake - Ottens is injury prone and there is no way they will trade him or delist him. Honestly I don't think Otto has much left in him.

West - Not looking likely to me on getting a regular seniors berth at this stage. May be trade bait or seek to be traded.

Laidler - should be elevated from Rookie list

Mumford - should be elevated from rookie list

Pretty much agree with all of this. I would suspect/hope that West is retained because I am curious to see if he can cut it. Plus as you say Ottens is nearing the end and we need to keep our ruck depth (plus Rizzo must have a good reason for his crazy man-love for West). But if we have to make a chop (and you have to change at least 3 players on the list every year) he could be the one standing without a chair when the music stops.