LittleGreekGod
Club Legend
- Dec 24, 2015
- 1,380
- 2,593
- AFL Club
- West Coast
On Dom Sheed.
His defensive effort last night was shitting me to tears, and his season tackle numbers (given how much time he spends on ball) are almost impossible to believe. I wanted to look in to it, so I've clipped together all the stoppages he, or his direct opponent, influenced last night. A few things:
• I don't want this to be a referendum on Sheed's ability. He brings a lot more to the table than his defensive efforts at stoppages, but I just wanted to have a look. This isn't a pile on Dom Sheed post.
• I don't know his role. Perhaps the coaches have told him to be an offensive option and there's cover somewhere else for his man. It's not for me to say, though I'd speculate that that isn't the case and he still holds a lot of defensive resposibility. He bodies his opponent at nearly every stoppage, he's clearly got some duty to mark them at some level, so I think this is just an area he needs improvement but I may not be seeing the full picture.
• I've only done this for Sheed. If I went through and did the same for Redden, or Shuey, or Yeo, would it look similar? I don't know. Again - this was just to see if my frustrations during a tense game were warranted, this isn't meant to tear Dom Sheed down.
After doing this, it confirmed my suspicions that a lot of Melbourne's easy use out of the middle was Sheed's man (often Jones). He shows very little intent to go defensively with his man and, if he isn't getting on the ball, has very little impact at stoppages.
He was seemingly far more effective around the ground than getting his hands on it at stoppages, which surprised me. When he gets on the ball at stoppages, he's great. When he doesn't, he disappears entirely and often times his man gets involved.
His biggest issue seems to be intent. It's that simple. 0:38 is an example from a stoppage - Jones does nothing but pick up some speed and that's Sheed burned. The Clayton Oliver spoil at 1:08 is a great example (I know it's not a stoppage but I thought it was important). He puts in a good spoil, Oliver follows up and Sheed is nowhere to be seen as he slows to a jog for no reason.
Similarly at 2:04 - look at the ease with which Jones puts distance between himself and Sheed. Several taps, and a handful of plays around the ground, his man is the most damaging option because Sheed isn't putting in the work.
Something to watch going forward perhaps.
Try it with Fyff's man tonight.
You will find he had 36 possessions.