Review R2: The Good, Bad and Ugly vs. Essendon

[Cromulant]

Crouch is not the main distributor.
Weren't 20+ of his 30-odd disposals handballs? Or was that Round One?
Crouch has been in-and-under and getting the ball out to our better distributors.
I'd like to see who were his handball recipients (anybody? are there such stats?).

Umm.... thats what a distributor does.

Gets the ball out to the better users.

 

[SugarShane]

Shape keeping could use some work though.

 

[CrowBloke]

Umm.... thats what a distributor does.

Ummmm ... spare me the sarcasm, ok?

Gets the ball out to the better users.

please re-read the GreyCrow post and my reply.

He was talking about kicking distributors to the forwards.
Crouch gets it out to them, yes.

 

[MarcusP2]

Ummmm ... spare me the sarcasm, ok?

please re-read the GreyCrow post and my reply.

He was talking about kicking distributors to the forwards.
Crouch gets it out to them, yes.

Crouch is quite acceptable at hitting a forward on a lead. He's not going to kick a ball to advantage from 60m away like Dawson but he can spot a lane and take advantage.

I think generally he knows his limitations and plays within them.

 

[Mutineer]

Crouch is not the main distributor.
Weren't 20+ of his 30-odd disposals handballs? Or was that Round One?
Crouch has been in-and-under and getting the ball out to our better distributors.
I'd like to see who were his handball recipients (anybody? are there such stats?).

Say what?

He starts a hell of a lot of the distribution chain with his first takes and feed off.

Hence the team high 7 clearances, equal team high goal assists (3), equal team high score involvements (10) @90.6% Disposal efficiency.

 

[rocket18]

People bagging Crouch must still think our midfield consists of him/Slowne/Laird/Keays.

Having one slow solid midfielder is fine when he's dishing it out to
Dawson/Rankine/Soligo/Draper.

 

[Houston]

People bagging Crouch must still think our midfield consists of him/Slowne/Laird/Keays.

Having one slow solid midfielder is fine whem he's dishing it out to
Dawson/Rankine/Soligo/Draper.

It was surreal on Sunday hearing Sloane talk about how the midfield mix wasn’t right for the last 5 or so years, almost some level of self-awareness.

 

[CDC60]

I’ll take that bet.

Never in doubt.

 

[Milo Cyrus]

Something that looked so different than any other under the Nicks era is ROB's tap to advantage and the general stoppage setup. The MD Effect is significant here I believe.

 

[Coopers]

It was surreal on Sunday hearing Sloane talk about how the midfield mix wasn’t right for the last 5 or so years, almost some level of self-awareness.

There are plenty of things wrong with my workplace, yet oddly I still try to contribute to it.

 

[Eddie Murphy]

Butts is borderline best 22 when we're fully fit (there's a case that in certain match-ups he should be chosen over Keane). Very bizarre omission and even if the club has mutually agreed with Butts to explore different avenues end of the year it doesn't help his trade value nor his next contract to leave him in limbo for a full year. Wonder if he's carrying something himself.

 

[Golumless]

Butts is borderline best 22 when we're fully fit (there's a case that in certain match-ups he should be chosen over Keane). Very bizarre omission and even if the club has mutually agreed with Butts to explore different avenues end of the year it doesn't help his trade value nor his next contract to leave him in limbo for a full year. Wonder if he's carrying something himself.

No, the only case where Butts is a better choice than Keane is when Keane is too injured to play.

Keane is a strong interceptor, Butts is not, and intercepting power is the single most important aspect when it comes to the defensive unit. We are past the days where you can afford multiple negative ball movers in your defence, even if you have to give up some ground on 1v1 and shutdown work.

 

[Eddie Murphy]

No, the only case where Butts is a better choice than Keane is when Keane is too injured to play.

Keane is a strong interceptor, Butts is not, and intercepting power is the single most important aspect when it comes to the defensive unit. We are past the days where you can afford multiple negative ball movers in your defence, even if you have to give up some ground on 1v1 and shutdown work.

I think this too harshly reduces Murray to a pure shutdown defender rather than someone who can intercept in his own right (though with Keane in the side he remains more focused on 1v1s).

If you want to count Murray as a negative ball mover, most of our better patches in recent seasons included two ‘negative ball movers’ out of defence (Butts+Murray most of 2023, Murray+Bond in the later parts of 2024) so we’ve shown it isn’t a definite killer to our ball movement.

I’ll admit it’s become increasingly unlikely we’ll encounter many teams emphasising aerial dominance in the forward line like us, but in the case we do there’s absolutely a case Butts is the preferred matchup to Keane.

 

[Mutineer]

No, the only case where Butts is a better choice than Keane is when Keane is too injured to play.

Keane is a strong interceptor, Butts is not, and intercepting power is the single most important aspect when it comes to the defensive unit. We are past the days where you can afford multiple negative ball movers in your defence, even if you have to give up some ground on 1v1 and shutdown work.

Jordon Butts | AFL

Follow Jordon Butts's progress through AFL

www.afc.com.au

Butts was one of the best interceptors in the then U18 TAC Cup as it was known back then when we drafted him, in fact he led the comp for intercept marks playing mostly CHB. It's another case of the club in their wisdom training his natural game out of him.

Read the club's own Jordan Butts bio if you don't believe me mate.