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Raphael Clarke

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Torp from 60

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I was just wondering if I could get some views on Raphael Clarke from St.Kilda supporters. He seems so unsure of himself when he gets the ball and slow in his decision making. What do others think. Interested to hear thoughts!!!!
 
Does not appear to be at AFL standard hey. Full pre-season this time, but still some very silly mistakes. Hope he does improve.
 
Seems to be improving every week, but getting caught from behind in the final quarter is what will stick in everyone's mind.

On the fringe of the Saints best 22 at the moment.
 
Did allright last night, but decision making was still poor IMO. For me he is not in our best 22 once Goose and Goddard come back.
 

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Definitely not in St.Kilda's best 22. They keep persisting with him for a game, though. I guess he has some height and is not bad overhead. Has to improve his decision making and use a first option. Don't agree with the comment that he is improving each week. He has been given the chance for a few years now and has not shown improvement.
 
This is the strongest he has looked. The first full preseason under his belt since he was recruited (that I can remember). Raph is good overhead and a nice kick. People keep criticising his speed, but he is quite quick with that laconic style that makes him look as if he is only putting in a half-effort. Another criticism is his decision making - well think about it - how will that improve? Yes that's right - by playing him at this level. (Playing at VFL level doesn't provide the same level of intensity to provide this learning).

Well that's my belief anyway.

By the season's end, I am hoping that he will have established himself as a genuine unquestioned AFL elite rebounding defender with the two premiership cups and all this sort of querie on his suitability long forgotten.
 
Kildonan said:
By the season's end, I am hoping that he will have established himself as a genuine unquestioned AFL elite rebounding defender with the two premiership cups and all this sort of querie on his suitability long forgotten.
Click to expand...
Two in one ?
 
I can't stand it when Raf gets the pill in his hands. In the pre season there was one game where he had the ball in the backpocket with no defender within 30 metres of him. I then go to my mate "i bet you he does something stupid". Then what does Raf do...almost kicks it out on the full to someone who was open by about 20 metres. Will struggle to hold his spot in the 22.
 
Also dont understand how raph is in the side.He was supposedly better than X before we drafted him...dont know what happend there?
When he gets the ball i cant look coz his got no idea what to do with it.He either turns it over,gets caught or 1 outta 10 times hits the target.No explosiveness at all.Bring back BJ...please.
 
Honestly - who in a high pressure game, where there is no space, gets the ball at half back and has a bounce after a few steps? Forget that he should know he is not that quick. He should have seen players in front of him and elected to run his 10 and drive the ball into the forward line. The bounce killed him, and I can't believe he did not hear the crowd's screams that he was "hot" (he must have heard the groan shortly after).
 
Squizzy1970 said:
...and I can't believe he did not hear the crowd's screams that he was "hot" (he must have heard the groan shortly after).
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In nhis defence, I must say that sometimes, in these kind of games you are so so focused in trying to do what you're supposed to do that you don't hear a damn thing.
This kind of holdings the ball frees have also happened to his brother X in the past, and noone complained as much as against Raph.
To me, it is worse that he doesn't know what to do with the ball when he has it, than this concrete passage of play. At least, in this one he tried to be creative and so something. That's just my opinion though.
 
I'm with Kildonian here. His primary problem is his decision-making, but that's about confidence. Raph has come from basically crippled, to playing VFL every week while watching his brother get better and better. He has worked his butt off all pre-season to play, and now feels vindicated by his selection. If we dump him back to the VFL "for him to get some confidence", that will be like shooting him in the foot. He will LOSE all his confidence. And the great player I think he can become will disappear. We have to give him about 5 weeks of unconditional selection, and then he'll cream. Tough, but worth it.
 

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Persevering Saint said:
I'm with Kildonian here. His primary problem is his decision-making, but that's about confidence. Raph has come from basically crippled, to playing VFL every week while watching his brother get better and better. He has worked his butt off all pre-season to play, and now feels vindicated by his selection. If we dump him back to the VFL "for him to get some confidence", that will be like shooting him in the foot. He will LOSE all his confidence. And the great player I think he can become will disappear. We have to give him about 5 weeks of unconditional selection, and then he'll cream. Tough, but worth it.
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I think that's the main issue. How much time do we give him? I liked some of his work on Sat night, took some solid marks down back. He's very much in the same bracket as Milne he could be having a great game, but he makes a mistake and that's all people can remember. I am happy to leave him in against the Blues and Dogs for the next two weeks, but if he plays Round 4 he'll have a massive job on either Stokes, Johnson or Chapman and at the moment he is far from being up to that task.
 
i was one of raphs biggest critics when he first started but recently i think his hardness and willingness to play for the team and not himself is becoming more and more obvious. its great to see the change in him and i can happily say ive changed my opinion on him. i still think he will be just a player and never a really good player and as per the previous post he isnt up to playing on the good players in the league like chapman or nathan brown etc.

he is a solid contributor at the moment and thats all we ask
 
bluejay said:
This kind of holdings the ball frees have also happened to his brother X in the past, and noone complained as much as against Raph.
...
At least, in this one he tried to be creative and so something. That's just my opinion though.
Click to expand...


X doesn't get run down like that, and has much more awareness. He used to slip over a fair bit, but I haven't seen this since 2006.

I don't mind creative, but even when Raph was contributing (pre-injuries) he would break free but then keep running into trouble and cough it up, rather than getting a couple of good strides in and pumping the ball forward to someone's advantage. He did not need to bounce the ball, and this is a habit issue (not confidence).
 
In my opinion he is very slow to develop compared to some of the other new players. If I had to choose between them, I would want Gilbert or Geary on my team before Raph.
Geary exhibited some slow decision making against Sydney, but it was his first game!
We have a couple more weeks for him to improve before we need to select a top team against Geelong, but I suspect he may be minding Goddard's spot.
 
I really dont think he will end up cutting the grade... He seems to continue to make the same mistakes over and over again.
Happy to be proved wrong.
 
The pace thing - look, we already have 3 speed-machines charging out of the backline (Gram, Fish, Gilbert). Don't we need somebody who'll do something different. Raph took some good bold marks in the backline on Sat'day. What else could his role be, other than a running backman?
 

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Persevering Saint said:
I'm with Kildonian here. His primary problem is his decision-making, but that's about confidence. Raph has come from basically crippled, to playing VFL every week while watching his brother get better and better. He has worked his butt off all pre-season to play, and now feels vindicated by his selection. If we dump him back to the VFL "for him to get some confidence", that will be like shooting him in the foot. He will LOSE all his confidence. And the great player I think he can become will disappear. We have to give him about 5 weeks of unconditional selection, and then he'll cream. Tough, but worth it.
Click to expand...

Squizzy1970 said:
Honestly - who in a high pressure game, where there is no space, gets the ball at half back and has a bounce after a few steps? Forget that he should know he is not that quick. He should have seen players in front of him and elected to run his 10 and drive the ball into the forward line. The bounce killed him, and I can't believe he did not hear the crowd's screams that he was "hot" (he must have heard the groan shortly after).
Click to expand...

I'm a little confused when it comes to Raph, I admit, when he gets the ball I cringe a little, hoping he'll do the right thing ..

BUT, I think we've invested game time, and trying to get confidence into him that dropping him now will undo a lot of that hard work. He's definitely looking a better player this year, so think we should persevere for a little longer....
 

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