- Oct 30, 2012
- 7,888
- 27,176
- AFL Club
- Port Adelaide
I'm not betting the house he can make it. But i thought and still think he has more weapons than Amon (who proved me terribly wrong) and so i want to see another year of him (preferrably with a different coach). You could all be bronx cheering me in a year for my faith or we could all be doing a 'how good is Bonner' who knows. But it is not like he is a s**t kick or had terrible skills so for mine it is worth the roll of the dice. But flick him to the twos for awhile as it has actually done some of the others a world of good.There are players who do best with the field ahead of them, and Bonner usually does fine at that. It kind of applies to those long pings at goal given to him from set shots too - hes got protected space so its simpler.
For a 1990s back pocket thats fine, but now we expect loose half backs to push upfield and that means they need to maintain a broader field of awareness than just ‘in front of me’...he’s got to watch out for players coming from the periphery and time pressure is more real. Its tough, the creating half back needs what was once pretty much just a midfield instinct/skill.
The things I don’t like about Bonner’s game is that its in higher pressure situations (on field...eg proximity of opponents that might tackle or obscure options) that his weaknesses are exposed, and high pressure situations come up most often against the best sides and in finals.
I also have not seen a player overcome the deficiencies he’s shown so am skeptical that they can be. I’d love a counter example, particularly one where a coach change has made a difference.
tl:dr - with Bonner I think its a brain thing, not skill, motivation, fitness or coaching. Would love to be wrong.