Stevens and Taggers

[pumped]

Have read some posts here about cutting Stevens some slck as he is tagged every week. Also that he would be a champion in a good team.

Have to disagree on both counts. Everyone is meant to have an opponent. What sort of spectical would it be if a team ran out and there was no opposition? Sure some players like Stevens are targeted however this is no excuse for him to not man up himself and chase and tackle with passion. Anyone who has fitness can do these things. Weak willed players lose their desire when tagged.

Also key forwards like Fev have a player hanging off them just like a midfielder. In fact many forwards like Fev and lloyd have a full back hanging off them and an extra 1 or 2 other defenders. In the second half last week Fev continually battled hard against all odds.

This is what seperates a telented player from a champion. Both Fev and Nick have enormous ability. However if Fev continues with his second half passion he will become a champion. If Nick allows himself to be phycolgically beaten by taggers then he will never fulfill his potential.

Having said this I think he lacks self awareness. Reading his last article he took responsibility for the last game which is great. However I think he is not aware to how he is perceived and also how he loses passion. I don't believe anyone tries to be less than passionate. As such perhaps some of his team mates and /or his coach need to make him aware in a compassionate but clear way.

 

[Fev0lution]

stevens has never been accountable and never will be..he wouldnt know what the word opponent means

 

[RoK]

Stevo is a pu55y and we need to trade him.

 

[1980GFVideo]

I remember a couple of years or more ago, Dennis Pagan saying that the problem was that Campereale (cant spell his name) was copping too much attention because of lack of depth in the midfield.

Seems to be that nothing has changed but Stevens is copping it all now.

Both those guys are top players but little support around them meant they were playing in more difficult conditions than guys like Voss who had a number of players who would demand the best tagger.

 

[BlueBelle]

Stevo is a receiver. Never goes the hard ball but rest assured he is always on the outskirts of the pack waiting for the easy ball. His skill level is also a bit to be desired and he can barely kick 50 metres. To me he looks disinterested and unhappy at Carlton which is sad considering the attention he attracted when he left the Power. I would like to hear what he honestly thinks of Pagans coaching tactics though!

 

[WTTF]

Stevo is a receiver. Never goes the hard ball but rest assured he is always on the outskirts of the pack waiting for the easy ball. His skill level is also a bit to be desired and he can barely kick 50 metres. To me he looks disinterested and unhappy at Carlton which is sad considering the attention he attracted when he left the Power. I would like to hear what he honestly thinks of Pagans coaching tactics though!

Lets have a look and see what the stats say after 8 games this season. Comparing Stevens to our other midfielders. I've underlined the league leader and Carlton's leader is in italic:

Possessions per game:
Goodwin - 27.8
Scotland - 24.9
Houlihan - 23.6
Stevens - 22.5
Koutoufides - 17.9
Carrazzo - 17.1
Murphy - 16.5
Bentick - 16.5

Tackles per game
Hayes - 8.9
Bentick - 6.0
Stevens - 4.8
Koutoufides - 4.5
Houlihan - 4.0
Scotland - 4.0
Murphy - 3.8
Carrazzo - 2.6

Clearances per game
Judd - 7.4
Stevens - 4.8
Scotland - 3.6
Bentick - 3.4
Houlihan - 2.5
Koutoufides - 1.9
Carrazzo - 1.6
Murphy - 1.2

Contested Possessions per game
Judd - 5.1
Fevola - 3.0
Houlihan - 2.2
Scotland - 2.2
Bentick - 2.2
Stevens - 1.9
Carrazzo - 1.6
Murphy - 1.2

Errors per game
Burton - 6.2
Scotland - 4.8
Stevens - 4.4
Koutoufides - 2.9
Houlihan - 2.4
Murphy - 2.4
Carrazzo - 2.0
Bentick - 1.6

1%ers per game
Roe - 10.0
Whitnall - 5.6
Bentick - 5.5
Koutoufides - 4.0
Stevens - 3.5
Scotland - 3.4
Murphy - 2.9
Houlihan - 2.2
Carrazzo - 2.2

Stevens gets a bad wrap when it comes to his work in and around packs. For a bloke who a lot of people call soft, he gets a lot of clearances, tackles and does his share of 1%ers. I'm not saying he is a genius in the packs or anything, I just reckon he has been pigeon-holed as soft and people keep believing it despite the decent enough work he goes in the clinches.

http://www.pro-stats.com.au/psw/web/player_career?pid=631

 

[BlueWorld]

Stevo is a receiver. Never goes the hard ball but rest assured he is always on the outskirts of the pack waiting for the easy ball.

Looking through those stats I think you might be wrong. They also show that Houlihan & Scotland are also unfairly criticised.

 

[murphster]

Look at times there is no doubt that Stevo needs to work harder and he proved against the Bombers that he can, but unfortunately he gets no help from the coach or his teammates when it comes to being tagged.

Pagan just leaves him in the middle to get tagged out of the game instead of doing something else like moving him forward to try and break the tag, and his teammates don't shephard or try to block the run of the tagger or try and man up on the tagger to break it that way, if you have ever watched a side like West Coast when Judd is being tagged they block shepherd bump switch opponents move him forward and basicly do everything in there power to free up there best playmaker and the majority of the time they do free him up which is why he is so damaging and is never tagged out of the game for long periods of time.

So really our biggest problem is the team not working for each other, and in the case of Stevo he needs the support of the coach and the players around him and until he gets it there will be more games where he is nullified by the close checking of the opposition, same thing happened to Houlihan on the weekend as well but everyone was to worried about there own games to play as a team.