Rumour Taylor Walker dropped (Mark Riccuito)
- Thread starter razorsedge
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Hey, did anyone notice how similar Geelong and Collingwood's tactics are to ours? How they both like to get uncontested control of the footy before they initiate attacks? How they slow the play down at every opportunity? Did you see them patiently switching play by working it through the defensive fifty with half a dozen uncontested marks? Or what about how they handballed backwards out of the packs?
What? You didn't see that? Funny, neither did I.
What? You didn't see that? Funny, neither did I.
Just a thought on what could be done to try and get Tex going. Temporarily forget all the focus on defensive action etc, Send him out under instruction to fire up and start throwing his body around.
Watching him get stuck into the opposition shows me that hes got an element of natural agression about him and he needs to let it out. Tell him to start flying for marks and jumping into anyone who gets in the way, stop second guessing himself if hes gonna bump and bloody well hit the body hard. Hes a big lad, but atm he sure as hell doesnt like to use it.
Maybe just maybe if they can get him to play with some agression and get the blood pumping the rest will start to come. Once hes got an apetite for destruction he may actually start to go after the opponent when he doesnt have the ball.
Well theres my little piece thought on tex, wether or not he actually has the capability to do what iv suggested is a completly different matter
Watching him get stuck into the opposition shows me that hes got an element of natural agression about him and he needs to let it out. Tell him to start flying for marks and jumping into anyone who gets in the way, stop second guessing himself if hes gonna bump and bloody well hit the body hard. Hes a big lad, but atm he sure as hell doesnt like to use it.
Maybe just maybe if they can get him to play with some agression and get the blood pumping the rest will start to come. Once hes got an apetite for destruction he may actually start to go after the opponent when he doesnt have the ball.
Well theres my little piece thought on tex, wether or not he actually has the capability to do what iv suggested is a completly different matter
This is unfortunately often true as well. I guess the thing is, this is a problem when the redefined statement is the crux of their argument. When it's a side point that is judiciously attacked, it just seems pointless. When someone shifts the goalposts of their entire argument, attacking it is completely fair game.
I think jenny's comment was fair. Walker's issues with chasing and defensive pressure go far beyond "he's really big". It is clear to anyone watching that he has a work rate issue, one that cannot be explained away by his size, given his elite engine.
Ummm....you do know that Tex plays for the Crows right? Our coach called a press conference to show the world this DVD containing his interpretation of "tough football":
It's not a deflection, it's a rejection of your false premise that Walker is a "lumbering forward". As has been pointed out, Tex is agile and athletic and you can't deflect criticism of his lack of effort by putting him in to that category.
Your question was also loaded in that it asked about "leading their team's stats for inside 50 tackles" as though that was the expectation on Walker. "Leading the stats" has nothing to do with it.
And when you're close enough to an opponent in possession of the ball to lay a bump, and you choose to bump rather than tackle, "lumbering" isn't an excuse. Whether you're 5'8" or 6'10", you tackle.
I'm a big Walker fan, and as far as I'm concerned if he's bagging 3-4 goals a game then I couldn't care less how many tackles he doesn't make (and I suspect the coaching staff wouldn't either).
But when he's not contributing those goals (and he won't, not every game) then he needs to contribute in other ways.
Haha faircallUmmm....you do know that Tex plays for the Crows right? Our coach called a press conference to show the world this DVD containing his interpretation of "tough football":
Firstly I didn't ask the original question. Secondly, I truly believe Walker is lumbering. He is slow and I'm surprised you would call him agile. I remember footage of a training drill of Walker and Danger roped together so Walker could try and improve his agility.
I also made note of Walkers effort lack of effort. And you contradict yourself, your happy if he doesn't tackle as long as he is kicking goals and yet he wasnt dropped for not kicking goals it was lack of defensive effort. And if he wasn't, and he was dropped for not kicking goals that's even worse considering he's our leading goal kicker who had two quieter games. If he is dropped for two poor games what of the players who have been s**t for the whole year?
jenny61_99
Premium Platinum
To be fair, we don't know why Tex was dropped. We all assume it is because of the lack of defensive pressure.
In answer as to why it was him and not others? It's like a parent who is much harder on the child that they know can do better.
I didn't know the Pies had all these guys playing the position of lumbering KPF.
Meanwhile, Dawes laid 5 tackles, Cloke 3 and Brown 2 on a night when the Pies were smashed on the inside 50 count.
Funny how Dawes and Cloke are laying all of these tackles while at the same time flying for marks...are you sure it isn't their small brigade of Blair, Didak, Krakouer, Ball etc. who initially contain the ball then Dawes/Cloke back them up??? These are the guys that we're missing, and Walker + Tippett (who also had no tackles last week) will both be far more effective in the tackling department when we have them.
Haven't you heard what Craig and Harper had to say?
For the umpeenth time, I'll make the same point I've been making over and over this week.
Yes, we need more small forward pressure. The forward line balance is wrong with 2-3 talls (3 if McKernan is not in the ruck), a 4th tall in the 190 cm Henderson who doesn't have the marking ability of a tall or the crumbing ability of a true small, and then (last week) Knights and Wright.
Yes, more small forward pressure helps the big guys make a defensive contribution.
HOWEVER, if you had the all-Australian defensive small forward line, the forward line would still not work defensively if Walker plays like he did last week.
It's not just tackles either, though they are the stats that get in the paper. It's closing down the angles on your player to reduce his options - like the one last night when Taylor was looking to switch with 5 minutes to go but the man on the mark pushed up hard enough on him that he had to go wider than he wanted, allowing the next Collingwood player to intercept. It's going with your man so that he can't work a 1-2 and run the ball out. It's forcing your player to go boundary side and denying the corridor.
Yes, Tippett laid no tackkes last week. But he was significantly better than Walker in those aspects.
Whether people think Walker deserved to be dropped or not (and I see the arguments both ways), I'm just amazed how many people have tried to defend his performance against Melbourne, either directly or by implying that he shouldn't have to do the team things because he's who he is.
I think it's time for Johncock to be moved to the forward line, he's defensive pressure speed and ability to read the ball will be more of an assest up forward now, we may lose something down back but having him up forward will be more of a positive
Only if we can clone him. Who would you play down back?
budget
Team Captain
well after reading all this,gees how many pages, one good thing to happen is we get to see again what norman can do.its a good match to see hiom in action again and i hope he gets a fair go! back to tex i also dont like to see what is happening to him but really he is just plain gutless! not a very niece word but i bet it gets stated quite often at the games. i cant believe he came from country football.what must his supporters think when they watch up at broken hill. one think you demand is be tough at the footy,the only thing tough about tex is his lip. i wonder if he has ever heard of the phrase "walk the walk" and "talk the talk".anyway dont like it but you are proberly right nc.
- Nov 14, 2007
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I reckon a lot of our players have lost their "mongrel' the last few years.
- Mar 20, 2004
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That bolded bit probably is the crux of why a lot of us Walker supporters are upset. I certainly do not defend his performance against Melbourne (nor some prior weeks), although i did watch the replay again of the Melbourne match and his performance was not as bad (relatively speaking) as many posters have portrayed.
As to your answer that Craig is harder on him than others because he knows that he is much better than the others potentially - yes well fair enough to an extent, however, the fact then remains that Craig is rewarding the mediocrity of lesser players purely because they are trying hard. Its like society has become today - reward mediocrity.
Then again, the AFL itself promotes that same creed.
But back to Walker, his actual performance (although much less than he can do) is still greater than others that have stayed in the side. Is Craig capable of communicating effectively with Walker? Everyone is different - they are all not robots who are simply programmed into a structure.
A team of 22 lacadaisical Walkers will win a premiership before a team of try- hards.
Having said all that, i would like Walker to actually impose himself at the contest... at the ball i mean.
Finally, i can tell you who the 1st bloke(s) dropped this week should have been:
- Craig & the assistant coach responsible for allowing Brent Moloney to have an armchair ride in the centre square clearances. It was like a primary school match between 2 unequal sides. Unforgiveable that such a basic thing was not addressed (or not addressed with any effectiveness at all).
And it is not the first time that such unbalanced "contests"
have been allowed to ride right through a match.Hell, at the very worst, a bit of physicality at Moloney could have been shown (at least a free kick would have slowed the play to their forwards
) , but of course i forget.... we actually were very physical all day.... attacking and defending space (PS Excuse my grammar - i just wrote as it came to my head instinctively - a pity the players arent allowed to play instinctively
)As another side note, i watched South get thrashed by West last Saturday too, but i can tell you at least the players tried and put in physically unlike our netball playing Crows team)
Petrenko
- Banned
- #546
He also comes from a family of tough nuts.
His Dad, elder sister and his Mum would all rip your bloody arms off so its a shame the mongrel gene has skipped him.
So basically, tell him to stop being soft and lazy?
If he needs to be told to attack the contest, attack the man and attack the footy, then something is seriously wrong with him.
When you're ~193cm and ~97kgs, even if you're having a s**t day, the one thing you can do is smash in hard, crash packs to make a contest for your team, and make the opposition second guess themselves.
He doesn't even do that.
And he isn't just soft and lazy defensively, he's also soft and lazy offensively.
- Banned
- #548
or maybe he's watching too many dvds
This point has been totally undersold in terms of the Walker situation, it's effect on his psyche etc.
That must be it. Walker was the toughest nut in the AFL till Carl started scripting Neil Craig's press conferences.....
