News Toovey or not Toovey ... Pie answers the question

[Optimax]

The answer to the question "who is the best player to play HBF for us". Toovey is it now, but his frequent cases of fumblitis and occasionally shankitis give me cause for concern. I agree that he has the potential to add run-and-carry to his game, and I still think there is room for improvement.

Personally, I think Blight could be a better half-back in the longer term. He has great hands, is a damaging long kick, and is very strong overhead. He isn't as quick as Toovey however and not as strong defensively yet.

Keep in mind I said I'm not yet convinced he's the long-term answer; far from saying he isn't the long-term answer.

Blight IMO will be the longer term replacement for Johnno, blight and johnno unlike toovey are attacking players

toovey is competing with goldsack, Tristan Francis, and eventually Tom young in defensive small

In short blight and toovey are gunning for seperate spots, one the attacking half back wing and toovey the Nuggety defensive small half back, back pocket

 

[Boris the Contradiction]

I've come around a lot on Toovey and think he played a great game against Essendon but the thing that worries me is that MM never trusts him with the opposition's best small attacking player.

O'Brien always gets that player and to me that is a knock on Toovey. Harry is a medium defender who provides a lot of rebound - granted he is a great defender and a much better player than Toovey but I would have thought that if Toovey was the best lockdown small defender in the team he would get the best small forward? For a player who plays a purely negative role on an average player most weeks, his spot is far from "assured" as a lot are suggesting. I personally prefer Goldsack because he can play on smalls but is also versatile if the matchup isn't there. That said, Toovey is playing well enough to justify his position at the moment but he is nowhere near a lock.

 

[Pie eyed]

I've come around a lot on Toovey and think he played a great game against Essendon but the thing that worries me is that MM never trusts him with the opposition's best small attacking player.

O'Brien always gets that player and to me that is a knock on Toovey. Harry is a medium defender who provides a lot of rebound - granted he is a great defender and a much better player than Toovey but I would have thought that if Toovey was the best lockdown small defender in the team he would get the best small forward? For a player who plays a purely negative role on an average player most weeks, his spot is far from "assured" as a lot are suggesting. I personally prefer Goldsack because he can play on smalls but is also versatile if the matchup isn't there. That said, Toovey is playing well enough to justify his position at the moment but he is nowhere near a lock.

O'Brien would be the first choice for he oppo's best small forward as he is the best matchup for them. Simple.
Even if Possum had a surge and overtook Harry in that role we would still need to have someone to cover the oppo's second best small forward.

Unless you are the best player in the side there's always someone better than you. The important thing is that you are in the sides best 22.

 

[Boris the Contradiction]

O'Brien would be the first choice for he oppo's best small forward as he is the best matchup for them. Simple.
Even if Possum had a surge and overtook Harry in that role we would still need to have someone to cover the oppo's second best small forward.

Unless you are the best player in the side there's always someone better than you. The important thing is that you are in the sides best 22.

I agree with all of that.

What I am saying is that a lot of people on here are suggesting that he is undroppable because he is the only player in the team that can consistently play a lockdown role on a small forward. I think that is rubbish and used O'Brien as an example. I'm not saying he doesn't have a role or doesn't play his role well, I am simply saying that he is by no means a guaranteed best 22 player every week. The reason for this is that WE DO have other players who play his role and a couple of them (like Harry, like Goldy, etc) have other aspects to them that make them better allround players. This means that if Toovey's form drops (and it wouldn't need to drop by much because he is very limited as a player), he is out and that's the only thing that's guaranteed. His consistency is good though and he doesn't deserve to be dropped at this point.

 

[Pie eyed]

i'd have to say that if he was not the best option, currently, for the second small forward he would be dropped as he has not reached a point where he is a best option for another role.

The fact he is in the side doing a specific job suggests he's the best option for that job.
I have heaps of respect for "the sack" and thought he was a very good player until that massive hit he took set him back a bit.
Tooves took the opportunity in his absence and has not relinquished the possie yet, to his credit.

I'd like to think his and any players possie in the 22 is under threat every week.

 

[Boris the Contradiction]

I'd like to think his and any players possie in the 22 is under threat every week.

As much as I'd like this to be the case it isn't. BUT, this line is exactly what I'm talking about. I agree that he deserves his spot atm and is the best option for his role, I just don't think we can call the guy a "lock". He just isn't good enough.

In our best 22 I'd say all of Shaw, Presti, O'Brien, Maxwell, Ball, Swan, Fraser, Cloke, Didak, Medhurst, Davis, Jolly, Pendlebury and Thomas could string a number of bad games together and stay in the team. They could do this because they are more or less good AFL players and the coach would have a lot of faith in them "coming good". That to me is what a "lock" is. Toovey is not in this group in my opinion and if he played 2 shockers in a row, he would be dropped. He is in the category of Johnson, Wellingham, Beams, Lockyer, Sidebottom and O'Bree. They are good players who will be dropped if they are out of form (Lockyer and O'Bree have been examples of this in recent weeks). I realise that Wellingham is dominating atm but if his form was crap in rounds 1 and 2, he would not have played in round 3. Didak? A different story..