We need to talk about Tex...

[Captain Furious]

I imagine it's clear to everyone who's watched all the games this year, and was finally called out by commentators last night but something's up with our fearless leader.

I'm not going to join in ridiculous and hysterical calls for him being dropped but his lack of intensity and effort is of real concern. Even though he's 7th on the AFL goal kicking list and on track for a 60 goal+ year, he's missing a lot of gettable shots, averaging only 1.6 tackles a game, not breaking packs or even flying for a lot of marks and his chasing and defensive pressure is non-existent, bordering on embarrassing for a guy who was voted best captain in the AFL by his peers.

The greatest thing about Tex is his presence and ability to impose himself on games, especially when he's needed to step up. For much of the year, he's been a peripheral figure, occasionally chiming in for a lead up mark.

What's most distressing is, on ability, he should be the number one forward in the game (Buddy may have a case) and winning games off his own boot.

Anyone have an idea what's going on?

 

[Vhaluus]

He's cooked.

Terminally broken in confidence, intent and skill.

Before his ACL he was on track to be the best forward in the competition by a fair mile. People were talking about him like they're talking about Danniher now (though he didn't have the kicking issues).

I don't know if it was the knee itself or something else that has happened since then but he's just completely fallen away.

Provides 0 on ground leadership and sets a horrible example with both actions and body language.

 

[MRB37]

We like to bomb it on his head when he's double teamed. He's not contested marker, why he isn't leading I have no idea. But then again we had multiple times last night we had a chance to get a quick entry in and we instead held on the ball taking in every option which gave Geelong a chance to fill up all the space down back.

He also doesn't help when he'll be too concerned about his man and will stop to try and nudge them out of the contest, which either fails or he'll get pinged for a push. When he attacks the ball and ignores his defender, like he did against Port earlier in the year he looks near unstoppable at times.

 

[MRB37]

He's cooked.

Terminally broken in confidence, intent and skill.

That's an overreaction if I've ever seen one. He's had plenty of quality performances this year, he's in a down patch at the moment.

 

[Vhaluus]

That's an overreaction if I've ever seen one. He's had plenty of quality performances this year, he's in a down patch at the moment.

He has been on a downward trajectory since last year.

People will come to accept that hard truth eventually.

 

[Captain Furious]

He's cooked.

Terminally broken in confidence, intent and skill.

Before his ACL he was on track to be the best forward in the competition by a fair mile. People were talking about him like they're talking about Danniher now (though he didn't have the kicking issues).

I don't know if it was the knee itself or something else that has happened since then but he's just completely fallen away.

Provides 0 on ground leadership and sets a horrible example with both actions and body language.

Settle down fella. He's had some cracking years since that knee injury. I'm talking this season.

 

[MRB37]

He has been on a downward trajectory since last year.

People will come to accept that hard truth eventually.

Nope. Go back and watch him against Hawthorn, Port, Essendon, Gold Coast and Richmond this year. He played s**t last night and still could have booted 6 goals. He's leading the league in goal assists, is 7th on the Coleman and 4th for marks inside 50. He's down yes, but you're silly if you think he's done as an AFL player.

 

[Vhaluus]

Settle down fella. He's had some cracking years since that knee injury. I'm talking this season.

I stand by my comment.

 

[TheLeftFist8]

I love Tex but a 'down patch' doesn't excuse what we are seeing.

Body language, defensive effort, courage in the air, attack on the contest are all utterly deplorable and unacceptable.

Is it any coincidence where our performance as a team is heading in the past 5 weeks?

Does anyone have any inside info at all? Is he injured? Mental health issues? I just can't believe he is this bad atm.

 

[Vhaluus]

Nope. Go back and watch him against Hawthorn, Port, Essendon, Gold Coast and Richmond this year. He played s**t last night and still could have booted 6 goals. He's leading the league in goal assists, is 7th on the Coleman and 4th for marks inside 50. He's down yes, but you're silly if you think he's done as an AFL player.

He's not delist material.

But he's not captain material and he's not good enough as our #1 key forward

 

[TheLeftFist8]

I'll clarify that he is clearly a gun player and we need him to perform...desperately

 

[Scorpus]

This isn't the only issue, but our structure is giving him no help whatsoever.

Loading up on talls with him, Jenkins, Otten and Lynch and sometimes Jacobs in there too is giving him zero space to work with. And he gets double teamed anyway because a guy like Otten isn't an effective target and teams put very little effort into him.

He shouldn't be competing against what is essentially a worse clone of himself in Otten, in the same forward line.

 

[MRB37]

He's not delist material.

But he's not captain material and he's not good enough as our #1 key forward

I think you're way off.

I can't argue on captain, i don't feel strongly about that one way or the other, but he's good enough to be our best forward.

 

[Captain Furious]

I love Tex but a 'down patch' doesn't excuse what we are seeing.

Body language, defensive effort, courage in the air, attack on the contest are all utterly deplorable and unacceptable.

Is it any coincidence where our performance as a team is heading in the past 5 weeks?

Does anyone have any inside info at all? Is he injured? Mental health issues? I just can't believe he is this bad atm.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. No question at all over his ability to be a star but his demeanor on the ground and his approach to the game has changed markably. Something's clearly wrong.

 

[The Karma Bus]

I love Tex and he hasn't been woeful, he's been chipping in with bits and pieces but nowhere near enough.
But I can't believe what I'm seeing from him in terms of interest level, body language, hunger for the contest, aggression and so on.

He's been in worse form than his current form but still looked a lot more hungry and engaged.
Strange.

 

[crows dude]

Leading goal involvenents in AFL. On track for 65 goals this year. Could have kicked 6 last night. MacKay and Jenkins however dropped for poor form and back in after one week. Without earning a recall. Wigg, Beech should be in. More to worry about than Tex.

 

[MRB37]

Would be interesting to see his GPS numbers. Looks to be running way more at a futile attempt to put some sort of forward pressure on. Probably leads to his supposed "soreness" issues too.

 

[Scorpus]

Leading goal involvenents in AFL. On track for 65 goals this year. Could have kicked 6 last night. MacKay and Jenkins however dropped for poor form and back in after one week. Without earning a recall. Wigg, Beech should be in. More to worry about than Tex.

He was never, ever going to kick six because he consistently misses sitters in pressure games when the ship is sinking

 

[phill5158]

Dixon is currently putting Tex to shame. I seriously hate to admit it but at least he is playing competitive footy.

On SM-G950F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Captain Furious]

Leading goal involvenents in AFL. On track for 65 goals this year. Could have kicked 6 last night. MacKay and Jenkins however dropped for poor form and back in after one week. Without earning a recall. Wigg, Beech should be in. More to worry about than Tex.

I acknowledge the numbers, most forwards in the game would be chuffed with them. But that's not the point in case. He just doesn't seem interested. The inspirational leader who takes games by the scruff is missing. I want him back.

 

[crows dude]

Dixon is currently putting Tex to shame. I seriously hate to admit it but at least he is playing competitive footy.

On SM-G950F using BigFooty.com mobile app

Dixon isn't fit to tie Tex' shoes

 

[Scorpus]

Dixon isn't fit to tie Tex' shoes

Dixon is a worse forward playing much better football right now. That says a lot.

 

[MRB37]

He was never, ever going to kick six because he consistently misses sitters in pressure games when the ship is sinking

He misses sitters full stop, I don't think "pressure" has much to do with it. He's kicked plenty of clutch goals.

He plays on instinct usually, when he just plays on and boots the ball as hard as he can, he hardly ever misses. When he's 30 out, he's one of those frustrating forwards who for whatever reason try those little stab kicks instead of just doing the same thing they do from 50 out.

 

[jackster83]

He's either injured or well past his best. Otten looks more agile than him atm.

Guys like Tredrea, Cloke and even Lloyd were pretty much cooked at 29. Unfortunately I think Tex is going the same way.

 

[Crowbots are dead]

He's cooked.

Terminally broken in confidence, intent and skill.

Before his ACL he was on track to be the best forward in the competition by a fair mile. People were talking about him like they're talking about Danniher now (though he didn't have the kicking issues).

I don't know if it was the knee itself or something else that has happened since then but he's just completely fallen away.

Provides 0 on ground leadership and sets a horrible example with both actions and body language.

The problem with threads like this as they get derailed by hysterical, baseless claims like this. No question he is down in form but at least he presented last night . If he kicked 5.1 instead in 3.3 this thread wouldn't exist . Our problems are in the middle at the moment and in particular the lack of coaching strategy . I know Tex is captain but as a forward , his output is often a product of supply. Given the fact we had 100 less possessions I think that 6 shots on goal is not bad.