Opinion Who is currently our best midfielder?

Who is our best midfielder?

  • Yeo

  • Shuey

  • Gaff


Results are only viewable after voting.

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FatPizza

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May 25, 2015
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Winning a premiership does not mean out team cannot improve.
 
Dec 18, 2005
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Don't rate Gaff off one game. That wasn't Gaff at his best, that was like a warm up under pressure. If he plays like last year he's a better user of the ball than the other two if ball retention is the goal. Shuey has had some shocking disposals this year to go with his brilliant ones and Yeo isn't really at the same level as boots or Gaff but is by no means a poor kick (Dangerfield for example).

Gaff is courageous, runs both ways and is very capable with his head over the ball. He's less likely to wrestle a ball out but he'll run over a ball keep his feet and most times pick it up and cop a hit.

I voted Shuey, but I think it's a pretty hard choice between the three of them. Shuey and Yeo are just much better tacklers, but Gaffy is was better at covering space and standing in the hole of leading forwards which is also a defensive attribute.
 

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WCE_phil

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Nov 14, 2009
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So now we were actually better off without Gaff. OK.

I was suggesting for a very short period we may have actually been better without Gaff in the side. In so many ways things we thought went greatly against us last season actually resulted in some of our greatest wins. Gaff going down potentially leading to Sheed and Redden's amazing finals series, Sheppard going down resulting in one of, if not the best 1 on 1 performance by a defender in schofields grand final vs de goey etc.

It happens. Gaff is a great player and integral to our team, we may however have got lucky.

All in all if you go back to last years grand final if we kick straight and collingwood aren't kissed on the dick for the first 10 minutes we win by 5+ goals. However the way the result happened it came down to 1 great play being the difference and I think a large part of that happening was some monumental utensil ups in Buckley's coaching.
 

LittleGreekGod

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Dec 24, 2015
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Don't rate Gaff off one game. That wasn't Gaff at his best, that was like a warm up under pressure. If he plays like last year he's a better user of the ball than the other two if ball retention is the goal. Shuey has had some shocking disposals this year to go with his brilliant ones and Yeo isn't really at the same level as boots or Gaff but is by no means a poor kick (Dangerfield for example).

Gaff is courageous, runs both ways and is very capable with his head over the ball. He's less likely to wrestle a ball out but he'll run over a ball keep his feet and most times pick it up and cop a hit.

I voted Shuey, but I think it's a pretty hard choice between the three of them. Shuey and Yeo are just much better tacklers, but Gaffy is was better at covering space and standing in the hole of leading forwards which is also a defensive attribute.
And Sheed has now developed into the Bull we always wanted.
 

Balls In

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I think of Gaff as a game saving midfielder. He busts his gut, gets to space, gets the outlet ball and generally disposes of it tidily. His role is very important to our structure but the role in itself is nowhere near as hard to replace as the roles of a burst midfielder, an intercept key defender like mcgovern or a dominant key forward.

In so many ways if you have great runners who work hard defensively and a mature side you can overcome the loss of gaff or players of a similar ilk. I thought we were done last year when nicnat went down, then i thought we were done when gaff went down and i was certain of it after we lost shep. The truth is that guys like Masten, Redden, Sheed or even say Josh Smith can play the role that Gaff plays. They may not play that role quite as well but the defensive side of his game in particular is about being an outlet and then releasing the ball to more dynamic players. I listed Masten and Smith as examples of runners who will play a similar role and also because both are not a touch on gaff however masten in particular if you discount his abhorrent ability to overestimate the amount of time he has and his ability to out-muscle other players (it's his technique that is wrong not overall strength) can play the role just as well. We have seen Sheed and Redden combine to play a combination of inside mid + gaff's role while gaff was out and perform at a level as good as or better than gaff does.

It is why this role is consistently played by less dynamic players with less hurt factor than the primary central mids. In the same way that Priddis was very vanilla as an inside mid and it allowed him to be run off by his opponent, coaches will try and tag Shuey or Yeo instead of gaff because they see him and his role as being of less importance and less influence on the result. Very much in the same way as taggers themselves are lesser players than the players they guard.

Please I don't want people to think that i see gaff as a poor player, someone who should be fazed out or anything like that. I see him as being close to the best at his role in the league but I just don't see his role winning us games directly. Shuey, Yeo, Hurn, McGovern, Kennedy, Nicnat directly win us games. I just have Gaff pegged as being at the top of the next tier down. Along with guys like Darling, Sheed and Sheppard their absolute best can have this effect but imo can't be relied upon to win games. It's 5-15 on a list importance rather than top 5 imo.
Sorry to disagree but Gaff is an outstanding midfielder. One of thr very best in tha AFL and at least as good as Yeo and Sheuy albeit a different player. Perhaps we just dont fully appreciate his 30+ quality possessions every game like clockwork.
 
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kerr87

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I still rate gaff as our best he might not be a game breaker like yeo and shuey but he consistently does it more and has improved marginally bit by bit each year

Gaff's 2018 was incredible. He took his game to another level and started hurting on the scoreboard too. Was easily our best mid. Yeo and Shuey did have big games here and there but Gaff was our No.1
 

kerr87

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Sheed does play outside but during ball ups around the ground /wings he's normally the one who gets it out.

Sheed has really closed the gap between himself and Gaff/Shuey/Yeo. Taken his game to the next level and hurts with his disposal and on the scoreboard.

Shuey Yeo Gaff Sheed Yeo with Rioli and Naitanui to return...

Get excited to see some real Champagne football after the bye.

Haven't been this excited since watching Judd Cousins Kerr + Cox between 2004-2007
 
Aug 15, 2009
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From day one, you could just see Shueys desire to win.

Gaffs escalation in toughness has been remarkable. with all his other qualities, it does make him a legitimate A grader.

As said before, we have a very good mix of midfielders, and they have been enjoyable to watch.
 

FKASC

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May 28, 2017
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Can someone please explain player ratings to me.

They have Gaff down as the fifth worst player of the collingwood game. Fifth worst out of both teams!

He got equal high contested possessions.... I just don't get it
I think it heavily favours score involvements and metres gained. Plus i assume you lose points for turnovers, ineffective disposals, free kicks etc, as already mentioned by another poster.
 

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Dec 18, 2005
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From day one, you could just see Shueys desire to win.

Gaffs escalation in toughness has been remarkable. with all his other qualities, it does make him a legitimate A grader.

As said before, we have a very good mix of midfielders, and they have been enjoyable to watch.
I rememeber his introduction to AFL being him bowled over on the boundary line! Bounced right back up.

He's always been lightly framed up top but he's stood in the hole on us for on so many occasions even since the Jonas hit and I think he's one of the bravest out there.
 
Dec 19, 2007
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Gaff works hard.You know what your gunna get from him week in week out.Yo has more brilliance than all of them but can be up and down, but Shuey is the best of them.Hes got his body to where it needs to be and can absorb more punishment.He goes left as well as right equally well but the topper is that when we need somebody;anybody; hes the man.He rolls his sleeves up and goes to work.Ive said before barring injury he can win a Brownlow this year or next.
 

Art OF war

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Sheed has really long arms and is able to gather some pretty good clearance ball that may get past other players with less long arms. Not sure if I am weird for noticing this.
 

WCEbrody

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I've got no problem if your answer is Shuey,Yeo or Gaff. Hell, if Sheed keeps this form up for the rest of the season then he's in the discussion too.

Depends what you want in a midfielder -

Shuey - Explosive, high impact, elite around the contest and breaking the lines.
Yeo - By far our best athlete in the midfield, has the ability to match up on Dangerfield,Martin,Bontempelli,Fyfe,Cripps etc and has just gone back to back in our B&F, no mean feat.
Gaff - Hardest running, most consistent and our best ball magnet. Usually gives you an 8/10 most weeks with his best being a 10 and his worst being a 7.

I think if they were all in the same draft, Yeo goes first based on his physical attributes and versatility. Handy footy player too;)
 

avishka5

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Bump.

Yeo and Boots putting on a season and a half. I think the Gap between them is now closer than ever. In fact if Yeo takes out the B&F, he might pull ahead of Boots.
 
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