2008 Player Review - #2 Nathan Jones

[beelzebub 23,245]

Some people trade for trade's sake without a thought for how you really improve your list.

No you only trade to better your position...if such a trade was on the table that enable us to do so and Jones was part of it.. why wouldnt you..??

some people just keep people for keepings sake

[waynewussell 4,977]

Jones has some weaknesses, but comes with a massive upside. He lacks in the pace department and is average with kicking penetration. However, he bleeds for the Red & Blue, is dogged and genuinely tough. he has leadership qualities in his own modest way. He will work his way through most of the challenges faced and will likely be a 200 gamer for the club.

[Mono 455]

Jones has some weaknesses, but comes with a massive upside. He lacks in the pace department and is average with kicking penetration.

So, where's the massive upside?

However, he bleeds for the Red & Blue, is dogged and genuinely tough.

I agree. But, so did/was Simon Godfrey

he has leadership qualities in his own modest way.

?

He will work his way through most of the challenges faced and will likely be a 200 gamer for the club.

I hope he does. But at the rate he's going, he will soon be the size of a small hippo, and about as effective.

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

However, he bleeds for the Red & Blue

He's not enough of a Ryan O'Keefe type player for my liking.

[mo64 5,597]

I really felt sorry for Nathan Jones this year. You could see that he was trying to look for the best option whenever he got the ball, but invariably the only option was a poor one in his mind. He quite often got caught because he was trying to do the "team thing" rather than following his natural instincts. His disposal is actually quite good, but was made to look bad because he was indecisive. IMO, that wasn't his fault.

He's a quality player who's name shouldn't be brought up in trade discussions.

[jacey 333]

I made a post about how disappointed I was with him all the way back in July. I doubt much has changed so I'll just re-post it.

Excellent post then, Excellent post now.

[bjgc 0]

He shouldn't be traded after 1 ordinary year but he is a worry. I don't see much upside to him. Needs to lose weight and learn how to kick he's not the only one though.

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

No you only trade to better your position...if such a trade was on the table that enable us to do so and Jones was part of it.. why wouldnt you..??

some people just keep people for keepings sake

If Jones has had such a dogged year and there are question marks about his disposal how would you achieve any upside position on such player. Jones is not going to get you better than early 2nd round pick at best. How do you know you would get any better than Jones? You dont.

If Jones was a social delinquent or a culture stain, you would move him on. He isnt and given how threadbare our midfield is, why would you "punt" away what little midfield you have?

Jones has some weaknesses, but comes with a massive upside. He lacks in the pace department and is average with kicking penetration. However, he bleeds for the Red & Blue, is dogged and genuinely tough. he has leadership qualities in his own modest way. He will work his way through most of the challenges faced and will likely be a 200 gamer for the club.

He has upside but its serviceable but not massive. And how could it be when he lacks pace and has average kicking penetration.

But wait hey he bleeds red and blue. All bets off. He is untouchable!

He shouldn't be traded after 1 ordinary year but he is a worry. I don't see much upside to him. Needs to lose weight and learn how to kick he's not the only one though.

If he loses any more weight he will be a short lighter Cale Morton. Otherwise you are heading in the right direction

[beelzebub 23,245]

Jones has some weaknesses, .......... He lacks in the pace department and is average with kicking penetration.

A glowing reference for sure Highly sought after attributes

Jones has his upside as pointed out.. But will it be enough in the the great context of going forward.

We seem to have more than a few "handy " players...with a little bit etc.

We need more players with the lot.

Character is one thing...and admirable for sure.. Ability and effectiveness is the deliverable currency though !

[waynewussell 4,977]

Thought this was a review of #2, not of my humble opinion. "lacks pace and is average with kicking penetration" is hardly a terminal offence. R Havey, T Viney and B Lovett are a few who had similar traits. I would have thought "average" places one in the middle of the field... I'll sit back on this one and giggle every time Jones proves my point about worth and leadership qualities.

[beelzebub 23,245]

The point is WW..and yes..we'll talk NJ here.. ( lol ) is you asctually want pace..and better than averga ekicking out of a mid fielder.

Harvey is very creative with foot..not long..but very good. His vision makes Jones look a bit in the Bocelli/Wonder league !! Viney and Lovett played in a much slower era.

Leadership is wonderful..just great..we need more leaders of a losing team

[jabberwocky 2,301]

Completely Agree.

He has had to stand alone in the midfield that was regularly being shot to pieces.

This has been a hard and unreasonable ask on a 20 year old with barely 50 games.

I wonder how he would go as 3rd or 4th up midfielder in a better team. Undoubtedly better. He is no star but is hard at it and competitive.

And given we have a profound weakness in our midfield, why the hell would we trade him? And who would replace him with ...Valenti?? Good grief.

Some people trade for trade's sake without a thought for how you really improve your list.

I like Jones he wins the hard ball more than any other demon. He does need to be reprogrammed to fire out the quick handball to a team-mate in a better postion. He should practice this skill till he wears callouses on his hands. The other issue is that he needs team-mates in the right position to be able to get it to.

Jones and Buckley to a lesser extent have the right mindset in that they are attacking and attempt to take the game on. This needs to be tempered with commonsense and an awareness of thier ability level at senior level. Hopefully they have learnt a lot about this this season. I also don't believe that they have probems with thier skills. The problem is with a lack of suitable targets and decision making.

Jones in a good side would feel a less responsibity to take the game on and more inclined to play within his limitations and perfect the extraction of the hard ball.

[beelzebub 23,245]

Jones is young.. and dare I say been a bit overwhelemed this year. Its indeed a credit to him that he has weathered this. Ulimately though its his proess on the field..thats all..nothing else. He DOES have the foundation upon which to hone.

He needs more feathers in his cap when it comes to disposal..both of type..and demaeanor

If he develops these traits he'll be a fabulos player for us..at present though he ( to me ) is just another nuggety dime a dozen average midfielder.

Happy to see how he continues to grow as a player.. happy to trade him ..like any opther player if it benefits the team to do so.

[Yencks 8]

i like jones and valenti but is surprises me that some people would rather us keep valenti

bear in mind that jones is younger

valenti also works hard, and i would love to have them both in the team but if i had to pick 1, i would go jones

he has shown more over his time

think about what we were saying about him at the end of last year

came third in the rising star! came second in the best and fairest! some people thought he would win the B&F

he will be 21 next year...some people are playing their first afl games at this age--he's already got 50 under his belt

i know he "doesnt create many oppurtunities", is "not a line breaker" and "sometime has poor disposal" but he is an in and under midfielder and you look at almost every contest he is in, you can always see his bald head at the bottom of the pack

he works his guts off, and has a good fitness base and is a nice young man

there is still room for improvement

he also had a couple of good games this year

he kicked a bag of 4 agaisnt Brissy at the Gabba

he will not be a superstar but give him some time because he could still turn out to be a rather handy player for us

please bear in mind, that he has also at a young age, had a lot of coach changes:

from his junior years, to ND, to DB and he might be a little unsettled with all of the changes

there is NO need to trade him just yet

[gOLLy 401]

He is a bloody fantastic player. His year was underrated, he averaged 70% disposal effeciency which isnt THAT bad. Pretty hard when your forced to be your teams number one midfeilder at 21 yo.

He was our engine room and we got smashed all year. Id like to see and compare how many clearances he got.

[LeBron James 41]

He was our engine room and we got smashed all year. Id like to see and compare how many clearances he got.

According to the sunday footy show he got the most clearances for us (70).

[gOLLy 401]

HHHmmm just over 3 a game. Not even 1 a qtr.

That's worse than I thought.

[gOLLy 401]

How many times is there a ball up in a game??

[LeBron James 41]

3.33 clearances a game.

For a 20 year old.

The most in our team.

You guys want to trade him.

[gOLLy 401]

3.33 clearances a game.

For a 20 year old.

The most in our team.

You guys want to trade him.

Yes take something while we can.

[gOLLy 401]

3.33 clearances a game.

For a 20 year old.

The most in our team.

You guys want to trade him.

Also how many were effective? Maybe 1 a game? Yer lets keep him.

[jabberwocky 2,301]

3.33 clearances a game.

For a 20 year old.

The most in our team.

You guys want to trade him.

One thing that the stats dont show is how many times he gets his hands on the footy at a fifty/fifty and a ball up is forced or unfortunately he gets caught. If he can work on forcing the ball free to our advantage he would be credited with a lot more possessions/clearances.

[LeBron James 41]

Yes take something while we can.

Also how many were effective? Maybe 1 a game? Yer lets keep him.

[jabberwocky 2,301]

HHHmmm just over 3 a game. Not even 1 a qtr.

That's worse than I thought.

Yeah lets trade our leading goalkicker, tackler etc. We were smashed all year.

[Guest skipper3]

Are you kidding???? This bloke is only 21 & just played his 50th game!

Yes, this year was down on last year (but he wasnt on his own there!!).

It was a bloddy tough year for the kid - (when Brock is out) he is our midfielder that is first tagged. He will have a better year next year after learning alot this year.

Gee, why dont we bloody trade everyone!!

Yes take something while we can.