Nathan Jones

[Nasher 33,246]

He seems to have also eradicated that awful grab the ball, kick it about 50 metres in the air and 10 metres forwards from his game too, which really frustrated me. He's coming along very, very nicely.

I was surprised he only got 16 touches on the weekend too. He must've made every one count, because I definitely noticed him and thought he was one of our better players.

[dee-luded 2,958]

He seems to have also eradicated that awful grab the ball, kick it about 50 metres in the air and 10 metres forwards from his game too, which really frustrated me. He's coming along very, very nicely.

I was surprised he only got 16 touches on the weekend too. He must've made every one count, because I definitely noticed him and thought he was one of our better players.

So has the General Moloney.

[Hazyshadeofgrinter 80]

He has looked very strong this year. Martin also. Let's hope they can keep it up.

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

Jones has always had an ability to find the footy in the clinches and he is at a stage in his development where his decision making when in possession is improving rapidly.

After his run of poor form last year he has done some mental reprogramming and is not running flat out towards our end of the ground everytime he takes possession. He is breaking tackles looking inside and bringing players into it. Even if he doesn't obtain a disposal his ability to force a contest ie a ball up when the ball is in dispute is unrivalled in our side.

Would it be ridiculous to say that Scotty West may have had an impact here? (if it was said before in this thread, apologies) He's a player who got the most out of his ability, despite having clear faults in his game. I always thought that Jones is an ok kick (he drills his fair share through the big ones from right on the paint), but under pressure gets found out when delivering by foot. If he just adapted his game slightly, he could endure the years where his body isn't big and strong enough, and when the time comes, post 25 y.o., he could return to trying a few more flashy things. Even Godders, once fully matured, kicked a few surprising goals...

Scotty West was always a really satisfying appointment for mine, as we had a bunch of players that really could have used his advice, in McLean, Jones and Beamer.

[timD 994]

I was one who was really worried about Jones late last year and I saw nothing in the first up pre-season game to change my opinion. I was really worried about his kicking and decision making and felt his ability to win the ball in the middle and find an option by hand didn't impress enough to make up for the other deficiencies in his game. His form over the past 3 weeks, along with the performances of Martin have been my individual highlights of the year so far. Jones is winning a lot of quality ball in close and consistently puts other players into space through creative handball, he's picking out targets at a high success rate over 30 - 40 metres and he's running hard to gain some cheaper ball as well. This is a significant step and if McLean continues to improve after his long lay-off (I think he's got just a little better each game) and Sylvia can show that his game against Richmond wasn't a one off in the midfield then we're starting to get a pretty solid onball division together. Morton, Blease and Strauss will hopefully cash in on the first dibs ability of the aforementioned three and Grimes, Maric and Davey will add further cream. Let's not talk about next years top pick just yet. But I definitely favour a mid over key position or ruck. The midfield we all crave is getting a little bit closer and the improvement of Jones is a huge step in that process. Glad to be wrong on this occasion.

Goodvibes, I agree that Jones has made some tangible changes. His attitude appears form my distant position to be superb. I would like to see his kicking improve- he does all this gutbusting physical work only to spray his kicks! It might just have been that I've only seen the bad ones, but he missed green and that led to green's injury, he missed newton and miller on the lead a few times. Hit those latter passes and it is shot-on-goal time. Makes him go from 'improved' to 'damaging'.

[Surfa 0]

he reminds me of Sam mitchell from hawthorn .

when he first started he was ok without dominating the he bulked up and got confident.

And jonesy looks quite buff now.. wouldnt be suprised to go to geelong though.. just kidding lol just got the right haircut lol

ablett jones chapman smart [censored] maybe all our players should shave there heads.. seems to work