Call down pitmaster. The guy is shining coz the team is playing well. He is no star. Not by a long shot. Has gobbled up a few gimme goals that came through the hard work of others. Same last week. Still misses way to many set shots and isn't great overhead. He is palying a role though.

Calm down? I wanted to get in first. And I think he is going to improve from here. But you damn him with faint praise.

He has been busy with leads and was a real avenue to goal this week. Yeah, that tap in from Ricky's rescue of the ball from the boundary was merely an opportunist goal, but he has done better than that.

He does appear slow - had to laugh at the bloke calling him "Gumboots" in the MCC section since I guess it means he runs like he is wearing them - but he does have straight ahead pace when running towards goal as he showed against Adelaide.

My lingering doubt with him is that he does not seem to run with the same intent when pursuing an opposition defender, but along with Dunny and Ricky he gave our forward line some real intent and plenty of options.

I haven't reviewed the game via replay yet but my recall is that he pulled in a couple of contested grabs, Stuey. Maybe we define the term differently.

Edited April 20, 201015 yr by pitmaster

A few points.

We played Richmond yesterday.

We won by 55 points and kicked 20 goals.

Bate really only kicked two goals. The other was Petterds.

My view on Bates performance:

Presented well but should really take more contested marks for a player with his strength and size. (Col Sylvia's mark on the mcc members

wing is a prefect example of what Bate should be doing week in week out)

Other than that he kicked a couple of goals in a side that kicked 20 goals. What was so great about his performance? Do tell?

Do people understand he needs to stand up in this area of his game as it's about the only thing he can do?!

I'm so sick of these "apologise to players" threads. I am allowed to have my views on players, and I have every right to express them on a

football forum.

I do not think Bate is part of our best 22 at the moment and I don't see a spot for him in our future 22.

Bate is in no mans land. He is not good enough, strong enough, imposing enough to be our target go to forward.

He is not quick enough, doesn't pressure enough, chase enough, man-up enough to be considered a pressure forward.

What is he?

He is a forward who's strengths are his penetrating kick, kicking to leads and contested marks SOMETIMES.

If those are his only strengths which I think they are then he should be kicking more than 3 goals in a side that is playing

the worst team in the AFL.

Wake up ffs.

everyone's got opinions as well , I will take Garry Lyon's opinion over yours, Garry said once said that if Bate played for another team say collingwood people would be saying how good is Bate. and i bet his a lot faster then you think.

everyone's got opinions as well , I will take Garry Lyon's opinion over yours, Garry said once said that if Bate played for another team say collingwood people would be saying how good is Bate. and i bet his a lot faster then you think.

Good for Garry and good for you.

I do not think Bate is part of our best 22 at the moment and I don't see a spot for him in our future 22.

Bate is in no mans land. He is not good enough, strong enough, imposing enough to be our target go to forward.

He is not quick enough, doesn't pressure enough, chase enough, man-up enough to be considered a pressure forward.

Wake up ffs.

Now what do you think, now he's pulling Brownlow votes in our best win for maybe four years against a highly rated opponent?

And I understand you're "so sick of apologise threads" and that's too bad, but just one week ago you made some big, unqualified statements about Bate and if you are going to insist on your right to hold players accountable then what goes around, comes around.

FFS.

Now what do you think, now he's pulling Brownlow votes in our best win for maybe four years against a highly rated opponent?

And I understand you're "so sick of apologise threads" and that's too bad, but just one week ago you made some big, unqualified statements about Bate and if you are going to insist on your right to hold players accountable then what goes around, comes around.

FFS.

Read my post in the Bruce and Bate thread and you will see what I think pitmaster.

Bate played very well versus the Lions and a few things he did were really team orientated

I have always thought that Bate was borderline when the side gets picked and even with saturdays performance i still think that

For Bate to get a game each week he needs to take that next step as this team looks like its getting better

from my observation he lacks the class that allow players to go to the next level

Trengove , Grimes and Scully on the other hand have class written all over them

Bate played very well versus the Lions and a few things he did were really team orientated

I have always thought that Bate was borderline when the side gets picked and even with saturdays performance i still think that

For Bate to get a game each week he needs to take that next step as this team looks like its getting better

from my observation he lacks the class that allow players to go to the next level

Trengove , Grimes and Scully on the other hand have class written all over them

I reckon Bate is one of the permanents each week and will only get dropped if his form really drops off or he is injured. He is one of the few lead up forwards we have, can kick the ball a long way, can take a good grab and is quicker than you think. He takes a wide turn and sometimes that makes him look slow but if you look at Petterd he does the same only on his right instead of left.

Bater is very strong and when he lays a tackle it sticks he is getting more and more physical as he matures, he will be a good player for us for quite a few years.