Liam Jurrah

[robbo24 66]

Liam Jurrah is currently on 26 goals. This means he is on track for a 50 goal season. Many people suggest that he is playing lazy, uninspiring footy. If he plays the same way all year and finishes with 50 goals, has he had a good year?

[H_T 3,049]

He'll be marked hard accordingly here. For all his excitement and freakish attributes and the ability to have kicked an average of nearly 3 goals a game in 25 games (?), he can pressure, tackle and win his own ball when in dispute, but he is seen to not do it enough consistently. In some ways he is still learning the game and understanding the demands. Beautiful kick and can create havoc. Needs some good assitance in the forward line ie. A presence.

[dee-luded 2,959]

Liam Jurrah is currently on 26 goals. This means he is on track for a 50 goal season. Many people suggest that he is playing lazy, uninspiring footy. If he plays the same way all year and finishes with 50 goals, has he had a good year?

No, he hasn't.

I want a premiership, not a leading goalkicker!

If jurrah won't learn to Apply defensive pressure, by really chasing and harassing opponents, and Tackling with murderous intent, then we'll never Win a flag with Him. And he won't be in the Red 'n' Blue.

[mrtwister 652]

LJ is a square who is trying to fit into a round hole. He is an instinctive player who would be great at the fall of the ball, roving off a pack, using his feel for the game to gain the advantage. He is also quite long and athletic, which he uses well when a defender can't lean on him and retard his run at the ball. At the moment, however, LJ is the one being kicked to and he's trying to outmuscle defenders who are much heavier and stronger than he is whenever the ball is kicked in long. For example, on Monday he was delivered a ball that hung in the air above him and O'Brien for what seemed forever. They were isolated, stationery and wrestling for position. He had NO chance. When we have enough time and poise to hit him on a lead he is dangerous, but this happens rarely.

To achieve 50 goals playing a role that he isn't really suited for is quite an achievement.

[rpfc 28,921]

Guy's been injured and has little to play with ie. the 34 Inside 50s to play with on Collingwood.

And it would be alot less if a second gamer Howe wasn't doing a very good impersonation of a CHF...

[Robbie57 2,026]

LJ is a square who is trying to fit into a round hole. He is an instinctive player who would be great at the fall of the ball, roving off a pack, using his feel for the game to gain the advantage. He is also quite long and athletic, which he uses well when a defender can't lean on him and retard his run at the ball. At the moment, however, LJ is the one being kicked to and he's trying to outmuscle defenders who are much heavier and stronger than he is whenever the ball is kicked in long. For example, on Monday he was delivered a ball that hung in the air above him and O'Brien for what seemed forever. They were isolated, stationery and wrestling for position. He had NO chance. When we have enough time and poise to hit him on a lead he is dangerous, but this happens rarely.

To achieve 50 goals playing a role that he isn't really suited for is quite an achievement.

He needs a power forward up there with him to enable us to get full value of his mecurial skills.

I also think taking pot shots at him is unfair.

We forget how little supply he gets compared to other forwards.

Our conversion rate for inside 50's is good we just dont get it there enough.

[loges 6,767]

Any forward who kicks 50 goals or more has had a good season, just see at the end of the year how many have bettered it.What we need is to develope a forward line where he is getting the 3rd best defender, then watch the carnage.Just think he is a confidence player who is a bit down on it at the moment

[Scully_to_Watts 0]

I think liam needs a week a off to freshen his body or a game in casey to get confidence up. Isnt looking him safe lately.

[Rogue 585]

Hard to judge when he looks, to me, like he's clearly injured. I bet the bye can't come quickly enough, but we'd probably want to play a half-fit Jurrah in the run of games versus Fremantle, Richmond and WB.

[Kento80 83]

He'll be marked hard accordingly here. For all his excitement and freakish attributes and the ability to have kicked an average of nearly 3 goals a game in 25 games (?), he can pressure, tackle and win his own ball when in dispute, but he is seen to not do it enough consistently. In some ways he is still learning the game and understanding the demands. Beautiful kick and can create havoc. Needs some good assitance in the forward line ie. A presence.

Agreed HT. One thing that needs to be remembered about him is that most of his life he has played a relatively uncoached, natural style of game. Now he is playing in a relatively regulated environment, and more than most kids he needs to be given a bit of extra leeway IMO. Compare to TS or JT etc who have lived highly trained, higly coached lives and were always going to be professional footy players. As far as I am concerned, this means that most other players should be required to show a more advanced level in this area. Couple this with average support and delivery and IMO he has a bit of excuse for not having the best pressure in the game, especially considering his rather high goal rate for someone who is actually still quite inexperienced.

[Guest Thomo]

A forward will be measured on more than just goals kicked. I would rate his season poor so far, as on form he should not be in the side. At the moment he does not seem to be working hard enough, and does not fit the modern defensive game. Hopefully he can work on this over the rest of the season.

[Chris24 1]

Alot of people's judgement of him on here lately have been quite harsh. I mean the guy has played less than 30 games and has obviously got a little injury that seems to be effecting his kicking.

And everytime I'm at the footy all I see is him putting in hard leads with most of the time the players take way to long to get the ball to him. The guy is obviously a great read of the ball, evident of the mark in the 3rd leading to his only goal of the day.

I would love seeing him closer to goal or as suggested earlier that kick going into the 50

And for those for are saying the lack of defensive pressure, I haven't seen any defensive pressure from any of our players in our 50

[The Lobster Effect 896]

Liam Jurrah is currently on 26 goals. This means he is on track for a 50 goal season. Many people suggest that he is playing lazy, uninspiring footy. If he plays the same way all year and finishes with 50 goals, has he had a good year?

Fev kicked 49 goals for the lions last year... if you forget his off-field issues, no-one was that excited about those 49 goals.

[Little Richard 6,265]

Fev kicked 49 goals for the lions last year... if you forget his off-field issues, no-one was that excited about those 49 goals.

Probably because he was kicking 80 odd the years before. And that was in half a season so i think so it was pretty good.

[mrtwister 652]

I think part of his issue is that his team mates still don't feed him the ball properly, and I don't think he's used properly either. He's quick and has a long stride, which is great for leading, but the problem is that when he leads, he's taking 12 - 15 steps before the ball gets to him which is 30+ metres from where he started leading. He doesn't start from in the square, he starts about 10m out which puts him at 40m minimum where he marks it. He's an accurate kick (usually) but distance is a trade off for accuracy, especially from a set shot. He's a beautiful kick from mid range, he guides it through with ease, but as soon as he has to pump it in his technique changes. If he's leading through the pocket, he gets it on the boundary at 35-40m out. Tough kick from there.

An example against the Wood was in the 3rd Q when he was on a lead but the kick didn't go out in front of him enough and he had to slow down so he could get it but this allowed his opponent to gain the ground that LJ had opened up and spoilt it away. Someone with his quicks needs a lot of space to run into if he's the target but, as I've posted before, I think he's better running on instinct around the packs and stoppages in front of goal.

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

The frustrating thing about Jurrah is that he has the potential to be a top ten player in the AFL but through injury or otherwise just does not take the game on enough or get involved nearly enough.

[jumbo returns 6,741]

LJ is a freak and will stand on someone's head again to take mark of the year. One day soon, we'll play a forward press that will allow him to be one on one against his opponent and he could kick 10.

Rest him? I don't think so! Cherish him? Definitely!

[Wadda We Sing 10,685]

Its funny how people give players like Jack Watts seasons to develop because they are a TALL forward, TALL players need longer to develop so it is continually said. Funny how Liam does not ever seem to have this mentioned about him? Is he not also a tall forward???

[Adam The God 30,617]

Yeah, I think LJ clearly has a lot more to develop in his game. His physicality and size for one.

[Crompton's the man 660]

Alot of people's judgement of him on here lately have been quite harsh. I mean the guy has played less than 30 games and has obviously got a little injury that seems to be effecting his kicking.

And everytime I'm at the footy all I see is him putting in hard leads with most of the time the players take way to long to get the ball to him. The guy is obviously a great read of the ball, evident of the mark in the 3rd leading to his only goal of the day.

I would love seeing him closer to goal or as suggested earlier that kick going into the 50

And for those for are saying the lack of defensive pressure, I haven't seen any defensive pressure from any of our players in our 50

Good post Chris

and welcome to Demonland.

It's good to get some new perspective.

Hope you see your team win a premiership - I have

All the best