L.J

[east gippsland demon 7]

Thought liam looked a lot sharper and seemed to be hungrier than recent games... could have easily kicked 5. what has happened to his set shot kicking though ? seems to have the yips of sorts. his approach does not look anywhere near as relaxed as it once did with a little skip in his run up. just a confidence thing i suppose...?

[Deeoldfart 7,872]

LJ is turning the corner back to where we want him. A lot more off the ball stuff today, tackling and chasing which was great to see. The forward line is starting to come together!

[Binmans PA 26,871]

Looked silky smooth. Much greater hunger and I'm gonna give Bailey partial credit for that. LJ is a shoe-in from 30 to 35m, but longer than that he rarely converts. Great to see him back in form. It's a luxury to have him pushing up the ground and delivering to some of our other forwards as well. That's the beauty of having tall targets up there too.

[RalphiusMaximus 6,005]

Didn't see the game (yet) but He seemed to be a lot more involved with chases and tackling pressure through half forward. His disposal count is up too, which is a really good sign. The more often he gets the ball, the more magic he can produce.

[Demon SeaMan 108]

LJ is turning the corner back to where we want him. A lot more off the ball stuff today, tackling and chasing which was great to see. The forward line is starting to come together!

Here here. The LJ we've never seen b4. Great to sEe. Still should go fishing though. Refer previous post

[Sir Why You Little 35,394]

Great game today from Liam...He played Team football, not just trying to take hangers.

I loved seeing him playing up the ground as a wing option, and his last Q sealer would have made him so happy.

Well done Liam....

[Disco Demons 92]

I love LJ....when other players kick goals...he is always really happy for that player!

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

Attacked the ball and opposition much better this week. Looked to have more confidence and was involved more in the game. Was a good game overall with six scoring shots.

[Maldonboy38 6,176]

2nd efforts, tackling, zoning up really well from tiges kick-ins. This was great to see. He needs to do it against opponents who hassle him like Hawthorn and Pies. But great to see his run.

.

[Kento80 83]

He's copped a rough trot recently, and I always thought that he just needed to be left to work it out. He chased hard today, layed some tackles but was a bit average kicking. I loved watching him, instead of going for speccies every go, actually ranging around the contest because he is SO incredibly good at making something out of nothing.

[DemonDave 1,078]

When the team walked forward at the start of the game, I looked at our starting 6 forward group: Green, Jamar, Howe, Petterd, Sylvia and Watts. THere are clearly no crumbers of any sort in this lot, and once Jurrah came off the bench after a couple of minutes you could clearly see today that his role was to act as that of the crumber. A role he accomplished with some aplomb. He ran, chased hard, tackled, and when he had the ball he looked his quick and agile self and found targets by foot more often than not. The kicking for goal is the only thing that didnt improve by the magnitudes that his vision and nous did.

[Fork 'em 6,636]

When the team walked forward at the start of the game, I looked at our starting 6 forward group: Green, Jamar, Howe, Petterd, Sylvia and Watts. THere are clearly no crumbers of any sort in this lot, and once Jurrah came off the bench after a couple of minutes you could clearly see today that his role was to act as that of the crumber. A role he accomplished with some aplomb. He ran, chased hard, tackled, and when he had the ball he looked his quick and agile self and found targets by foot more often than not. The kicking for goal is the only thing that didnt improve by the magnitudes that his vision and nous did.

Pretty handy forward line that . B)

[Rocknroll 967]

I reckon LJ looks better when Aussie or Davey is near him

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

Jurrah looked more switched on during the warm-up which I thought was telling.

[RudeBoy 164]

19 disposals, 2 goals 4 points, 3 goal assists and 4 tackles. Not bad for a 'floating forward flanker'. He was a bit crook last week, so it was great to see him up and about this week. He's obviously been encouraged to rely more on his ground work skills and less on his aerial ability, which means he's probably going to be less spectacular. However, with Watts, Howe, Green and Jamar/Martin as marking options, it's probably inevitable that he's being used more as a crumber. He's only played 30 games, so is still learning. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the best is yet to come.

[Gorgoroth 12,447]

I read today and it did not occur to me, that with his housemate Wonna out and Davey injured was he feeling a little lonely and not as upbeat.

[ucanchoose 1,807]

I thought it was interesting that he only flew up once the whole game, when he was on his own in the goal square. Seemed to me to be a coaching decision for Watts, Jamar and Martin to crash the packs and Jurrah to sit down and crumb.

Worked a treat.

[RudeBoy 164]

I read today and it did not occur to me, that with his housemate Wonna out and Davey injured was he feeling a little lonely and not as upbeat.

He's certainly missing Aussie and looking forward to having Flash back in.

[Sir Why You Little 35,394]

19 disposals, 2 goals 4 points, 3 goal assists and 4 tackles. Not bad for a 'floating forward flanker'. He was a bit crook last week, so it was great to see him up and about this week. He's obviously been encouraged to rely more on his ground work skills and less on his aerial ability, which means he's probably going to be less spectacular. However, with Watts, Howe, Green and Jamar/Martin as marking options, it's probably inevitable that he's being used more as a crumber. He's only played 30 games, so is still learning. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the best is yet to come.

L J will re write the book on "crumbing" i believe, just like KB did 4 decades ago.

[Guest DeesPower]

I reckon LJ looks better when Aussie or Davey is near him

Agree, but it doesn't look as though we are getting a fit wonna back any time soon. Do we think Davey is an option up forward. A bit back to the future, but his form before injury in the mud field was not great. Maybe he might be best value on HFF?

[Face Your Demons 175]

I got the feeling LJ was missing his house mate. Might be why his form was down.

[Jaded No More 60,509]

He's obviously been encouraged to rely more on his ground work skills and less on his aerial ability, which means he's probably going to be less spectacular.

I'd get Davey back into the forwardline ASAP to work as the crumber and get LJ flying again. To stop someone like LJ from playing his natural, instinctive game, is criminal.

I get that it's part of a team setup, and we are missing ground work skills in the forwardline at the moment (although Watts is doing remarkable things below his knees), but we have to rectify this and get LJ playing his natural game again.

[rpfc 27,714]

He's been working off a knock.

Which he has to learn how to do if he wants to play AFL.

Glad the MC didn't listen to few on here who thought he should play at Casey...

[Binmans PA 26,871]

I reckon LJ looks better when Aussie or Davey is near him

He looks all class when he isn't the prime forward target. I mean, he looks good either way, but the way LJ covers the ground when he bursts through the middle and hits a forward team mate on the chest is incredible to watch. I think he almost becomes a little predictable when Aussie or Flash play. They always look for him.

[Akum 2,660]

I thought it was interesting that he only flew up once the whole game, when he was on his own in the goal square. Seemed to me to be a coaching decision for Watts, Jamar and Martin to crash the packs and Jurrah to sit down and crumb.

Worked a treat.

His goal where he made a deliberate decision to let Watts fly with two big-bodied opponents and got it off the hands was brilliant. It took some discipline to resist the urge to fly and to show enough faith in Jack that he would compete. In fact, he seems to have a really good understanding with Jack, they both seem to be a couple of moves ahead of everyone else from time to time.

It's a difficult situation for him when he's being bodied and bustled by a bigger opponent. I'd bet that if the ball comes in quick & high and he gets a good run up we'll see more speccies. He's just being intelligent & selective about it, but he's no less effective. Could have had 5 or 6 today and absolutely blown the game open in the 3rd Q.