I wonder how tappy would go in a Crowley sort of role? he certainly has the strong body to stand up in the contest and keep his opponent out

Doesn't have the stamina, smarts or pace.

Was bloody good early on in the year. Short memories. Short minds.

Bloody good? When?

Best game was with 17 touches against West Coast. Next best was 12 against Carlton.

Kicked a bag of...2...against Brisbane.

And averages 1.7 tackles in his ten games this season.

I'll let the stats talk before throwing around terms like that.

The kid looks good, and has a nice swagger, career stats are horrible, slow, not up to it.

A good coach can turn him into a good player. I would be interested to see him play as a tagger.

Does he have anywhere near the tank/speed needed?

He's well built, is hard at the ball. But whatever the opposite of leather poisoning, that's what he's got.

Does he have anywhere near the tank/speed needed?

That is the question. He is also short, which is not an advantage in the way he plays.

People get excited over him laying a decent bump once in a blue moon and state he is tough. Tough in todays game is running until you leave your lunch at the interchange gate and then going again. That is the bit I am not sure he has. Tapscott needs to build an engine that allows him stints to use his body in the midfield or as a hard working high half forward that wants to consistently work that hard for the ball. He is a typical flanker that represents our errors in drafting over the last 10 years. You need to be able to play midfield or be a true tall or a true small. He appears to be none of these.

Has been disappointing but still young enough to improve although injuries have been a hindrance

Still think he is a natural forward flanker

Really needs an injury free pre season

Tapscott is one of a few players that we have that are borderline senior selection and often become a VFL/AFL merry go round players

Mathew Bate was one of those

Has been disappointing but still young enough to improve although injuries have been a hindrance

Still think he is a natural forward flanker

Really needs an injury free pre season

Tapscott is one of a few players that we have that are borderline senior selection and often become a VFL/AFL merry go round players

Mathew Bate was one of those

Bate was also 6 inches taller, kicked a few goals, could take a mark and was more difficult to match up on. Bates problem was a turning circle the size of the Queen Mary and no right foot. He was also slow.

Bloody good? When?

Best game was with 17 touches against West Coast. Next best was 12 against Carlton.

Kicked a bag of...2...against Brisbane.

And averages 1.7 tackles in his ten games this season.

I'll let the stats talk before throwing around terms like that.

He did that in a team that wasn't performing what so ever, and compared to the majority of the players in our team at that time those were good stats.

I'd play him more. LEave him in for the rest of the year and judge him then.

He did that in a team that wasn't performing what so ever, and compared to the majority of the players in our team at that time those were good stats.

I'd play him more. LEave him in for the rest of the year and judge him then.

Rightio.

He hasn't played under Craig, so here is his sample size under Neeld this season.

Average (10 games):

Disposals: 9.6

Tackles: 1.7

Marks: 3.5

Goals: 0.4

Miserable stuff. I think he's best on a forward flank, and his marking shows that he is competent, but he doesn't kick goals, or have any pace/stamina.

Edited July 14, 201312 yr by HFF

Watch him today extremely disappointing , he is not a small forward, he isn't a mid, he is in trouble. In a club that is crying out for midfielders to have him playing as an ineffective small forward today has confirmed that he needs to be traded or delisted

Watch him today extremely disappointing , he is not a small forward, he isn't a mid, he is in trouble. In a club that is crying out for midfielders to have him playing as an ineffective small forward today has confirmed that he needs to be traded or delisted

Should have kicked 3 in the third, went in hard at the football, much harder at the ball than most on our list.

Has been played forward under Neeld, so I think the stats listed are not too bad, it's not like the ball went forward much under Neeld.

With the right coach, I expect Luke to come along in leaps and bounds.

Unlike most he, I believe Luke can have a good and long career at Melbourne

Should have kicked 3 in the third, went in hard at the football, much harder at the ball than most on our list.

Has been played forward under Neeld, so I think the stats listed are not too bad, it's not like the ball went forward much under Neeld.

With the right coach, I expect Luke to come along in leaps and bounds.

Unlike most he, I believe Luke can have a good and long career at Melbourne

His biggest issue I think is the lack of a clear role within the team, how can we expect him to grow into a role when it's different every other week.

My issue with him is he can't play as a small forward, he is not a front and centre small forward, he isn't that quick small forward, we compare him to Paul chapman but he can't run in the middle, I just don't know where he can play

Is strong, likes physical contact and a contest, can deliver a bump that will reconfigure your world, and has a kick on him like a mule.

Just doesn't get enough of it.

He is not a defender and with Terlich solid anyway there is no place for him even if he were a backman.

I was very upbeat about Tappy pre-season as a half forward, especially after seeing him kick goals from 50m across his body both sides, but in the big stuff he has not delivered.

I want to see more of him but he will need to boost the possession count.

Not good enough unfortunately.

I have never been able to identify what his main talent is.

I still do not know.

Give the spot to a new recruit in 2014.

Not good enough unfortunately.

I have never been able to identify what his main talent is.

I still do not know.

Give the spot to a new recruit in 2014.

Yes but thats partly the MFC fault as well.....

i still believe the following players need to go before Luke Tapscott;

Dunn, Nicholson, Mckenzie, Strauss, Tynan, Gilles, Sellar, Macdonald, Pederson, Jetta (highlighted are those that need to be shown the door immediately)

You can't teach mongrel and you cant teach desire, 2 attributes that we really need at the moment.

It's so hard to know with most of our fringe players how good - or not - they really are. Since 2007 we've had NQR coaching. How much is it the player and how much the coach? And how much longer should we wait to find out?

My own view about Tapscott is that he played his best footy early in his career when he played HBF where he could use his marking and strength to advantage. Maybe he needs to go back there for a while to see whether he can recapture that form.

Does Tappy even have a favourite position?

Edited July 15, 201312 yr by Geddy Lee

The fact that no one has played small forward for us this year and got more than about 15 touches or 2 goals in some way points that in a better team they'd look better. Can all of Byrnes, Davey, Kent, Tapscott, Blease be not up to AFL?

And it sounds like he was a bit flat yesterday but before that he's done well at VFL.

But I do worry about the lack of speed and his lack of impact/potential to play midfield. I'd love him to play centre square midfield for Casey for at least 3 weeks to see where he gets.

Wanted to see peoples thoughts on Luke, so far in my opinion he has not made the grade.

Sure it is good to add some brute and mongrel in the team but if they are unable to effect the actual scoreline by doing it then I do not see much point to having it in the team.

I know he has had some injuries however so has many other players such as Blease, Evans and Jetta who are showing obvious signs of putting in the hard yards to make the cut.

I hope he can turn things around this year because I think if he doesn't then Trenners may be at risk of losing his mate.

I don't think you can in any way criticise the drafting of Tapscott. He was very highly rated in that draft and we were surprised to see him drop to us. The posters on these boards at the time were in raptures about the devastating HF he was going to be. The fact that he hasn't panned out as well as people hoped can't be put down to a bad drafting decision when he was so highly rated.

I don't think you can in any way criticise the drafting of Tapscott. He was very highly rated in that draft and we were surprised to see him drop to us. The posters on these boards at the time were in raptures about the devastating HF he was going to be. The fact that he hasn't panned out as well as people hoped can't be put down to a bad drafting decision when he was so highly rated.

"we were surprised to see him drop to us"

Sounds like the comments we made about Cook!

Suggest to me no one else rated him that high.

To me says again a lot about recruiting, we were constantly trying to pick diamonds out of gravel.

I don't think you can in any way criticise the drafting of Tapscott. He was very highly rated in that draft and we were surprised to see him drop to us. The posters on these boards at the time were in raptures about the devastating HF he was going to be. The fact that he hasn't panned out as well as people hoped can't be put down to a bad drafting decision when he was so highly rated.

Agreed. He was very highly rated. That 09 night was a wankfest though. Prendegast wheeling out Gysberts as 'the third best mid in the draft', calling out "Luke........Tapscott" to frighten Luke Ball, all that rubbish about Gawn and Fitzy being the two to spilt at #34 when one miraculously came in at 50. That's not to mention SCULLGOVE!

So, so, so unprofessional.

I tend to think he has been badly developed. After 4 years no one knows where he should be playing. He has had some bad injuries which do not help. The bigest problem IMO opinion is his attitude. Seems to think the game is all about cheap shots. Too many times I get the impression he likes to get to a contest a fraction late and clean up his oponent rather than making the ball his primary focus or laying a proper tackle. He has made himself a marked man and in his recent games he has been cleaned up more often than he dishes out. If someone like Ross Lyon was coaching him he would be a much better focused player with a definitive role.