Jack Fitzpatrick

[Slartibartfast 16,050]

My point exactly.

Then we won't be hearing from you much then!

Hope you still keep posting on Wattsy because a few here aren't sure where you stand.

[Swampfox 190]

If you ask me, he and Lynden Dunn are playing for the same spot, but I'd rather Jack Grimes in there than either one of them. I hear he's coming back soon, so the clock is ticking for the both of them.

IMO Dunn is finished at Melbourne

[Pirlo 577]

You can have him.

I won't waste much time arguing over a gumby.

Fantastic.

[Maldonboy38 6,052]

For so long, poor Fitzy looked like a camel recovering from knee surgery. Totally unco, and on top of this he could not kick at all. But he has come on in leaps and bounds this year. Has earned his spot and has earned the right to keep it for a few weeks. His kicking now is really good, he can take a contested mark, and is the quickest at the club over 20m, 50m and 100m.

If it was up to me, leave him one-on-one inside 50 with his opponent and play him like Pagan's paddock. He is seriously quick and could cause a lot of damage given space to run.

[deanox 8,876]

Dunn has played as a KPD the last two weeks under Craig hasn't he? They have looked keen to have him one out in the last line of defence. He did that well yesterday but he was to small for Kosi last week when he played on him, and I think had we played Seller the game may have been different. He and Seller are currently competing for that spot.

[Swampfox 190]

Stoppages in your backline are the most important therefore your ruckman goes down there you don't get one of your key defenders to ruck.

Ie. that position you've created is redundant. Clearly these days you need 2 big defenders and preferably 2 guys around the 190cm mark who are capable of playing tall or small. The 4 we've gone for currently are Frawley, McDonald, Garland and Dunn. I expect Grimes or Watts to take over from Dunn. If we are playing a particularly tall team then Pedersen is an option as well otherwise he remains as depth for Frawley and McDonald.

I expect as you said us been stuck with Pedersen means we should aim to develop him as much as possible as a key defender. That means increasing his fitness and mobility - stripping a few kgs for a start. With Garland and McDonald using their flexible mobility to play on mid size guys against the dogs I could very well see Pedersen getting games ahead of Dunn at some time. Pedersen actually has some natural talent for accumulating possessions and running the ball out of the backline. If he could kick reliably he'd certainly be closer to a game. That and not being soft.

He's been clear over taken by Fitzpatrick as a forward/back up ruck. In a lot of ways that's been a good thing. Fitzpatrick has convinced me that he's stepped up from athletic talent who I was very unconvinced about to a prospect who now could certainly make it. It's still a big question mark but that's a good step. His first few AFL games were horrible.

I would never use a KPP like Frawley or McDonald or even Garland as a stoppage Ruckman

They are not defending as soon as you do that and they are on the ground to play on a KP opposition player

Tall Defenders like Pederson or Sellar are quite capable of doing the ruck duties in the defensive 50

Having Jamar , Gawn or Spencer covering the whole ground is efficiency at its worst and their boundary should be within both forward and back 50 metre lines and not beyond

I prefer Watts in the forward line

[Dee Fan 3,247]

Fitzpatrick was better last night but did some things that made me cringe; you either get involved in the contest or you don't, there were several times last night where he made a token effort to mark from behind but it was evident that he was just going through the motions.

He did some good things but he also has a long way to go.

[monoccular 16,513]

For so long, poor Fitzy looked like a camel recovering from knee surgery. Totally unco, and on top of this he could not kick at all. But he has come on in leaps and bounds this year. Has earned his spot and has earned the right to keep it for a few weeks. His kicking now is really good, he can take a contested mark, and is the quickest at the club over 20m, 50m and 100m.

If it was up to me, leave him one-on-one inside 50 with his opponent and play him like Pagan's paddock. He is seriously quick and could cause a lot of damage given space to run.

Interesting thought - he does "crumb" incredibly well for a big mam, and marked well yesterday. And "that kick" will give him confidence and self belief.

It was the first time that I thought he looked like he felt at home.

Despite Minson's experience getting the better of our rucks in Q4, I must say given the state of our season I wouldn't be in a hurry to have Jamar back: very one dimensional and for all his hit out stats, very very few result in clearances.

[jabberwocky 2,301]

An athletic 22 year old who can take a mark and get the footy on the ground. Reckon that sounds ok at the moment. Given that he was always a speculative pick, I reckon he is tracking well.

[pilgrim 120]

IMO Dunn is finished at Melbourne

I reckon Dunn's been playing some great, consistent footy down back. I can't even remember him giving away a single free kick last night. No arm chopping, no pushing in the back, and some excellent rebound efforts. He can stay right where he is. I'd much rather him there than Peddo Bear.

[Wolfmother 182]

Fitz is a fwd who can ruck rather than someone like gawn who is a ruckman that they send fwd... Hopefully he can keep it up but with the rule changes to a interchange cap he has a position created for him by the afl

[Hellish Inferno 992]

I reckon Dunn's been playing some great, consistent footy down back. I can't even remember him giving away a single free kick last night. No arm chopping, no pushing in the back, and some excellent rebound efforts. He can stay right where he is. I'd much rather him there than Peddo Bear.

He's been playing alright with the ball in hand, but I think he's a liability in defence. With Grimes back in hopefully Strauss I don't see him making it. Could be worth a trade bait to see what we could get, which wouldn't be much.

I watched a bit of a reply from yesterday and he simply has terrible intensity at the contest. He hangs back and almost never goes in hard, where often his direct opponent has goaled or assisted in goals because he's too slow to react. He can't play in the backline with those sorts of efforts

[pilgrim 120]

He's been playing alright with the ball in hand, but I think he's a liability in defence. With Grimes back in hopefully Strauss I don't see him making it. Could be worth a trade bait to see what we could get, which wouldn't be much.

I watched a bit of a reply from yesterday and he simply has terrible intensity at the contest. He hangs back and almost never goes in hard, where often his direct opponent has goaled or assisted in goals because he's too slow to react. He can't play in the backline with those sorts of efforts

Yeah fair call. I'd switch him and Grimes in an instant, but I still think that its handy having someone who's quite a big guy in defense. Sellar couldn't do it and Pederson can't do it going off he's recent form. I'd love Straussy to get up and going but he seems to keep finding his way back out of the side.

Dunn hasn't done too badly over the last few games. Yesterday the defense was very solid right up to the last quarter when everyone dropped the bundle.

[DeeSpencer 23,564]

I would never use a KPP like Frawley or McDonald or even Garland as a stoppage Ruckman

They are not defending as soon as you do that and they are on the ground to play on a KP opposition player

Tall Defenders like Pederson or Sellar are quite capable of doing the ruck duties in the defensive 50

Having Jamar , Gawn or Spencer covering the whole ground is efficiency at its worst and their boundary should be within both forward and back 50 metre lines and not beyond

I prefer Watts in the forward line

No! This is a horrible theory. Pedersen is 193cm, Gawn 208. When you have a throw in deep in a pocket which one do you want to make sure Aaron Sandilands or Dean Cox doesn't give silver service to a running midfielder?

The ruckman is an onballer just like any other midfield and therefore should be at the stoppage when in the defensive 50. It's not inefficient at all. Certainly making them run forward to the forward 50 stoppages is but you have to have your best ruck at a stoppage in the defensive 50. Plus why would you pick Pedersen or Sellar over Frawley or McDonald purely because they can contest a few ball ups in the backline?

[DeeSpencer 23,564]

Yeah fair call. I'd switch him and Grimes in an instant, but I still think that its handy having someone who's quite a big guy in defense. Sellar couldn't do it and Pederson can't do it going off he's recent form. I'd love Straussy to get up and going but he seems to keep finding his way back out of the side.

Dunn hasn't done too badly over the last few games. Yesterday the defense was very solid right up to the last quarter when everyone dropped the bundle.

Solid defenders don't knock the ball back into play 2 times in the space of 10 seconds when a throw in is the smart result. Dunn has been far from solid. Although his actual ability to stick with a man and use of the ball has been ok. The main concern for Dunn is finding a suitable opponent who won't score on him. Anyone quick or strong is a bad combination. Hence why he's ended up playing tall a fair bit because there are slow and laboring talls.

If Sydney go in with just White and Tippett and a raft of midfield types I think I'd be incline to ditch Dunn for Strauss. Otherwise Dunn could go to a Mitch Morton or Everett (if he's played forward) but really if Strauss was dropped for lack of intensity and the contest then Dunn deserves the same treatment. At least Strauss has never really had a good run of games, we've seen Dunn get game after game for 5 years now.

[LegsLeoncelli 162]

Solid defenders don't knock the ball back into play 2 times in the space of 10 seconds when a throw in is the smart result.

1000x this.

The 2nd time he knocked it straight to the Bullogs' player.

I wanted to jump down from the 4th level and strangle him.

And yet, he also won some important one-on-one contests against Cordy, who looked half a foot taller than him.

It will be interesting to see if he still fits into the team this time next year.

[RalphiusMaximus 5,994]

1000x this.

The 2nd time he knocked it straight to the Bullogs' player.

I wanted to jump down from the 4th level and strangle him.

And yet, he also won some important one-on-one contests against Cordy, who looked half a foot taller than him.

It will be interesting to see if he still fits into the team this time next year.

Not quite. Only 10cm apparently.

[DeeSpencer 23,564]

1000x this.

The 2nd time he knocked it straight to the Bullogs' player.

I wanted to jump down from the 4th level and strangle him.

And yet, he also won some important one-on-one contests against Cordy, who looked half a foot taller than him.

It will be interesting to see if he still fits into the team this time next year.

My grandma could win one on ones with Cordy. Now he did do a clever double lead and lose Frawley in the last 5 minutes but before that he'd pretty much been a 17th man on the field.

[Goodvibes 3,596]

Classic Demonland. From zero to hero in 5 pages.

[CBDees 3,162]

Classic Demonland. From zero to hero in 5 pages.

Yes! Other examples are discussions on Watts, Rodan and Toumpas.

[Akum 2,660]

An athletic 22 year old who can take a mark and get the footy on the ground. Reckon that sounds ok at the moment. Given that he was always a speculative pick, I reckon he is tracking well.

He played a huge part in our first goal. Nathan Jones bombed the ball high to the square, towards Fitz & Watts and their opponents. Watts peeled off, and Fitz went up against the two tall Dogs, and palmed it perfectly to Watts who snapped the goal. Just good smart thinking, but the sort of thing that's mentally and physically so far beyond Jamar & Spencer. If the two Jacks can continue to combine like that, we may be really on to something.

[Ted Lasso 17,200]

probably saved his career

[Akum 2,660]

Classic Demonland. From zero to hero in 5 pages.

Not exactly. Just that a less-than-10-gamer showed more than we've seen from him before, which has to be a good thing - not great, just good. Like 98% of AFL footballers, he has flaws in his game which can be pointed out by any moron, but on yesterday's effort he also seems to have some pretty good weapons that weren't apparent before.

There's a huge gap from "showed promising signs" or "better than we thought" to "hero" ... let alone "saviour". Nobody's trying to leap that gap yet.

[BAMF 3,812]

Form is everything on demon land.

[deeko 937]

I was super excited watching him play his best game. He looks like a praimantus a bit but loved really well.

All we need now is to get Clark, Jamar and Hogan all fit and firing so we can somehow package Fitzy up for a decent mid.