Howe must step up

[Dee Fan 3,247]

Yes he must, he was tagged last night and they kept him out of the game, he was effectively, the only recognised forward so keep him out and you shut our forward line down.

He seemed to be playing further up the ground later in the game and did a little but not much.

[Whispering_Jack 28,010]

It was definitely his poorest effort and came when we needed his input the most. Of course, at the beginning of the pre season we were expecting him to be our fourth forward behind Clark, Dawes and Hogan and not our only target in the forward line next to Pedersen. The Saints would have had their hands full tagging others had things worked out the way we wanted way back then.

[wattsjurrahdunne 88]

Quite possibly the most over rated, over hyped player of the modern era. Would swap 2 highlights a game for 20 solid outputs every time.

[NATA 10]

It was definitely his poorest effort and came when we needed his input the most.

[Dr. Gonzo 22,523]

Quite possibly the most over rated, over hyped player of the modern era. Would swap 2 highlights a game for 20 solid outputs every time.

I've been saying for a longtime he is too one dimensional. I'll wait til he has forward line support before criticising but we needed him to step up big time last night and he was nowhere to be seen.

[Coup Cooper 610]

Does not help that every kick to him was a low stab pass.. The bloke has springs in his legs.. Give the ball some air and let him run and jump for fucksake!!

[jnrmac 19,096]

It's clear he is not a power forward. No news there. When FItzy went down it was pretty easy for the Aints to shut us down.

[praha 10,293]

Quite possibly the most over rated, over hyped player of the modern era. Would swap 2 highlights a game for 20 solid outputs every time.

Relax.

The guy is at his best along the wing and being the occasional man up.

He is not a leading forward, nor a primary target.

He was playing a role last night not suited to his best role.

Give the guy a break.

[jumbo returns 6,503]

Does not help that every kick to him was a low stab pass.. The bloke has springs in his legs.. Give the ball some air and let him run and jump for fucksake!!

Why were our players waiting for the uncontested lead? There were several times they could have kicked high for the ally oop, but they chose not to.

Roos not a fan of the speccy?

[DeeZee 6,776]

He should have been playing out of the square last night, didnt have a chance as we never kicked it to him.

Considering we had no forwards, why on earth we didnt play him at full forward is puzzling.

[Coup Cooper 610]

I have no idea.. It frustrated the hell out of me! And this was from players like Jones and Watts who should know better..

And dont grt me started on Petersen.. Missed three regulation goals..

When he had the chance to run into the goal square and kick one from point blank, and missed .. The bloke didn 't care .. And had no intesnsity!!

[Ted Lasso 16,875]

We should have cleared the entire 50 out and left him alone down there, if they outnumbered him it would have left us free numbers to set up for a longer shot at goal, if it was 1 on 1 i'd back him to beat anyone in their side at least 50% of the time

[DeeSpencer 23,236]

He should have been playing out of the square last night, didnt have a chance as we never kicked it to him.

Considering we had no forwards, why on earth we didnt play him at full forward is puzzling.

Um he did? For most of the first 3 quarters he played as our deepest forward. But Fitzy and Pedersen couldn't get open at CHF quickly enough to then get it to Howe one on one. Too often from the wing we went sideways and slow and then Howe had 2 opponents. There were a couple of occasions he was one on one but they didn't pull the trigger. The new game plan and sharing the ball across half back especially when the saints had a spare man back did Howe no favours at all. We didn't take enough chances from open play at half back/wing to get a bit of run and carry going and then straight in to Howe.

Howe often led from his defensive position in the centre of the ground towards the forward 50 instead of out to the wings to get the ball. The obvious thinking being the the half forwards and midfielders have to be responsible for getting the ball to that stage and he could get the ball inside 50. Sometimes I'd rather him just take off and get the ball at wing/half forward and worry about the other forwards filling in behind him. He cost himself opportunities to get in the game, presumably by following the game plan.

[Machsy 2,858]

I saw him limping noticeably early in the match.

I wouldn't be surprised if he was carrying something for the majority of the match.

[rjay 23,932]

Does not help that every kick to him was a low stab pass.. The bloke has springs in his legs.. Give the ball some air and let him run and jump for fucksake!!

Anytime we did give it air the Saints defence blocked Howe from the contest, all teams do this to him now.

For those who think Howe should play out of the square or deep forward this is the reason why he shouldn't. He doesn't have the size to get involved in the push and shove and he needs to play high half forward wing where he can compete one on one.

[Coup Cooper 610]

Anytime we did give it air the Saints defence blocked Howe from the contest, all teams do this to him now.

For those who think Howe should play out of the square or deep forward this is the reason why he shouldn't. He doesn't have the size to get involved in the push and shove and he needs to play high half forward wing where he can compete one on one.

I sat level 2 behind the goals and cannot recall one time they gave Howe an opportunity to run and jump, most attempts to howe were short kicks that were intercepted..

But i agree with your point. He doesnt have the strength to body out an opponent, we needed fitzy and pedersen down there, but with fitzy being subbed off with concussion and pedersen just not being good enough full stop.. It doesnt help.

Thought roos waited too long to try and get him in the game, i thought Dunn could of gone forward in the second half and pedersen down back..

Edited March 23, 2014 by Laces Out

[rjay 23,932]

I sat level 2 behind the goals and cannot recall one time they gave Howe an opportunity to run and jump, most attempts to howe were short kicks that were intercepted..

But i agree with your point. He doesnt have the strength to body out an opponent, we needed fitzy and pedersen down there, but with fitzy being subbed off with concussion and pedersen just not being good enough full stop.. It doesnt help.

Thought roos waited too long to try and get him in the game, i thought Dunn could of gone forward in the second half and pedersen down back..

There were times the ball was given air but Howey couldn't get near the contest. He was being blocked from getting a run.

As for Dunn, with Tommy Mc down he was pretty much needed in the back. Pedersen was just way out of his depth and as 'old dee' would say he is a VFL player, doesn't have any footy IQ.

[jazza 1,323]

We should have cleared the entire 50 out and left him alone down there, if they outnumbered him it would have left us free numbers to set up for a longer shot at goal, if it was 1 on 1 i'd back him to beat anyone in their side at least 50% of the time

similar thoughts and when we were so undermanned in height,was thinking howe open space and maybe jkh running onto this area during high delivery to howe.

maybe PR needed help upfeild due to lack of height.

[InVINCEable 358]

I don't think he got a touch last night, it was honestly the worst match i've ever been to, felt like an u12's match

[Guest]

I don't think he got a touch last night, it was honestly the worst match i've ever been to, felt like an u12's match

Must not have been to many Melbourne games then

[InVINCEable 358]

Must not have been to many Melbourne games then

Been to matchs we're i seen Melbourne get beat by 100+ many times before and i was more entertained, it felt like it was more than 17 points

[deeflog 679]

Lazy and disinterested would sum up his performance last night

[Pates 9,537]

He definitely plays his best footy when he's a HFF, but in his role last night he still needed to make some hard leads. I agree with what someone said earlier in the thread that he's overrated, at this time. But he has a lot of attributes that could make a very good footballer.

He's much better than what he dished up last night.

[old dee 22,930]

Been to matchs we're i seen Melbourne get beat by 100+ many times before and i was more entertained, it felt like it was more than 17 points

I would agree with you thedeeman.

At least in those game you get to watch a good side.

Last night we were beaten by the second worst side

[Soidee 1,496]

Its about time Howe showed much more than the speccy!!!

He is not alone, some of our players need to grow a pair and learn to get the job done under pressure. Roos has inherited some sooky mummy boys who are at best pre season champions.

when the real stuff starts they fluff about like B graders. As for HOWE, he has done sweet bugger all as yet and needs to take the initiative instead of the weekly speccy.

How long do some of these blokes need FFS.