20 hours ago, Middymalt said:

I heard Fremantle have offered him a monster pay packet.

Yep. Tom, the Ballarat boy, will go to the other side of the country, to the world's most isolated city, to play for a bottom of the ladder side coached by that denizen of attacking football, Ross Lyon.

Just now, mauriesy said:

Yep. Tom, the Ballarat boy, will go to the other side of the country, to the world's most isolated city, to play for a bottom of the ladder side coached by that denizen of attacking football, Ross Lyon.

source ?

 

(insert sarcasm emoji)

It was a joke.

We know he can play that well.

I just wish he did it consistently.

Great game from him, now back that [censored] up Tom.

17 minutes ago, mauriesy said:

It was a joke.

I know  - hence my add sarcasm emoji.....

On a serious note  - Interesting to me that so many people place so much store in the who a player barracked for as a kid as a motivating factor for a move. I could not think of bigger thrill to not only be part of a team on the rise but add to that the huge bonus of being able to share that playing alongside your brother. 

On 25 May 2016 at 11:39 AM, Older demon said:

If the club has made a fair offer and Roos is on the record as saying they are building a team then Tom should expect that the offer on the table will not change. The Geelong/Hawthorn model of players taking under to keep together is wise and the superstar complex used by Sydney is less stable as it all hinges on Buddy and Tippet (and Tom is not in their ball park).

Tom does not make good decisions on the field at times and maybe this is the same off field. Frawley held out and some said at the end he was coming around and considering staying, but the club decided for him especially with Petracca and Bradshaw as the possible compensation. I like it that the club is now well managed, not reactionary and refuses to be held to ransom. I hope Tom does sign on but I certainly don't consider hime an elite defender. He is a good mark and can run and gain yards. He struggles with taller opponents, makes poor decisions and often turns the ball over. Lets not forget last year he spent time up forward after Cloke monster him and destroyed his confidence. I am sure PJ has evaluated his worth and made a fair offer.

I'm having trouble with the quote so ignore that.

Tom in his post game interview seemed buoyant and enthusiastic about the performance and development of the backline. Didn't appear that he was going anywhere. 

51 minutes ago, nutbean said:

No he won't be until he cleans up some of his disposal and decision making errors. He was great on Saturday night. I am definitely in the "must keep" camp as he is a very very good defender. His good far outshines the errors he makes but by the same token just because we can all see how good certain aspects of his game are and  just because he has a blemish free night it won't make a history of pressure free brain fades and poor turnovers go away.

I absolutely see TMac as must to be resigned. I absolutely can see him as a top 5 defender in the comp. All he has to do is eliminate the bad turnovers as he did successfully on Saturday night. ( I am not talking about the ball being turned over under pressure. Also it does not happen all that often but it is a momentum and morale killer when it happens when he is under little to no pressure).

There was one passage of play where he took a great mark and went to ground on taking it  - there was a teammate standing dead still next to him and you could see him getting ready to fire out the handball but I was delighted to see him hold back.  Keep it simple Tom. 

This. Tom has shown before what he's capable of, hence the groans when he lets himself down with brain fades and sloppy disposal.

Now he's shown us what a top notch Tom McDonald game looks like. It's what we suspected and hoped for.

Could be a turning point in his career.

29 minutes ago, stevethemanjordan said:

We know he can play that well.

I just wish he did it consistently.

Great game from him, now back that [censored] up Tom.

Him hitting form bodes well for the tough run of fixtures coming up. We need him at his best if we're to hit double figures in the W column.

I'm not worried at all about him leaving. Or any of them leaving. You'd have to be bonkers to leave the club now with so much upside going forward. Moreso if you're a player like Tom who has been through some of the tough times.

Money talks but I'm confident the club will sort that out to his satisfaction. He and Hogan want success and they would see that on the horizon now.

On 7/10/2016 at 0:44 PM, Jaded said:

Calling Picket Fence.... *crickets*

 

We must must must sign him. There are no ifs or buts about it. I'd rather overpay him than be left without a single KPD on the list.

Freo allowed him to play that type of non accountable free flowing footy he loves! End of story! Reiwoldt must be salivating this week!

On 7/10/2016 at 0:42 PM, Mach5 said:

And Oscar. Gotta be someone rotating through off the bench.

I don't care what sort of mistakes he has made so far this season, Oscar will be every bit as good as his brother.

 

Are you serious?? 

has he signed yet?

4 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

has he signed yet?

No. He's happy with the progress being made, so generally that means he's going to Hawthorn or Collingwood.

14 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Freo allowed him to play that type of non accountable free flowing footy he loves! End of story! Reiwoldt must be salivating this week!

 

He played on one of the premier forwards in the comp. Yes Pavlich may be old, but he is still a great player. 

35 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Freo allowed him to play that type of non accountable free flowing footy he loves! End of story! Reiwoldt must be salivating this week!

I actually agree a bit with PF here. At times it was a bit like soccer for our defence when the other team just lets u knock it around at the back. 

That said, he still took some terrific marks and had some great one on one efforts. He's a terrific player and I'm confident he'll stay with us.

The universe tells me that T Mac is going to give Riewoldt a  bath this week and we will win comfortably.  Enough of being continually torched by a 35 year old Riewoldt and a crap St Kilda.

Just now, Ricky P said:

I actually agree a bit with PF here. At times it was a bit like soccer for our defence when the other team just lets u knock it around at the back. 

That said, he still took some terrific marks and had some great one on one efforts. He's a terrific player and I'm confident he'll stay with us.

Agree with him?  Picket is just using the "they allowed him to play well" card to justify his childish views.  Tom played a ripper of a game, including some effective marks, spoils and rebounds from half back.  Can't ask for much more from a key backman.

1 minute ago, Wiseblood said:

Agree with him?  Picket is just using the "they allowed him to play well" card to justify his childish views.  Tom played a ripper of a game, including some effective marks, spoils and rebounds from half back.  Can't ask for much more from a key backman.

Agreed.  Also, just wondering how many on here are taking into account the conditions, under which the players were required to play?  Slippery ball and steamy.  Under those conditions I thought the coaching staff managed the players very well.  Sure, perhaps we did not finish off the way supporters would have wanted, but with an eye on the following week, I think we did extremely well

1 hour ago, Jaded said:

 

He played on one of the premier forwards in the comp. Yes Pavlich may be old, but he is still a great player. 

Not for one minute not saying he didn't play well, He did play very very well, but please, some here need to take the blinkers of!

9 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Not for one minute not saying he didn't play well, He did play very very well, but please, some here need to take the blinkers of!

Oh, the irony.

Your seal of disapproval is comforting.

1 hour ago, Wiseblood said:

Agree with him?  Picket is just using the "they allowed him to play well" card to justify his childish views.  Tom played a ripper of a game, including some effective marks, spoils and rebounds from half back.  Can't ask for much more from a key backman.

I never understood this shoulda woulda coulda thinking. "they allowed him to play free", " he was playing on a first gamer" , "if they had kicked straight they would have beaten us", "if X Y or Z was playing we would been spanked", "had we had XXX playing we would have won", "if we play like that against Hawthorn we would get creamed"

Bottom line is you can only do what you do. Last week is last week and next week is next week. Your opponent and they way they play on the night is all you judge a player on not hypotheticals  - if your player plays off you then that is that - you have the choice to impact or be where the ball ain't. TMac had a pearler of game where he impacted. Everything to the contrary is guesswork and speculation.  

Did I hear he had 100% kicking efficiency at some significant point in the game?

Edit: Yup, he finished with 93% disposal efficiency.

14 hours ago, johndemons said:

Did I hear he had 100% kicking efficiency at some significant point in the game?

Edit: Yup, he finished with 93% disposal efficiency.

As noted before, kicking efficiency (D/E) is a stat that always needs some context around it.

Firstly - your position on the ground has a large bearing - inside mids usually have a much lower D/E than other positions as they are getting the ball in the heat of battle.

Secondly - defenders usually have a higher D/E as they are chipping the ball sidewards and backwards - which is an easy kick and makes the D/E figure look better.

Kicking efficiency is something than most astute football watchers can judge. Tom was very good by foot on Saturday but over the journey he has made some howlers, missing targets and turning the ball over when under little pressure. ( To me this does not change my opinion that he is valuable footballer who's good outweighs his bad - though he can be very frustrating)

I find it interesting watching Tom that when he gets the ball and looks up, maybe a short run and then immediately kicks or handballs then he is usually good - when he starts to think about what he wants to do for too long is when it can go horribly wrong. 

 

On 7/11/2016 at 1:11 PM, picket fence said:

Freo allowed him to play that type of non accountable free flowing footy he loves! End of story! Reiwoldt must be salivating this week!

You are aware we're playing a zone now? this means our defenders don't really have direct opponents as such, if a goal is given up it's the failure of the team, not of an individual unless they've not played their role, which i can assure you, Tom does very consistently. 

1 hour ago, nutbean said:

 

I find it interesting watching Tom that when he gets the ball and looks up, maybe a short run and then immediately kicks or handballs then he is usually good - when he starts to think about what he wants to do for too long is when it can go horribly wrong. 

 

There was a couple of instances in the first qtr from Tom where i noticed him get the ball and immediately take the first option, quick movement that generated scoring opportunities. One in particular on the boundry I expected him to let it go out as he usually does but he grabbed it flicked a handball over very quickly and we launched another attack. I hope it was him following instructions and it continues in the future. It makes him (and the whole team) look so much better when he goes quickly. 

16 minutes ago, Abe said:

You are aware we're playing a zone now? this means our defenders don't really have direct opponents as such, if a goal is given up it's the failure of the team, not of an individual unless they've not played their role, which i can assure you, Tom does very consistently. 

Gee I wish I was still playing, I would kick swags of goals every week due to this "Zoning" !! But alas I always got the best defender to play on with the specific direction, Shut PF Down and you were half way to winning the game! As mentioned previously, Reiwoldt will think all his birthdays have come at once if he gets the free ranging, zone rebounding T Mac ! that being the case.