We all know that Salem is a great kick, this year though we haven't seen the penetration that we know he has coming out of the backline. He is very reliable and strong at the contest but we haven't seen him use his weapon. Playing him on the wing/ midfield and rotating off half back like Vince may give him more confidence and potentially provide us with that penetration going forward into the forward 50. We are relying on specific players and sometimes Watts leading a bit higher up the ground to provide us with that effective inside 50. Imagine Salem with the ball finding Watts, Pedo and Hoges. 

Tremendous kick but definite weakness in the contest.  Poor effort against Lloyd and fell over again.  Over rated IMO.

  On 25/04/2016 at 10:11, Fifty-5 said:

Tremendous kick but definite weakness in the contest.  Poor effort against Lloyd and fell over again.  Over rated IMO.

Needs to learn to keep his feet better. Gets caught out sometimes and his falling over has cost us a couple of goals over past few weeks

I'm not too worried about Salem, he's tracking fine. 23 touches yesterday and 20 the week before. Yeah he shouldn't have slipped over but Lloyd's a good player and it was slippery under foot. Everyone makes mistakes, especially 20 year old kids playing their third season.

As for his goal, I had that marked down before it even left his boot. Class act.

He's still finding his feet across half back.  If he was playing across half forward/wing/midfield he'd be having a far greater impact. He did alright last night especially when you compare his output to a Brayshaw. 

  On 25/04/2016 at 10:20, Sylvia Saint said:

As for his goal, I had that marked down before it even left his boot. Class act.

Yep me too, jumped up to celebrate as the ball left his foot.

He reminds me of Burgoyne

Wow i must be the only one who thinks he is developing just fine.. Has come back from a serious hamstring injury last year and thought his last 2 weeks has been exceptional. He does the small things that many don't mention that i notice alot like Little taps to advantage, spoiling at the right time and his awarness is quite elite especially when he is last line in defence. 

He is only going to get better and already i have seen growth and development in the little furball.

  On 25/04/2016 at 10:11, Fifty-5 said:

Tremendous kick but definite weakness in the contest.  Poor effort against Lloyd and fell over again.  Over rated IMO.

Would take a super defender to stop that, kick was perfectly place, Salem was out of position and therefore he was cooked. If he doesn't try and take the front spot then Lloyd probably marks it. Had he kept his feet he could've got back and pressured the kick but once turned he was all but done. 

Now you could say he should've been in better position, but given the zone style set up he was probably exactly where the coaches wanted him to be.

He could be fitter and stronger so he could outrun Lloyd back to the drop of the ball and out muscle him, but he isn't and he's only had 1 good preseason.

Dunn, McDonald, Lumumba, Wagner all made similar defensive mistakes at times. Salem got forward to kick a goal and set up many others, his attacking handballs were particularly good.

Thought he was poor again last night. He's lucky he got some cheap touches to inflate his states as he is having next to no impact this year. He is struggling with his rebounding this year, which is puzzling as his kicking and vision is his strength. He hasn't been getting as much penetration on his kicking and hasn't been making bold decisions to open the game up like we have seen from him in the past.
Defensively he was poor again. Cost us two goals directly from falling over in a one on one contest. I'm questioning if half-back is the right position for him at this stage, and think he needs a spell at half forward or the wing. We've got others like Hunt, Vince, Lumumba, Jetta, Wagner who can all rebound fine without needing him down there now. Perhaps we can unleash him into the midfield where he belongs?

Has played 27 games.

I don't understand the criticism. The creative possessions Salem had far outweighed the odd mistake. 

The reason why we are scoring more in the past 3 weeks is because we finally have some backmen who know how to attack. Lumumba, Salem, Jetta, Wagner and Hunt are not afraid to take the game on. We are actually going out there to win the game, rather than just stopping the opposition from scoring. And it's not like we're leaking more goals than we have in the past.

I've been a massive critic of Garland and to a lesser extent Grimes because they offer nothing offensively. Our current backline structure is like a breathe of fresh air, and Salem's contribution is integral.

His goal was pure class. Also, check out his no look handpass in his opening minute to Kent which led to Brayshaw's goal. 

He's a carbon copy of Watts from a skills and football IQ perspective. I think he's a little more driven this early in his career relative to Watts' career at the same point. I take it that his skills are being developed in the backline and he'll eventually move into the middle and forward.

Will be a very good player.

  On 25/04/2016 at 10:11, Fifty-5 said:

Tremendous kick but definite weakness in the contest.  Poor effort against Lloyd and fell over again.  Over rated IMO.

So he has one 'poor' effort and he's overrated?

Nice logic.

I am not bothered about Salem, he is still a developing young kid. I will reserve judgement until Salem gets a crack at the midfield (where I think he will play his best football), but that is probably another year away. Physically he needs to develop. I think he is only down back atm because of his class, poise, decision making, and execution, we don't utilize Salem enough, that isn't his fault. The only knock on Salem is that he is getting pushed off the ball easily, but that is expected (given he isn't as developed physically). Still a kid, will be A grader in time. I have no doubt.

  On 25/04/2016 at 10:11, Fifty-5 said:

Tremendous kick but definite weakness in the contest.  Poor effort against Lloyd and fell over again.  Over rated IMO.

23 touches and a goal at 73% DE on the weekend and from that you take away his 'poor effort' against Lloyd. To clarify what you call poor effort, he slipped over, it happens. He's played 27 games and is coming along nicely, unlock your effortless posts.

Salem is fine, he is young in age and games, he is being played out of position, he is not a natural defender and he makes some bad mistakes in positioning etc, but gee he is coping some heat that is just not warranted.

His ability to quickly get the ball on to his foot and hit a target is first-class.

 

  On 25/04/2016 at 10:11, Fifty-5 said:

Tremendous kick but definite weakness in the contest.  Poor effort against Lloyd and fell over again.  Over rated IMO.

I've seen him attack the contest and man hard. When he first came in there are a number contests that I watched and thought 'fantastic, we've drafted a guy that's hard at it and a beautiful kick' (a marked difference from our drafting at the time). What I don't think he's quite good at yet is body work and body positioning. He gets caught out a lot here. Obviously, there's a big difference between body work in the midfield and body work one-on-one inside defensive 50. He's learning on the job here and he's 26 games into his career. Still very early.

I think he needs to keep his feet more often and I think ultimately he'll move into the midfield when we have a Melksham or a better kick across half back (not just he and Vince).

  On 25/04/2016 at 10:44, Wiseblood said:

So he has one 'poor' effort and he's overrated?

Nice logic.

It's an opinion, mate. No need to be a smartarse.

I don't necessarily agree with it, but I can see where it's coming from.

  On 25/04/2016 at 11:07, AdamFarr said:

It's an opinion, mate. No need to be a smartarse.

I don't necessarily agree with it, but I can see where it's coming from.

Give it a rest, Adam.

He brought up the thread to pot the bloke over one, yes ONE, action within the game.  There was nothing else to back it up, other than a hollow "he's a great kick" to try and mask the fact that he wanted to knock him.

If you want to call a player overrated then at the very least he should be able to back it up.  He can't.

  On 25/04/2016 at 10:11, Fifty-5 said:

Tremendous kick but definite weakness in the contest.  Poor effort against Lloyd and fell over again.  Over rated IMO.

NFI then.

I noticed at that stage that all our players seemed to be struggling to adjust to the foreign night-match dewy conditions.

A few errors were to be expected, but to write him off based on that is our foolishness.

  On 25/04/2016 at 10:11, Fifty-5 said:

Tremendous kick but definite weakness in the contest.  Poor effort against Lloyd and fell over again.  Over rated IMO.

Jack Watts used to fall over a lot too..  Look at him now! 

Is this what it's like to be a Hawks supporter?