It's fair to say Bernie's form faded noticeably towards the end of the season. It's difficult to say how much is due to older legs and injury niggles, but it is key that we get the most we can out him for what's left of his career. We are clearly still thin on the ground for senior leadership so he is playing an important role on and off field.

Arguably his best football is played in the middle although that is physically demanding and is one area where we are not short of options. Melksham and (hopefully) Hibberd coming into the side will have further implications for defence and midfield rotations. 

How should Bernie be managed in 2017 in terms of position and games played?

Through the middle and rotating on a wing perhaps? I get the need to put him down back but jeez, he dropped off a bit when that happened. Don't think he'll play more than 16/17 games though if they're careful with him.

4 minutes ago, P-man said:

It's fair to say Bernie's form faded noticeably towards the end of the season. It's difficult to say how much is due to older legs, but it is key that we get the most we can out him for what's left of his career. We are clearly still very thin on the ground for senior leadership so he is playing an important role on and off field.

Arguably his best football is played in the middle although that is physically demanding and is one area where we are not short of options. Melksham and (hopefully) Hibberd coming into the side will have further implications for defence and midfield rotations. 

How should Bernie be managed in 2017 in terms of position and games played?

Great question.. Not too sure whether he can handle long stints in the middle and he certainly look at sea down back... Perhaps he could be used more forward. Certainly need someone with accuracy in front of goals and he is good overhead.

To me he looks mentally drained rather than physically.  When did Vince get run down from behind last year?   happened a lot this year. his concentration and focus have been poor

He clearly has had issues with consistency at the crows (good year/poor year) so I think he should get an extended break from the club. does he need a 5 month preseason?

a few extra weeks to freshen up and get the anger back and hunger score goals and get us to finals

Hibberd & Melksham coming in will release from defence which I don't think suits him, I see a mainly forward with strong bursts in the midfield rotation.

He needs to be told that he will be playing at Casey if his form and effort drop off, which they did this year. We've moved past having to carry senior players who aren't performing.

That said he should be played predominantly in the midfield and given a week off every 4-6 weeks if he needs one.

Carrying some niggles, i reckon after a break and a pre-season he should come back fit and firing, we can't afford to not have Vince so he is one of our few guys we'll play at 80% 

Shin injury coincided with drop in form. Nothing to see here.

 

He sustained a fairly significant injury to his shin in the middle part of the season which required some rest.  Our developmental stage meant that he was needed to play through this when some time out would have been beneficial.  An injured Vince was deemed to be better than a fit alternative hence he played on, showing a distinct decline in pace and condition as the season wore on.  That is why he wasn't considered to play on Dangerfield last week.

6 minutes ago, stuie said:

Shin injury coincided with drop in form. Nothing to see here.

 

Agree. But shin injury shouldn't affect your awareness. He lost that completely. 

3 minutes ago, Redleg said:

Agree. But shin injury shouldn't affect your awareness. He lost that completely. 

"Completely" might be an overstatement I think. Probably impacted his speed which meant he had less time to operate.

Could possibly have even felt less confident while carrying injury.

 

1 minute ago, stuie said:

"Completely" might be an overstatement I think. Probably impacted his speed which meant he had less time to operate.

Could possibly have even felt less confident while carrying injury.

 

Concede, I will amend "completely" to "severely reduced."

I don't think a shin injury, makes you handball to the back of bloke's heads, or try and run the field, unaware of opponents nearby. It may however, hamper the accuracy of your kicking.

I hope Vince's loss of form was due to the injury, as if not, he may have hit the wall.

Wonder if he could do a run with role next year, he sure did a good job on Danger last year, but that's ancient history now. Wasn t very impressed with him in the backline in 2016, maybe play him half forward, he knows how to kick a goal.

32 minutes ago, warren dean said:

He sustained a fairly significant injury to his shin in the middle part of the season which required some rest.  Our developmental stage meant that he was needed to play through this when some time out would have been beneficial.  An injured Vince was deemed to be better than a fit alternative hence he played on, showing a distinct decline in pace and condition as the season wore on.  That is why he wasn't considered to play on Dangerfield last week.

Yep fair enough re injury, but how would you manage him next season? The same question remains. Unless the suggestion is that he's only been reduced by injury and age is having no effect?

Think the shin injury made him second guess his first options, like he never thought he had full strength to get of the mark or kick long. Realistically he should have sat our a week or two (or been told too). I expect a pre-season where he might be nursed a little more (remember he did nothing in the first pre-season with us), and see him back to the Bernie of 2015 and early 2016. 

8 minutes ago, P-man said:

Yep fair enough re injury, but how would you manage him next season? The same question remains. Unless the suggestion is that he's only been reduced by injury and age is having no effect?

My expectation is that Goodwin will return him to the midfield, probably on a wing for most of the time and he'll have the odd run with role as required.  If he's fully fit I'd expect that his role would be not too different to 2015 and the first part of this year.

I'd make him our main run with role player. Means we get to keep him in the midfield/wing and if the player moves to half back, Bernie is more then capable of being a dangerous option forward.

Absolutely worthless behind the ball, has to either be an onballer (if there's room) or try half forward. Need him kicking 15-20 goals,  he kicked only 6 which was very disappointing, 3 of them V Richmond