1 hour ago, Bring Back Barassi said:

Pros: Fast, tough

Cons: Brain freeze under pressure, unreliable in front of goal

 

Depth player at best, needs to make room for others

That's the essence of it I think. I had high hopes for Dean a couple of years ago, as he has a combination of skills that could be very damaging - pace, booming left boot, solid body and (occasional these days) hardness at the contest. Just never seems to put it together. He'll be eclipsed unless he can find some kind of consistency.

42 minutes ago, Rafiki said:

I don't think tackles is the best representation of pressure applied overall. Kent doesn't apply anywhere close to the defensive pressure needed in the forward half. I feel like Hannan is setting the benchmark for the forwards (Garlett has been good as well)

Good point. I reckon I've seen Hannan smother the ball off the opposition boot at least 5 times in the past 2 weeks. He also corrals the opposition when they have the ball, which forces them to kick to a certain area of the ground. These things don't show up on Champion Data stats.

As for Kent, I was a fan, but have come to the realisation that he's a downhill skier. Has currency, so would look to trade.

 

I once had high hopes for Kent, based on a few cameos and what I perceived as a fair bit of upside and potential.  Not anymore!  He completely lost me against Norf, with his miserable work rate, and blatent 'softness' when the team needed him to put his body on the line.  Missing a chunk of the pre season is not an alibi for having no desire.  

Like him but would drop him purely on not running through the line of the ball a couple of times on the weekend. Both times the North player did, got the ball, and bang, it was back in their forward line.

If he can't take the hit when it is his turn then he has no place in the team. Fix that and it will bring a bit of mungral to his game and he will be fine as his other attributes are OK.

Think unless he pulls a rabbit out of a hat and finds some serious form he'll be looking for a new home.

If the case ,so be it.

3 hours ago, A F said:

Given IMO every other player in our 22 has improved in the last year, I'd say the problem is with Kent and not our development coaches.

Fair call.

4 hours ago, Luther said:

That's the essence of it I think. I had high hopes for Dean a couple of years ago, as he has a combination of skills that could be very damaging - pace, booming left boot, solid body and (occasional these days) hardness at the contest. Just never seems to put it together. He'll be eclipsed unless he can find some kind of consistency.

A consistent inconsistency, just does not do enough. 

A successful team needs every player playing his role.  

Kent's role is to create opportunities, make the most of opportunities, kick goals and apply defensive pressure. All these things are missing.

Unfortunately, there is now an established pattern to his game that has not changed. 

You need more than potential to succeed at this level.

1 minute ago, hemingway said:

A consistent inconsistency, just does not do enough. 

A successful team needs every player playing his role.  

Kent's role is to create opportunities, make the most of opportunities, kick goals and apply defensive pressure. All these things are missing.

Unfortunately, there is now an established pattern to his game that has not changed. 

You need more than potential to succeed at this level.

Im reluctantly off the Kent bandwagon. Had hopes for him but seems ....well.....incapable  or uninterested  in playing to abilities/potential

Keep this up and he'll be encouraged to look around for a future. The bright side Dean, you won't be alone 

Kent killed us multiple times in the first 10 minutes with kicks that were cut off by North players. I’ve been a fan of Kent’s, but I’ve seen enough now to know he needs some serious attitude adjustment to be any good.

7 hours ago, america de cali said:

He doesn't do anything for the reputation and image of sleeve tat wearers. Compensating for what I wonder? 

What reputation is that? Most sleeve tat wearers are trendy cream puffs?

6 minutes ago, Billy said:

What reputation is that? Most sleeve tat wearers are trendy cream puffs?

Knowing a few old school tat wearers, those who wear tats are like soup and there are two kinds. The first are like a bag of rough bones boiled for hours and make a hearty stock. The other kind are water added to instant noodles.

Edited May 23, 20178 yr by america de cali

Ball use has always been his main weakness. Neither skilled nor smart.

Are we judging Kent predominantly on the back of his performances this season?

I agree he was poor on the weekend, especially his disposal and lack of pressure. Did not perform well at all.

But I feel like we're over analysing a pretty small sample of four games. I just don't think he's worked into form yet. Same could be said for a few players I think. His tackling is down this year, his inside 50's are OK.

Anyway I think his position is a hard one to play at the moment with our forward structure fairly out of whack.

Keen to see how he performs over the next few weeks to see if we can get the player of last year back .

Edited May 23, 20178 yr by mongrel

9 hours ago, ox_5 said:

Also noticed he didn't put his body behind the ball on a couple of occasions, which resulted in North taking clean possession.  Pre-seasons don't teach that. All mental with this one. 

I remember Lenny Hayes coming back from his ACL after a year out, and said it took time and practice (bump-bags) to get used to physical contact again.  If it applies to Lenny, it can apply to anyone.

For me he looks like his tank is half-empty and/or he is slightly overweight.

 

Many are writing him off.  I aint, but not with supreme confidence.  Kent really is a Jake Stringer type.  In the past 18 months, Stringer has gone missing quite a bit...and bobbed up.  Bevo uses the raging bull behind the ball as well.  I hope we don't type-cast Kent into a HFF.  His speed and mass will allow him to not only break a line, but smash it.

 

 

Something aint quite right.  He will be dropped this week I reckon.  First, he needs to look at himself; second fill the tank; and down the track, coaching staff need to explore his potential as more than a HFFker.

 

 

I'm sticking fat for now, but Clark, FFS get out of that take away store and swap those crystals.

 

 

 

pTGR

Dean Kent running for the ball, Scott Thompson coming the other way, Kent takes a sidestep and sticks out a speculative hand, Thompson gathers the ball and keeps going straight ahead.

Very bad look.

Kent looks good running towards our goal, but has no idea what to do when he has to come up to meet the ball, then turn towards goal with an opponent between him and the goal.

No tricks.

He's had a disappointing season. He was alright last year and clearly has some attributes that could make him dangerous. It's just not working for him at the moment. His attitude appears poor and he's clearly down on confidence. Last year he was smashing that nuggety frame into everything, this year he's not committing to contests. Even with his poor form he's still provided more than JKH did IMO. Definitely think he should be dropped and replaced by ANB. ANB, while not the most skilful player, was laying a heap of tackles and helping lock the ball into our forward 50. No-one else is doing that at present. 

Not sure on the form of Kennedy or Harmes, but they'd be next in line after ANB. Reckon Stretch should be back in the team also and might be the logical replacement for Salem this week.

The bustling HHF role seems to be a career-killer in our current set-up. 

8 hours ago, Fifty-5 said:

Faux tough guy

Yes, like Lynden Dunn, but Kent's specialty is more the push and shove between play.

 

To be fair, outside of Garlett, all our other small forwards have been average at best.  Kent, JKH, ANB (when they played him there), Harmes.  Ben Kennedy can't even get a game at the moment either, even though his form at Casey has been decent so far.

Saying we should bring one of the other is just like deck chairs to me, although I was hoping the pressure of having a few would force at least one like Kent to stand out from the pack.  It just hasn't happened.

The weekend's game, to me, isn't much of a guide.  Our small forwards need the ball hitting the deck, and Thompson, Tarrant and Hansen were able to mark the ball too often for them to do that on the weekend.  It's why Garlett couldn't get near it and why they weren't able to apply their usual pressure because as soon as the ball was marked it took them out of the game.  

At the moment Kent is our best hope down there, but I'm not as confident in him as I used to be.

4 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

Thompson, Tarrant and Hansen were able to mark the ball too often

It would help if we stopped kicking it down their throats. We have to find alternative ways to goal. Bombing it to the hot spot won't cut it for long; especially without a viable marking target.

Just now, Tony Tea said:

It would help if we stopped kicking it down their throats. We have to find alternative ways to goal. Bombing it to the hot spot won't cut it for long; especially without a viable marking target.

Can't argue with that, Tony.  Weideman and Watts aren't power forwards and they were pushed off the ball (sometimes illegally, but that's not the point) too easily and they were able to mark the footy.

We need to move the ball quickly to have a chance, and North were able to stifle that enough that we played into their hands.  We need to improve in that area.

I'm certainly not excusing the performance of some of our small forwards on the weekend, but they feed off the talls when the ball hits the deck and do their best work there, either by kicking goals or hounding the opposition.  They weren't given a whole lot of opportunities to do that on the weekend and it showed.

1 hour ago, Wiseblood said:

To be fair, outside of Garlett, all our other small forwards have been average at best.  Kent, JKH, ANB (when they played him there), Harmes.  Ben Kennedy can't even get a game at the moment either, even though his form at Casey has been decent so far.

Saying we should bring one of the other is just like deck chairs to me.  

The thrust of your broader post re. delivery is fair, but maybe we should de-clump the deck-chairs and examine more closely? The 'smaller' but big-bodied HF role has been consistently problematic with no one able to step-up, and the sense that they're all going missing. AVB, Brayshaw, Kent. A problem with the set-up rather than personnel?

I thought Harmes showed a bit when stationed there this year, but his kicking on goal has let him down. Bugg seems to be stepping up his contested marking up forward but is also unreliable on goal. ANB probably plays a bit smaller in the forward line but is lacking the finishing touch around goals (while JKH is sadly unsuitable for either role). All three however have offered more in other parts of the ground than Kent, and Kent simply isn't tackling or doing enough to help trap it in.

But maybe it's time we experimented without trying to plug the gap, and brought in Kennedy as a second 'true' small closer to goal? He's a good finisher, and can run for bursts in the middle as well. Probably another victim of our intended set-up, but perhaps time to give it a tweak (although admittedly a poor time if we've got no-one to bring it to ground).  

very disappointed in kent. i had him marked down as an important fwd cog this year

13 hours ago, Wiseblood said:

To be fair, outside of Garlett, all our other small forwards have been average at best.  Kent, JKH, ANB (when they played him there), Harmes.  Ben Kennedy can't even get a game at the moment either, even though his form at Casey has been decent so far.

Saying we should bring one of the other is just like deck chairs to me, although I was hoping the pressure of having a few would force at least one like Kent to stand out from the pack.  It just hasn't happened.

The weekend's game, to me, isn't much of a guide.  Our small forwards need the ball hitting the deck, and Thompson, Tarrant and Hansen were able to mark the ball too often for them to do that on the weekend.  It's why Garlett couldn't get near it and why they weren't able to apply their usual pressure because as soon as the ball was marked it took them out of the game.  

At the moment Kent is our best hope down there, but I'm not as confident in him as I used to be.

I generally like your work Wise, but I reckon you are being very generous to Dean on this one.  He's teased with the odd cameo, but I can't remember a decent contribution from him when we've been down.  The weekend's game was the last straw for me.  It will take a string of very good games for me to climb back on his bandwagon, and I don't think he's got that in him. 

Edited May 23, 20178 yr by Deeoldfart
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