IMO has been steady since half time against the Cats. Has done very little wrong in the last 10 quarters of footy and should hold his position.

JLT and round 1 he was very average to poor.

last two games h3 has done well,  limited the turnovers and mistakes.

Tackles pretty well.

I, like a few on here had almost given up on Wag's last year but I noticed his improved kicking on Saturday and the fact that he was able to hit up targets and get his hands on the ball effectively, he was also very hard at the ball and the man which I see as a marked improvement on last year. It is early days and he will need to keep on improving to hold a regular spot in this team as it starts to reach it's full potential.

Go Wag's, Go Dee's..............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't particulalry rate Wagner altho he has certainly improved this year. He has increased his attack on the ball carrier, become a better tackler and has less lame turnovers.

Wagner doesn't seem to have any particular strengths - he isn't fast, he's not strong overhead, he's not a brilliant decision maker, he is only average one on one and his disposals skills are a work in progress - but he may develop into a solid and reliable backman given time. I hope so because its a critical role.

 

 

Last season Wags provided reasonable 'depth'. On evidence so far this season, he is developing into a reliable 'foot soldier' in our best 22.(a valuable commodity in any team).  He's earned his spot for the time being, and it's his to lose.  Well done Wags.

Wagner has improved every week. He is becoming an important part of our backline and the team.

Wagner's been good, without being super. It is certainly noticeable that when his intensity drops off, even by a few percent, he looks very average, very quickly (1st half Geelong). When he is really attacking the ball and his opponent at full bore, he looks so much better (2nd half Geelong). 

That said, I think his decision making and disposal is questionable under real pressure, and I don't think we have seen the team under much pressure in the last two weeks. The next two weeks will be a much better test of whether he will make it.

Joel Smith is a similar size and type and the coaching staff rate him highly as well. Has greater athletic talents too.

It's great to have depth.

I've always liked Wagner, he's got poise under pressure and sticks to the game plan better than most when the wheels are wobbling and we're under siege (usually due to issues in the midfield).

When he's rolling his pace and awareness coming out of our backline, for some reason, reminds me of Chris Langford at the Hawks... which can't be bad.

13 hours ago, bing181 said:

But speaking on Inside Melbourne, Chaplin said Wagner had been the player to impress him the most this pre-season.  

“Wags has been very, very good this year,” he said.

“A lot of people probably don’t realise what he does, because it doesn’t always come down to stats, but he’s probably been the most consistent defender across the three games so far.

“The way we want to play and the system – he hasn’t let us down at all. His best two games have been the Kangaroos and Geelong game. He was a standout for us and it’s been recognised internally, but probably not externally at the moment.”

I, for one, will now ignore everything Chaplin says. To say one of Wagner's best games was the Geelong game (even though we're talking a small sample size) is patent nonsense. While it's fair enough that the coaches build the confidence of the players, even Wagner would know that he had a poor game against Geelong. Nevertheless, since then he has steadily improved and clearly deserves his place in the team. His problem, although not necessarily this week, might be that we could end up with too many players who deserve their place in the team and some will have to miss out. Nice for us as supporters; presumably disappointing for those players.

2 hours ago, jnrmac said:

I don't particulalry rate Wagner altho he has certainly improved this year. He has increased his attack on the ball carrier, become a better tackler and has less lame turnovers.

Wagner doesn't seem to have any particular strengths - he isn't fast, he's not strong overhead, he's not a brilliant decision maker, he is only average one on one and his disposals skills are a work in progress - but he may develop into a solid and reliable backman given time. I hope so because its a critical role.

 

 

sounds almost, jetta-esque. doesn't he?

1 hour ago, DV8 said:

sounds almost, jetta-esque. doesn't he?

No I wouldn't say that. Jetta is pretty good one on one and plays taller than he is. He's not slow and makes good decisions. Maybe no stand out trait but he's gone in a range of areas.

We can only hope he develops into a Jetta like player.

I was one who was very vocal about his round 1 selection but he's been decent since halfway through that game. Hopefully with more games comes more confidence as he settles in. Would be great if he can make it as a regular senior player.

8 hours ago, Josh said:

I think Wagner is a good representation, for me anyway, with the frustrated thoughts of a footy tragic. Of which I am definitely one.

Wagner wasn't a high draft pick, he doesn't have super skills or pace or size or anything really. Seems like a very vanilla footballer (which is incredibly rich coming from a bloke who couldn't crack a senior game in the beer league ?). Yet not only does he keep getting picked, it sounds like he is one of the first picked.

Football isn't just about skill anymore. It's a science, it's measured with precision. The guys can't even go to a gym session without a GPS on according to an interview with Jesse Hogan. 

Wagner must follow every instruction perfectly, not only game day which is the 2 hours the majority of the football public is worried about (unless these poor young men put one toe out of line) but through the week as well.

We are building a dedicated disciplined culture which will hold sustained success and expect the highest level of professionalism 24/7.

 

IMHO 

 

5 hours ago, Tony Tea said:

If Wagner is doing exactly what the coaches ask for, and there is no one obviously better to go past him, he has to be picked.

To me he seems the archetypal  quiet achiever.  

And succesful teams need their scattering of quiet achievers.  

I'm not a big fan of his, and i doubt i ever will be.

But................what is evident is that he gives his all 100% of the time. This is evident in the amount of tackles he racks up each game and his continual running.

IMO, we will be a better team when others have overtaken him, as his negatives really can hurt us, but i cannot fault his continual effort (a rare thing given the lapses we have afforded in every game so far this year).

Sustained effort should  be a non-negotiable, so until such time that we have buy in from 18 players on the park, he stays in the 22. 

17 hours ago, bing181 said:

But speaking on Inside Melbourne, Chaplin said Wagner had been the player to impress him the most this pre-season.  

“Wags has been very, very good this year,” he said.

“A lot of people probably don’t realise what he does, because it doesn’t always come down to stats, but he’s probably been the most consistent defender across the three games so far.

“The way we want to play and the system – he hasn’t let us down at all. His best two games have been the Kangaroos and Geelong game. He was a standout for us and it’s been recognised internally, but probably not externally at the moment.”

He's always the first tackler in the defensive press. A couple of his tackles were broken too easily in the first quarter last week, but after that he was one of our best pressers.

It's obviously a vital role for our 18 man defence and it's interesting they've earmarked him for the role. 

I like his upside as a player. He's also playing a really important function that will eventually release Hunt to play in a higher, more attacking position. I wouldn't be surprised if this is also a position Brayshaw and Joel Smith will spend some time in.

He's underrated at the moment and I'm looking forward to seeing how he goes against Hawthorn's zippy forward line. 

20 minutes ago, A F said:

He's always the first tackler in the defensive press. A couple of his tackles were broken too easily in the first quarter last week, but after that he was one of our best pressers.

It's obviously a vital role for our 18 man defence and it's interesting they've earmarked him for the role. 

I like his upside as a player. He's also playing a really important function that will eventually release Hunt to play in a higher, more attacking position. I wouldn't be surprised if this is also a position Brayshaw and Joel Smith will spend some time in.

He's underrated at the moment and I'm looking forward to seeing how he goes against Hawthorn's zippy forward line. 

Was just thinking this myself, perhaps this is why Gus can't get a game, he either can't or won't defend in the same manner.

Not so much on here, but have been very critical of Wagner in the past and saw him as nothing but depth, pretty much a list clogger, that said he made me question my judgement big time against the Roos

7 hours ago, jnrmac said:

I don't particulalry rate Wagner altho he has certainly improved this year. He has increased his attack on the ball carrier, become a better tackler and has less lame turnovers.

Wagner doesn't seem to have any particular strengths - he isn't fast, he's not strong overhead, he's not a brilliant decision maker, he is only average one on one and his disposals skills are a work in progress - but he may develop into a solid and reliable backman given time. I hope so because its a critical role.

 

5 hours ago, DV8 said:

sounds almost, jetta-esque. doesn't he?

 

4 hours ago, jnrmac said:

No I wouldn't say that. Jetta is pretty good one on one and plays taller than he is. He's not slow and makes good decisions. Maybe no stand out trait but he's gone in a range of areas.

We can only hope he develops into a Jetta like player.

See the highlighted sections top quote ?  the highlighted sections, of your post, is what I was referring to, Re jetta-esque

Not so long ago most here were putting Jetta down as a lost cause.

 

I always liked Jetta's game style, but it hadn't suited the gamestyle the club was trying to instill at around the time of morton, bennell, etc.

Most thought Jetta was a bust.  Jetta wasn't the problem.

 

The same might be said of Wagner.

Wagner is doing okay but I don’t think he’s a long term solution 

4 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I was one who was very vocal about his round 1 selection but he's been decent since halfway through that game. Hopefully with more games comes more confidence as he settles in. Would be great if he can make it as a regular senior player.

Wagner was fairly good 2 years back. he was a dasher who needed to work on his game. 

(a little like hunts dash in 2017)

 

Last year was almost a right off for Wagner, in terms of AFL games. I wondered what had happened to him, was concerning, but our defence was pretty reasonable with Hibbo, Jetta & Hunt.

In hindsight the lessons Wagner would have learned thru last year, including resilience, would have been valuable ones.

Now we are taking the gamestyle further toward an attacking style with quicker ball movement.  Wagners mobility is back in vogue. And he is currently picking up the pieces from where he was back in 2016.

 

Next Hunty to learn top play wing properly.  and maybe, eventually, he'll learn half forward ????? one day?

I reckon since a shaky first half against Geelong, he's been good. Cops an unreasonable amount of criticism IMO - I reckon we are conditioned to the 18th-22nd being so completely hopeless that many look at them through that lense as if they're the second coming of Tom Gillies or Dan Nicholson or whatever Neeld era player you want to choose. Fear of failure drives us to be excessively critical.

Wagner doesn't have any particularly exciting aspects - can't magic the ball out of packs like Oliver, bulldoze through like Trac, or sprint like Hunt, but he impacts contests, and he tackles to remove the ball from his opponents. Earning his keep for mine.

 

On talent Wagner isn't best 22.Based on current form he is. He will play until his form dip's, or someone with more talent builds stronger form and passes him.

I just want to win games of footy, and right now he is helping us do that.

Wagner is an impact player down back. He doesn't look like much but he is effective. Sometimes he may even turn it over, but then he pops up minutes later with a run down tackle or a smother. He adds something down back. He is tough. He will also take the game on. I have to respect what he brings to the table.

3 hours ago, KingDingAling said:

Wagner is an impact player down back. He doesn't look like much but he is effective. Sometimes he may even turn it over, but then he pops up minutes later with a run down tackle or a smother. He adds something down back. He is tough. He will also take the game on. I have to respect what he brings to the table.

Yes, absolutely.

He takes the game on, works hard, makes some mistakes, but if our players don't make mistakes they are not trying hard enough. With practice and experience those mistakes will become less and less.

 

We do not need to be a team that does not make mistakes, because it plays safe conservative footy. 

We need a side to take the game on, grab it by the scruff of the neck, and rag-doll everything out of it.

 

The other is in our past.  We know how that ends, it goes nowhere every year, until we fall back down, and an ever-shrinking club.