Alex Neal-Bullen

[IvanBartul13 2,564]

3 hours ago, A F said:

You weren't watching properly in 2012-2013 then. We had guys like Dean Terlich and Matt Jones finishing high in our BnF.

I'm not ANB's biggest fan but this is hyperbole. We've had a lot worse players than him.

He's played well the last few weeks for sure.  He is playing far more to his limitations and all of a sudden he isn't panicking as much.  My comment was on the backen d of 16 ball use clangers in three weeks, which is almost unheard of in AFL football and he was clearly awful in those games. Against Sydney he had six from 14 possessions - ghoulish.

Don't forget he is playing in a very good side and on the weekend he was playing on arguably Geelong's least heralded player, Mark O'Connor so his role was pretty easy let's be fair.  Just run to the fall of the ball and clog the ball in and if not, chase and tackle.

Terlich (didn''t play every game) and Matt Jones (Jones in particular) carried a big load in their first seasons.    Matt Jones as an example had 31 ball use clangers from more disposals in that year compared to ANB's 50 this year.   ANB as far as I'm aware leads the league in ball use clangers per disposal and even though he was good on Friday night, it was in a dominant team performance and even still he wouldn't been in the top 12 players of consequence for the Demons on the night IMO.  I would probably rate him our 15th best player on the night.

 

Edited September 9, 2018 by goodoil

[Salems Lot 2,493]

9 minutes ago, goodoil said:

He's played well the last few weeks for sure.  He is playing far more to his limitations and all of a sudden he isn't panicking as much.  My comment was on the backen d of 16 ball use clangers in three weeks, which is almost unheard of in AFL football and he was clearly awful in those games. Against Sydney he had six from 14 possessions - ghoulish.

Don't forget he is playing in a very good side and on the weekend he was playing on arguably Geelong's least heralded player, Mark O'Connor so his role was pretty easy let's be fair.  Just run to the fall of the ball and clog the ball in and if not, chase and tackle.

Terlich (didn''t play every game) and Matt Jones (Jones in particular) carried a big load in their first seasons.    Matt Jones as an example had 31 ball use clangers from more disposals in that year compared to ANB's 50 this year.   ANB as far as I'm aware leads the league in ball use clangers per disposal and even though he was good on Friday night, it was in a dominant team performance and even still he wouldn't been in the top 12 players of consequence for the Demons on the night IMO.

 

Good to know his role was easy Goodoil; I guess you will be challenging him for that "easy" job once you are drafted this year.  He better look over his shoulder!

Edited September 9, 2018 by Salems Lot
lack of syntax

[IvanBartul13 2,564]

4 minutes ago, Salems Lot said:

Good to know his role was easy Goodoil; I guess you will be challenging him for that "easy" job once you are drafted this year.  He better look over his shoulder!

Not sure what my football ability has got to do with it but Jay Lockhart might be the one challenging him next year.  My point is that Geelong sent their worst their player to him, which is relevant to analyzing his performance, as is the fact we basically dominated the game.   But credit to him, zero ball use clangers the last two weeks after 50 previously.  It's made him a good player the last two weeks.

[layzie 33,752]

I think you have to have a guy like ANB in the side that is just going to flat out work his socks off till the final bell. Yes I’d like to see him have a little more impact with the ball or get more of it at least but for now you have to say he’s doing his job.

[chookrat 4,247]

ANB is underrated here for his workrate and pressure. Without guys lik him our system would not work. He also gets on the end of scoring chains and decent around goal. 

[iv'a worn smith 1,979]

11 minutes ago, chookrat said:

ANB is underrated here for his workrate and pressure. Without guys lik him our system would not work. He also gets on the end of scoring chains and decent around goal. 

This!!!!!  So true.  He is still young and will only get better.  He is an integral part to our entire game plan.  Well done Nibbler!!!

 

 

[Gorgoroth 12,924]

So many more worries in our side than Nibbler.

Edited September 9, 2018 by Gorgoroth

[Adam The God 30,129]

Having just re-watched the game again I reckon ANB played his best game for Melbourne in a final. Great effort.

Just shows that if we keep it simple, work hard and play within our limitations anything is possible.

How good is our development coaching? Bloody brilliant. Just about every player in the 22 is a better player than they were in the first half of the season.

[Adam The God 30,129]

1 hour ago, goodoil said:

He's played well the last few weeks for sure.  He is playing far more to his limitations and all of a sudden he isn't panicking as much.  My comment was on the backen d of 16 ball use clangers in three weeks, which is almost unheard of in AFL football and he was clearly awful in those games. Against Sydney he had six from 14 possessions - ghoulish.

Don't forget he is playing in a very good side and on the weekend he was playing on arguably Geelong's least heralded player, Mark O'Connor so his role was pretty easy let's be fair.  Just run to the fall of the ball and clog the ball in and if not, chase and tackle.

Terlich (didn''t play every game) and Matt Jones (Jones in particular) carried a big load in their first seasons.    Matt Jones as an example had 31 ball use clangers from more disposals in that year compared to ANB's 50 this year.   ANB as far as I'm aware leads the league in ball use clangers per disposal and even though he was good on Friday night, it was in a dominant team performance and even still he wouldn't been in the top 12 players of consequence for the Demons on the night IMO.  I would probably rate him our 15th best player on the night.

 

Go back and watch the replay. I'd argue he was in our top 10 players and set the tone in every quarter for our tackling.

[hells bells 2,023]

He was very good on Friday night.  He has had games where he has been fumbly, but I can’t recall a time in the game when he fumbled.  

He has played 58 games.  He is going to be a very solid player for us for 200 games.

[dimmy 1,307]

1 hour ago, A F said:

 I reckon ANB played his best game for Melbourne in a final. Great effort.

Just shows that if we keep it simple, work hard and play within our limitations anything is possible.

How good is our development coaching? Bloody brilliant. Just about every player in the 22 is a better player than they were in the first half of the season.

ANB has been one of our really big improvers this year because he has had a role and been supported by his coaches.

Same does for Weiderman ,Frost and OMac. Confidence is a marvellous teacher.

The we have the "babies"  in Spardo (only 19) and Batley Fritsch  . First year players. Both with a lot of upside.

Then you really have the cream on the cake in Salem & Gus & Clarrie & Tmac .

I also feel Dom Tyson is working into his role and Tracc is supplying the X factor and will develop consistency.

Our coaching and development team are providing a terrific program

Future is bright. I was disappointed that Jack Watts was traded ,but I now can see that he did not fir into the "Brand"that Goody was developing.

[DEE fence 5,004]

1 hour ago, A F said:

Having just re-watched the game again I reckon ANB played his best game for Melbourne in a final. Great effort.

Just shows that if we keep it simple, work hard and play within our limitations anything is possible.

How good is our development coaching? Bloody brilliant. Just about every player in the 22 is a better player than they were in the first half of the season.

@goodoil Appreciate the respectful tone you take with ANB, but can't agree, watching the tape, he motors to contest to contest, created chopouts and options with his running when the ball carrier was under pressure, laid some huge tackles and seemed to be at every contest providing pressure. Easily top 10 players on the night because he played his role perfectly. Wouldn't surprise me if he gets 4 goals next week, I know there is a goal scorer waiting to break out (again). I also mark him a little easier for his clangers, because he does huge work to get to all the contests it does depreciate the motor skills a bit when you are beyond exhausted, I also see this improving as he goes on and becomes ore adept at dealing with the lactic acid during skill execution.

[DeezNuts 624]

Nibbler was excellent - he’s about the only one that’ll keep up with Smith all day next week.

[IvanBartul13 2,564]

6 hours ago, A F said:

Go back and watch the replay. I'd argue he was in our top 10 players and set the tone in every quarter for our tackling.

His pressure and effort is great there is no doubt about that.  I don't think his detractors will have ever said a bad word about that.  The knock on him is that he has killed momentum in games by butchering basically guaranteed goal opportunities. 

Viney laid 9 tackles in the first half, including some holding the balls, so I'd argue he set the tackling tone, but ANB was obviously good in this regard.

The way I saw the game - Harmes, Weideman, Viney, Brayshaw, T.McDonald, Salem, Oliver, Gawn, Lewis, Jetta, Frost Vandenberg were better players and I really thought Oscar McDonald was terrific as well.  Thought Neal-Bullen's was a 7/10 game.

[Salems Lot 2,493]

11 hours ago, goodoil said:

Not sure what my football ability has got to do with it but Jay Lockhart might be the one challenging him next year.  My point is that Geelong sent their worst their player to him, which is relevant to analyzing his performance, as is the fact we basically dominated the game.   But credit to him, zero ball use clangers the last two weeks after 50 previously.  It's made him a good player the last two weeks.

Simply put, suggesting that any role played in a final is "easy" is ludicrous.  The guy worked his guts out all night but he did, along with several of his more highly celebrated teammates commit some errors.  Listening to Goodwin it seems that the coaching panel expect these to occur but are looking for how the team overcomes them. Clearly he is not one of our best but he has given his all whenever I have watched him play and watching him at the ground on Friday, his running pattens are elite.  He also has an uncanny capacity to bob up at the right time (kicking the sealer for one example).

[ProperDee 1,698]

13 hours ago, sisso said:

He's a better player than Jason Castagna who plays a similar role and is a fixture for the no. 1 side in the AFL:

https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_player_compare?playerStatus1=A&tid1=15&playerStatus2=A&tid2=12&type=A&pid1=4123&pid2=4067&fid1=S&fid2=S

When he takes an overhead mark like Castagna can I will agree with you.

Edited September 9, 2018 by ProperDee

[old55 23,402]

ANB was very good.  Really set the tone early by causing Geelong to fumble the ball and strong legal tackles.  Yes he had a trademark missed goal but he wasn't Robinson Crusoe and his other two misses were harder shots.

He's a smart player.  Stewart was going for exactly the same pass as 2 mins before and Alex read the play beautifully and chopped it off.  That goal was fine icing.

He's a vital cog - I've come to appreciate that.

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

I wasn't so upset by his missed goal early on, he had to go the checkside I felt but to go back and slot the set shot was a huge effort.

[In Harmes Way 7,741]

I just watched the replay of the first quarter on the train on the way in to work. Nibbler was absolutely immense in the first 15 minutes with his pressure and tackling. I also loved that he was getting really pushy on the Geelong players after a tackle, one of the smallest blokes on the ground but gave nothing away.

If he plays like that for the finals series, we're in good hands.

[sisso 2,580]

23 hours ago, ProperDee said:

When he takes an overhead mark like Castagna can I will agree with you.

Haven't noticed Castagna as an overhead marking machine personally....

[Nasher 33,607]

23 hours ago, Fifty-5 said:

ANB was very good.  Really set the tone early by causing Geelong to fumble the ball and strong legal tackles.  Yes he had a trademark missed goal but he wasn't Robinson Crusoe and his other two misses were harder shots.

He's a smart player.  Stewart was going for exactly the same pass as 2 mins before and Alex read the play beautifully and chopped it off.  That goal was fine icing.

He's a vital cog - I've come to appreciate that.

Prior to the game he was 25.15.  I know it's nitpicking as your post was intended to be positive, but I reckon it's harsh to refer to his miss as "trademark" - this was the first week his behinds outstripped his goals by more than 1.  In general he's a decent shot for goal.  

Melksham and Petracca are the serial missers for mine.  

[layzie 33,752]

Love this kid! Will give you 110% every time. Sure some games he'll play better than others but his output is just immense. Good job sir!

[binman 42,682]

I think many don't recognise how critical his running is. Covers more ground rhan anyone and gut runs to get across to outlet kicks and stop/slow transition.

The whole team has improved this defensive running in tge back half of rhe season, which has been the key factor in our ability to restrict opposition scoring in the last third of the season (where have the calls our defensive unit is weak gone?). 

But in the first two thirds of the season anb was one of the few players willing or able to cover the sort of ks and do the gut runnning required for the dees to be competitive with the top teams. I have little doubt goody would have used anb as an example to his team mates as what is required at this level in terms of running and effort.

[Superunknown 4,214]

Drop ANB and I'll spew

[Bonkers 994]

14 minutes ago, binman said:

I think many don't recognise how critical his running is. Covers more ground rhan anyone and gut runs to get across to outlet kicks and stop/slow transition.

The whole team has improved this defensive running in tge back half of rhe season, which has been the key factor in our ability to restrict opposition scoring in the last third of the season (where have the calls our defensive unit is weak gone?). 

But in the first two thirds of the season anb was one of the few players willing or able to cover the sort of ks and do the gut runnning required for the dees to be competitive with the top teams. I have little doubt goody would have used anb as an example to his team mates as what is required at this level in terms of running and effort.

Exactly. I think its the reason why they are playing Spargo instead of someone like Garlett.