On 1/17/2020 at 7:50 PM, Sir Why You Little said:

I am glad he is finally “ready”

 

 

17 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

It’s a contract year for Trac. He’d be looking for a very good 2 year contract to take him to free agency at end of 2022.

Therefore I’m expecting huge things from him this year.

He’s ready to sign a new contract. We have seen this all before with richly talented but lazy types who realise their potential in contract signing years but then revert to type straight afterwards. Just leave the signing off till the end of the season and that way we can be sure he works his butt off for the duration. I want to see two, three, not one breakout seasons in a row from him before I am convinced he has matured for the better.

Edited January 18, 20205 yr by america de cali

If he can build a tank worthy of an elite midfielder, there really is no ceiling.

On 1/17/2020 at 7:37 PM, ding said:

Trac has been a victim of his own hubris up to this point of his career. I have referred to him in the recent past as possibly the most overrated player in the league based on hype-v-output. Last year i watched him closely looking for ANY signs that he might be tracking(no pun intended) towards a genuine A-Grader. I can honestly say i saw enough to suggest the penny might have finally dropped for him.

I believe (maybe more of a hope ) that he can, if he stays injury-free, become one of the games most damaging players this season. 

Boy dont we need it.

I hate these fluff pieces. "I want to be a Hall of Famer" What a ridiculous thing to say.....

I hope he has matured. We all know he has the tools. but so did Colin Sylvia.

Trac needs 3 things IMO:

1. Endurance - reportedly he has vastly improved

2. Ball drop - Insane that this has not been rectified

3. Selfishness - I see a guy that is trying to please too many people and do the team things too much. Sometimes he just needs to grab the ball burst away and deliver like say, a de Goey We have seen a few times when he does this and it is very exciting. Other times his mind is swimming -'what do I do?' 'Don't stuff it up'. If ever there is a player that has a licence to break away from team rules it's Trac. More instinct and less robot for me.

4 hours ago, Undeeterred said:

Do you?

if you do, and you’re ‘dishing up’ criticism, unless you’re also on the coaching staff I hope he’s not listening.

I hope he doesn't listen to you.    Critique can motivate to prove them wrong, for those stuck on a low plateau.

You sound like a supporter too much,  more of the same ways of past failures.

If Petracca has just started to think he needs to pull the finger out himself,  then why not two years ago.? 

 

'Cruising along', is a part of Melbourne's wasted talents,  of a list that would stretch around the boundary fence at the G.

Max Gawn was guilty of it for years,  until some talk arose of trading.  He started to fire up after that 'burn'.

 

We are often too kind and overly supportive of our young players, once they've matured.

Support our kids with encouragement but not criticism,  until they been in the system 3 seasons.   Approx 21 Yrs. 

That should be when Some critique could be applied from outside the fence.

Petracca was overdue as was Maxy back then.

Oli is now in that mix,.  as he needs to stop wasting the footy,  as he does so often. 

Same with Brayshaw.

 

And yes, I've known D players in the past, and understand how some waste their talents.

35 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

3. Selfishness - I see a guy that is trying to please too many people and do the team things too much. Sometimes he just needs to grab the ball burst away and deliver like say, a de Goey We have seen a few times when he does this and it is very exciting. Other times his mind is swimming -'what do I do?' 'Don't stuff it up'. If ever there is a player that has a licence to break away from team rules it's Trac. More instinct and less robot for me.

Often this is a lack of backing himself, a lazy mental attitude of hiding behind others leadership,  and not talking responsibility for his game.  And what he Could bring to the team.

A bit about shyness and boyhood stuff.

 

He has to Want to lead first,  before his mind-set will change on-field.

Every player is different and has different motivational requirements . The club needs to ensure each player is given the appropriate advice positive or negative at the time it is required for their advancement..

it ant easy but it ain't rocket surgery.

I think he is tracking nicely. His stats put him right up there and are getting better each year, he creates things out of nothing, scares the crap out of defenders...

He is a very good player that has (possibly his own fault) been over hyped to be the next Jesus

On 1/18/2020 at 10:40 AM, The Stigga said:

'Melbourne Football Club pre-season is in danger of becoming stale, so we're going to take it to strange new places...'

 

As long as there is no more of this then I'm sure he'll go well.

 

What was with trying to drown him again?

It’s really hard to see any benefit in that.

 

On 1/17/2020 at 6:35 PM, John Demonic said:

We need to dish up kale and spinach for him instead of roasts, if we want him to become a lean endurance athlete. ?

I don't want Petracca to turn into a '...lean endurance athlete...' simply because he is a completely well-built fright machine for the opposition at all levels. His fitness and endurance can still be honed without losing his physique, solidity and presented 'toughness' at the ball. The guy is under and has been under enough pressure in the past 12 months to perform; this he has done with increasing capabilities. He augurs well for a very big 2020 season in which most observers already are impressed by his pre-season conditioning and apparent readiness - just from observation. He is a gun, he will be an even more effective gun; we all must get off his back - a little - as he is a good example of natural progression taking its pathway. In particular, I felt that his 2019 season performance indicated rather clearly that his footy decisions, related game interpretations and play intelligence were beginning to really hone well for the side - with a related increase in the freedom of his decision-making and its vastly improving execution. With expanding confidence, I'd reckon that we have a true champ on our hands from this point onwards. 

On 1/20/2020 at 2:30 AM, Deemania since 56 said:

I don't want Petracca to turn into a '...lean endurance athlete...' simply because he is a completely well-built fright machine for the opposition at all levels. His fitness and endurance can still be honed without losing his physique, solidity and presented 'toughness' at the ball. The guy is under and has been under enough pressure in the past 12 months to perform; this he has done with increasing capabilities. He augurs well for a very big 2020 season in which most observers already are impressed by his pre-season conditioning and apparent readiness - just from observation. He is a gun, he will be an even more effective gun; we all must get off his back - a little - as he is a good example of natural progression taking its pathway. In particular, I felt that his 2019 season performance indicated rather clearly that his footy decisions, related game interpretations and play intelligence were beginning to really hone well for the side - with a related increase in the freedom of his decision-making and its vastly improving execution. With expanding confidence, I'd reckon that we have a true champ on our hands from this point onwards. 

All valid points, i was just making a pun on the Martians 'roasts' comment above and also want him to have that balance of fitness and endurance as well as bulk muscle strength he can throw around. So not turn into a vegan stick insect! ☺️

Edited January 22, 20205 yr by John Demonic

On 1/17/2020 at 5:56 PM, MyFavouriteMartian said:

 

 So the roasting we dished out on him last year,  has not been wasted on deaf ears,  apparently.

 A little flung Mud can do wonders,  for false self perceptions.

 

Get the right message into young heads and development Will most times occur.

False praise is  'THE  Most'  destructive type of support  anyone can spray on our young players. 

I nearly puked when I read this post. 
 

Maybe Petracca’s progress is evidence that we should be patient and let players develop at their own pace instead of heckling, abusing and carrying on like impatient, entitled twits.

3 hours ago, Nasher said:

I nearly puked when I read this post. 
 

Maybe Petracca’s progress is evidence that we should be patient and let players develop at their own pace instead of heckling, abusing and carrying on like impatient, entitled twits.

 

Hopefully he's spent plenty of time with Stafford over the preseason.

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Hopefully he's spent plenty of time with Stafford over the preseason.

Agreed. Needs to consistently nail the regulation 40 metre out shots directly in front of goals, particularly at the Punt Rd end.

However, I was flabbergasted to discover he kicked a pretty decent 22.14 last year. A dramatic improvement on the 19.23 of 2018.

He also runs at a career average conversion of 60% which is good.

Believe it when i see it! 

1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Agreed. Needs to consistently nail the regulation 40 metre out shots directly in front of goals, particularly at the Punt Rd end.

However, I was flabbergasted to discover he kicked a pretty decent 22.14 last year. A dramatic improvement on the 19.23 of 2018.

He also runs at a career average conversion of 60% which is good.

It's the shockers that get remembered though and his set shot action is terrible. It's all mental I have no doubt which means it's easy to fix.

Those stats don't take into account the out on the fulls either

On 1/19/2020 at 9:01 AM, america de cali said:

He’s ready to sign a new contract. We have seen this all before with richly talented but lazy types who realise their potential in contract signing years but then revert to type straight afterwards.

I get that we've been burned before by certain players seemingly restricting their good seasons to contract years, but this post pretty much sums up the Petracca angst on here. He's damned if he plays well, damned if he plays poorly. 

Worth remembering that he was one of very few on our list to show improvement last year - it's not like he only plays well when we're 10 goals up. 

He does things that very few players in the league are capable of. We'd all like to see more consistency, but I don't think it's laziness holding him back.

We've blackballed him from The Melbourne Club .

Standards.

3 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Agreed. Needs to consistently nail the regulation 40 metre out shots directly in front of goals, particularly at the Punt Rd end.

However, I was flabbergasted to discover he kicked a pretty decent 22.14 last year. A dramatic improvement on the 19.23 of 2018.

He also runs at a career average conversion of 60% which is good.

Most of his goals have been scored from in play. His set shot percentage is much lower, was around 30% at one point last year. It seems mental for him, as his set shot percentage back in 2017 when under less expectation was close to 70% and one of the best in the league. The two seasons since has seen it plummet to one of the worst in the league. He has the skill, he needs to build the mental resilience and consistency for his set shots.

Trac sounds like he’s maturing this offseason and taking more ownership of not only his own form, but the teams form. Sounds like he might become a leader with time. Hopefully he has a great year and builds off a solid 2019... and then re-signs a new contract with us!