I'll go against the trend here but I reckon he's playing his role and been critical in our turnaround.

Yes, he has the odd wayward kick and he's not getting mega stats but his role is different.

He reads the ball well off Max's hands as witnessed in the first contest of the game.

He spreads well and opens out the play whereas before we would get drawn in to the ball.

He also does a nice little tagging job when needed.

...and with Harmes is a great 4 & 5 option to throw in when the others need a break or we need to throw something different at the game.

Stop watching the stats everyone and start watching the game.

Seems like Angus is the new Omac...

2 minutes ago, rjay said:

Stop watching the stats everyone and start watching the game.

Seems like Angus is the new Omac...

Was more watching his delivery, especially by foot. Was horrible yesterday. Half his kicks were clangers. I'm not worried if he doesn't get a lot of it, but he needs to use it well when he does, especially if he's not getting a lot of it.

18 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

Was more watching his delivery, especially by foot. Was horrible yesterday. Half his kicks were clangers. I'm not worried if he doesn't get a lot of it, but he needs to use it well when he does, especially if he's not getting a lot of it.

Would be nice to get the clangers out of his game, agreed. Half is a bit of an exaggeration though 'Nev', but when he does have a clanger it's usually a beauty...

I get the frustration with him as on the flip side some of his kicking can be pinpoint (he is a beautiful kick of the ball off both feet). He must have the odd brain fade, will be better for getting that out of his game. If he does then he will be our version of Sidebottom...

...but he is doing his job and as for calls to bring Sparrow in for him as some have posted...give me a break.

Edited July 20, 20204 yr by rjay

33 minutes ago, rjay said:

I'll go against the trend here but I reckon he's playing his role and been critical in our turnaround.

Yes, he has the odd wayward kick and he's not getting mega stats but his role is different.

He reads the ball well off Max's hands as witnessed in the first contest of the game.

He spreads well and opens out the play whereas before we would get drawn in to the ball.

He also does a nice little tagging job when needed.

...and with Harmes is a great 4 & 5 option to throw in when the others need a break or we need to throw something different at the game.

Stop watching the stats everyone and start watching the game.

Seems like Angus is the new Omac...

I think he was matched up Smith for most of the game and he was barely cited. He definitely had no influence on the game. 
His disposal wasn’t great at times but defensively I thought he was good.

2 hours ago, ProperDee said:

Footballers can have a run of outs like a cricketer.  You go from hitting the ball in the middle of the bat to playing and missing for no apparent reason.  Footballers get a run of the fumbles and no matter what they do, the ball just won't stick. 

Gus is a confidence player and now that the team is starting to play better I think we will see Gus lift as well.  Having said that, to me he his body language tells me he just doesn't seem happy at the moment.  Maybe there are some off field issues that we don't know about?  We tend to forget that our heroes also suffer from the same human traits and frailties as us mere mortals.

Finishing ahead of Martin, Dangerfield, Cripps Grundy and Gawn in a Brownlow shows that Gus is a super talent.  If he can lift  his own confidence with that of the team we can yet again become a genuine contender.

Absolutely. Good post.

If Petracca, Oliver and Viney keep trending upwards and Gawn maintains his form, adding Gus into the mix will not only give our midfield an extra weapon, it'll make us less predictable and more flexible. Add Langdon's running power and even Tomlinson's in reserve, along with a more experienced Oscar McDonald supported by May and Lever, with kickers in Salem, May and Jetta behind the ball and Bennell and Kozzie across half forward and there really is a chance this year to have a more infallible version of our 2018.

Still very early, but I hope Gus can find some form, because although he's struggled outside of 2018, that year shows what a talent he is.

1 hour ago, Patches O’houlihan said:

We have too many inside bulls and sadly Gus is paying the price. he's effectively being played out of position and his weaknesses are on show for everyone. 

he's exactly the type of bloke who goes to another club for more opportunities and dominates and everyone says, why did you let him go. 

I think the best thing for Gus is to move on to another club, i like him and rate him but he's behind Petracca, Oliver and Viney, and probably neck in neck with Harmes for the position that suits him. and he's only bang average on a wing. 

the other thing to consider is the reduced quarters in 2020 means less rotation of star players so the blokes mentioned above aren't needing to rotate quite as much so less sustained opportunity at the bounce for Gus as a result 

It's funny, because I think he's actually keeping Tomlinson out of the team at the moment. Tomlinson is more aerobically helpful, but Gus gives us another solid midfield contributor to relieve the starting 3.

I agree with so much of what you say here mate, but I hope Gus can play the rest of his career at Melbourne. But maybe I'm being too sentimental? 

55 minutes ago, rjay said:

I'll go against the trend here but I reckon he's playing his role and been critical in our turnaround.

Yes, he has the odd wayward kick and he's not getting mega stats but his role is different.

He reads the ball well off Max's hands as witnessed in the first contest of the game.

He spreads well and opens out the play whereas before we would get drawn in to the ball.

He also does a nice little tagging job when needed.

...and with Harmes is a great 4 & 5 option to throw in when the others need a break or we need to throw something different at the game.

Stop watching the stats everyone and start watching the game.

Seems like Angus is the new Omac...

I reckon this is spot on, but I reckon he's a great offensive spreader (one of our best), but a very poor defensive spreader, which is where he gets caught. He's probably not helped by the fact he's not fleet of foot. 

35 minutes ago, rjay said:

Would be nice to get the clangers out of his game, agreed. Half is a bit of an exaggeration though 'Nev', but when he does have a clanger it's usually a beauty...

I get the frustration with him as on the flip side some of his kicking can be pinpoint (he is a beautiful kick of the ball off both feet). He must have the odd brain fade, will be better for getting that out of his game. If he does then he will be our version of Sidebottom...

...but he is doing his job and as for calls to bring Sparrow in for him as some have posted...give me a break.

Had 8 kicks and 4 clangers, so no exaggeration mate.

I don't think he's in danger of being dropped, but he absolutely needs to lift. I get what you're saying about the overreaction from some though, I'm a big Sparrow fan and think he has a ton of potential, but I wouldn't be bringing him in for Gus at this stage.

20 minutes ago, Megatron said:

I think he was matched up Smith for most of the game and he was barely cited. He definitely had no influence on the game. 
His disposal wasn’t great at times but defensively I thought he was good.

I thought he might be...and Smith did nothing. Tidy up the kicking, that's what takes him to the next level.

5 minutes ago, A F said:

I reckon this is spot on, but I reckon he's a great offensive spreader (one of our best), but a very poor defensive spreader, which is where he gets caught. He's probably not helped by the fact he's not fleet of foot. 

He's quicker than you think 'A F'...has a strange gait but covers ground quickly. I think his defensive work is getting better, no doubt it was an area all our mids needed to fix but we strangled the Hawks yesterday...good signs.

37 minutes ago, rjay said:

Would be nice to get the clangers out of his game, agreed. Half is a bit of an exaggeration though 'Nev', but when he does have a clanger it's usually a beauty...

I get the frustration with him as on the flip side some of his kicking can be pinpoint (he is a beautiful kick of the ball off both feet). He must have the odd brain fade, will be better for getting that out of his game. If he does then he will be our version of Sidebottom...

...but he is doing his job and as for calls to bring Sparrow in for him as some have posted...give me a break.

Nice comparison that. Sidebottom is exactly that sort of player Gus can become. I think Sidebottom is a more reliable shorter kick, but Gus is just as effective as Sidebottom over 40m+. Sidebottom also started his career off half back and took a little while before he played big centre square midfield minutes.

1 minute ago, Lord Nev said:

Had 8 kicks and 4 clangers, so no exaggeration mate.

I don't think he's in danger of being dropped, but he absolutely needs to lift. I get what you're saying about the overreaction from some though, I'm a big Sparrow fan and think he has a ton of potential, but I wouldn't be bringing him in for Gus at this stage.

Sparrow won't make it as a mid, he's not a natural ball winner.

He will as a defender if someone in the FD works it out.

He has the attributes to be the heir to Nev...similarly Nev wasn't a natural ball winner when played up the ground but found his mojo as a deep defender.

Sparrow is quicker than Nev, is strong on the ground and in the air. Would play him back.

31 minutes ago, rjay said:

Sparrow won't make it as a mid, he's not a natural ball winner.

He will as a defender if someone in the FD works it out.

He has the attributes to be the heir to Nev...similarly Nev wasn't a natural ball winner when played up the ground but found his mojo as a deep defender.

Sparrow is quicker than Nev, is strong on the ground and in the air. Would play him back.

Agree to disagree on this one mate, have watched this kid closely for a while and once he matures a bit and some opportunity opens up he will be another inside beast with a burst for us.

Everyone sees different things in players though.

He had such a great year in 2018, a real breakout, not sure what has happened since. Maybe it's his role as he was being used more as an inside mid (No Viney being injured) then and seems to be playing more outside on a wing. Correct me if I'm getting this wrong. His numbers have gone down a lot since then. Any further insight on his role would be great. 

1 hour ago, rjay said:

Sparrow won't make it as a mid, he's not a natural ball winner.

He will as a defender if someone in the FD works it out.

He has the attributes to be the heir to Nev...similarly Nev wasn't a natural ball winner when played up the ground but found his mojo as a deep defender.

Sparrow is quicker than Nev, is strong on the ground and in the air. Would play him back.

I don't think he wouldn't make it as a mid, but I do agree he should be tried as a defender. I wanted him and Lockhart tried as small defenders, and thankfully we're trying Lockhart there now. We still need more small defenders on our list, especially with the game trending towards smaller forward lines and Nev being our only consistent small defender.

4 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Yes needs to lift but has class and smarts and skill. He’s just going but fits nicely alongside the midfield bull squad. 

I agree he has class but his smarts and skill I have not seen this year, he seems to hack the footy forward, also think the one good kick he had to Wied yesterday was a fluke. I do love Gus but he needs to find form.

My first impression is that he's just out of touch and confidence in a big way.

In a dysfunctional team, its harder to get back into form but I think there signs of him getting his hands on the ball more this week and from there hopefully the skills and delivery will come back to his best.

There were similar signs with Tmac and Omac. They're playing their way back into form.

It's a different year this year and dropping him back to Casey to find touch isn't an option.

He'll come back into form and he's one of our best when he is.

46 minutes ago, Gawn for good said:

He had such a great year in 2018, a real breakout, not sure what has happened since. Maybe it's his role as he was being used more as an inside mid (No Viney being injured) then and seems to be playing more outside on a wing. Correct me if I'm getting this wrong. His numbers have gone down a lot since then. Any further insight on his role would be great. 

He's having to play more minutes on the wing and with Petracca going into the midfield. The Fox stats showed yesterday that they've reversed Petracca's midfield/forward minutes and he's now playing above 70% midfield time, so this has a flow on effect to guys like Gus, when we've also got a fit Viney and a consistent ball-winner in Oliver to choose from.

I'm not sure we can say for certain (without being in the inner circle and being privy to certain details) what his role is in-game, but positionally, he seems to be playing more wing minutes.

Does anyone have access to info in terms of his time played in different positions? That could be more illuminating than merely what we observe.

37 minutes ago, A F said:

He's having to play more minutes on the wing and with Petracca going into the midfield. The Fox stats showed yesterday that they've reversed Petracca's midfield/forward minutes and he's now playing above 70% midfield time, so this has a flow on effect to guys like Gus, when we've also got a fit Viney and a consistent ball-winner in Oliver to choose from.

I'm not sure we can say for certain (without being in the inner circle and being privy to certain details) what his role is in-game, but positionally, he seems to be playing more wing minutes.

Does anyone have access to info in terms of his time played in different positions? That could be more illuminating than merely what we observe.

Someone who has access to the 'heat maps' might post them.

On 3/28/2020 at 12:36 PM, Satyriconhome said:

And it was?

So it was McCartney, he had an opinion on everything, doesn't necessarily mean that opinion was right

Talked a few times to him, didn't agree with everything he said, seemed to have a bit of underlying bitterness about the whole industry 

Note ex coach for going forward 

 

Wow. Satyr is having a Lash at McCartney now, because he didn’t hear a piece of information 

No doubt whilst McCartney was an employee of the MFC you would have been “mates”, but now....

20 people were involved in a discussion and you were not there

Deal with it..

2 hours ago, Lord Nev said:

Had 8 kicks and 4 clangers, so no exaggeration mate.

I don't think he's in danger of being dropped, but he absolutely needs to lift. I get what you're saying about the overreaction from some though, I'm a big Sparrow fan and think he has a ton of potential, but I wouldn't be bringing him in for Gus at this stage.

Id like to go back and have a look at how many of those 4 clangers where on his left. Hes such (at times) good kick on his left that when he miss kicks one it  looks really bad. Only Gus and Melky can use both feet just as good as each other and its a big weapon. Gus has confidence to turn onto either foot while most other would go the safe option and use there natural leg but at times it gets them caught.

EG one of the coast to coast goals I think it was weed in the goals square to the left of screen only happened cause Guys could hit up Fritz on his left along teh boundary. If he had to turn into traffic and use his right I dont think we kick that goal.

I wonder if other Teams who have gone through a  period of losing and then winning do the same as what we do.

Shy away from the team focus to individual player types. We should all know how important these blokes are in team balance when we have a seven handball change of hands ending in goals, exciting stuff and we do it better than anyone.

A young bloke from a legendary football family, runs third in the Brownlow for very good reasons that he will always have, and a brother of a very good KPF starts looking more like a gun back line player in the Michael Johnson mould  because he's given a chance to mature.

2 minutes ago, Grimes Times said:

Id like to go back and have a look at how many of those 4 clangers where on his left. Hes such (at times) good kick on his left that when he miss kicks one it  looks really bad. Only Gus and Melky can use both feet just as good as each other and its a big weapon. Gus has confidence to turn onto either foot while most other would go the safe option and use there natural leg but at times it gets them caught.

EG one of the coast to coast goals I think it was weed in the goals square to the left of screen only happened cause Guys could hit up Fritz on his left along teh boundary. If he had to turn into traffic and use his right I dont think we kick that goal.

Yeah good call. I know we get overloaded with stats, but would be an interesting one if they took note of kicks on preferred and non-preferred.

Gus got better as the game progressed, he was part of many clearances that happened after half time. 
A quick link, but still important 

I would be playing him next week

Gus is too talented to leave out and is working hard enough to warrant his spot in the side but gee, it felt as though every possession he has yesterday was a clanger.

15 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Gus got better as the game progressed, he was part of many clearances that happened after half time. 
A quick link, but still important 

I would be playing him next week

I generally agree but I do wonder what sort of commentary we'd be seeing here if he played the same game in a losing side. I suspect there'd be some saying he should never play again.