Cant believe this is the same guy who kicked 50 two seasons ago. One of the sharpest declines in memory. Has to be injury.  

Tom “the Titanic” McDonald is warming the bench for Jackson and Gawn. He will be a backup for those two until he retires unless he magically finds some athleticism in his sock draw. 

16 minutes ago, stranga said:

Cant believe this is the same guy who kicked 50 two seasons ago. One of the sharpest declines in memory. Has to be injury.  

Definetly injured, watch his 2018 tapes and watch how agile he was and how high he got off the ground. Needs to do a mini pre season like Oscar did and work with a running coach. 

Reckon people are being a little harsh on him. He's clearly not right, guessing it's the toe/foot injury, but he's still managing to do fairly well with pressure acts which Goody would be enjoying from him in the context of his physical condition.

 

His intent and desire is there you can't question that, did some good things.  But his body need to be reconditioned.  Needs a good preseason to get it right again.  Will fill in as best he can based on injuries.

17 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

Reckon people are being a little harsh on him. He's clearly not right, guessing it's the toe/foot injury, but he's still managing to do fairly well with pressure acts which Goody would be enjoying from him in the context of his physical condition.

 

The minor toe injury he had BEFORE the 2018 season? Seems unlikely.

Agility is a huge problem for him. It's never been a strength. 

He can't use his endurance in the shortened games and it's hard to find space for hard leads these days, hitting the wings as a lead up CHF isn't really a thing any more.

What I'm seeing is a guy who was never really trained up how to apply forward pressure properly and is struggling to learn now the hammer has finally dropped and he knows he has to do better. Plus at the same time his belief to hit packs and clunk marks just isn't there.

There's still moments - the dropped mark that led to the soccer goal for Melksham was a really strong contest and he wasn't far off holding that grab. The difference between a good and bad game is probably holding a couple of marks and then having the confidence to crash a few more packs rather than settling for being out of position.

The other big issue is he's always been a kick first player. He looks to fend off and dish off little kicks when he really needs to know he's a handball or quick kick player these days. He doesn't have the  strength through the legs to fend and still get a kick away. It's a bad habit he has to break.

The drop-off in agility is due to bulking up. Looks to me like they wanted him to perform the gorilla roll this season and it just hasn't worked out.

8 hours ago, stranga said:

Cant believe this is the same guy who kicked 50 two seasons ago. One of the sharpest declines in memory. Has to be injury.  

Put him on ice now and work on getting his foot and body back into the super athlete he was in 2018. 

9 hours ago, Lord Nev said:

Reckon people are being a little harsh on him. He's clearly not right, guessing it's the toe/foot injury, but he's still managing to do fairly well with pressure acts which Goody would be enjoying from him in the context of his physical condition.

 

I agree. He's getting to contests and bringing the ball to ground for our crumbers.  

I reckon he had 2 marks in front of goal sharked away from him that we kicked goals from that could have been his. We have to remember it got pretty wet and he wasn't far off clunking them under pressure.

He looks really close to getting his confidence back but his body just can't quite get him there. 

 

10 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

The minor toe injury he had BEFORE the 2018 season? Seems unlikely.

Agility is a huge problem for him. It's never been a strength. 

He can't use his endurance in the shortened games and it's hard to find space for hard leads these days, hitting the wings as a lead up CHF isn't really a thing any more.

What I'm seeing is a guy who was never really trained up how to apply forward pressure properly and is struggling to learn now the hammer has finally dropped and he knows he has to do better. Plus at the same time his belief to hit packs and clunk marks just isn't there.

There's still moments - the dropped mark that led to the soccer goal for Melksham was a really strong contest and he wasn't far off holding that grab. The difference between a good and bad game is probably holding a couple of marks and then having the confidence to crash a few more packs rather than settling for being out of position.

The other big issue is he's always been a kick first player. He looks to fend off and dish off little kicks when he really needs to know he's a handball or quick kick player these days. He doesn't have the  strength through the legs to fend and still get a kick away. It's a bad habit he has to break.

He's carried that injury a long time. Have a look through the 2018 season, it flared up multiple times. Do you think it just magically went away or it's still bothering him and has possibly gotten worse? You could add on the knee injury last year potentially too.

It's plainly obvious watching him move that he's hampered. Find it strange you think a player who's been a leader at the club has all of a sudden decided to develop bad habits (and still managed to be selected).

"Agility is a huge problem"... You don't think maybe that's to do with the injury to his foot?

He's rated elite for pressure acts this season, so I don't agree with you that he doesn't apply enough pressure.

Edited August 16, 20204 yr by Lord Nev

5 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

He's carried that injury a long time. Have a look through the 2018 season, it flared up multiple times. Do you think it just magically went away or it's still bothering him and has possibly gotten worse? You could add on the knee injury last year potentially too.

It's plainly obvious watching him move that he's hampered. Find it strange you think a player who's been a leader at the club has all of a sudden decided to develop bad habits (and still managed to be selected).

"Agility is a huge problem"... You don't think maybe that's to do with the injury to his foot?

He's rated elite for pressure acts this season, so I don't agree with you that he doesn't apply enough pressure.

The cumulative effect of a moderate knee injury as well as ankle surgeries and a sore toe have certainly combined to impact his athleticism but no I don’t think he has an acute issue. A case of turf toe should’ve settled a long time ago. He had a full summer and has been rested from games this year. He’s always been a great straight line runner and not so good at changing direction. 
 

Similarly he’s always been a kick first player, some players are. All those year running off half back and the miracle Eagles goal came about from it. He’s not as strong or as quick now, he has to learn to dish off handballs to runners. 
 

His pressure was dreadful at the start of the year. He’s made a concerted effort to be better but it’s not a strength no matter what the stats say. What percentage of his pressure points have come from being an undersized ruck able to pressure around stoppages?

Disgrace to the jumper. Please never play him again

Disgrace is harsh, but agree needs to go. Trade/Delist. 
 

Though most were putrid that 3rd quarter

He is an absolutely liability at the moment and it's such a shame. No one could have predicted this kind of decline. 

We need Jackson back badly.

Could probably  still play a role pretty well if he learnt how to play to his limitations. Continually tries to turn opponents and cut back to get a kick away where if he just ran and gathered the ball and kept momentum going he'd be able to give a handball or snap a kick to space.

If he embraced the idea that he turns like the titanic, has no left foot and isn't a good kick anyway he'd cut down about half the dreadful errors that plague his game. The other half is to stop dropping marks!

10 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Could probably  still play a role pretty well if he learnt how to play to his limitations. Continually tries to turn opponents and cut back to get a kick away where if he just ran and gathered the ball and kept momentum going he'd be able to give a handball or snap a kick to space.

If he embraced the idea that he turns like the titanic, has no left foot and isn't a good kick anyway he'd cut down about half the dreadful errors that plague his game. The other half is to stop dropping marks!

Also the whole fact he can't mark doesn't help. I mean I always thought the role of a key forward was to hold marks and kick goals but i don't know, maybe goodwin disagrees with me.

Should never have come back in.   Been finished for a year now.

There is probably no one who is trying harder because he is used as backup ruckman, fwd line competitor . I agree he has lost thta athletic durability no doubt due to injury( longer term) .

He is a bloke who has used every ounce that he has. In 2018 the ball was coming to him and he had enough pace to catch it.

 

1 hour ago, Elegt said:

Disgrace to the jumper. Please never play him again

He's not a disgrace to the jumper. You may not want McDonald to play again but don't throw out dumb comments.

Trade or delist.

Sorry Tommy I love you ?

Edited August 22, 20204 yr by gOLLy

Really don't know what to do with McDonald. 

Really thought last year was once off due to team performance. But this year he just hasn't been able to back it up.

Do we move him down back??

19 minutes ago, Elegt said:

Also the whole fact he can't mark doesn't help. I mean I always thought the role of a key forward was to hold marks and kick goals but i don't know, maybe goodwin disagrees with me.

Don't forget Goodwin dropped him for a first year ruck with the grand total of a few WAFL Colts games of key forward experience and probably would have him behind Petty as well. 

4th string key forward is not a position many teams have good options in.

The only viable alternatives are either shifting Tomlinson or going small. Or Mitch Brown I guess.

The Dogs just gave us a good beating with Josh Bruce being probably twice as bad as Tom was.

Edited August 22, 20204 yr by DeeSpencer

Just now, dazzledavey36 said:

Really don't know what to do with McDonald. 

Really thought last year was once off due to team performance. But this year he just hasn't been able to back it up.

Do we move him down back??

The only benefit to playing him down back would be to have him see how other forwards are moving and attacking the ball. And the dropped marks, turning like a cruise ship and awful kicking would cost a few goals to find those answers.

 

Cant believe this is not resolved for so long. If Smith had been given half the chances Tom Mac has been gifted in the last 2 YEARS he would be a good tall KP player by now or at least moved on! Toms name is just in indelible ink on the white board.

For Fcks sake make a change. Try Oscar! couldnt be worse.

3 minutes ago, Damo said:

Cant believe this is not resolved for so long. If Smith had been given half the chances Tom Mac has been gifted in the last 2 YEARS he would be a good tall KP player by now or at least moved on! Toms name is just in indelible ink on the white board.

For Fcks sake make a change. Try Oscar! couldnt be worse.

Look, TMac's struggling, but the answer isn't OMac, and it may well not be Smith.