Tom McDonald

[rjay 25,087]

Brown has now passed him in the pecking order without even playing a game.

[gs77 4,445]

9 hours ago, olisik said:

You guys are kidding if you think we would get a 2nd rounder for him. He wouldn’t make the best 22 in any other team. Lucky to get a pick in the 80s if a club is desperate for depth.

I agree. His value has evaporated.  Surely it's that foot injury of his - having to soak it in a bucket of hot water before games to get moving according to TMac himself last year.

[buck_nekkid 6,046]

Wow. he had an absolute Barry Crocker.  Not only no value, a dead set liability on the night.  Kicked 4 in the praccy match.  What to make of it all?  Would almost be the fist dropped for mine for next week.  Is he ‘done’?  Not writing him off yet, but he is not a shadow on what he needs to be.  Can we swap him for that Georgiadis kid?

[drdrake 3,187]

He lacks footy smarts. That was highlighted by his shot on goal in the second quarter.  He has less than 1 m out on a tight angle.  He went back about 10m and tried a left foot snap.  He should have gone back 2-3m and either left foot snap or right foot banana, the probability of him kicking the goal from 2-3m is a great deal more than the big left foot snap he tried.

Tom was a good defender just turned the ball over to many times.  Is he limited to the deep hit up forward, issue is Weiderman is competing much better in the air than McDonald.  I thought he could be the hit up CHF but just gets pushed off the ball to easy

[TeamPlayedFine39 8,510]

3 hours ago, Forest Demon said:

He’s done. It’s sad because he was obviously a good player, but he has added size and looks like an absolute lump out there.

It’s the size that worries me.  If it was intentional, to try to build him into a ‘power-forward’ then it was a huge mistake.

I suspect however that an injury, possibly his toe, is preventing him from training to the same level he has in the past.

When he was at his best 2017-18, he was very mobile.

[poita 3,902]

Absolutely destroyed by a incompetent and inept football department. We started the year by bulking him up so he could play the Hawkins role out of the goal square, which was never going to be his go. He has always been an endurance athlete.

Then Goodwin belatedly works out we need Weideman in the side, so we send McDonald out to half forward only to find out he can't run with this extra weight. Plus he already has Melksham, Fritsch and Hannan operating in the same areas, none of whom can take a mark or apply a tackle.

McDonald could still be a good second tall forward, as he was when Hogan was monstering defences in 2018 and taking all the opposition attention, but Weideman doesn't have the same presence.

[Dee Zephyr 19,268]

Would struggle to tie his own shoe laces on last night’s showing.  Very worrying.

[layzie 33,991]

I don't want to say it but he is in trouble. In the blink of an eye he's on the back 9, can't move anywhere near what he could. It can happen though, not all footy careers are linear projections sometimes you get bad luck. 

[picket fence 17,498]

13 hours ago, Elegt said:

Does anyone actually rate this guy? Don't think I've ever seen a slower footballer in my life

Glenn Giles was slow, but not as Slow as this Guy!

[The heart beats true 18,145]

14 hours ago, Pates said:

Our forward line has functioned better without him the last two weeks, I think that's a bad sign for him.

I felt like our game plan early last night was to go long and high forward to take advantage of Weed, TMac and Jackson. The guys tried to kick the leather off the ball, coughed it up and lost all confidence, and it was essentially game over.

Previous two weeks both Weideman and Jackson moved up to the ball, we tried to put it in front of them, and even if we didn’t deliver it brought other players into the game.

[whatwhat say what 22,938]

10 minutes ago, The heart beats true said:

I felt like our game plan early last night was to go long and high forward to take advantage of Weed, TMac and Jackson. The guys tried to kick the leather off the ball, coughed it up and lost all confidence, and it was essentially game over.

Previous two weeks both Weideman and Jackson moved up to the ball, we tried to put it in front of them, and even if we didn’t deliver it brought other players into the game.

if that was the case why were we constantly kicking to the pockets where fritsch and hannan were leading?

either our players are dumb or our coaching staff is or a combination of both

i lean towards c

[spirit of norm smith 16,588]

I’d drop Tom mcd again and bring in Brown or Tomlinson for CHF.  Tom mcd is glacier slow and turns like the titanic.  Sad to see him deteriorate.  

[titan_uranus 25,043]

Can we stop with the "put him in defence" thing? His field kicking coming out of the backline is a team destroyer and we cannot tolerate it. We also don't need it with May and Lever finally settling into their roles.

He kicked 53 goals in 20 games, and a sizeable portion of those games didn't have Hogan so let's also drop the "it was fine when Hogan was there" schtick too.

He's capable, but he's not delivering. Simple as that.

Is it fitness? Probably. He was always an elite endurance runner but that's disappeared. He was also always a reliable shot on goal and that's gone too.

Is it confidence? I think so. I think he's a major confidence player and in 2018 he felt like he could do anything. Now I suspect he thinks he can't do anything right.

Is it coaching? I think so too. He should be playing a lead-up mobile forward role, not a goalsquare gorilla role, nor a high half-forward/wing role.

Ultimately it doesn't matter what it is, the reality is he's not best 22 and shouldn't be playing. From where he was in 2018 to where he is now is a remarkable drop. If he cannot get fit and improve, his career at this club is probably finished. 

[Ted Lasso 19,549]

Trade bait, i reckon he'd still have some currency, and Weideman has well and truely overtaken him. 

[Alex Flood 245]

When Jackson comes back is it worth playing TMac as our second key back ?

Would definitely benefit Lever.

[titan_uranus 25,043]

7 minutes ago, Alex Flood said:

When Jackson comes back is it worth playing TMac as our second key back ?

Would definitely benefit Lever.

No.

Why do people keep suggesting this?

He hasn't played defence for 3+ years.

[Guest]

His body is letting him down.   He has lost all agility with his constant foot problems. 

 

[Elegt 872]

Liability 

[Dave1711 145]

14 minutes ago, Stretch Johnson said:

His body is letting him down.   He has lost all agility with his constant foot problems. 

 

Thought last couple weeks he’s looked good, getting dropped made him realise he’s not indispensable

[Pickett2Jackson 3,904]

Would prefer Preuss or Mich Brown in the 2nd tall forward role while LJ is out.

T Macs body is shot to bits.

[TeamPlayedFine39 8,510]

Thought he's been good the last couple of weeks when playing 2nd tall forward / relief ruckman.

Frees him up a bit and doesn't expose his recent lack of agility.

 

 

[layzie 33,991]

I'd honestly rather Oscar back in than sending him to defence. Yeah he made a nice lead back to the square and goaled but I don't think this performance was any better than last weeks. Not through a lack of trying though. 

[dl4e 5,851]

Did not think he was that bad tonite. Looks like he just a clanger away from holding some marks.

[Queanbeyan Demon 6,865]

His market value has completely collapsed in 24 months unfortunately.  August 2018 probably worth a first round pick. August 2020 . . . ???

[adonski 12,427]

2 minutes ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

His market value has completely collapsed in 24 months unfortunately.  August 2018 probably worth a first round pick. August 2020 . . . ???

No idea - maybe a late 2nd rounder from a team desperate for a forward who would take the punt he returns to form? I wonder if the Jackson selection was part influenced by the downfall of TMac in 2019. He would free up a fair bit of cap space too, should he depart.