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Should Gawn have played the percentages and tried to force a draw?

John Crow Batty
John Crow Batty
in Melbourne Demons

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1 hour ago, titan_uranus said:

I think "extremely underwhelming" is hyperbolic but I agree he's not playing his best football and it's costing us right now.

He continues to get into the right spots but he's dropping marks far too frequently. Cost us definitely one goal, possibly two, from dropping marks in defensive 50 that when he's in form he does not drop.

When things aren't going his way he has a tendency to do some rash stuff. The 50m penalty against him for hitting the ball out of O'Brien's hand was probably a part of that.

If he lifts on Friday night that will be huge for our chances of winning (and the converse is also true).

For a guy who is 208 cm, one of the tallest ruckmen in the league, his tap work and willingness to get involved at ground level has been extremely underwhelming. There's nothing hyperbolic about that comment. I can say this because we've seen the kind of influence he can have in that part of the game and at the moment it is unbelievably poor. 

Of course elements of his game have still been good. Not great, but good. 

But the elements I'm talking about have been very poor. 

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    20 hours ago, Macca said:

    You'd think at this level the players would automatically know how important the front position is but at this level, everything needs to be worked for.  Nothing comes easy

    I like this Macca, almost every movement on the ground is competitive, even something that appears simple like maintaining front position when the play is downfield. There is always another bloke on the field with an opposing view ?. 

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    Gawn had a pretty ordinary night in general. His holding the ball decision on the wing and lack of awareness was another poor moment that stands out. He often forgets that he is big and slow. The couple of dropped marks floating back directly resulted in goals. Arguably he should have punched the ball in both cases. In saying that, he has helped win us games this year, so we cut him some slack. He is out of form though. Hope he puts in a huge one this week. We need him to dominate. 

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