Still so proud of the game that Gus displayed on Fri night. Goes hard on 50-50s and usually comes up trumps!

2 hours ago, layzie said:

Still so proud of the game that Gus displayed on Fri night. Goes hard on 50-50s and usually comes up trumps!

Yep one of our best in 50/50 contests which is huge. IMO it is the second most important component to winning games (behind applying pressure to the oppo).

Podcast was good viewing and some fun questions. I got the feeling tensions were a bit high at the time he revealed.

5 hours ago, DEE fence said:

Podcast was good viewing and some fun questions. I got the feeling tensions were a bit high at the time he revealed.

Interesting that he said the deal wasn't confirmed until around 24h before the announcement. Would have thought it would have been organised well ahead of time

On 7/30/2022 at 12:36 AM, rpfc said:

Looks like we promised him midfield time…

This gif should be in the lookalikes thread beside a picture of Petracca

Is it just me or is it since that Gus re-signed he's spending all game in the midfield now?  

Or is it just due to Salem returning to the HBF and JJ filling a wing role adequately?

I can't imagine anyone ever putting clauses in their contracts for certain roles or positions but it's interesting that since around the time of re-signing, he's spent a lot more time in the guts hunting the pill.

Just a lazy 38 touches and 12 clearances against the blues and averaging well over 30 over the last 4 weeks.

Not a bad month coming into September.

 

3 minutes ago, Deeko2 said:

Is it just me or is it since that Gus re-signed he's spending all game in the midfield now?  

Or is it just due to Salem returning to the HBF and JJ filling a wing role adequately?

I can't imagine anyone ever putting clauses in their contracts for certain roles or positions but it's interesting that since around the time of re-signing, he's spent a lot more time in the guts hunting the pill.

Just a lazy 38 touches and 12 clearances against the blues and averaging well over 30 over the last 4 weeks.

Not a bad month coming into September.

 

I agree that it's interesting, we'll never know though. It may have been a plan to throw him in the mix at some point and the contract was just a side show that happened to be going on. 

Loved his game on Sat night, reads it so well and always positions himself well to win the footy. 

7 minutes ago, layzie said:

I agree that it's interesting, we'll never know though. It may have been a plan to throw him in the mix at some point and the contract was just a side show that happened to be going on. 

Loved his game on Sat night, reads it so well and always positions himself well to win the footy. 

Another very good game from Gus. Excellent reading of the play and is very composed under pressure.
 

 Just needs to tidy up some of his disposal which let him down.  55% disposal efficiency.  12 turnovers.  

14 minutes ago, Deeko2 said:

Just a lazy 38 touches and 12 clearances against the blues

And 12 turnovers...

16 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Another very good game from Gus. Excellent reading of the play and is very composed under pressure.
 

 Just needs to tidy up some of his disposal which let him down.  55% disposal efficiency.  12 turnovers.  

Gus has been a gun all year. He really is a very good footballer. I am happy we have signed him up. 

His move into the midfield has meant that Trac has moved a bit more forward of the ball and im not sure whether that is working just yet. Still think Trac, Clayton, Viney and Gawn is the right formula. 

49 minutes ago, Deeko2 said:

Is it just me or is it since that Gus re-signed he's spending all game in the midfield now?  

Or is it just due to Salem returning to the HBF and JJ filling a wing role adequately?

I can't imagine anyone ever putting clauses in their contracts for certain roles or positions but it's interesting that since around the time of re-signing, he's spent a lot more time in the guts hunting the pill.

Just a lazy 38 touches and 12 clearances against the blues and averaging well over 30 over the last 4 weeks.

Not a bad month coming into September.

 

Goody said they were waiting for an opportunity to put him in the midfield for a while, then Harmes had his concussion. Coincidently that lined up exactly with the contract signing. 

30 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

And 12 turnovers...

Yep I am not a massive fan of Gus as an inside mid, because he racks them up but he isn't damaging.

He is far more damaging as half back, but I understand that we have a plethora of players who can slot into that role

37 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Another very good game from Gus. Excellent reading of the play and is very composed under pressure.
 

 Just needs to tidy up some of his disposal which let him down.  55% disposal efficiency.  12 turnovers.  

He is a good ball user when provided time and space, but if you're a clearance player you're DE is going to suffer a lot. 

20 minutes ago, MrFreeze said:

He is a good ball user when provided time and space, but if you're a clearance player you're DE is going to suffer a lot. 

Averaging nearly 8 turnovers a game since going into the midfield.

For comparison, Viney and Oliver lead us for average turnovers this year, both average just over 5 a game.

Just a slight improvement with efficiency will do wonders. Clearance king!

I'm concerned that Brayshaw's increased midfield time has come at the expense of Petracca. And we're certainly not getting better outcomes from centre clearances. I'd much rather see Brayshaw taking wing time away from Jordon.

Just now, poita said:

I'm concerned that Brayshaw's increased midfield time has come at the expense of Petracca. And we're certainly not getting better outcomes from centre clearances. I'd much rather see Brayshaw taking wing time away from Jordon.

Agree with this. The mix in the middle has not been as good with him taking trac's time, and we look less balanced like in past years when he was predominantly a mid. I feel we maximise our overall team performance by playing him off hbf or wing. He clearly racks up touches in the middle and can read it well, but turns it over regularly or otherwise often puts it in a bad positions for others - whereas from hbf or wing I feel he usually uses the ball very well.

The midfield time splits are a good problem to have though!

1 hour ago, Lord Nev said:

Averaging nearly 8 turnovers a game since going into the midfield.

For comparison, Viney and Oliver lead us for average turnovers this year, both average just over 5 a game.

Bit of a shame, maybe more half forward/mid/wing would work better because he can kick well off both feet. We have enough ball winners with less flexibility. 

1 hour ago, Lord Nev said:

Averaging nearly 8 turnovers a game since going into the midfield.

For comparison, Viney and Oliver lead us for average turnovers this year, both average just over 5 a game.

Gus is obviously under more pressure when delivering as a mid than in his other roles. This is clearly shown when you compare this figure (7.7 av) with  his season average per game for turnovers of 4.9. (Oliver’s is 5.5, Viney 5.32 and Trac 4.71 for comparison). (Footywire stats)

Hopefully his disposal under pressure will improve with the more mid time he plays, because, although he has only played 3 games as a mid, his average clearance rate is 7.0 per game. To put that into perspective, the leading clearance king in the AFL this year is Oliver with a game average of 8.55. (Trac has an average of 4.71and Viney’s average is 4.95 per game). While Gus has been in the middle, Oliver’s clearance average has marginally dropped to 8.25 (from 8.55), viney’s has increased from 4.95 to 6.67 while Trac has dropped from 4.71 to 4.0. We have also won the clearances in our last 3 games - 138 to 120 in total. 

Therefore to take Gus away from his mid role - with suggestions being made that he should go back to the wing - would be doing us and our clearance rate a great disservice based on these stats.
 

Gus moving into the midfield has allowed Salem to return to his role and I believe we’re a better unit for it.  Personally, I’d prefer Gus back to his wing at the expense of JJ, but it’s hard to argue with the numbers he’s getting in the midfield.

 

I think Gus needs to play to his limitations a little bit more to be more damaging.

I thought his game was one of the most ineffectual 38 possession 10+ clearance games you'll see, because most of the time he won clearances, he would try a dinky little pass ahead of the ball. 

I'd much prefer him go long from clearance and get it deep quickly. He is a penetrating kick on either side of his body, but he's an ordinary kick between 15-35m IMO. This is where he usually turns it over.

He's a smart player and courageous, so he needs to go long quickly from clearance and it'll give our forwards a better chance and he'll have far more impact on the game.

Edited August 15, 20222 yr by A F

Wasn't the best 38 disposal game by any stretch, but most clearances on the ground, high metres gained, and doing a job successfully on Cripps is worthy of praise and a key reason we won.

His move further up the ground has been a good one for us. Our defense has been more balanced, and our midfield has another weapon. Since his move into the midfield 3 weeks ago, we've played some of our best footy for the season.

Keep it up Gus!

32 minutes ago, Neil Crompton said:

Gus is obviously under more pressure when delivering as a mid than in his other roles. This is clearly shown when you compare this figure (7.7 av) with  his season average per game for turnovers of 4.9. (Oliver’s is 5.5, Viney 5.32 and Trac 4.71 for comparison). (Footywire stats)

Hopefully his disposal under pressure will improve with the more mid time he plays, because, although he has only played 3 games as a mid, his average clearance rate is 7.0 per game. To put that into perspective, the leading clearance king in the AFL this year is Oliver with a game average of 8.55. (Trac has an average of 4.71and Viney’s average is 4.95 per game). While Gus has been in the middle, Oliver’s clearance average has marginally dropped to 8.25 (from 8.55), viney’s has increased from 4.95 to 6.67 while Trac has dropped from 4.71 to 4.0. We have also won the clearances in our last 3 games - 138 to 120 in total. 

Therefore to take Gus away from his mid role - with suggestions being made that he should go back to the wing - would be doing us and our clearance rate a great disservice based on these stats.
 

Yeah he has absolutely been handy in clearances, I'm not having a crack at him as a player at all, but as with a lot of our high stats the numbers can often be misleading compared to the quality - our inside 50s are similar in that way.

Personally, I don't think we have to dominate clearances to win, it's more about the quality of those clearances and what we do with them. To be clear, not just talking about Gus, I think all our centre mids have work to do on not just bypassing half forward when we're going inside 50.

That feeds into why I think we'd be better with Gus on the wing. Sure our clearance numbers are up but that's also coincided with a dip in our inside 50 efficiency, so I'd be keen to see some numbers around all that. What seems obvious atm, is that our 'defensive wing' is a weakness. I love JJ, but he doesn't read the play anywhere near as well as Gus does, Gus is absolutely elite at that. Not sure what other options we could try there, but we won a flag with Gus playing an important role on the wing so it seems the obvious choice IMO.

Does this give him time to practise kicking to team mates.?

4 hours ago, MrFreeze said:

He is a good ball user when provided time and space, but if you're a clearance player you're DE is going to suffer a lot. 

Saturday night he botched a simple kick to Salem - went over his head - when under no pressure at all. Led soon after to a Carlton goal. Terrific player - yes. But he undoes a lot of his good work.