I don’t get to caught up in who is the best player in the league. Petracca, Oliver, Martin, & Bontempelli all terrific players!

What I care about is our no. 1 combos:

mid - Clarry & Trac (Viney a more than handy 3rd)

ruck - Gawn & Dogga

back - Lever & May (Salem )

wingers - Angus & Langdon

Then I would argue our forward line as a whole group works very well Fritsch arguably best half forward (exc Toby), Pickett & Brown in best 4-5 in their positions, well supported by the rest.

Looking forward to another top 4 and hopefully top 2 finish. That enables another crack at the flag.

Go Demons!

 

35 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Trac needs to work on his elementary 30 metre set shots if he's to be considered the best player by some distance. Thursday night was another example of him making a meal out of an easy set shot. 

For the record he kicked 0.5 across the pre season games.

Martin, Neale, Bont, Heeney, Wines, Steele etc..aren't missing the set shots that he does.

Not saying Trac isn't as good as those above, but he needs to honor the work done up the field by nailing regulation set shots.

How many 'elementary 30mt set shots' has he missed?  As I mentioned above 22 of his 29 in 2021 were within 30m.  

Are there comparisons of his set shot kicking with the other players named? 

Petracca also had 19 goal assists in 2021 and given that most of his time is spent fwd of centre I would say he is honouring up field work as a link player.  Bettered only by TommyMc who had 22 goal assists, also a link player.

Sometimes I wonder if people are looking for 'faults' in a player just to support pre-conceived/outdated ideas.  Not just referring to Petracca there, it seems to happen regularly on DL.

Edited March 7, 20223 yr by Lucifers Hero

44 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

How many 'elementary 30mt set shots' has he missed?  As I mentioned above 22 of his 29 in 2021 were within 30m.  

Are there comparisons of his set shot kicking with the other players named? 

Petracca also had 19 goal assists in 2021 and given that most of his time is spent fwd of centre I would say he is honouring up field work as a link player.  Bettered only by TommyMc who had 22 goal assists, also a link player.

Sometimes I wonder if people are looking for 'faults' in a player just to support pre-conceived/outdated ideas.  Not just referring to Petracca there, it seems to happen regularly on DL.

A couple come to mind. I'd have to rewatch every game to get a total.

Remember when hit the post Vs Freo last year (round 1) at the punt road end when the man on the mark was 6 metres out from goal?

Or the GWS game where we down for most of the day, and we needed Trac to hit a 30 metre set shot goal directly in front in the 3rd quarter to get us within 2 goals, but couldn't nail it. Champions of the game are relied on to kick those straight forward goals in a time of need.

Every player is entitled to a weakness, and set shots from close range are an issue for Trac. That's fine. However my argument is that I disagree with the claim that Trac is easily best player in the league if he can't execute elementary set shots such as the one we saw last week.

 

Suffice it to say Petracca would waltz into any team in the AFL and he's entrenched as a top 5 player in the league ( probably 1 or 2 ) 

The only areas I'd like to see improvement in him is set shots from 25- 35 metres and working on those skin folds !! 

1 hour ago, pineapple dee said:

Suffice it to say Petracca would waltz into any team in the AFL and he's entrenched as a top 5 player in the league ( probably 1 or 2 ) 

The only areas I'd like to see improvement in him is set shots from 25- 35 metres and working on those skin folds !! 

Oliver would also waltz into any team in the AFL tho. 
 

To me Petracca is chocolate icing and Oliver is self raising flour. Both are essential to make a good chocolate cake, but there’s no cake without the flour. Without the icing it’s just dry and not very appetizing. 

So lucky to have both of these champs.

Petracca has core strength to bullock through, push off and step away. He bullies attempted tacklers in the same way as Dusty, Dangerfield, Voss at his peak, Kennedy at the Swans. But his standout feature is that he also takes hold of huge moments in games and delivers. This is what takes him into the rare air of the genuine star he is.

But Clarry's pace around the ball, and the way he reads stoppages is insane. I'm mesmerised by him. It might be hyperbole, but he reminds me so much of Judd at his peak at WCE. Quick hands, great decision making, and a better mark than people give him credit for.

Neither are perfect and both have growth areas, but I do agree that Trac misses gettable goals from set shots, and they both  miss gettable goals on the run. 

Having sat next to Max Gawn at a function recently he has Oliver at a clear no 1