Death riding Freo's season has become such an enjoyable second storyline to the season. It's not just that it's fun watching their fans go from "Flagmantle" to working out where it's gone wrong, it's that they've paid so much supreme talent after chasing him so hard only to use him so badly that you can see it's affecting him (I don't wish ill on Jacko, just on Freo). I hope after this season they do manage to work it out, it would be sad to see such potential [censored] down the toilet.

But for now let it ride!

I reckon the last page of this thread has the pantomime just right!

If anyone gets to boo Jackson it's us, but we'll defend him against Kane Cornes because he is an MFC premiership player and just a kid.

10 hours ago, ChaserJ said:

Hard agree.

Jackson's absolute strength is his follow up work.  It's the point of difference with almost every other ruckman in the league.  His tap work is average, but his post clearance possession work and ball use could (should?) see him become a similar type of follower to Tim English. Cannot see him getting the opportunity to become this with Darcy as the main ruck. 

It's worth noting that at the same age, Grundy was established as Collingwood's no.1 ruck and on his way to averaging 18 touches and 26 hitouts a game. Can be forgotten how quickly Grundy became a high quality AFL ruckman.

100% agree.

His athleticism, and as you say ability to won his own ball when rucking, are his key strengths and  exactly what makes him such a unique talent 

On the flip side, he has some weaknesses on his game atm.

He is not a natural forward so his forward craft is average. He is not a one grab mark and not brilliant one on one if he can't run and leap to mark.

He will improve all that stuff in tome - assuming their development program is effective.

Part of the art of coaching is utilusing the strengths of each players and allowing them to lean into those to strengths. Nibbler is a good example. Not much point making g him a crumbing forward. Better to take advantage of his running power and fitness.

Well, freo have risked unbalancing  their side and their salary cap  not to mention the risk of disharmony, to bring in a young player on huge coin and a long term deal, who is at least three years from his peak.

And playing in him roles that do not take full advantage of strengths and expose his weaknesses.

Crazy.

17 hours ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Titus chimes in:-

Fremantle (69) v Western Bulldogs (118)

First, can I apologise for the lack of columns recently, I’ve been unwell. So unwell that last week I lost my voice completely.

This was welcomed as a blessing for those that deal directly with me.

Luckily, I’m on the mend, but my doctor says I may need to start thinking about something called ‘exercise’ and eating exotic foods like fruit and vegetables.

It’s a credit to the Dockers that by round six they can give off serious ‘season already over’ vibes.

 

Really that's not too bad losing your voice after all you are only expected to talk "in a whisper!!".

11 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Just to add a bit more context to this, this is actually what Cornes said.

Melbourne made out clean with Jackson and Grundy moves

“Checkmate Melbourne. Grundy is a far superior payer to Luke Jackson as highlighted by his connection with the Melbourne midfielders, particularly after halftime on Monday night.

“Gawn was deadly when he went forward, so that combination is just working.

“We all wondered how it might work, well we saw it work on Monday.

“Collingwood are paying his wage and the Dees own Fremantle’s first and second picks after already the Dockers already coughed up pick 13.

“Great trade from Melbourne.”

After all it can be said that Brody did (or similar)to Richmond in the third and fourth quarters what Jacko did to the Dogs in the 2021 GFinal.

14 hours ago, Neil Crompton said:

What a disgraceful comment. As if Luke doesn’t have the weight of WA on his shoulders already - what an absolute jerk.

13 hours ago, illbarto said:

What a nasty and unnecessary thing to say by somebody that works in the AFL media.

13 hours ago, Dee Zephyr said:

It’s almost bullying what Jackson is copping. People never learn.

 

3 hours ago, deanox said:

I reckon the last page of this thread has the pantomime just right!

If anyone gets to boo Jackson it's us, but we'll defend him against Kane Cornes because he is an MFC premiership player and just a kid.

Yesterday i made joke at my own expense to my wife.

She laughed and followed up with a (gentle) joke of her own about me. 

Red card - as i said to her, i can make a joke about me but others can't!

I personally would have advised LJ to go to West Coast. he'd have gotten the same or more money and been their number 1 ruck with Nic Nat as a mentor in the short term. 

4 hours ago, deanox said:

I reckon the last page of this thread has the pantomime just right!

If anyone gets to boo Jackson it's us, but we'll defend him against Kane Cornes because he is an MFC premiership player and just a kid.

FWIW I won’t be booing Jackson, I’ll be applauding him. He helped win us a flag, first in 57 years, once a premiership player always a premiership player.
I will be continuing to barrack hard for Freo to finish as low as possible and if Jacko contributes to that but not playing his best, or being played in his best role, fine.

But I could never boo him, watching that third quarter of the GF again and again has brought me so much joy and he’s a huge part of it, no matter where he plays now.

1 hour ago, deejammin' said:

FWIW I won’t be booing Jackson, I’ll be applauding him. He helped win us a flag, first in 57 years, once a premiership player always a premiership player.

I won't be booing him either.

But i'm sure as heck not going to be applauding him.

I'm happy to applaud Sauce Baker (and did so when we played the dogs), Bedford and Weed.

But not Jackson. 

We used a lot of trade capital on Jackson, invested time and resources into him and made him a decent offer to stay by all accounts.

And he bailed on us.

It would be different if, like Hogan and the Wiz (who was, and remains, right up there in all my time fav player rankings), he requested a trade on compassionate grounds - but he didn't. 

I'm not knocking him for making the decision to go to Freo, after all it's a cutthroat industry as evidenced by the fact clubs cut players (and coaches for that matter) that don't want to leave all the time (eg Hunty).

And as a professional athlete he has a relatively small window to maximize his earnings.

If he can wrangle it and play for the team he barracked for as a kid, in the city where he wants to live, on huge coin then all power to him.

But that's where my generosity of spirt ends. 

Edited April 27, 20231 yr by binman

5 minutes ago, binman said:

I won't be booing him either.

But i'm sure as heck not going to be applauding him.

I'm happy to applaud Sauce Baker (and did so when we played the dogs), Bedford and Weed.

But not Jackson. 

We used a lot of trade capital on Jackson, invested time and resources into him and made him a decent offer to stay by all accounts.

And he bailed on us.

It would be different if, like Hogan and the Wiz (who was, and remains, right up there in all my time fav player rankings), he requested a trade on compassionate grounds - but he didn't. 

I'm not knocking him for making the decision to go to Freo, after all it's a cutthroat industry as evidenced by the fact clubs trade players (and coaches for that matter) that don't want to leave all the time (eg Hunty).

And as a professional athlete he has a relatively small window to maximize earnings.

If he can wrangle it and play for the team he barracked for as a kid, in the city where he wants to live, on huge coin then all power to him.

But that's where my generosity of spirt ends. 

Absolutely fair enough. I think my generosity of spirit is enhanced by Freo’s capitulation this year, we spent draft capital on Jackson, but I think we’ll get that back in spades at a time where we’re a very good team. If Freo were up the top competing with us I’d not be applauding him, but given they could very easily be bottom 4 by the time we play them I think I’ll be able to manage it, perhaps a bit sarcastically. 

1 minute ago, deejammin' said:

Absolutely fair enough. I think my generosity of spirit is enhanced by Freo’s capitulation this year, we spent draft capital on Jackson, but I think we’ll get that back in spades at a time where we’re a very good team. If Freo were up the top competing with us I’d not be applauding him, but given they could very easily be bottom 4 by the time we play them I think I’ll be able to manage it, perhaps a bit sarcastically. 

Definitely, we're going to make out like bandits should Freo's woes continue, and we only have Jacko to thank....!

16 hours ago, Dee Zephyr said:

It’s almost bullying what Jackson is copping. People never learn.

Getting "bullied" from hundreds of miles away for 900k a year x 7 years.

I'll take it. Where do i sign up.

The word bully is grossly over used and manipulated to suit a media actors agenda.

Edited April 27, 20231 yr by Deebauched

The Lions will pump Freo this weekend. 50 points minimum I reckon. 

1 hour ago, deejammin' said:

Absolutely fair enough. I think my generosity of spirit is enhanced by Freo’s capitulation this year, we spent draft capital on Jackson, but I think we’ll get that back in spades at a time where we’re a very good team. If Freo were up the top competing with us I’d not be applauding him, but given they could very easily be bottom 4 by the time we play them I think I’ll be able to manage it, perhaps a bit sarcastically. 

I'll give him some warm acknowledgement before the game in a thankful manner. 

But when that ball is bounced he's just another opposition player.

I was privileged to be at the pre draft briefing the year that Jackson was drafted and saw some footage that hadn't been released, I was gobsmacked by the talent he had, I think there were a few other posters on here that were there too. He did look like a generational talent and when we got him I was over the moon.

He did look the goods early on but I just don't think he grew, he has a bag of tricks but he reminds me of, as they say, Jack of all trades but master of none.  He should have, for his own sake, either stayed with us or gone to West Coast, he will always be behind Darcy. At best he will be a middle of the road forward and back up ruck.

Good luck to Luke, he did lift at the right time in 2021 and helped us win a flag but I wonder if his real contribution matches the legend, irrespective he will go down in history as a Demon Hero.

 

11 hours ago, binman said:

And playing in him roles that do not take full advantage of strengths and expose his weaknesses.

Crazy.

My name is Peter Ring a Ding Bell and you have this very wrong.

It was Melbourne that were not playing him to his strengths and were exposing his weaknesses. That's exactly why we got him. He is actually a gun forward who just needs to be able to lead one on one and he will beat any backman in the comp. Melbourne ruined him by just bombing it high to contests. As you can see we are now playing him to his strengths and it is working out so well. Isn't it.......?

21 hours ago, Dwight Schrute said:

I personally would have advised LJ to go to West Coast. he'd have gotten the same or more money and been their number 1 ruck with Nic Nat as a mentor in the short term. 

Will always find it strange that they didn't entertain the idea of WC, must have really had his heart set on the Docks. 

Seeing him develop with Nic Nat mentoring would have been worth a few years in the pits. 

On 4/26/2023 at 9:08 PM, Dee Zephyr said:

It’s almost bullying what Jackson is copping. People never learn.

He is a professional sportsman on almost a mil a year. It comes with the territory, it's not bullying FFS.

I don't wish him any ill will but he will face public scrutiny.

12 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

He is a professional sportsman on almost a mil a year. It comes with the territory, it's not bullying FFS.

I don't wish him any ill will but he will face public scrutiny.

No worries Gonz, I see it differently. No issue with the criticism on his performance, I just don’t think it should be open season on him personally because he’s a pro sportsman. Some comments from the media and here are really harsh.

We were quick to defend a young Lever from the Tex and Adelaide comments when he came over and now some here are doing the same thing to Jackson they despised all those years ago.

He's going to have to leave Freo to achieve his best. Darcy will remain no. 1 ruck and he's no forward. I get they offered him a fortune but didn't his manager say.  "Mate, you're not a key forward and Freo have a first ruck, lets package you up to WC, remember they're professionals"

I will have the schadenfreudic (I hope) pleasure of watching Freo live at the Gabba tomorrow as a precursor to our match in the evening. Freo smashed and Dees winning for a perfect day.

58 minutes ago, Roost it far said:

He's going to have to leave Freo to achieve his best. Darcy will remain no. 1 ruck and he's no forward. I get they offered him a fortune but didn't his manager say.  "Mate, you're not a key forward and Freo have a first ruck, lets package you up to WC, remember they're professionals"

I'm sure his manager would have had that chat but it looks as though it was always something like 90% Fremantle or 10% Melbourne and no other team was ever really in the discussion 

Does anyone think Trent Croad when looking at Dogga? The scenario, not the player

On 4/27/2023 at 11:36 AM, Dwight Schrute said:

I personally would have advised LJ to go to West Coast. he'd have gotten the same or more money and been their number 1 ruck with Nic Nat as a mentor in the short term. 

If he thinks anything like me, then I'm sure he wouldn't want to vomit on himself weekly having to pull on that jumper.