The Jagga Smith Thread

[Pulp Fritschon 739]

On 31/10/2024 at 16:16, DeeSpencer said:

We're crying out for quicker skilled mids who play less in straight lines but I don't see the pace or skill with Jagga and you have to take the game forward at AFL level or the ground shrinks and forward pressure just eats you up. If you're heading sideways out the back of stoppages you still have to get pace on the ball and make sure the run overlaps and dissects the oncoming pressure. Otherwise you're just making it someone elses problem.

I've done this a few times for Jagga but I'll do it again.

0:05 - backwards handball to a stationary team mate
0:13 - missed kick
0:35 - nice hit up chip kick (FOS great lead)
0:46 - refuses to kick, wide handball 
0:50 - nice handball (FOS gets too ambitious)
0:57 - nothing handball
1:04 - cleverly takes advantage when opponent stops, nice hit up
1:15 - fumble, nothing handball
1:25 - nice forward handball (to FOS)
1:35 - no aerial technique, free kick for a hold
1:42 - wins a clearance free running forward, does he stick the foot down and drive it deep? No, backwards handball to a winger
1:53 -because the ball has gone nowhere he's there for the 8m kick (ball should be inside 50).
2:01  -simple handball (good 1-2 from Yze)
2:08 - fumble, missed handball
2:15 - nothing kick
2:24 - keeps his feet in a tackle, nice dish off
2:31 - lazy hacked kick, deliberate
2:45 - nothing handball
2:50 - nothing handball
3:05 - risky but good handball but doesn't get there on the full
3:10 - lucky fumble
3:20 - great running, but kick doesn't have enough juice and gets spoiled
3:30 - well timed release handball
3:42 - complete junk handball to 3 opposition players
3:55 - finally some leg drive, but after staring down number 35 for an eternity he gives the handball without enough juice to hit the target on the full
4:17 - some actual evasion! And a quality goal
4:30 - good crumb, good release handball
4:45 - missed tackle
4:55 - fumble fumble, turnover
5:22 - nice clearance, picks a decent target but the 9 iron kick is very easy to spoil
5:43 - turnover
5:52 - missed kick
6:02 - short to a contest
6:05 - obvious handball but no shepherd
6:16 - burns the 1-2, burns the chance to run to the corridor, dribbles it to the gun along the boundary
6:25 - nice flip of the hips and handball
6:43 - 25m long kick (in fairness, was in to the breeze)
6:49 - goes free kick hunting when he has a handball option

The goal was really nice and there's a couple of moments of good evasive skills. A couple. But his handballing isn't in remotely the same ball park of someone like a Murphy Reid. If it's not obvious he's rarely creative. And the majority of his kicking is either nothing flash or just poor, missing targets or hanging in the air.

He's a high level game runner and reads the ball off the pack very well. Useful traits. But most AFL players are advanced in those areas and teams spend plenty of time working on their defensive running and work rate to cancel out mids who run hard. If you're a Sam Walsh level freak you can occasionally catch teams napping but the best teams in big moments aren't getting done by one paced free midfield runners.

He's going to have to develop like Lachie Neale has - both physically and especially with his decision making around stoppages - because he just doesn't have the natural skills or speed to be damaging on the outside. Even when he overlaps runs he doesn't take full advantage.

There's been a big rise of smaller mids this year and some of them - Neale, Serong - really make their living as inside mids. But most like Daicos, Gulden and Zach Merrett carve you up with speed and skills on the outside and I just don't see that with Jagga.

 

 

0.46 - refuses to kick? To me he has a look up field saw nothing. Brought himself a little bit of time. Handballed off. Decent play. 
 

Think you are being pretty harsh here with Smith. 

[picket fence 17,169]

On 30/10/2024 at 20:42, Little Goffy said:

If there was a formal scale for measuring peripheral awareness and anticipation, the benchmarks would go from Jacob Koschitzke through to Scott Pendlebury. I think Jagga Smith might give Pendles some competition.

Neither of Smith of Windsor will ever be big guys, but having those two driving our ball movement out of contests could be transformative.

Koschitzski??????¿ seriously? Pendlebury begrudgingly but Give me CLARRY CHOO CHOO PRE 2024 ANYDAY!

[picket fence 17,169]

If we Jag Smith it will be the "Steal" of the draft!! Go get him!

[Little Goffy 14,545]

2 hours ago, picket fence said:

Koschitzski??????¿ seriously? Pendlebury begrudgingly but Give me CLARRY CHOO CHOO PRE 2024 ANYDAY!

Ko****knee is the zero on the scale.

Story goes that he did a peripheral awareness test where little lights go off at various points around you, and you just have to push a left or right button when you notice the light. During the test a technician came over to check it was working properly.

[DeeSpencer 25,709]

13 hours ago, Pulp Fritschon said:

0.46 - refuses to kick? To me he has a look up field saw nothing. Brought himself a little bit of time. Handballed off. Decent play. 
 

Think you are being pretty harsh here with Smith. 

Free running from a stoppage out of the backline, put it on the boot.

But yeah, it’s harsh, but I want to see more than the very occasional special things and a few nice things a game. We’re talking about pick 5 here!

[adonski 12,140]

Full season highlights of the Jaguar:

 

[Adam The God 30,259]

Jagga 🙌🙏✊️

[demoncat 1,437]

44 minutes ago, FreedFromDesire said:

Has stayed firm as the club's favourite for the first pick apparently. His family were meeting with the club yesterday I believe.

Pls let him fall to us 

[Mouseymoo 359]

1 hour ago, FreedFromDesire said:

Has stayed firm as the club's favourite for the first pick apparently. His family were meeting with the club yesterday I believe.

Well I've been watching a lot of Harvey Langford highlights lately and have fallen in love with him, so now I'm torn. What a position to be in.. 

[DistrACTION Jackson 8,735]

He would complement our current midfield perfectly.

[demoncat 1,437]

11 minutes ago, Mouseymoo said:

Well I've been watching a lot of Harvey Langford highlights lately and have fallen in love with him, so now I'm torn. What a position to be in.. 

Drafting either would be a huge win and would set us up for the next decade 

But I think Jagga would compliment our current midfield the best out of all the top prospects 

He’s an accumulator and is smart and clean with his possessions, and some of his movement in traffic is mouthwatering 

I’ve said before that while he may not be as good as Daicos or Sheezel (although he could be), I see him being able to come straight in and make an impact in that qtr back type role off the back of stoppages, winning the ball and helping with transition and ball movement 

[The Jackson FIX 3,114]

Solely from those highlights, reminded me of Darcy Parish highlights from his draft year.

For those who watched both at the underage level, is Jagga a better player than Parish at this age?

[Davos 920]

5 minutes ago, The Jackson FIX said:

Solely from those highlights, reminded me of Darcy Parish highlights from his draft year.

For those who watched both at the underage level, is Jagga a better player than Parish at this age?

Watched Parish live multiple times in his draft year, and he is my low end comp for Smith. 

[Young Blood 2,620]

On 02/11/2024 at 07:55, picket fence said:

If we Jag Smith it will be the "Steal" of the draft!! Go get him!

In some ways it would be as I believe in many other draft years that Jagga would be a pretty clear no.1 pick. As he was for a lot of this year on draft boards. To get him at pick 5 would be incredible.

2 hours ago, FreedFromDesire said:

Has stayed firm as the club's favourite for the first pick apparently. His family were meeting with the club yesterday I believe.

I really hope North doesn't call whatever bluff's we have going and they end up standing firm to hold the no.2 pick so they nab Tauru with that pick. If that happens we can be more confident that Jagga will be in our sights at 5.

Crossing fingers and toes.

 

[BORNADO 7]

On 02/11/2024 at 06:57, rpfc said:

That Josh Simile… hope is better than that Tim Metaphor, or worse yet - Sam Analogy.

We will never be able to tell them apart…

Just wait until you see Cam Parrison

[DeeSpencer 25,709]

5 hours ago, FreedFromDesire said:

Has stayed firm as the club's favourite for the first pick apparently. His family were meeting with the club yesterday I believe.

Bad news: Jason Taylor washed

Good news: Jason Taylor learned how to leak disinformation 

[Young Blood 2,620]

2 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

Bad news: Jason Taylor washed

Good news: Jason Taylor learned how to leak disinformation 

As evident with your posts in this thread you're not keen on Jagga with pick 5. Perfectly fine.

Keen to know what your preference is at pick 5 and pick 9. Perhaps a few names in order of preference.

[DeeSpencer 25,709]

14 minutes ago, Young Blood said:

As evident with your posts in this thread you're not keen on Jagga with pick 5. Perfectly fine.

Keen to know what your preference is at pick 5 and pick 9. Perhaps a few names in order of preference.

Lalor, FOS, Langford, Tauru are the 4 I like best and I’m hoping one of them gets to 5.

After that it’s an even group for pick 9. Draper, Hannaford, Berry, Armstrong/Faull/Shanahan. Jagga, Smillie, Allan and Reid somewhere in this group too. The choice at 9 would somewhat be influenced by who we get at 5.

[58er 6,439]

1 hour ago, DeeSpencer said:

Lalor, FOS, Langford, Tauru are the 4 I like best and I’m hoping one of them gets to 5.

After that it’s an even group for pick 9. Draper, Hannaford, Berry, Armstrong/Faull/Shanahan. Jagga, Smillie, Allan and Reid somewhere in this group too. The choice at 9 would somewhat be influenced by who we get at 5.

While you are entitled to your choice to leave the Jaguar out of selection 5 is up to you ( but in the highly unlikely event he is available at 9 ) not to take him then would be a crime.

However do like your comment that no 9 pick will be very much considered depending upon our take at 5.

The 2 mids vs Forward/Tall and Mid is exciting and even the I hope unlikely scenario of 9 being split for a teener pick plus a 20 choice could very well also depend upon who we see is best for our rebuild on the run. 

If we nail our 5 pick and also see 3/4 prospects we are keen on ( add a little JT flair and imagination) 3 drafts picks over 2 in the first 25/30 may propel potentially our rebuild as early as 2025 back to serious Finals again.

As always trust in JT etc. 

[Little Goffy 14,545]

7 hours ago, BORNADO said:

Just wait until you see Cam Parrison

On 02/11/2024 at 06:57, rpfc said:

That Josh Simile… hope is better than that Tim Metaphor, or worse yet - Sam Analogy.

We will never be able to tell them apart…

Personally I've got my eye on Theo Soros and Richard Shonary.

Or next year's potential Irish recruits, the twins Simeon and Anthony O'Nym. Funnily enough they look nothing alike.

[Demon Disciple 12,126]

In an ideal world, Richmond nominate Levi Ashcroft and Brisbane forget to match 😁

[Left Foot Snap 2,403]

37 minutes ago, Little Goffy said:

Personally I've got my eye on Theo Soros and Richard Shonary.

Or next year's potential Irish recruits, the twins Simeon and Anthony O'Nym. Funnily enough they look nothing alike.

Yeah, we really do that that facepalm emoji back!!! 😄

[ChaserJ 5,096]

11 hours ago, The Jackson FIX said:

Solely from those highlights, reminded me of Darcy Parish highlights from his draft year.

For those who watched both at the underage level, is Jagga a better player than Parish at this age?

Yes (can't rule out recency bias here though). Jagga has Parish for agility and sheer accumulation (can't think of a more prolific ball winner in CTL/TAC Cup), probably slightly better at winning the ball in contest at the same age too.  Parish was probably a better 'metres gained' player for more of his draft year.

[Demonstone 22,522]

11 hours ago, ChaserJ said:

Yes (can't rule out recency bias here though).

I just learned about recency bias and it's my favourite thing ever.

[The Taciturn Demon 494]

Now that it seems Smith is fairly likely for us at Pick 5, it's been interesting to return to this thread. A really interesting, robust debate. 

I have zero experience watching junior football (I watched Jed Adams' highlights after we drafted him and thought we were getting Peter Knights). I also don't rate myself a good analyst of football, so this is all probably nonsense. 

I definitely see what DeeSpencer worries about. The term "nothing handball" is blunt and seems harsh, and yet it often seems to apply in the highlights I've seen. For me, a top five who's going to handball more than he kicks has to be crisp and decisive with this skill; they need to put teammates into space or at least make the game easier for them. I see a fair bit of slamming the footy into a teammate's midriff for the sake of not getting caught. 

What excites me is his centre bounce stuff. It seems like there's a creativity, dynamism and instinctive understanding of where the ball's going that could pretty quickly alleviate some of our clearance woes. One thing I feel has killed us for a long time is opponents winning multiple centre bounce clearances in a row - often very damaging ones. Smith seems like the sort of player who could give us a different set of skills and big advantage in this part of the ground (with luck, before Max retires). 

He seems to have a real desire to be part of strings of possession, which I like, although I'm not sure I've seen much to suggest we want him hitting the final kick.  

Parish comparisons worry me. I also see a bit of Scully, although it sounds like he's a much more... ahem.. mature person. I see the Neale likeness, as well, and I distinctly remember his disposal being questioned for years before he became a champion. Not sure if he improved it significantly or just learned to play (brilliantly) within his limitations. 

What I'd love to see some of is even a hint of Zach Merrett, because good disposal is so important in modern football. But I can't.

I trust Taylor, and I love the fact that so many far better observers than me think this bloke is an out-and-out gun, so I'll stay optimistic when pessimism seems a natural default after the last three seasons.