Lord Nev

No, it doesn't have to be "either" of your two opinions, it can be that injuries are complicated and things don't always go as expected or heal/develop how the club would like. Typical hyperbole by you to try and turn it into a black and white issue where you have someone to blame. Starting to suspect you may not be a real Dr...

Heard the Crows want to wear their new prison bars jumper...

Ummmmmm......

Yeah, I definitely think the overthinking and consistency of confidence discussion has merit. I believe he just needs to find a way to get more reward for effort, easier opportunities, especially at the start of games until he feels it more consistently. He's clearing putting in the effort to get around the ground, but when you're overthinking it prevents you from having that singular focus which would manifest itself externally as intensity. A bit like some forwards with goal kicking, if he gets some more open/easy opportunities early I think it will impact positively on his more contested situations. Once that has happened a few games in a row it becomes the norm rather than a necessity.

Averaged 1.3 contested marks, 1.9 marks inside 50. So basically, half is marks were contested, and the majority were inside 50.

Ok, sure, at the same stages of their career, the current Coleman winner averaged 1.4 marks per game more than a bloke who plays for a team with historically horrendous delivery who is getting smashed by his own supporters in such a way where some are saying his heart isn't in it and he should look for another job... It's all a bit of an over reaction don't you think?

He averages 4.3 this year. Hawkins averaged 4.9 over his first 5 years.

Wasn't your knock on him (based on 0 actual evidence) that he wasn't working hard enough? In fact, you said: "Strikes me as the sort of player who will go to a second club, fail to fire a shot there, and give it away. I don’t think his heart is in it." The stats don't back up your, frankly immature and embarrassing, assertion. Key forwards don't typically average huge disposal numbers.Tom Hawkins won the Coleman in 2020 averaging 12 disposals a game, I guess his 'heart isn't in it' either hey? Weid also averaged 3 marks and 1.5 goals in 2020. Not terrible given his main forward partner was horribly out of form and we continued our poor delivery inside 50. Currently averaging 4 marks and a goal this year so far. Fair to say he can improve, but your comments are a clear example of the over the top rhetoric that the lazy wheel out because they can't be bothered actually putting some thought in.

Can't agree with this. Don't have this year's figures, but... Top-five most distance covered per game in 2020 Ed Langdon, 12.3km Christian Salem, 11.9km Adam Tomlinson, 11.5km Clayton Oliver, 11.3km Sam Weideman, 11.3km Marathon men: Telstra Tracker reveals your club's endurance kings

Yeah spot on mate, he must be allergic to the gym hey? ?

TMac was on the ground for both of them. First mark was after a good leading pattern and got himself open, second was a genuine one on one. That's what will build his confidence to take more of the pack marks IMO. Get him some decent looks, not every opportunity has to be in a contested numbers situation. Adding pics for reference:

Not sure if you mean kicking for goal here, but his kicking is very poor. I'd put in the same 'confidence' category as Weid's marking. Catch his first two kicks on Friday? One out of bounds on the full, one straight to the opposition.

I think it's a perception thing based on the fact that the majority of his marking 'opportunities' are contested marks or pack situations. He could definitely improve, but I believe he gets marked very harshly in this area due to that. This year so far he's ranked 4th for us for average contested marks per game. Only Gawn, Lever and TMac are ahead of him. Would be difficult being a young key forward, trying to build your confidence, in and out of the team, bad luck with poorly timed injuries, who then comes up against pack mark situations most of the time at AFL level. Weid can definitely improve, but I'm pretty staggered by the amount of criticism of him so far this year.

This seems a bit unfair. Different roles, different strengths, and TMac generally finds other ways to impact if he's not kicking goals. TMac is rated either above average or elite for tackles, tackles inside50, pressure acts, score involvements, goal assists, marks, one percenters and contested possessions, basically all the team/effort kinda stats. Of those, Fritsch is only rated as above average or elite for score involvements, marks and one percenters (he averages 1 a game...). This is why there's a perception that there's criticism of Fritsch. His job is a finisher clearly, so he can't be judged purely on the 'tough stuff', but in the games where he didn't impact the score board much he couldn't find another way to impact. For example, here's his tackle counts in the games he didn't score much: Fritsch quiet games: Crows - 1 goal, 0 tackles Swans - 0 goals, 1 tackle Saints - 1 goal, 1 tackle Compared with TMac: Crows - 1 goal, 3 tackles Roos - 0 goals, 1 tackle Cats - 0 goals, 3 tackles Giants - 0 goals, 5 tackles, That's obviously a bit of a shallow analysis, but I believe it's a microcosm of where people see the difference in their games currently. I still think Fritsch is a very important player for us, and not every forward needs to be a 'pressure forward' as such, but this should explain why you perceive there's a difference in how their input is judged.

I reckon the whole concept of 'break out games' is a bit of a myth.

Yeah it's hard to know for sure without hearing from the coaches, but I guess the fact that they seem to rotate with each other means it's a fairly similar role at least. We even saw Brown getting way up the ground on occasions when he was in the team. I do wonder if he's not quite settled yet as far as his fitness goes. To me he doesn't look to be moving as well as previous years so far. I don't think Brown will need to do anything over the top to get back in the team unless Weid performs really strongly from here.

Weid leads Brown for marks and contested marks. Brown leads goals by 0.7. To add context to that, none of Weid, TMac or Fritsch did much against the Crows where the midfield pressure was up and our delivery forward was horrible. Weid's 2 goals against the Dogs came at a crucial time when the Dogs had kicked 3 of the last 4 goals and were starting to gather themselves. You may want to note, like Weid in the Crows game, Brown had no impact in the last quarter against the Swans.

Not sure why you're trying to be so selective and specific with your metrics? Is it maybe because you believe Brown was better in those specific games? Why ignore the broader context, because it doesn't suit your argument? See my comment above. Weid leads Brown in all but 1 of the KPI's for a key forward this year.

Simple as this, this year Weid is leading Brown in these categories: Disposals, marks, tackles, contested marks & pressure acts. Brown is ahead in goals by 0.7 per game. So this 'potential' thing you're saying is the reason he's in is simply just not true. I just think people are overreacting to Weid's performances thus far, he's clearly become the new whipping boy and everyone is suddenly expecting this 23 year old key forward to dominate or be traded. It's all a bit much tbh. Needs to do better? Sure. But he's being judged against unrealistic expectations at the moment due to us having Brown on the list as well and people measuring 2021 Weid against 2017 Brown for some reason.

VFL form is what you pick the team on when deciding if someone comes in though. 4 disposals, 0 marks, 0 goals doesn't deserve a call up. Simple as that.

"Hey Browny, make sure you don't get more than 4 touches. And probably best to not exert yourself by taking any marks or kicking any kind of score." Makes sense mate. ;) We don't pick the team based on form from 2-4 years ago. Would be a pretty different looking, and performing, team if we did.

Neither does Brown. Pointless post and comparison.

Honestly, I don't understand why people insist on going on past form instead of current form when picking between these two, it's selective bias and not how the team is selected by the match committee. You can't compare different games like that either. Fritsch and TMac were poor against the Crows as well from an output perspective, should we drop one of them for Majak because he had a good game as a forward once or twice a few years ago? I just find this anti-Weid stuff really strange. On merit, Weid should be in ahead of Brown atm, and that's what is happening. It won't take much for Brown to break into the side, it's a low bar, but he's not hit the bar yet.

This is just simply incorrect. "Indeed, Wilson was so insistent on uncovering the drugs program at Essendon that Hird’s daughter, Stephanie, wrote her en email begging her to stop." Fox Footy’s Open Mike: Caroline Wilson talks about James Hird, Essendon drugs scandal, The Footy Show From The Age... https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/essendon-shuffle-deckchairs-as-damage-from-drug-scandal-continues-20150810-givmd2.html https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/essendon-cas-verdict-the-whatifs-that-haunt-the-bombers-20160112-gm3zu3.html https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/admission-may-have-saved-hirds-mates-20130814-2rwxr.html https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/essendon-drug-scandal-port-adelaide-to-ask-for-compensation-if-players-are-suspended-20150330-1mb6wp.html https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/jake-carlisle-links-drug-use-with-essendon-supplements-trauma-20160321-gnn574.html https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/james-hirds-distorted-thinking-evident-once-again-as-wada-appeals-essendon-decision-20150512-gh01xv.html https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afl-warned-hird-against-peptides-20130716-2q2ih.html https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/bombers-injected-with-mystery-mexican-substance-20130814-2rx6m.html https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/worksafe-victoria-charge-essendon-football-club-20151109-gku1kv.html https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/essendon-continues-to-duck-for-cover-20140707-zsz9w.html And of course: "James Hird oversaw the most catastrophic period in Essendons history" https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/james-hird-oversaw-the-most-catastrophic-period-in-essendons-history-20150818-gj24bw.html