Player Watch Ash Johnson

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stormskye said:
Reef and Johnson are not KPF’s, but due to our lack of any KPF are expected to play much bigger and taller than they are. They aren’t contested 1 v 1 beasts, they are 3rd talls, just like Henry. Difference is he gets to play like one with Hawkins and Cameron etc.

I mean, poor Johnson has had to ruck ffs. They’d benefit with some tall support
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They sure would. If the world doesn't end before Freddy can stay fit, he would be just the person that could provide a bit of grunt and bring the ball to ground. If McStay get's back, well, I'm off to the toilet
 
stormskye said:
Reef and Johnson are not KPF’s, but due to our lack of any KPF are expected to play much bigger and taller than they are. They aren’t contested 1 v 1 beasts, they are 3rd talls, just like Henry. Difference is he gets to play like one with Hawkins and Cameron etc.

I mean, poor Johnson has had to ruck ffs. They’d benefit with some tall support
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Ollie probably did the right thing for his career leaving.
 
Timmy from Thomastown said:
Yes that’s what I think too.

All this racism talk is just a massive overreaction from the reality…. People are just assuming it happened. He’s happy at the club and hasn’t suffered much if any abuse from social media or otherwise. Can’t ever say none because there’s always one idiot….

As for his footy yes needs to play from the front and side as well as the back. Relies so much on marking on the fly that it’s hard to retrain the brain. Once he gets that right and understands he doesn’t have to take mark of the day every time and sometimes just bringing the ball to ground will do the trick… then we have something exciting to work with.
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That's not true about assuming he received abuse & the racism online. He deleted all his social media accounts because of it. I also know someone close to him who confirmed the vile comments he was receiving.
 

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Timmy from Thomastown said:
Yes that’s what I think too.

All this racism talk is just a massive overreaction from the reality…. People are just assuming it happened. He’s happy at the club and hasn’t suffered much if any abuse from social media or otherwise. Can’t ever say none because there’s always one idiot….

As for his footy yes needs to play from the front and side as well as the back. Relies so much on marking on the fly that it’s hard to retrain the brain. Once he gets that right and understands he doesn’t have to take mark of the day every time and sometimes just bringing the ball to ground will do the trick… then we have something exciting to work with.
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Have you been to a game? Racism flying left, right and centre.

He deleted social media because of racist abuse, not because he wanted to detox the bad vibes or whatever.
 
It’s a half-game sample only but I liked him in the backline. I thought he attacked the marking contests well and with intensity. Seemed to be involved a lot more with directing team mates and just more assertive than he’s been sometimes as a forward. I also noticed that he seemed take up a spot pretty central in the field on kick-ins or slow plays at the defensive end or when we lost possession forward. Perhaps blocking the corridor? He doesn’t seem like a character that would ignore coach’s directions so I’d assume he was instructed to do so. I’d like to see him used down back regularly even if it’s half a game.
 
Captivating said:
I haven't heard a racial comment in years.
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Doesn’t mean they’re not out there. Every season at least one club posts something about a player. There was racism at the Sydney game, there has been racism elsewhere. It’s hard to investigate and hard to ban people from GA.
 
FromTheBoundaryLine said:
It’s a half-game sample only but I liked him in the backline. I thought he attacked the marking contests well and with intensity. Seemed to be involved a lot more with directing team mates and just more assertive than he’s been sometimes as a forward. I also noticed that he seemed take up a spot pretty central in the field on kick-ins or slow plays at the defensive end or when we lost possession forward. Perhaps blocking the corridor? He doesn’t seem like a character that would ignore coach’s directions so I’d assume he was instructed to do so. I’d like to see him used down back regularly even if it’s half a game.
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An interesting experiment for AJ. He took a mark in defence within seconds of the game starting, and continued in that vein. Although I’m not sure how much defensive ‘nous’ he has.

But if the intent was to get him more involved in the game, without the responsibility of being a key forward, then it worked. His two goals after halftime were handy too.

Like you, I’d be happy to see this approach repeated, if unorthodox as a game plan.
 
manicpie said:
He came to the AFL late and is a chilled, easygoing dude. All his football days in the lesser leagues he would have been the same and was probably easily jumping over blokes and kicking goals for fun. It's just confidence. Remember his first few games when he was kicking them from the boundry and looking really confident?, he has lost that confidence somehow. It doesn't appear to be fitness as many say, he gets around quits well. It's as you said, his brain is wired to play a certain way and he is struggling with it. All things that can be fixed
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Yeah but to me that’s no excuse. Most footballers would have dominated in lesser leagues and he has been around long enough to understand what it takes to be an AFL player.

I think that what’s also been lost is that he has been criticised because he looks disinterested and just seemed like he wasn’t trying hard enough.

This is a team game, afterall. You could be having a dirty day, but you owe it to your teammates to just keep working hard. Confidence or no confidence. Effort is all that’s asked for.
 

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Captivating said:
I haven't heard a racial comment in years.
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Heard it today at a under 12 match. Mother told her child to ignore it and just keep playing.
Sadly didn't want problems and didn't report to match officials.

It happens more than you think. Disgusting, can only get that from adults.
 
Maggie5 said:
Heard it today at a under 12 match. Mother told her child to ignore it and just keep playing.
Sadly didn't want problems and didn't report to match officials.

It happens more than you think. Disgusting, can only get that from adults.
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Kids games can be the worst for abuse. I can't tell you how many times I've asked adult men aged in their 40's to pull their heads in & grow up at my sons matches.
 
Vicky Park said:
An interesting experiment for AJ. He took a mark in defence within seconds of the game starting, and continued in that vein. Although I’m not sure how much defensive ‘nous’ he has.

But if the intent was to get him more involved in the game, without the responsibility of being a key forward, then it worked. His two goals after halftime were handy too.

Like you, I’d be happy to see this approach repeated, if unorthodox as a game plan.
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Yeah. The contrast for me was the authority he took on in that role compared to forward. He may just be less inclined to do that with the experience around him at AFL level. It may also just make him more aware of what his opponents are doing against him when playing forward. I like the plan👍.
 
memoryofmchale said:
Have you been to a game? Racism flying left, right and centre.

He deleted social media because of racist abuse, not because he wanted to detox the bad vibes or whatever.
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I’ve not heard racism at games. There will always be an idiot that says something stupid though. Or somebody who thinks he heard something.

I want to talk about football when I’m talking about Ash Johnson . I almost successfully derailed the topic back to football but looks like it’s mean reverted.

Glad he got his hands on it a bit last start. Hope that’s the start of his revival. He’s an enormous talent and will boost Collingwoods premiership chances if he can get back to his best.
 
FromTheBoundaryLine said:
Yeah. The contrast for me was the authority he took on in that role compared to forward. He may just be less inclined to do that with the experience around him at AFL level. It may also just make him more aware of what his opponents are doing against him when playing forward. I like the plan👍.
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I think it’s just easier to play that way in the back half. He can get free and be the third man in the contest rather being the one against two getting pushed under the ball up forward.
 
Timmy from Thomastown said:
I want to talk about football when I’m talking about Ash Johnson . I almost successfully derailed the topic back to football but looks like it’s mean reverted.
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I definitely think there’s been a racism element here but the main thing that affected his form was his role.

At AFL at the start of the season he played as a deep forward, had the ball kicked on his head whilst he was outnumbered and got pushed under the ball and thus couldn’t get near impacting the game. Goes the the VFL only to play the exact same role and the ball to come in the exact same way to him. He gets his role changed to a role where he can get his hands on the ball and suddenly he’s performing again.
 
Bianconeri said:
I definitely think there’s been a racism element here but the main thing that affected his form was his role.

At AFL at the start of the season he played as a deep forward, had the ball kicked on his head whilst he was outnumbered and got pushed under the ball and thus couldn’t get near impacting the game. Goes the the VFL only to play the exact same role and the ball to come in the exact same way to him. He gets his role changed to a role where he can get his hands on the ball and suddenly he’s performing again.
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I blame mcStay
 
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