Toast Nic Naitanui #1 Ranked player in AFL

Remove this Banner Ad

I think he’s probably the best contested player in the league, the best stoppage player for sure.

Gets first hands through the ruck or by winning the hard ball at nearly ever stoppage he attends. You expect it.

Special player in rare form, just enjoy it I reckon.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

FKASC said:
The Twitter comments when the AFL posted about this are interesting…

people suck
Click to expand...
Yes you can disagree with the methodology and the result. I don't think he's the best player in the comp, but he's easily top 20 in the last 2 seasons, maybe pushing top 10.

But the number of people who don't rate him in the top 5 ruckmen or actually think he's not a good player at all is embarrassing.
 
FKASC said:
The Twitter comments when the AFL posted about this are interesting…

people suck
Click to expand...

Oh boy

He's on track for at least another AA squad nom this year and is a good chance to make it back to back jumpers as he's been the most consistent of the rucks this year
 
Quinz said:
Yes you can disagree with the methodology and the result. I don't think he's the best player in the comp, but he's easily top 20 in the last 2 seasons, maybe pushing top 10.

But the number of people who don't rate him in the top 5 ruckmen or actually think he's not a good player at all is embarrassing.
Click to expand...


Oh have look at this!! you basically saying what I am saying and still call me Gary Lyon?? lol.
 
Last edited:
Quinz said:
Yes you can disagree with the methodology and the result. I don't think he's the best player in the comp, but he's easily top 20 in the last 2 seasons, maybe pushing top 10.

But the number of people who don't rate him in the top 5 ruckmen or actually think he's not a good player at all is embarrassing.
Click to expand...

Also why I don't rate the players association awards. It's a popularity contest, the players don't watch the games. Most would be lucky to catch more than 2 a week.

To casual viewers all Nic does is get the ball to ground. They don't see him bullocking in the clearance, opening up the game for others.

Sheed is the hero of the 2018 grand final however Shuey statistically had the best grand final on record. 9 Clearances, 2 goal assists, 8 tackles, 1.1 and 34 disposals. BOG and norm smith medallist. To put into perspective Shueys 2018 Grand Final player rating was 35.7. Dustin Martin 2020 roughly 26, Dustin Martin 2019 Roughly 23. To hear the commentators Martin has played the greatest grand finals of all time. His Grand final ratings dont even make the top 10.

Now who doesn't get mentioned who put in spectacular performances and absolutely dominated their opponent.

Mark Hutchings. Took Collingwoods most dangerous midfielder and completely erased him from the contest. Even managed to kick a goal himself going back the other way.

Will Schofield on Jordan De Goey. De Goey was playing as a game winner. Schofield is given the task of taking him inside 50 and proceeds to win 11 consecutive one on one contests taking him out of the game.

People who don't understand how the game works or purely look at base statistics and don't watch, don't rate Nicnat.
 
I think 'best' is the real misnomer that people use. He's not the best player in the competition.

He is, however, one of the most influential players in the competition. A much better description to use.
 
It's not indicative of him being the best player in the comp, it's indicative of him being very flipping good though
 
Carbine Chaos said:
I think 'best' is the real misnomer that people use. He's not the best player in the competition.

He is, however, one of the most influential players in the competition. A much better description to use.
Click to expand...

Genuine question, and not meaning to split hairs... but what's the difference? If a player is the most influential, that means they are the biggest contributor to a team winning, no? Doesn't that kinda make them 'the best'?

Is it about consistency vs bursts of brilliance?
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

Thought he was fairly oridinary for the first 3Qtrs, got done by Max big time. However came good in the last. Shocked to read he only had 61% of game time, honestly what sort of management is that? Gawn had 96% of TOG. Frigging Vardy had more at 64%.

I wish we had Jackson that kid is going to be a star, him and Gawn will be the next super Ruck combo going forward.
 
sdb4884 said:
Thought he was fairly oridinary for the first 3Qtrs, got done by Max big time. However came good in the last. Shocked to read he only had 61% of game time, honestly what sort of management is that? Gawn had 96% of TOG. Frigging Vardy had more at 64%.

I wish we had Jackson that kid is going to be a star, him and Gawn will be the next super Ruck combo going forward.
Click to expand...

Agreed re: Jackson, looks like a super talent. I assume Naitanui's TOG was so low because it was such a stoppage heavy game with a lot of repeat efforts. I had him and Gawn about even, certainly wasn't a dominant NN performance until late. Vardy gave us nothing
 
sdb4884 said:
Thought he was fairly oridinary for the first 3Qtrs, got done by Max big time. However came good in the last. Shocked to read he only had 61% of game time, honestly what sort of management is that? Gawn had 96% of TOG. Frigging Vardy had more at 64%.

I wish we had Jackson that kid is going to be a star, him and Gawn will be the next super Ruck combo going forward.
Click to expand...

Naitanui was average sure, but Max was pretty awful with his possessions in the first three quarters. He certainly wasn't beating Naitanui in the ruck and 7 of his 12 disposals were horrible skill errors. Credit to him, though, he did have two good touches which were important parts of Melbourne goals with about 4 minutes to go in the third, still I'm not sure how Max would be considered ahead at that point given all his disposals were largely ineffective.
 
eaglespremiers said:
According to the ratings, in all positions on the ground Naitanui has the biggest gap between a leader and the second best player in the same position. Also Gawn languishing in 5th spot.
View attachment 1202274
Click to expand...

Max Gawn is coasting to AA selection on the back of a hot start to the year. He's been quite average in the second half and Monday was the best he's performed against a good ruckman in some time. And even then I think Nic Nat shaded him by FT with something close to a third less game time.

But I'm officially on board the Nic Nat needs to be fitter next year bandwagon. I think the S&C team have done an excellent job at keeping him on the park. I believe he's only missed one game in the last two seasons, but by now he should have a bit more faith in his body and it's time for him to lean up.

If we want to prolong his career, he needs to be lighter, less stress on those knees. Less weight to drag around also makes it easier to run, to stay on the ground, to make more contests.

He doesn't need to be making run down tackles or taking screamers - that's young Naitanui. But even if he gets up to say 75% TOG, that's more contests he can impact, more contested wins and more potential to kick goals in the forward line.

I think he's had a fantastic year, but he's in his 30s now and every bit of preparation is key. If he takes care of himself, I could see him playing into his mid 30s easily. Not as quick or as high jumping, but a contested beast moving from stoppage to stoppage - a better version of late career Mumford.
 
Ishmael_ said:
Max Gawn is coasting to AA selection on the back of a hot start to the year. He's been quite average in the second half and Monday was the best he's performed against a good ruckman in some time. And even then I think Nic Nat shaded him by FT with something close to a third less game time.

But I'm officially on board the Nic Nat needs to be fitter next year bandwagon. I think the S&C team have done an excellent job at keeping him on the park. I believe he's only missed one game in the last two seasons, but by now he should have a bit more faith in his body and it's time for him to lean up.

If we want to prolong his career, he needs to be lighter, less stress on those knees. Less weight to drag around also makes it easier to run, to stay on the ground, to make more contests.

He doesn't need to be making run down tackles or taking screamers - that's young Naitanui. But even if he gets up to say 75% TOG, that's more contests he can impact, more contested wins and more potential to kick goals in the forward line.

I think he's had a fantastic year, but he's in his 30s now and every bit of preparation is key. If he takes care of himself, I could see him playing into his mid 30s easily. Not as quick or as high jumping, but a contested beast moving from stoppage to stoppage - a better version of late career Mumford.
Click to expand...

Nic leaning up won't lead to more game time or more involvement. It may prolong his career if he can produce similar results at a lighter bodyweight but all that leaning up does is mean less weight to move around. No matter the S&C age is now the primary factor. The truth is he's already not charging guys down, agile enough to keep up with mids or jumping like he used to. He now wins ruck contests through his excellence as a tap ruckman, his body positioning and strength. He then helps to win the ball at ground level with his presence, blocking as well as his own clearances. If he loses weight, he will lose strength. Do you kill whats left of his elite skillset so he can play an extra year, maybe 2 as a shadow of his former self?
 
WCE_phil said:
Nic leaning up won't lead to more game time or more involvement. It may prolong his career if he can produce similar results at a lighter bodyweight but all that leaning up does is mean less weight to move around. No matter the S&C age is now the primary factor. The truth is he's already not charging guys down, agile enough to keep up with mids or jumping like he used to. He now wins ruck contests through his excellence as a tap ruckman, his body positioning and strength. He then helps to win the ball at ground level with his presence, blocking as well as his own clearances. If he loses weight, he will lose strength. Do you kill whats left of his elite skillset so he can play an extra year, maybe 2 as a shadow of his former self?
Click to expand...

I disagree that it won't lead to more game time, less weight = less stress on his body, which means he can put in a better pre-season and less impact stress during the season.

But I agree completely with the bolded. However, I don't think there's any risk of him losing his strength advantage. He was the strongest player on our list as a skinny beanpole (benched ~150kg irc). He's 31 now, perfectly in the 25-35 year old sweet spot for brute strength. At a listed 111 kg, he could lose 10 kgs and there's not a ruckman that would get close to him for brute strength.
 
Ishmael_ said:
I disagree that it won't lead to more game time, less weight = less stress on his body, which means he can put in a better pre-season and less impact stress during the season.

But I agree completely with the bolded. However, I don't think there's any risk of him losing his strength advantage. He was the strongest player on our list as a skinny beanpole (benched ~150kg irc). He's 31 now, perfectly in the 25-35 year old sweet spot for brute strength. At a listed 111 kg, he could lose 10 kgs and there's not a ruckman that would get close to him for brute strength.
Click to expand...

Nic when he was young and thin and jumping all over everyone wasn't playing more game time. You're not going to turn that up several magnitudes after a player turns 30. Particularly at his size and with past injury history.

Look at it this way. Taking someones gametime from 65-75% doesn't seem like much, it's 10%. Can you improve someones aerobic capacity by 10%. Yes you can even for a lot of professional athletes, particularly in sports where stamina is the primary factor. However it's not improving his aerobic capacity by 10%. To take him from 65-75% game time you are essentially forcing him to lose 30% of his break time. For an explosive athlete (he may no longer be as explosive as he was but that is his genetics) you're essentially asking him to provide the same output + 15% with 30% less break time. It's not possible.

Also i'd like to point out that strength is relative. If you are of roughly equal strength to someone particularly when you can't just throw someone out of the way or grab at them etc, you won't dominate positioning and one on one battles. You have to actually be significantly stronger than someone to be able to do that. Cutting 10% of bodyweight on it's own could very well be the difference between being dominant and of relative strength.

Combine number 1 with number 2 and factor in father time and I just don't see it working. All of a sudden he is without his biggest playing benefits against people who are then just as or close to as strong, can run faster, for longer and are now more athletic as well as being taller.
 
WCE_phil said:
Nic when he was young and thin and jumping all over everyone wasn't playing more game time. You're not going to turn that up several magnitudes after a player turns 30.
Click to expand...
When he was young, we teamed him up with another pretty decent ruck for pretty much every game he played back then.

He may not massively increase his ability to get around the ground, a small improvement would be good, without losing weight, he will slow down quickly and the end will come quickly.
 
DirtySandman said:
When he was young, we teamed him up with another pretty decent ruck for pretty much every game he played back then.

He may not massively increase his ability to get around the ground, a small improvement would be good, without losing weight, he will slow down quickly and the end will come quickly.
Click to expand...

I'm not disagreeing that he could do with losing a little bit of weight. But people expecting it to improve his time on ground, his ability to cover the ground and his ability to impact contests are in my opinion flat out wrong. The combined effect of further ageing and the cumulative effect of all the injuries will far outpace the effect of him losing a little bit of weight.

Nic almost retired and didn't come back from the last knee recon. It was purely for the possibility of a premiership. One more knee or any serious injury and he'll likely call it a day. Nic is a deeply spiritual individual who has a lot of motivations outside of football. Oh and i'll just put it out there one of the most generous, genuine, humble and kind people you will ever meet.
 
Williams preseason will be Key. 4th year and needs to cement a spot in the side as a FWD/Ruck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Biggie
Nic Naitanui Retires
7 8 9 10 11
Replies
257
Views
10K
amazingjoshy
amazingjoshy
Mop
  • Poll
Has Nic Naitanui Underachieved?
2 3 4
Replies
98
Views
4K
WCE_phil
WCE_phil
A
Analysis Round 1, 2024: Player Video Review vs Port Adelaide
Replies
9
Views
812
Yeahnahmate
Yeahnahmate
A
2nds WAFL Round 1, 2024: Player Video Review vs Swan Districts
Replies
5
Views
465
Mulldogg
Mulldogg
A
Analysis Round 10, 2024: Player Video Review vs Melbourne
Replies
6
Views
278
BeornJ
BeornJ
BeornJ
Resource Eagles Player Ratings 2024
2
Replies
30
Views
2K
BeornJ
BeornJ
A
Analysis Round 9, 2024: Player Video Review vs Collingwood
Replies
11
Views
401
MeltMan
MeltMan

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top