Player Watch Steele Sidebottom

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Dead Eye Didak said:
I think Howe will get another year, only because we have a dearth of key/intercept defenders, unless we trade in a back from another club eg. Taylor from GWS or an Eyre really comes on in the second half of the season and plays decent senior footy. I would keep Howe to help fast track guys like Eyre, Jiath, Dean.....
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I hope the club accepts that despite what happens this season, we aren’t going to win it next season with the same team. So, hard decisions need to be made and I’d rather lose blooding younger players, than lose (or more specifically not be a legitimate contender) playing the guys who are very much at the end of their careers. An extra year is a lot and a year wasted in finding out what we have and/or what we need to recruit for.
 
Kes1984 said:
Was it 3 free kicks he gave away too?
He could barely get involved, which wasn’t like him. But then when he was, he infringed. Just a dirty day.

He’s having more bad games than good this season ☹️
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He gave away a couple of desperate one on ones where he was in big trouble after being the first back when we got opened up, but watching on TV it was really hard to tell, as he just barely ever on tv in the first three quarters. No idea if he was getting lost or whether it was just a strange game where the ball never went out to his wing. I think his spot is in a bit of trouble - whe is much better when he has to contest in defensive 50. Markov too. So if he's not being used on the rebound, they're a better bet. But it might have just been peculiar to the particular match where we took it straight up the middle so often.
 
VinnieB said:
I hope the club accepts that despite what happens this season, we aren’t going to win it next season with the same team. So, hard decisions need to be made and I’d rather lose blooding younger players, than lose (or more specifically not be a legitimate contender) playing the guys who are very much at the end of their careers. An extra year is a lot and a year wasted in finding out what we have and/or what we need to recruit for.
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Like 2021 when we got some really important games into Macrae, Poulter, Max Lynch, Brown, Brown, Ruscoe, Bianco - it really accelerated their progress...

Or the Godden, Jacotine, Wild years

You've got to have the right kids to get games into and the coaches usually know when they do and find them a spot.

Hopefully Harrison and Reef are the right ones. Maybe Sullivan and Bytel? I'm not that confident we'll find more than 1, nor that a few extra games this year will have a bearing on any future success or failure for these players.
 
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Stronzatello said:
He’s finished. Nothing wrong with accepting that a player’s best is well past him. Found something the last two years under Fly after he looked done under Bucks. Just get over yourself mate. Fly isn’t going to tell the whole world the truth and write a champion off in his post game presser.
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I disagree.
 
Kes1984 said:
I absolutely do. He’s a top notch bloke.
Makes it especially hard to see him falling away. He’s long been a favourite of mine.
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Yet, you’ve written him off.
 
sr36 said:
Like 2021 when we got some really important games into Macrae, Poulter, Max Lynch, Brown, Brown, Ruscoe, Bianco - it really accelerated their progress...

Or the Godden, Jacotine, Wild years

You've got to have the right kids to get games into and the coaches usually know when they do and find them a spot.

Hopefully Harrison and Reef are the right ones. Maybe Sullivan and Bytel? I'm not that confident we'll find more than 1, nor that a few extra games this year will have a bearing on any future success or failure for these players.
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Well, that's exactly what I mean. You can work out who is and who isn't up to it rather than keeping them on the list.
Apart from Macrae (and he may not be up to it, but we aren't exactly sure because he only gets to play 1 or 2 quarters), the rest are gone, with only Poulter getting a second chance. You don't know unless you play them.

Or are you saying the club was responsible for the failure of each of those players because they played those kids?

In any case, I'm talking about giving games to those who have been on the list for a few years now.
McInness, Macrae, Harrison are the three that Sidebottom may be keeping out. If another season goes by and they can't get regular games over a 33 yr old who is struggling, then they should be moved on. In my opinion, they need to be given blocks of games to see if there is something there.
 
VinnieB said:
Well, that's exactly what I mean. You can work out who is and who isn't up to it rather than keeping them on the list.
Apart from Macrae (and he may not be up to it, but we aren't exactly sure because he only gets to play 1 or 2 quarters), the rest are gone, with only Poulter getting a second chance. You don't know unless you play them.

Or are you saying the club was responsible for the failure of each of those players because they played those kids?

In any case, I'm talking about giving games to those who have been on the list for a few years now.
McInness, Macrae, Harrison are the three that Sidebottom may be keeping out. If another season goes by and they can't get regular games over a 33 yr old who is struggling, then they should be moved on. In my opinion, they need to be given blocks of games to see if there is something there.
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They may be relatively unknown to you and I, but they're not to the coaches. They track them at training and in the VFL. Unless they're performing well enough there, they don't get picked. And if they don't perform well enough there for long enough, they get delisted. We don't need to reduce our chances of winning by giving a block of games to someone not performing well enough to earn them. We'll get injuries at some stage or the coaches will decide to drop someone and these guys will get a shot if they're playing well enough at training and in the reserves.
 
VinnieB said:
Well, that's exactly what I mean. You can work out who is and who isn't up to it rather than keeping them on the list.
Apart from Macrae (and he may not be up to it, but we aren't exactly sure because he only gets to play 1 or 2 quarters), the rest are gone, with only Poulter getting a second chance. You don't know unless you play them.

Or are you saying the club was responsible for the failure of each of those players because they played those kids?

In any case, I'm talking about giving games to those who have been on the list for a few years now.
McInness, Macrae, Harrison are the three that Sidebottom may be keeping out. If another season goes by and they can't get regular games over a 33 yr old who is struggling, then they should be moved on. In my opinion, they need to be given blocks of games to see if there is something there.
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You missed Sr’s point. The club will have a better feel for it than us so at this time they don’t need to test who is up to it. Gut feel is they think HH is because they’ve picked him Thursday off a quiet VFL month (1 match of 8 possessions in the past 4 weeks). McInnes on the other hand looked to be a case of getting minutes because there was no other alternative until Cox was used forward v Port rather than bench ruck. Ditto Macrae he was in for 10 minutes for a reason.
 
People were writing him off in 2017. I'm not saying he'll come good again. I'm not convinced he will. But I wouldn't be forming my opinion based on a few s**t games at the start of the season
 
Even if Sidey might come good again, it's probably time we transition him out. We've seen the best of him, he's a champion of the club but at 33 he's not going to get better.

I'd play Lipinski in his role as that hard up and down winger runner and bring in a Reef or Macrae permanently to take Lipinski's current forward or midfield minutes.
 
I’d love to see us work out a way to push him forward at times before we call him cooked. With all that speed around him combined with his smarts he’d be bloody dangerous. He’s pretty strong one on one and still a step ahead of many mentally.
 
FromTheBoundaryLine said:
I’d love to see us work out a way to push him forward at times before we call him cooked. With all that speed around him combined with his smarts he’d be bloody dangerous. He’s pretty strong one on one and still a step ahead of many mentally.
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Agree he could be very damaging playing fwd - but who do we drop? That’s the challenge.
 

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FromTheBoundaryLine said:
I’d love to see us work out a way to push him forward at times before we call him cooked. With all that speed around him combined with his smarts he’d be bloody dangerous. He’s pretty strong one on one and still a step ahead of many mentally.
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We’re already struggling as it is to fit all our small forwards into that 22
 
sr36 said:
Wing running is about endurance. Small forward is about pace. When Steele is past it for wing, he's also past it for small forward.
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Precisely. Steele provides the gut running requited in the modern game. According to the coach, he still has more left.
 
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Even if time has caught up

What a bloody champion and however he leaves I hope it's on his terms and treated properly by fans and club

Just like putting a sick pet down it's hard to know when the times right .

He blitzed the grand final if we lost I'd say he would of quit.
 
sr36 said:
He's our Nathan Lyon. We're going to miss him when he's gone.
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And like Nathan Lyon, he had been written off many times. He’s just that sort of player.

If this is to be his final season, then I hope to see a few more trade mark Steele moments before he goes.
 
FromTheBoundaryLine said:
So it’s impossible to rotate him with someone already in the 22 and on the field or via interchange at times?
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Not impossible but if we need to look to the future then we should back in the younger incumbents. Steele isn’t finished yet but reinventing him as a forward just to prolong his career is not the way I’d go about it. Keep him on the wing… or play him as sub…. With occasional forays into the midfield and the forward line. Pretty much what’s happening already.
 
Timmy from Thomastown said:
Not impossible but if we need to look to the future then we should back in the younger incumbents. Steele isn’t finished yet but reinventing him as a forward just to prolong his career is not the way I’d go about it. Keep him on the wing… or play him as sub…. With occasional forays into the midfield and the forward line. Pretty much what’s happening already.
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Yeah I reckon you’re right. Probably a bit of wishful thinking on my part tbh.👍
 
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