Ryan Gardner is a good footballer - post your apologies here

[huddo#9]

Solid game, still had a few kicked on him. I noticed he looked out of puff also.

The spoil stat is bs. His first spoil of the day directly resulted in the dees first goal, left his player to get to a contest he didn't need to go too.

 

[weltschmerz]

He's getting significantly more marks than he used to.

 

[bresker]

Did an absolute trademark spoil into traffic which resulted in a Melbourne goal. He’s like an unopposed ruckman punching the ball forward, except it goes 5m instead of 20 & straight to an opponent.

Apart from that he still shows improvement. I like how he backed himself to push right up the ground when were hemming them in. He’s quick.

 

[Some Idiot]

Going for his marks a lot more confidently, there was one fumble at ground level where he looked like a bit of a deer in the headlights, but he was pretty good overall.

 

[BEaston]

Another good game. Thought the thread would be quiet this week but the straw clutching has begun already.

Team-high 15kms run last night. Huge work rate and fitness levels but let's have a crack cos he looked puffed once or twice. As if he were the only one out there sucking in big breaths during a hard fought game. Jesus.

This thread has to have some of the most biased posting on big footy and that's saying something.

His papers were stamped by many a long time ago and people will continue to use any crap to justify their position on him.

The improvement in his game is still moving upward at a high rate.

 

[glenashley]

I think he should stop spoiling and let the opposition take easy contested marks like the rest of our defence does....

 

[badkicking]

Another good game. Thought the thread would be quiet this week but the straw clutching has begun already.

Team-high 15kms run last night. Huge work rate and fitness levels but let's have a crack cos he looked puffed once or twice. As if he were the only one out there sucking in big breaths during a hard fought game. Jesus.

This thread has to have some of the most biased posting on big footy and that's saying something.

His papers were stamped by many a long time ago and people will continue to use any crap to justify their position on him.

The improvement in his game is still moving upward at a high rate.

The lack of pace and agility, means he is not a long term solution.

 

[willofwest]

The lack of pace and agility, means he is not a long term solution

 

[VitalDread]

Ryan is like a pokemon evolution arc

Went from
Tapping the footy - punching the footy - now marking the footy

 

[willofwest]

A bit hard to write, but he is in best 22, a 1v1 pick up in off season would really help our structure and him.

 

[Snarls Barkley]

I think he has been very good the last two weeks after an awful run of form.

Great to see him starting to back himself with some intercept marks, need that ability in the modern game and it’s certainly improving. Also wish he’d start killing the ball better with his spoils, a lot of the time in works out fine as a Dale or Daniel cleans it up at ground level but it fills me with dread. He’s somewhere between borderline best 22 and not good enough but still not sold on where I sit yet.

I’m more worried about Keath personally. He is a long, long way off last years form.

 

[doggies ftw]

Another good game. Thought the thread would be quiet this week but the straw clutching has begun already.

Team-high 15kms run last night. Huge work rate and fitness levels but let's have a crack cos he looked puffed once or twice. As if he were the only one out there sucking in big breaths during a hard fought game. Jesus.

This thread has to have some of the most biased posting on big footy and that's saying something.

His papers were stamped by many a long time ago and people will continue to use any crap to justify their position on him.

The improvement in his game is still moving upward at a high rate.

Yeah surprised there’s any negatives in here about his game last night - he’s a much better player when he’s marking the footy a bit - plus was his best game disposal wise by an absolute mile - his confidence was growing And he was actually happy to take on a little responsibility and choose the harder option a few times. He doesn’t need to be a Dale but he has a nice long kick so sometimes he needs to pull the trigger on the longer option which helps us beat the zone rather then the dinky sideways kick and passing off the responsibility to the next player. He did that last night so that was a big step forward fOr him.

Best game for the club for sure, I still think we need a better 2nd defender though to improve, Gardner should realistically be a 3rd defender or back up at best tbf or at least the one lockdown defender amongst very very good intercept defenders

 

[DognBones]

Next week will be the supreme test for him. Will probably match up on Cameron this time who won the game for Geelong against us last start.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

Gardner's ability to get to contests late despite having to zone off and defend a whole lot of space and players is incredible. Has great closing speed and leaping to impact contests that other key defenders wouldn't reach.

 

[maddog37]

He is still improving. Slowly slowly but still improving. One more big preseason in the weights room.

 

[CDBulldog]

His kicking over recent weeks has been very good. If he can find another 10-15% improvement in his game (more marking, stronger in the contest - big pre-season in the gym, making better decisions about when to fly into a pack and when to stay back) he will be better than fine. Would still like a strong 1v1 defender in the off-season but no denying Ryan is improving. Good on him.

 

[Mahama]

Another 2 coaches' votes for Gardner. I can't lie - I'm loving the recognition he's getting right now. Well deserved.

That spoil against May late in the game was a great example of what I've been talking about for the last month - with his combination of height, speed and endurance he gets to contests our other defenders just can't. That's an uncontested mark for May with anyone else on him. Of course the ump pulled a free kick out of somewhere (I mean look at it, that's so clean), but in any case Gardner got right back on his bike and ran down the line for the next contest before May was even ready to take his kick.

 

[ossie_21]

Another 2 coaches' votes for Gardner. I can't lie - I'm loving the recognition he's getting right now. Well deserved.

That spoil against May late in the game was a great example of what I've been talking about for the last month - with his combination of height, speed and endurance he gets to contests our other defenders just can't. That's an uncontested mark for May with anyone else on him. Of course the ump pulled a free kick out of somewhere (I mean look at it, that's so clean), but in any case Gardner got right back on his bike and ran down the line for the next contest before May was even ready to take his kick.

View attachment 1456280

I applauded the spoil and calmed down that little bit as it went back to neutral with a throw in. Then they showed the camera on May calling for the ball and I was back into intense mode lol, the ump took a guess at that one

 

[Proffessor]

Gardner getting coaches votes on Saturday is a black mark on the person casting the votes, which one can only assume was Beveridge. Although it could also be Simon Goodwin

Simon Goodwin

Age

48

Ht

185cm

Wt

86kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

20.9

5star

K

12.1

4star

HB

8.8

5star

M

4.0

4star

T

2.5

4star

No current season stats available

D

9.4

3star

K

7.2

3star

HB

2.2

2star

M

3.0

3star

T

2.2

4star

taking the piss.

Unfortunately we have a sad record of dodgy B&F voting, with Naughton's debut year a classic example of ridiculously positively biased voting, and even though it was before Bevo's time, Brian Lake

Brian Lake

Age

42

Ht

195cm

Wt

98kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.7

4star

K

9.4

4star

HB

5.3

4star

M

6.5

5star

T

1.6

4star

MG

163.0

3star

No current season stats available

D

4.6

1star

K

2.6

1star

HB

2.0

2star

M

1.0

1star

T

0.6

3star

's ridiculously low B&F finish in 2012 remains a stand out example of negatively biased voting which can really take the shine off such awards.

Best to be as honest and fair as possible in such appraisals, otherwise it can erode trust.

 

[Proffessor]

This continued shitting on Gardiner is getting to weirdo levels, Professor.

It's not shitting on the bloke to say he didn't deserve 2 coaches votes for his performance.
Do you think he did?

Gardner had one of his better games on Saturday night and actually did some positive proactive things, such as his mark and handball to English. However he also made a number of typical mistakes that contributed to Melbourne scoring goals. For example in the 1st quarter, where his inability to gather a relatively simple ground ball resulted in the Demon's first goal and his decision to leave his opponent and unnecessarily join another pack contest resulted in their last goal to bookend their scoring for the quarter. Given that he only gathered 10 possessions, had a few goals kicked on him, and made at least a few mistakes, suggests those 2 votes were not appropriate.

There were a whole bunch of more deserving players, including Bailey Dale who didn't score any votes despite an outstanding performance. More players than not would arguably have had stronger claims on votes than Ryan. However, Gardner was given 2 votes which coupled with recent media articles suggests to me there is a concerted effort from within the club to build up his reputation\confidence. That sort of thing is fraught with danger because over time biased treatment can erode trust between the coaching staff and playing group.

 

[BEaston]

Hahaha Gardner getting coaches votes is going to fracture the coach/players relationship now hahaha

What was I saying about clutching at straws

 

[BrisDog]

Gardner was very good and I’m glad to see him taking some intercept marks. Seems to have the knack of marking at the highest point.

He has nightmare games but also has his good moments as well. As astute football observer can give credit to a player improving who was previously sh*te.

 

[Proffessor]

Hahaha Gardner getting coaches votes is going to fracture the coach/players relationship now hahaha

What was I saying about clutching at straws

Did I say fracture? No.

If you have to intentionally skew another persons words, you are the one clutching at straws.

Ever thought you were worthy of praise or reward but it was given to someone else you felt definitely wasn’t worthy? How did it make you feel?
If it happens once or twice you might brush it off. If it continues resentment starts to build up.

 

[Libbaaaa]

Another 2 coaches' votes for Gardner. I can't lie - I'm loving the recognition he's getting right now. Well deserved.

That spoil against May late in the game was a great example of what I've been talking about for the last month - with his combination of height, speed and endurance he gets to contests our other defenders just can't. That's an uncontested mark for May with anyone else on him. Of course the ump pulled a free kick out of somewhere (I mean look at it, that's so clean), but in any case Gardner got right back on his bike and ran down the line for the next contest before May was even ready to take his kick.

View attachment 1456280

May was the most surprised of all, the look on his face when the umpire said free kick was pure shock.

 

[footscray1973]

Did I say fracture? No.

If you have to intentionally skew another persons words, you are the one clutching at straws.

Ever thought you were worthy of praise or reward but it was given to someone else you felt definitely wasn’t worthy? How did it make you feel?
If it happens once or twice you might brush it off. If it continues resentment starts to build up.

Skew implies distortion. "Erode trust" and "fracture" are not that far apart, especially when applied to relationships.