Training Pre-Season 2023 (First game 18/3 v North)

[Avalor]

This explains a lot as to what happened to Gaffy.

WEST Coast wingman Andrew Gaff

3

Andrew Gaff

Age

32

Ht

184cm

Wt

83kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

26.6

5star

K

15.9

5star

HB

10.7

5star

M

4.8

5star

T

2.0

4star

CL

2.5

4star

D

24.5

5star

K

15.6

5star

HB

8.9

4star

M

5.4

5star

T

2.0

3star

CL

2.5

4star

D

11.2

3star

K

8.0

3star

HB

3.2

3star

M

3.2

4star

T

0.6

3star

CL

0.6

3star

is running as well as he was when he was 18, according to coach Adam Simpson, after pushing through an ankle injury last season that broke him by the final round.

The full extent of Gaff's struggles last season was never revealed, with the 30-year-old needing 12 weeks to recover from off-season surgery going into 2022 but never getting his injured ankle right.

 

[RookiePick]

Fans fap over contested marks because they look great.

But the truth is they are incredibly low percentage and not a pathway to kicking a consistent winning score- the very best contested marking players only average about 2.5 a game (and interestingly the shortest player in the top 10 contested marks last year was 1.95cm) so across 4 quarters they simply do not result in enough goals to generate a winning score - if the ball is coming in high in a situation where the forward and defender are already physically engaged at the drop of the ball, the defence has pretty much already done its job.

What generates winning scores is simple- forwards getting separation on their men and marking the ball out in front of them out of reach of a following defender- simply put it is what every coach is trying to generate every time the ball goes forward because it results in far more goals per inside 50m.

And in that scenario extra height and reach is incredibly important for a few reasons

• it gives the leading forward a head start on the following defender equal to their reach advantage- so against a forward with a +5cm reach advantage, the following defender has to find a way to make up that extra 5cm over a 10 metre sprint. Over a game that matters enormously.
• it gives the midfielder a bigger margin for error with their kick in in a way that is disproportionate to the height difference- you can imagine there is a circle around the leading forward where he will be able to stick out his hands and mark it, so a midfielder needs to kick the ball into that circle- if his kick is slightly off line or overcooked the forward can still adjust and mark it by reaching left or right or jumping as long as it's within the circle. An extra 5cm reach means that circle extends 5cm extra above 5cm extra to the right and to the left of the forward- meaning a midfielder has a considerably larger margin for error.

If you look at who is in the top 10 average goals per game last year pretty obvious that height matters for forwards. Curnow, and Toby Greene are the only players under 194cm in the top 10.

I like the concept but I would have gone for "Dome of Dominance" for your second point.

You have to think Kingy on the telestrator if you are trying to sell concepts to the mug public.

 

[Cuzz09]

makes sense.

Unless you have elite cumbers and pressure players keeping it in the area why bomb it in

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[eagles rule]

I know you're mad right now but if you ever talk like that about the bacon deluxe add ketchup ever again I'll...

The Angry whopper it is then ..


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Kegs15]

The Angry whopper it is then ..


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

That one started off excellent, but in the later years the spicy sauce started to taste more and more vinegary, like they bought insane amounts when they first released it and were running down their expired sauce stock.

Or just me?

 

[Keys]

This explains a lot as to what happened to Gaffy.

WEST Coast wingman Andrew Gaff is running as well as he was when he was 18, according to coach Adam Simpson, after pushing through an ankle injury last season that broke him by the final round.

The full extent of Gaff's struggles last season was never revealed, with the 30-year-old needing 12 weeks to recover from off-season surgery going into 2022 but never getting his injured ankle right.

Link to article where the above comes from



Points of interest from it

"That's the challenge with the criticism you get for your fitness or your standards. You get it because it's from the outside, but until you know what the player has gone through, you don't really know."

Kane Cornes take note

Gaff was among a group of players that Simpson said probably shouldn't have been playing last year but continued to because of the club's dire injury situation, with Liam Duggan (knee) and Jake Waterman (knee) in the same situation.

The prospect of improved form from all three in 2023 adds to the upside already generated by the returning quartet of key forward Oscar Allen (foot), defender Tom Cole (ankle) and midfielders Elliot Yeo (calf) and Dom Sheed (ankle).

There’s reasons why the club feels they have scope for improvement from last year

"Elliot Yeo has won two best and fairests, is All-Australian, and has played bugger all the last three years. Dom Sheed should be in the prime of his career right now, but he played one game last year.

"Oscar Allen missed the whole season. Tom Cole is a premiership player and he's probably underrated in the bigger picture, but internally his reaction time to doing the right thing is just sensational.

"So I'm really bullish on those guys as much as giving the kids some exposure, because those guys aren't at the back end of their careers, they're right in the middle."

Expect the young guys to get opportunities but the below explains why we’ve retained some senior players for the young guys to play around as they’re eased into AFL

Asked if the talented Chesser was on track for a round one debut, Simpson said: "I'd love to give him some AFL exposure early.

"There's opportunities there, so trying to not put the weight of the world on their shoulders is important, because they're 18 and 19-year-old kids," the coach said.

"Same with Reuben Ginbey, Noah Long and Elijah Hewett and these guys. It's exciting that we’ve got some new young talent and they'll get opportunities, but without the expectations.”

 

[Kegs15]

This explains a lot as to what happened to Gaffy.

WEST Coast wingman Andrew Gaff is running as well as he was when he was 18, according to coach Adam Simpson, after pushing through an ankle injury last season that broke him by the final round.

The full extent of Gaff's struggles last season was never revealed, with the 30-year-old needing 12 weeks to recover from off-season surgery going into 2022 but never getting his injured ankle right.

Hopefully he can still impact with his running back. I certainly don't think it's in the guts.

Maybe it's not off a wing either. A poster some ways back suggested him forward. With few options there I actually don't mind that - get him absolutely gut running to be a linkup option every time the ball is turned over and we have a chance to attack. Run 200m in an arc to get seperation from his man even if it's just for that extra handball we need coming through the centre square. He's not creative enough coming out of the back half but he's excellent at being a clean link in the chain after running what would gas most players, and a clean link is really what we need. Someone connecting between Yeo/Jones/Hunt moving it out of the back half to a Ryan/Kelly/Cripps working out how to generate a scoring opportunity.

We saw in the praccy match he can find that seperation for a loose mark in the 50, and he's actually not a bad shot on goal if not too far out. Could also be played on their distributors and make life hard for them by keeping up wherever they go, where say Ryan would be better served saving his energy.

Petrucelle is yet to show he can consistently produce that same type of seperation running and Long probably needs to be allowed to play on instinct a bit more this early on.

It may not be his natural position but I think he could do it. And like Redden said last year, got to sacrifice your best/most involved role sometimes for the good of the team. We have a few candidates for wing spots, would allow us to fit a Clark/Hough/even Winder or Burgiel there and see what they're made of

 

[GlennTwenty]

makes sense.

Unless you have elite cumbers and pressure players keeping it in the area why bomb it in

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

Are you saying elite cumbers with enough pressure can hit the target from long range? Interesting but perhaps the wrong place, this is a football thread...

 

[Dark Sharks]

That article doesn't fill me with much confidence TBH.

 

[flyinghi64]

Interesting comment regarding Hewett from one of the coaches, Bell possibly - he said he showed glimpses but the challenge is to produce over 4 quarters. Perhaps that’s why he’s fallen behind Ginbey and Long in the quest to make the “probables”.

In a few of the U18's games I watched from last year this was him to a tee. Barely sighted then in 1 qtr he would tear it up. Almost like he has a switch he only turns on when he wants to. If WC can keep that switch on he will be a valuable asset.

 

[Farang83150]

makes sense.

Unless you have elite cumbers and pressure players keeping it in the area why bomb it in

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

But does it really.......make sense!

 

[Keys]

In a few of the U18's games I watched from last year this was him to a tee. Barely sighted then in 1 qtr he would tear it up. Almost like he has a switch he only turns on when he wants to. If WC can keep that switch on he will be a valuable asset.

He’s still building his fitness base. Had issues last year related to covid that compromised his season and partly explains why he slipped to our 2nd pick after being considered a potential top 5 pick at the start of 2022

Watching him train he doesn’t yet have the tank of Ginbey for example

It’ll come because he does seem like someone willing to put the work in

 

[Cuzz09]

elite cucumbers

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[KERRPOW]

The Angry whopper it is then ..


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Angry whopper with heavy angry onions.

Anyone remember the angry angus. Now that was the bomb.

 

[FKASC]

Angry whopper with heavy angry onions.

Anyone remember the angry angus. Now that was the bomb.

Angry anus is all I feel after eating HJs

 

[Keys]

That article doesn't fill me with much confidence TBH.

Does anything?

 

[Happy Mastenator]

Yeo - Ginbey - Cheeser - Shuey rotating off half back and the middle

Kelly - Hewett - Shuey - Sheed rotating off half forward and the middle thanks

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

I miss the satay whopper. And the satay sauce you used to be able to get at Subway.

 

[FKASC]

I miss the satay whopper. And the satay sauce you used to be able to get at Subway.

Satay is an underrated condi in general

 

[bUCKET__]

I only eat satay from a tin

 

[Astro7]

Simmo's comments on Gaff's injuries negates a lot of the BF gripes on Gaff for last couple of seasons.
Same could be said for Sheed and others. We're not always privy to the full extent of injuries here.
Gaffy's proof will be in his pudding (?) - lets see him play some games before we crucify him totally.

Re: Simmo's comments on Ginbey, Hewett, Chesser+Long about easing them in, without the pressure and expectations...I think the cats already out of the bag!?

Great to see the new WC media program -reconnecting to the fanbase - and the comprehensive vision and interviews of training...good insights..and Schoey's a gem!

 

[ZergMinion]

lets see him play some games before we crucify him totally.

That doesn't sound like us.

 

[Keys]

Simmo's comments on Gaff's injuries negates a lot of the BF gripes on Gaff for last couple of seasons.
Same could be said for Sheed and others. We're not always privy to the full extent of injuries here.
Gaffy's proof will be in his pudding (?) - lets see him play some games before we crucify him totally.

Re: Simmo's comments on Ginbey, Hewett, Chesser+Long about easing them in, without the pressure and expectations...I think the cats already out of the bag!?

Great to see the new WC media program -reconnecting to the fanbase - and the comprehensive vision and interviews of training...good insights..and Schoey's a gem!

My gripe with Gaff is that he’s not an inside mid and shouldn’t be played there - as it stands I think the WCE coaching staff are the only people on the planet that believe otherwise

If he has is running power back, and it looks like he does, then put him on the wing and leave him there. Use the likes of Hunt, Cole and/or Chesser to rotate through the other wing

At his peak in 2018/19, Gaff was capable of stints in the centre, but that time has passed. Far too reactive at cbds at isn’t a natural hunter of the footy - he’s far more adept at running into space to provide an outlet option

Play him to his strengths - we have better options to use in the centre

 

[Rowan18]

Finally it is confirmed that Gaff was injured last year. It frustrates me no end that they didn't pull the pin on him after the bye when the season was shot. He was useless running around on one ankle and took up a spot that could have been used to develop another player.

 

[Dark Sharks]

Does anything?

View attachment 1618512

Well I'd be lying of I said I wasn't looking forward to turning the list over a bit more and seeing some fresh faces in 2024 and 2025 without the reliance on senior veterans that are frequently injured.

Sue me for that.