Past #19: Sam Wright - "Mr September" - retiring from AFL in Round 20 - thanks Slammin' Sam

[Artaxx]

His opponent is a good player and was a liability. He absolutely destroyed Varcoe. I agree he made some errors but defenders have a job to do and that's how I mark them first.

 

[Tas]

still not the biggest fan of sam wright...i dont think he still has it....rather give games to cam deleney.

You want Cam to play on guys like SJ, Varcoe and Goddard? I have been on Cam's bandwagon since day dot but I am not sure i have that level of faith...

 

[Kimbo]

Are the same critics of Sam who think he'll never make be good enough the same ones who think because we lost a number of close games this year Brad will never make it as coach? Young player, young team. Both will have setbacks. In the case of players, how many times have we seen players of any age have 'off' years. Sam's development had been tracking well up until this year I thought. I still have faith he can recover his form, next year, if not this.

 

[Northern Exposure]

Been in the two's for quite a while. Showed aggression where needed but was always going to be a bit of a deer in the headlights at times. The intent was there, give him a chance. The step up to the big league affected Jacobs, too at times. I still think Sam can provide something to the team.

 

[NiceCunnington]

I'm sticking with him. Reckon he'll be a very good player. He needs to be settled into a position.

 

[Twinkletoes]

I thought it was a promising return from a bloke who's looked a little off the pace in past outings. Good to see him fight back and not let the side down in doing so.

 

[Egga]

Wright is clearly down on his performance this year, but I'm confident he has the talent to make it back. I hope the coaching staff can help him find a way to get the best out of himself.

NB: Anyone having a crack at the OP for being "self indulgent" should chill out. It's just one way of introducing a thread. Admit to yourself that you're just offended that someone has dared to question the performance of one of our players. And no, I am not GK, nor have I ever met him/ her.

 

[Bigeasy]

i was surprised sammy did not go to stevie j who he has a good record on, but he did pretty well on varcoe, cannot say the same for stevie j's opponent, whoever that may have been, i actually dont know who was on him for the majority of the game

I thought it was Harvey????

 

[True North]

Varcoe hasn't had a touch in 2 years. Geelong would say he destroyed Sammy by allowing him to gift Geelong 2 goals. His once silky skills now resemble our last famously gifted kick Sammy.P

I'll be very surprised if he isn't out this week so the Delaneys can play their first game together.

 

[NiceCunnington]

Varcoe hasn't had a touch in 2 years. Geelong would say he destroyed Sammy by allowing him to gift Geelong 2 goals. His once silky skills now resemble our last famously gifted kick Sammy.P

I'll be very surprised if he isn't out this week so the Delaneys can play their first game together.

 

[True North]

My bad.

That is amazingly quick internet work by you though. Mad skills.

 

[the big lebowski]

So he is running 50/50 so far!

He said wells would be a gun.

 

[hotham]

Sam is worth sticking with, he plays with determination. Keep developing him; we need a stopper that can play like Brady Rawlings. He can also go forward, he played his school footy as a forward.

 

[kangafruity]

Chad is right. Ridiculously self-indulgent thread.

How is it if the opinion is divided? Not everyone on here agrees the Sam Wright is gods gift to the Roos me included. I was devastated that he got a game ahead of Levi again when Cam pulled out
Not everyone has to agree with the OP - isn't that what this board is all about?

 

[Black Diamond]

How is it if the opinion is divided? Not everyone on here agrees the Sam Wright is gods gift to the Roos me included. I was devastated that he got a game ahead of Levi again when Cam pulled out
Not everyone has to agree with the OP - isn't that what this board is all about?

The structure of the OP and the title is what makes it a wank. "Archer told me Wright was going to be a good player, but he is struggling. Archer let me down, and I trusted him..."

 

[gokangas]

The structure of the OP and the title is what makes it a wank. "Archer told me Wright was going to be a good player, but he is struggling. Archer let me down, and I trusted him..."

Tongues and cheeks come to mind here. Should I have added one of those smiley things?

 

[Black Diamond]

Tongues and cheeks come to mind here. Should I have added one of those smiley things?

Yes.

 

[apollo_creed]

I thought it was a promising return from a bloke who's looked a little off the pace in past outings. Good to see him fight back and not let the side down in doing so.

But he did. Twice in the last quarter.

Just because he won we shouldn't ignore two critically bad pieces of football from him. Terrible awareness when the game was on the line. That's concerning. Awareness is a very important quality in football, and with Wright's average foot skills - awareness and decision making have heightened importance. Pace doesn't make a footballer, you need something defining to go with it. I'm not sure Wright has that defining quality.

 

[apollo_creed]

As for Delaney - a liability when he gets the ball or goes near it. Was a poor one on one defender last season and wasn't tested last night. Think he is average and unfortunately think he'll be exposed again before too long. His foot skills and decision making was always dodgy last season and on Friday Night when he got the ball he was ok - but a couple of defensive errors and poor reading of the play concerned me. Only one game back and he was serviceable but I really worry with him.

Hope he makes it boys I know it sounds critical but I just want whats best for the club and that's my opinion. (know it doesn't belong in this thread but forgive me)

 

[Twinkletoes]

But he did. Twice in the last quarter.

Again, just because he won we shouldn't ignore two critically bad pieces of football from him. Terrible awareness when the game was on the line.

If you look hard enough you'll find faults in virtually every player's game. He makes two mistakes in the last quarter in a high pressure game against the Catters on a Friday night, having not played seniors for weeks, when I assume he'd have been nearing exhaustion. He played his part a_c.

I can't believe how forensically critical people can be when reviewing a player's performance, especially when it's a returnee like Sammy or CarKeys. For the most part both did their jobs.

 

[apollo_creed]

I don't think getting caught holding the ball twice with no awareness in critical points of the last quarter in a tight game is being forensically critical. I think people tend to ignore every fault and weakness when winning occurs - to win more you need to critically assess everything - and unforced errors in football define games, and define seasons. we have made too many this season in critical points of matches. getting beaten to the contested ball is fine, the arm slipping in a tackle is ok, losing a marking contest, wrong bounce of the ball - all fine but mistakes happen - but bad mistakes should be few and far between. that's how you go from being competitive, to being dominant. you can't ignore things just because the team won.

 

[Twinkletoes]

Who's ignoring them? Do you think the coaches will just skip over such moments because we triumphed? I'm sounding like DR. I think there's nothing easier than highlighting obvious errors. But I'm sure the coaches will highlight those AND the less obvious (to us) high points of their games as well. If the positives far outweigh the negatives, taking into account it's their first game back at the level for awhile (for Keys, since last year), then I imagine the overall assessment will be "well done, and here are a couple of things you'll need to work on".

 

[Artaxx]

ill be honest Apollo creed, I didn't read much past saying he had average foot skills.
At his best, he's top 5 kick at the club considering he is just about perfectly dual sided.

 

[LB2Snake]

Sammy tries to do difficult things, they'll start coming off soon and then look out.
Will be a player, I have no doubt. I

 

[Only Forwards]

TT I am glad you were away for some of the rip your heart out losses. Every player, every contest was under a microscope. Despite of course the close losses being death of 1000 cuts.

Painful.