Past #20: Drew Petrie - NM '01-'16 (324gms/428gls) - WCE '17 (8gms/16gls) - thx for everything Drew

[Pres]

We are really struggling in the ruck and have done so all season. It's our biggest achilles heel although Hale has improved in leaps and bounds.

 

[apollo_creed]

I know everyone is spewing about the result. But looking at the numbers I couldn't believe I saw someone with double figure tackles. Petrie needs to work on hisk icking, we all know this, but jeez defensivley for a man his size he tackles hard.

The next highest was 5 by Mattner and Corey Jones for the entire match.

Dude, he was crap today. Was one of the main reasons for the 49 point deficit.

Simpson, Harris, Archer and Sinclair are the ones in the list worth noting. Consistent ball winners, also proving to have a good eye for D as well.

I'd rather him kick a couple, take 7 or 8 grabs, not get killed in the ruck, have 15 possessions and no tackles. Players with both attack and defence are the ones you want, this and last seasons form would incdicate he's only competent defensively, which doesn't cut it in the AFL.

 

[apollo_creed]

We are really struggling in the ruck and have done so all season. It's our biggest achilles heel although Hale has improved in leaps and bounds.

Yeah Hale's been great for us this year.

Personally I'd rather Corey Mc than Petrie. Why?

At least we know what Corey can do, and what he has done.

Drew? We know too much of what he hasn't done and supposedly can't do.

 

[Dingster]

I made a post last week about Drew's kicking saying that his technique is flawed and will be inconsistent. He shouldn't be allowed to drop the ball like that. Costing us big time.

 

[apollo_creed]

I made a post last week about Drew's kicking saying that his technique is flawed and will be inconsistent. He shouldn't be allowed to drop the ball like that. Costing us big time.

Spot on.

But unfortunately mate, thats the least of Drew's probs.

 

[scooby1279]

Who won the centre clearances? Thats more important then winning the ruck dual. Anyway when the pressure is on colbert really struggles, he has been great for us but he gets caught to many times holding the ball. He should be running and kicking the ball long. He always stops, does a 360 and look for a handball. When the game was in the balancing surely you have to keep the ball moving. Against top teams and applying a lot of pressure you can tell the game has gone past colbert.

 

[year of the roo]

Who won the centre clearances? Thats more important then winning the ruck dual. Anyway when the pressure is on colbert really struggles, he has been great for us but he gets caught to many times holding the ball. He should be running and kicking the ball long. He always stops, does a 360 and look for a handball. When the game was in the balancing surely you have to keep the ball moving. Against top teams and applying a lot of pressure you can tell the game has gone past colbert.

We won the clearances easily, but were spanked in the hitouts. Now imagine if we had a decent ruckman tapping it to advantage for Harris, Harvey, Grant, Wells, etc. We would have a midfield that could match it with anyone.

At the moment, we are only a middle of the range midfield cos Petrie is a dud. I'll call for him to be dropped to Port, but it won't happen, I'll save my breath.

 

[windsock]

The bloke busts his arse and all you do is revel in his downfalls. Biglands is a top notch centre square ruckman - Petrie isn't. But he's the best we've got at the moment.

He worked his guts out today and came up short in the middle. Like others, I'm not sure where Drew's future lies, but I'm not going to crucify him on that effort.

Dunno why some people's comments have to be dripping in such venom when a bloke has genuinely busted his arse.

 

[Rhombus]

I wasn't even remotely happy with his game, 10 tackles or 100 tackles he is not doing what he is meant to be doing and that is be a ruckman.

Yes, but he's not a ruckman and never will be.

Biglands gave him a massive touch-up at Centre Bounces (Might have something to do with the fact he's a Ruckman)

 

[Tas]

Who won the centre clearances? Thats more important then winning the ruck dual. Anyway when the pressure is on colbert really struggles, he has been great for us but he gets caught to many times holding the ball. He should be running and kicking the ball long. He always stops, does a 360 and look for a handball. When the game was in the balancing surely you have to keep the ball moving. Against top teams and applying a lot of pressure you can tell the game has gone past colbert.

We won the clearances but the difference between Harris having to fight a Crows player for the ball directed at his opponent is that he will get the ball and grubber a clearance out to the wing to nobody in particular which often favours the other side.

When your ruckman puts the ball down your throat you can carry the ball and set up a forward or even take a shot at goal yourself.

We get so few taps to advantage when Petrie rucks. Most of the time he gets his hand to the ball it just comes straight down with him to a contested ball, clearances from that are rarely of a high quality.

 

[year of the roo]

The bloke busts his arse and all you do is revel in his downfalls. Biglands is a top notch centre square ruckman - Petrie isn't. But he's the best we've got at the moment.

He worked his guts out today and came up short in the middle. Like others, I'm not sure where Drew's future lies, but I'm not going to crucify him on that effort.

Dunno why some people's comments have to be dripping in such venom when a bloke has genuinely busted his arse.

His efforts are never questioned and he will never be crucified for them. But when does he stop getting your support as he is clearly not up to it? There is plenty of ruckmen around better than Biglands too, yet he gave Petrie an absolute bath. He is playing one of the most important positions on the ground and is getting smashed every week.

We have a right to be critical of that, regardless of how hard he busts his arse.

 

[Darky]

I agree windsock. Drew negated an A-grade tap ruckman, and was very good around the ground. He wasn't Robinson Crusoe to miss a couple of shots at goal. I'd have his game getting 10 tackles and a few contested touches AS A RUCKMAN over Harvey's 26 as a receiver.

I know there is a role for receivers in football, and I know Harvey generally finishes well, but I thought today was a very soft game from him and he didn't do a lot of good work in shepherding, tackling and helping his teammates.

 

[Tas]

The bloke busts his arse and all you do is revel in his downfalls. Biglands is a top notch centre square ruckman - Petrie isn't. But he's the best we've got at the moment.

He worked his guts out today and came up short in the middle. Like others, I'm not sure where Drew's future lies, but I'm not going to crucify him on that effort.

Dunno why some people's comments have to be dripping in such venom when a bloke has genuinely busted his arse.

Porter busted his arse and he was de-listed.

I love Petrie as a person and as a clubman but as far as I am concerned the team and the club is bigger than any individual. Porter had to make way for us to go forwards. It is fast apporaching the stage where if Petrie can only play in the ruck then he will have to make way for someone who can win in their position.

What is the alternative? Are we just to conceed we are not going to have a decent ruckman for the next 10 years?

Nobody here expected him to beat Everitt last week in the hitouts, but when Biglands (who their own supporters do not even like or think is any good) makes you look stupid then you have serious issues.

We come up against Primus next week, are we going to conceed 40 odd hitouts to him? It can be the difference between winning and losing.

 

[Thewlis Dish]

Woohoo, 10 tackles.

He missed a crucial goal from straight in front and spoonfed Thompson and Roo a number of times. Hale doesn't win many hitouts, but we don't get spanked out of the middle when he is in there.

 

[year of the roo]

Drew negated an A-grade tap ruckman

Hilarious.

Drew did f*ck all in that department. ALL the credit has to go to Harris, Simpson, Jones, Boomer and all the other midfielders who were getting the clearances.

 

[Sexiano Ronaldo]

You need to do more than just 'try' to be an AFL footballer.

 

[utility]

Biglands absolutely butchered us today.

 

[windsock]

Porter busted his arse and he was de-listed.

I'll respond to that with two things:

1. I don't think you'll find many posts absolutely bucketing Porter on his games the way some people love to kick the boots into Drew. That's even considering he wouldn't have mustered up more than a handful of double digit possession games. People knew his limitations, and steered clear of him when it came to the bagging - I guess we had Watt and Clayton then! Drew doesn't get that luxury, as I reckon his 2003 has been over-estimated by some (me included until I went back and looked at his stats closely).

2. Some people love the old 'I told you so' routine. I don't mind it when players come in for criticism, it's just the venom in the posts against Drew that disturbs me. It's almost as if some people are taking delight in his 'poor' performances. To give it to him today is wrong given the games we got from, to name a few, Arch, Makepeace, Brown, Colbert and Hale.

 

[windsock]

I love Petrie as a person and as a clubman but as far as I am concerned the team and the club is bigger than any individual. Porter had to make way for us to go forwards. It is fast apporaching the stage where if Petrie can only play in the ruck then he will have to make way for someone who can win in their position.

What is the alternative? Are we just to conceed we are not going to have a decent ruckman for the next 10 years?

Nobody here expected him to beat Everitt last week in the hitouts, but when Biglands (who their own supporters do not even like or think is any good) makes you look stupid then you have serious issues.

We come up against Primus next week, are we going to conceed 40 odd hitouts to him? It can be the difference between winning and losing.

Now this is the sort of post I was talking about. A considered argument against retaining Drew as our ruckman.

To simply label him a 'dud' or to hear him get called the cr@p I was hearing at the footy today is just rubbish.

 

[Pres]

Just as an aside I've only seen Biglands a handful of times this year in the ruck and from what I've seen he seems a very talented tap ruckman.

 

[Uncle_Leo]

I'd have his game getting 10 tackles and a few contested touches AS A RUCKMAN over Harvey's 26 as a receiver.

Stupid comment. Here's another one for you, Harvey would be a better ruckman that Petrie, we may as well have 4 midfielders at the bounce down because it's not helping at the moment to have Petrie in there.

He gets so many tackles because he goes up, misses the tap then tries to tackle the bloke that gets the ball. I'd rather him as a RUCKMAN get the tap!

 

[Tas]

I'll respond to that with two things:

1. I don't think you'll find many posts absolutely bucketing Porter on his games the way some people love to kick the boots into Drew. That's even considering he wouldn't have mustered up more than a handful of double digit possession games. People knew his limitations, and steered clear of him when it came to the bagging - I guess we had Watt and Clayton then! Drew doesn't get that luxury, as I reckon his 2003 has been over-estimated by some (me included until I went back and looked at his stats closely).

2. Some people love the old 'I told you so' routine. I don't mind it when players come in for criticism, it's just the venom in the posts against Drew that disturbs me. It's almost as if some people are taking delight in his 'poor' performances. To give it to him today is wrong given the games we got from, to name a few, Arch, Makepeace, Brown, Colbert and Hale.

I think a lot of the supporters came to the realization that after Porter's leg problems he just couldn't get off the ground and it took away from him one of his best attributes in his rucking.

Both Porter and Petrie would have been okay as a second-string ruckman because they would compete against people more on their own level. Porter had to go, he couldn't play in any other position and we needed to push on with other rucking options.

People tended to lay off Petrie because they saw what he was capable of in 03 and we had bigger problems. Petrie could at least compete in positions in the forward line or defense where you are not the only option in a contest. The problem with the ruck is you just have one player, if that player can't go in the contests then you are fubar and it sticks out a lot more than any other position.

I think everyone wanted to see Petrie succeed, but it is coming on to two years now, we have seen glimpses now and then that he was going forwards only to see games like this week which undoes a lot of the good work he has done.

We just have to stop the bleeding, it is so obvious JYD made it obvious in the media that we will be hunting for a competitive ruckman this year. That is a far bigger spray than any BF supporter could possibly dish out.

For what its worth, I call it as I see it. I always hope Drew turns things around like all supporters do but we put a lot of faith, a lot of patience. He has ability, the club has been very patient with him, has not dropped him for the better part of two years with a fair number of poor games over that period.

We just can't keep carrying passengers if we want to be a finalist or be a contender sometime in the future. It is not rocket science, we just need him to get his hand on the ball. We dont expect him to be an awesome tap ruckman, just compete... is that too much to ask or expect?

 

[R00StaR]

Ive never rated Petrie as half the player than most guys here have over the years, i just never saw 'it' despite some solid performances at a young age.

I was also one of the leaders of the drop Porter threads. So I don’t really want to touch this one after the abuse from those the Porter threads, considering Drew is 100 times more loved......Lets just say I agree he tries hard yet I cant see what position he is suited to and he is a much better player than Porter was.

I haven’t seen this weeks game due to commitments so wont comment on it, but from what I have seen Drew has been lifting his game in recent weeks. I love the guy and his commitment (loved this of Porter too) and really would love to see him make it.

 

[matt_blak]

I look at Drew and see his POTENTIAL, a mobile big man with offensive and defensive skills, a good guy to have around the club.

Then I watch on game day, and his POTENTIAL is left in his pocket, he doesn't win his position, other players need to take up the slack for his shortfalls. He misses too many shots on goal, and doesn't take enough marks. I am sure he tries very hard, and there are a number of parts of his game that I like, he is great at applying defensive pressure.

The ability that Drew has shown in glimpses is what makes me dosappointed with his average performances. He could be so much more, I knew that with Porter what you saw was what you got - there would no surprises.

Sean Connery has a line in "The Rock" - " losers try, winners win, then go home & **** the prom queen"

Unless Drew can turn around his output in the ruck or find another position he can compete effectively in, his career at North will be limited. He has been tried at CHF and in the ruck, and had a stint down back.

Where is his natural position? on the bench? in the stands?

 

[Shinboners]

People tended to lay off Petrie because they saw what he was capable of in 03 and we had bigger problems.

Huh? How did you miss all those Petrie bashing threads from last year and earlier this year?

I agree with windsock's earlier comment that some of the abuse directed at Petrie has been ridiculous and it does seem that a few people look forward to sticking the boot in if they feel that he's had a poor game.