- Mar 27, 2018
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Posting every individual player preview for Season 2022.
Feel free to add your contributions below!
Feel free to add your contributions below!
Preview 2022 Player Previews
- Thread starter BlueAbroad
- Start date
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- Mar 27, 2018
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- Thread starter
- #2
- Mar 27, 2018
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- Thread starter
- #3
- Mar 27, 2018
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- #4
Metalcrusher
A God Amongst The People
- Banned
- #5
Always look forward to your posts mate! You are a dead set banger!
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Interesting season coming for Dow. While I believe the Teague gameplan didn't suit our contested mids, Dow seems to struggle as the game goes on. I don't believe this is a fitness thing, as there was enough evidence that he can amass 14+ kms in games. I believe it is more a struggle to find the ball in open play as the game changes from a contested game, to opening up in later quarters.
The other area of concern for Dow, especially adding the likes of Cerra and Hewett, all of our other mids can play other roles/rest forward, Dow is lost as a resting forward and really doesn't have a clear 2nd position. This could mean that the burst we need in the middle/stoppages, might come from rotating players such as Martin, Williams, etc
If the new Voss gameplan is more contested, sharing the ball more with handball and shorter kicks, then Dow might be okay, otherwise he may struggle to cement a regular spot if most of our mids/rotations are healthy
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thylacine60
Post-Human
- Banned
- #7
set-up pre-season to play richmond - don't be all surprised after the round one game is over that they did this or that - or played him here or there - I'm over watching opposition teams run onto the G looking stronger, fitter, faster and using some gameplan that catches us with our pants down - quit being so ****ing insular in our thinking - we know who we have to beat that night so let's not make like it's some sort of surprise come march 17...........
Love it, guys! Keen to see your preview and hear your thoughts on Matty Kennedy. I very much have him as our fifth mid and offers flexibility (capable forward) but some have him fading out altogether.
I'd have him ahead of Dowy for mid time right now.
I'd have him ahead of Dowy for mid time right now.
thylacine60
Post-Human
- Banned
- #9
agree, I reckon 7 & 2 are line-ball currently with both showing a bit more of what is required in 2021...........
JustaBattler
Everyone Looks Better In Blue
- May 31, 2012
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If 'burst player' is short for doesn't have a tank and cant run each way - then Dow is a burst player.
If burst player is a player who can carve up an opposition with strength running AND kicking ability:
Cuningham/Martin/Williams are far far better ' burst player' rotation options- and as you say - can play in other positions very well as well.
As far as general 'utility' goes - Kennedy is a far far better forward rotation than Dow as is Cuningham....not to forget that both kemp and Stocker can play midfield in burst fashion.
If it clicks for Dow - we are huge winners for sure so fingers crossed.
JuddgementDay
Brownlow Medallist
Thanks for the player reviews, they are all good.
But, I like Motlop and the fact that we've targeted a list need & drafted him
Metalcrusher
A God Amongst The People
- Banned
- #12
A lot of Dows problems are between his ears ... Outside of the actual "stoppage" he is lost positionally.
The Blue Weirdo
Premiership Player
Dow and Honey (small sample size) appear to create team goals when unexpected, with limited opportunities.
JustaBattler
Everyone Looks Better In Blue
- May 31, 2012
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Honey? thought he was an AFL player for us in his first game 2 years ago...obviously another "not good enough for Teague" player who fortunately got a go and showed heaps in the last couple of games. Strong, fast, good kick of the ball and a hard as nuts tackler- please please play him Vossy.
Justnetime
Team Captain
- May 18, 2021
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Here is my take.
Dow in 2021
Given Cripps was our inside mid, Dow was used 'mostly' as an attacking mid. Walsh and Ed balanced mids that tracked back and forward with their running. There is a chance Dow was a balanced mid but just couldn't do it. There were some games it seemed Dow played an inside mid role.
Midfielder Traits
Metres Gained (Terrible ave of 200m - Stats)
Kicking Efficiency (Terrible 44% - Stats)
Handball Efficiency (Very Good - eye test only)
Free Kick For / Against Differential, Intercept marking (reading the play) - small indicators of AFL IQ (Poor -0.2- Stats)
Contested Possessions (Under average - stats)
Disposals (poor ave of 15 - Stats)
Inside 50s/goal assists (poor - stats) Note: Rebound 50s also poor) Weak tank? Or IQ?
Tackles (quite poor) Way behind our other starting mids.
Speed (Fast - eye test)
Tank (Dont know - disposal evidence seems to suggest poor)
Dow is not young anymore, got given a lot of games in 2021. A lot of people are looking at further development from him but the outlook looks terrible based on key traits.
Look at some of those really important indicators for a balanced or attacking mid. Kicking efficiency is TERRIBLE. Tackles is terrible. Terrible metres gained. Terrible disposal count.
If you want to wrap it up in a nutshell. Look at his Supercoach scoring which focuses on scoring players who help a score happen. Dow has NEVER got a hundred. So when people cite Parish as a comparison they are off the mark who hit 6 100s in year 4. Other development mids got 100s in SC which is the benchmark of a good game and young players hit it from time to time. Dows best is 89.
The last point i want to make is Austin recognised SPS had a weakness in defence with metres gained and other defensive traits so recruited Saad. Austin has looked at Dow/Cunners etc at their midfield traits and gone out and recruited Cerra. Dow is on serious notice like SPS before him. Cerra isnt here to challenge Cripps/Walsh/Ed. It's Dow/Cunners/other pretenders to a midfield role. Hewett is Ed's replacement.
So now I've shit on him its time to explain where he could thrive for the Carlton footy club.
His kicking/possession count wont improve enough to be an attacking mid. His AFL IQ is weak. There was one game he ran passed the actual ball to chase his opponent when he was ball side and could have got the ball first but ran after is opponent instead. His running seems not elite.
His only option is as an inside mid (i know, what the hell!). His speed has tricked everyone into seeing him as being either a balanced mid or outside mid. Aside from running fast in a straight line there isnt anything else there to support him. The traits aren't there. He has no small forward 50s skills either.
He has a very good handpass on him, he has strength in the legs (not in upper body). With the role of inside mid, you don't need an AFL IQ, you just see ball get ball move and tackle where you can (negate opponent inside mid). He then doesnt have to face the spread (requires IQ and requires running). When Cripps rests Dow should play the role in competition to the others. Either he beats them and survives or he doesnt. He should play VFL as inside mid when not in the best 22.
Of course, if we were to analyse Setterfield, Kennedy, Stocker then we have a list problem Houston!
My take on Dow is a little more positive compared to most.
Dow was drafted from the pioneers, having grown up in swan hill. It’s widely accepted that generally speaking, if you’re coming from that pathway, you’re already a little behind in your development compared to other tac clubs, for a number of reasons. This leaves more room for improvement.
He’s also on the younger side for his draft year, so won’t be 23 until the season is more or less over.
As a prospect, he was drafted as a player with significant deficiencies, but if you can develop him properly, and iron those out, you’d have a very valuable commodity - an accumulating inside mid with explosive pace and elite vision. Unfortunately, the key word there is ‘develop’.
Development at Carlton has been mind blowing (not just with Dow). To say it’s a frustration for most supporters would be an understatement. Here’s the process by which you go if you have a late blooming, underdeveloped, raw but significantly talented kid.
- highlight key areas for concern (fitness, transition, defensive output)
- clearly define how to fix those
- simplify! their role at lower levels (vfl or pre-season comp or even if against weaker afl teams you are expected to beat, if you have that luxury)
- once that’s to an acceptable standard, give them a taste at Afl level for a minimum of 3 or so weeks in the same role as vfl
- make an assessment, do they need to go back to vfl and work on areas?
- rinse and repeat if so
What do we do? We throw him in the deep end (which admittedly, he wasn’t too bad) along with a host of other first year players. We get smashed. Relentlessly. Confidence diminishing. We then throw him forward (He’s. Not. A. Forward). Surprisingly, he sucks at it. Confidence diminishing.
We chuck him back to the vfl as a mid. He plays a couple of ok games. He comes back in, and for some reason, despite having absolutely zero qualities needed to play the position, he gets put on a wing.
All this on top of losing a whole year (at a crucial time in his development) to a micky mouse vfl comp, compounded by a couple of significant injuries.
I don’t think Dow is on his last chance at all, or at least, he shouldn’t be. People just look at where he was drafted and his age and output to date and add them all together. To be a professionally run club and to take development more seriously requires a lot more intelligence and thought than that. Especially when you add covid into the mix.
Dow was drafted from the pioneers, having grown up in swan hill. It’s widely accepted that generally speaking, if you’re coming from that pathway, you’re already a little behind in your development compared to other tac clubs, for a number of reasons. This leaves more room for improvement.
He’s also on the younger side for his draft year, so won’t be 23 until the season is more or less over.
As a prospect, he was drafted as a player with significant deficiencies, but if you can develop him properly, and iron those out, you’d have a very valuable commodity - an accumulating inside mid with explosive pace and elite vision. Unfortunately, the key word there is ‘develop’.
Development at Carlton has been mind blowing (not just with Dow). To say it’s a frustration for most supporters would be an understatement. Here’s the process by which you go if you have a late blooming, underdeveloped, raw but significantly talented kid.
- highlight key areas for concern (fitness, transition, defensive output)
- clearly define how to fix those
- simplify! their role at lower levels (vfl or pre-season comp or even if against weaker afl teams you are expected to beat, if you have that luxury)
- once that’s to an acceptable standard, give them a taste at Afl level for a minimum of 3 or so weeks in the same role as vfl
- make an assessment, do they need to go back to vfl and work on areas?
- rinse and repeat if so
What do we do? We throw him in the deep end (which admittedly, he wasn’t too bad) along with a host of other first year players. We get smashed. Relentlessly. Confidence diminishing. We then throw him forward (He’s. Not. A. Forward). Surprisingly, he sucks at it. Confidence diminishing.
We chuck him back to the vfl as a mid. He plays a couple of ok games. He comes back in, and for some reason, despite having absolutely zero qualities needed to play the position, he gets put on a wing.
All this on top of losing a whole year (at a crucial time in his development) to a micky mouse vfl comp, compounded by a couple of significant injuries.
I don’t think Dow is on his last chance at all, or at least, he shouldn’t be. People just look at where he was drafted and his age and output to date and add them all together. To be a professionally run club and to take development more seriously requires a lot more intelligence and thought than that. Especially when you add covid into the mix.
Not necessarily disagreeing, but Dow’s averages from last year are pretty skewed with being the sub and the eye/face injury where he was off early. To guess, it’s probably 4 games that were impacted, so that’s going to knock his numbers down a fair bit.
Not as drastic as Oscar, something like an average of 3 disposals and under 20%tog, but still could be in the ballpark of a 15% reduction with those season averages.
We’ll have to wait and see how Voss wants to structure up and what his game/mid strategy looks like. With a more competent and balanced setup around him and a game plan that plays to our strengths, maybe Dow could perform or even flourish. Walsh runs all day, Cripps the man mountain clearance specialist, Hewett hard as nails both ways, Cerra pure class… Dow adding the step out of traffic and his fast hands would really complement that.
It’s not so simple as dropping him in as we’ve also got Williams, Martin, Kennedy, Cuningham, Curnow, Philp, Carroll, Stocker, Fisher, O’Brien, Fogarty, etc who will all be vying for mid/wing time, some more on the side of possible than probable. And they can’t all play.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… f*** I can’t wait for the scratch matches to start so we can get a glimpse of what Voss’ team might actually look like…
My opinion on Dow is that he will start the season in the Seniors, as part of the midfield contingent, have a good season, and finish the year in the Seniors. As part of a 6-10th team that is tighter and improving on last year.
- Mar 27, 2018
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- Thread starter
- #19
He does have a very good hand pass on him, I’m hoping that sessions with Greg Williams will hone these skills even further as well as the whole midfield group - Williams has form in improving average mids into elite miss in the past, although we can’t be too sure if that was due to Williams himself or the PEDs.
- Nov 27, 2016
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I think Dow is just a dumb footballer. Can't get to the right spots. Looks completely lost when not playing "see ball-get ball".
thylacine60
Post-Human
- Banned
- #22
first thing I noticed about cripps in his under-age vids was his clearance work - be that other patty, paddy...........
Justnetime
Team Captain
- May 18, 2021
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Did a quick check on Dows short games as it is important to recognise skewed stats.
Dow had 2 games impacted based on the time on ground stat. The rest he hit his benchmarks of 65+ mins game time. When I do a quick look on other mids and stats, a lot of players have at least one game where they came off early. E.g Cerra had a game of ten minutes. Given that I feel Dows averages are transparent.
Given Dow is a pick 3 I hope he ends up what people are suggesting. That in a good team he is a 22 touch player with high hurt factor. His speed allowing him to hurt. Interestingly Cunners feels the same. Potentially a 22 touch type player with speed. Not a pick 3 but has a better kick.
Justnetime
Team Captain
- May 18, 2021
- 521
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I think you are right that he starts. And we need to find out what he offers us. In a strong midfield he probably does hit 22 average at some point. It’s political in a way that the club finds out about Dow for our flag tilt. And he might produce with that faith. Despite raising trait/stat fears I have him in my 22 as well and I’m crossing my fingers.
I personally feel Martin is a much better option for a two way combatitive midfielder than Dow. But Martin seems pigeon holed as a fwd threat with midfield pinch hitting. But politically, they can’t opt for Martin (or another player like Z Williams) over Dow to complete our first choice midfield group… because then Dow is left dead in the water. Martins flexibility kills his chance because Dow has none.
That same political/tactical issue is playing out with Cripps. He had a very average year in 2021 as an inside mid and particularly on defensive running Which cost us. But Setterfield, Kennedy and Stocker were never considered because what it implied on Cripps.
- Mar 27, 2018
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