Player Watch #5: Christian Petracca – Norm Smith Medallist, 4x All-Australian and 2x Best and Fairest (re-commits to Melbourne)

[Grimesy87]

Petracca has taken twice as many kicks inside 50 as Charlie Spargo and has found LESS targets.

Tracs taken double the kicks inside 50 of everyone in our team except Oliver and both of them are going at below the league average.

Thats problem A B and C in our game right there. Our highest paid players literally kick shitter inside 50 than Jack Viney

Jack viney kicks at the league average of 19% retention rate inside 50, which I found bizarre.

But you're right highlighting petracca and Oliver here.

Either our forwards lead to dumb positions, or these 2 aren't kicking well.

I'd imagine it's a slight combination of both, but the facts speak for themselves with these 2 in particular.

 

[schmuttt]

Jack viney kicks at the league average of 19% retention rate inside 50, which I found bizarre.

But you're right highlighting petracca and Oliver here.

Either our forwards lead to dumb positions, or these 2 aren't kicking well.

I'd imagine it's a slight combination of both, but the facts speak for themselves with these 2 in particular.

Viney has made an attempt to improve his kicking, he is an easy target for people calling him a butcher but he’s smarter going inside F50 than Oliver or Trac.

 

[00Stinger]

Viney has made an attempt to improve his kicking, he is an easy target for people calling him a butcher but he’s smarter going inside F50 than Oliver or Trac.

he has improved his kicking drastically over the years

Looks for shorter safer options these days

 

[Scythe94]

he has improved his kicking drastically over the years

Looks for shorter safer options these days

Viney has, although his kicking efficiency for the year is 53%, which of all Melbourne players who have played a game this season, is only higher than Oliver (51.5%) and Melksham (51.2%).

Oliver and Viney get some concessions as they are often getting a quick kick out of a pack, but those numbers are still pretty bleak.

 

[schmuttt]

Viney has, although his kicking efficiency for the year is 53%, which of all Melbourne players who have played a game this season, is only higher than Oliver (51.5%) and Melksham (51.2%).

Oliver and Viney get some concessions as they are often getting a quick kick out of a pack, but those numbers are still pretty bleak.

Tbh kicking efficiency in a vacuum is a bad stat. Jetta lead ours for years because he was a very safe kick, Salem would be similar. Melksham isn’t close to the worst kick in the team even though he has low efficiency.

 

[Topkent]

Tbh kicking efficiency in a vacuum is a bad stat. Jetta lead ours for years because he was a very safe kick, Salem would be similar. Melksham isn’t close to the worst kick in the team even though he has low efficiency.

Its hands down the worst stat in league, if you're kicking inside 50 and you hit 6 targets from 12 kicks your going at 50%
Terrible percentage overall but brilliant I50 retention

 

[Scythe94]

Tbh kicking efficiency in a vacuum is a bad stat. Jetta lead ours for years because he was a very safe kick, Salem would be similar. Melksham isn’t close to the worst kick in the team even though he has low efficiency.

Its hands down the worst stat in league, if you're kicking inside 50 and you hit 6 targets from 12 kicks your going at 50%
Terrible percentage overall but brilliant I50 retention

It doesn't fully solve the kicking efficiency stat issue, but I've put the figures for each of our players in TK's lab, with rankings compared to players in their position. Obviously defenders will have the highest stats, but it's somewhat useful to compare forwards and mids with league averages to paint a bit more of a picture.

 

[Grimesy87]

Viney has made an attempt to improve his kicking, he is an easy target for people calling him a butcher but he’s smarter going inside F50 than Oliver or Trac.

100%, he's improving a hell of a lot in this regard. Unfortunately he still falls into old habits occasionally, but that's getting rarer.

Trouble with trac, who can kick the footy so well at times, his game against freo the other night where he laced everything are as rare now. He used to be lethal by foot when getting 18-20 touches.

 

[Topkent]

After going scorched earth on Oliver last week this blokes in the gun now. His kicking was atrocious. Absolutely no impact on the game at all. Looks weak at the contest and low on confidence. If I was a coach I'd genuinely concider doing something with him because he's not half the player he can be right now.

 

[Topkent]

So it seems like he's playing alot more forward this season, does anyone else think maybe he just has shit forward craft? Doesn't feel like he demands the footy in the air at all, he should be monstering a mismatch but doesn't seem to be happening

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

So it seems like he's playing alot more forward this season, does anyone else think maybe he just has s**t forward craft? Doesn't feel like he demands the footy in the air at all, he should be monstering a mismatch but doesn't seem to be happening

He's playing smaller than he should, like another Chandler and Spargo. Should be killing his match up in the air and on the lead like you said. I dont think we are doing him any favours by playing three talls however, it would probably help if we played a smaller F50 with him one out in the square, would get a better idea of his forward capabilities at the very least.

 

[Topkent]

He's playing smaller than he should, like another Chandler and Spargo. Should be killing his match up in the air and on the lead like you said. I dont think we are doing him any favours by playing three talls however, it would probably help if we played a smaller F50 with one out in the square, would get a better idea of his forward capabilities at the very least.

Imagine if we emptied the forward line and just had Fristch him and Pickett. Absolute ****ing nightmare

 

[mrmonkey]

Na tmac, Brown and Melksham is much more exciting.

 

[Bluelegs]

He's playing smaller than he should, like another Chandler and Spargo. Should be killing his match up in the air and on the lead like you said. I dont think we are doing him any favours by playing three talls however, it would probably help if we played a smaller F50 with one out in the square, would get a better idea of his forward capabilities at the very least.

If Trac kicked the goals Chandler has kicked this year commentators would be saying he's as good as Dusty.

 

[Tulip]

We are the only fan base who would have a crack at a bloke for 29 and 3! Not saying he played his best, he didn’t, but jeez did he take a step forward in a big way when it came to confidence in front of goal.

Him and Kozzy are essentially rotating with one another to try and create mistmatches. He’s been a full time mid since 2020 and needs more than a few weeks to get into the groove of playing part time forward again.

His clearance work has been a bit down this year, hopefully he’ll work through it soon. Could well just be from working with a new ruck when he’s essentially had the same one his whole career.

 

[Topkent]

We are the only fan base who would have a crack at a bloke for 29 and 3! Not saying he played his best, he didn’t, but jeez did he take a step forward in a big way when it came to confidence in front of goal.

Him and Kozzy are essentially rotating with one another to try and create mistmatches. He’s been a full time mid since 2020 and needs more than a few weeks to get into the groove of playing part time forward again.

His clearance work has been a bit down this year, hopefully he’ll work through it soon. Could well just be from working with a new ruck when he’s essentially had the same one his whole career.

What would you rate his year compared to what he can do? Because he's a 5.5 or 6 out of 10 for me.

 

[Tulip]

What would you rate his year compared to what he can do? Because he's a 5.5 or 6 out of 10 for me.

Probably a 7.5, but only because he kicked for goal as well as he ever has the other day. Lots of room for improvement. I agree he’s not looking as explosive out the contest. He’ll still piss in AA in this form, which to be fair says as much about the selectors as it does his form.

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

Ill be more impressed if he kicks 3 goals against a team that isn't bottom 4 when we need him to kick some.

4/10 on the season, doesnt deserve a pass mark. Hes been a mile under what hes capable of.

 

[Topkent]

Ill be more impressed if he kicks 3 goals against a team that isn't bottom 4 when we need him to kick some.

4/10 on the season, doesnt deserve a pass mark. Hes been a mile under what hes capable of.

Yeah his disposal is currently the worst of his career and he looks meek in the contest like his debut season.

 

[stEdy]

He's now at a point in his career where he's playing okay but still has near 30 touches every week and kicks goals.

His kicking around the ground has been scrappy, trying too many cute around the corner kicks that he's scrubbing. His kicking has always been a little hot and cold but his hands in close have been really good.

He's not exploding out of the contest but he is still drawing a crowd and releasing outside players with creative handballs. Working hard every week but he's not going at 100% and he knows it.

I'd rather him start slow and build into the season. Him playing more forward will lessen his impact but hopefully keep him fresher throughout the year. Him and Clarry carried too much load last year.

 

[netslave]

 

[Dancing Potato]

Mentally fried. Has some amazing games and moments, then turns into a hack kicking potato at other times.

Has been getting quite verbal and demonstrative this year, all the while shanking kicks everywhere. Also, what the **** was the non-attempt at marking last night? Just watch your opponent take it uncontested, shove him in the chest, and then whinge to the umpire about it?

Get your ****ing head sorted mate.

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

That late goal when the pressure wasn't on, man, channel 7 summed it up best, so inspirational.

 

[Dancing Potato]

That late goal when the pressure wasn't on, man, channel 7 summed it up best, so inspirational.

I was definitely inspired to have another drink, so in a way - yes. Inspirational.

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

I was definitely inspired to have another drink, so in a way - yes. Inspirational.

I pumped up the volume in my house after that goal coz Hamish Blake said to. 7 goals in ~ 110 minutes of play, if that isn't worthy of a house party I dont know what is.