Player Watch Ash Johnson (Delisted 2024)

[jmac70]

It's surprising how surprised someone can be when they're suprised. Surprisingly enough I was quite surpised abuot how surprising it would be for you to be surprised by a surprising individual surprising the rest of us.....I think .

 

[Drought Break]

I don’t think us punters can really get a proper sense of how a player performs (good or bad) unless they’re we’re at the game.

When we’re watching on TV we don’t have any sense of what is happening off the ball. Which players are running back to defend. Which players are running forward to create opportunities. Which players are busting their gut to do things that are get unrewarded (but are still able to take opposition players out of the contest). Which players are making space and which players clogging up space.

Cameron Wood’s GWS game is the worst live game I’ve seen from a Collingwood player. By far. Johnson’s more recent games didn’t look as bad but I concede I was watching those on the telly and maybe I’d have a different opinion if I saw them live.

I was at Johnson’s GWS game last year and had seats on the boundary. The most pathetic display I have seen live from a pies player

 

[sr36]

I was at Johnson’s GWS game last year and had seats on the boundary. The most pathetic display I have seen live from a pies player

Judgement of it is harsh. Tough gig. He will have been trying to drag Taylor to the goal square away from intercepting, not getting it right and ending up looking like he wasn't trying, because he was standing in no man's land as Taylor impacted.

Checkers never looks like he's not trying, but when Macgovern was at his best, he had some shockers where he didn't get it right whilst trying to move MacGovern away from the hotspot.

 

[VinnieB]

Judgement of it is harsh. Tough gig. He will have been trying to drag Taylor to the goal square away from intercepting, not getting it right and ending up looking like he wasn't trying, because he was standing in no man's land as Taylor impacted.

Checkers never looks like he's not trying, but when Macgovern was at his best, he had some shockers where he didn't get it right whilst trying to move MacGovern away from the hotspot.

This is incorrect. Taylor played deep defence while AJ played further up the ground (half forward/wing).

 

[NMBB]

The West Coast game you referred to I remember Didak taking a ruck contest because Wood either couldn’t get there or was cooked once he did. I remember vividly how infuriated I was live.

Still wouldn’t rate bottom ten Pie performance for me though lol.

This is a bottom 10 Pie performance

 

[sr36]

This is incorrect. Taylor played deep defence while AJ played further up the ground (half forward/wing).

Perhaps my memory is wrong, but that doesn't show it. Those heat maps just show where the player got possessions - AJ had 2 possessions up on the wing - it shows nothing - every forward moves up to the wing - regardless of whether they're playing as the deepest forward.

 

[Bianconeri]

This is incorrect. Taylor played deep defence while AJ played further up the ground (half forward/wing).

Johnson played deep most of the game he just couldn’t get his hands on the ball when we went insides 50. That heat map is deceptive and given it’s only got the two touches to go off it’s not a good sample of where he actually was on the ground.

 

[VinnieB]

Perhaps my memory is wrong, but that doesn't show it. Those heat maps just show where the player got possessions - AJ had 2 possessions up on the wing - it shows nothing - every forward moves up to the wing - regardless of whether they're playing as the deepest forward.

Why would he be chasing possessions on the wing if was instructed to take Taylor deep into defense?
So, you are saying he was successful in taking Taylor deep back, where, incidentally he got all his possessions?

You can find excuses for AJ, but the simple fact is that he has been poor. Terrible in the 2 senior games he played, and terrible in the VFL.

 

[VinnieB]

Johnson played deep most of the game he just couldn’t get his hands on the ball when we went insides 50. That heat map is deceptive and given it’s only got the two touches to go off it’s not a good sample of where he actually was on the ground.

Ok. So, Taylor was deep in defence (our strategy worked!!), however, he just did what he wanted to do while AJ was 'playing' on him. So AJ was then effectively played loose further up the group and yet, barely touched the ball.

 

[JLC]

It would take a lot of convincing for me to trust Ash to perform in a finals game.

The gap between his best and worst is extreme.

 

[sr36]

Why would he be chasing possessions on the wing if was instructed to take Taylor deep into defense?
So, you are saying he was successful in taking Taylor deep back, where, incidentally he got all his possessions?

You can find excuses for AJ, but the simple fact is that he has been poor. Terrible in the 2 senior games he played, and terrible in the VFL.

There's multiple strategies that clubs use to help combat a gun KPD. One of them is for the forward to leach away from the hotpot into a dangerous spot where the defender has to choose between covering the most likely entry or his man in a dangerous position. WHE does it really well, which is why he was our CHF choice for much of the season. However, if the forward gets his positioning wrong or it's all high pressure entries, he's stuck in no man's land where the ball isn't coming and the defender is effectively manless and blitzes. It's not an excuse. It's just a different reason for failure than the not trying in Round 1 of a new season reason that you're stuck on.

Forwards rotate responsibilities. So "chasing possesions on a wing" is one thing that they all do at times throughout a game as they offer down the line targets on the wing when we're coming out of defence - when it's their turn to play that role.

There's little doubt that AJ dropped his head in later games, whether to do with disappointing form or the social media reason that some have given, but that game was before either poor form had set in or the social media abuse.

 

[Bianconeri]

Why would he be chasing possessions on the wing if was instructed to take Taylor deep into defense?

What makes you think he was chasing possessions on the wing?