Big Wil

[MrDOK]

Minson played a great game. I tell you, he is down there for one thing - to provide a physical presence at marking contests and he played that role to a tee last night.

So many times he was ensuring any long balls into our deep forward 50 hit the deck for our small whippets to clean up. Hopefully more people can see what his real role is at FF. It's not to actually kick goals (these are a bonus though), it's about providing a physcial contest for our other forwards.

Watching the replay, Tim Watson was spot on with his assessment of Big Wil.

 

[skooshtamart]

Every time he contests in a pack, i love looking for the roadkill that follows. there is always an opposing player getting up holding something, or gingerly standing up & whimpering away, its priceless.

 

[Fossie 32]

Great to see, good work in the ruck and around the ground. If we could work out roving to his smash outs better [like in the first game] would be a huge bonus.

 

[Butane]

Great to see, good work in the ruck and around the ground. If we could work out roving to his smash outs better [like in the first game] would be a huge bonus.

If they made an AFL playstation game with special moves then Minson's would have to be the 'smash out'.

Anyway, i'm glad Minson is rotating through the ruck more then what he was pre-season. I'm not sure of the actual numbers but its seems almost 50/50 between him and Hudson. Big Will would get lost if he spent any more time in the forward line and making him ruck really brings him in to the game.

 

[#1 Dogs Fan]

Yes i must admit he is improving in the way he manages to get his hands on the ball first instead of throwing players out of his path. Although last night on two occasion i saw him go up for the mark about 10 meters out from goal and instead of marking the football with two hands he on purpose pushed/slapped it to ground. He should try and mark it at every chance he gets...

 

[GetDimmaBack]

I reckon Hudson has brought Wil into the game. Having a partner definitely has loaded him with confidence. Could be the making of him.

How great is it to have a big fella contesting at FF?

 

[AngeloPetraglia]

How was the huge pack mark he brought down (pity about the miss on goals). You could see him coming a long way out, it was a huge effort when he was about 7th in line.

 

[dogbowl]

Yes i must admit he is improving in the way he manages to get his hands on the ball first instead of throwing players out of his path. Although last night on two occasion i saw him go up for the mark about 10 meters out from goal and instead of marking the football with two hands he on purpose pushed/slapped it to ground. He should try and mark it at every chance he gets...

I disagree completely. You are referring to contested situations, and I reckon Eade calculated the odds of Will slapping the ball down to our crumbers and goaling is greater than Will marking and goaling.

Admittedly, the commentators praised Will for this, so I am not being original here, but if Will can play this role deep in our forward line throughout the year I am confident our finishers will respond accordingly.

 

[X_box_X]

How was the huge pack mark he brought down (pity about the miss on goals). You could see him coming a long way out, it was a huge effort when he was about 7th in line.

Yep, I called that before he even got inside the forward fifty. I'm sure he heard me yell out from the crowd to tell him to get in the forward line and make a contest.

My Dad reckons he is going to be very similar to Cameron Mooney. How awesome would that be

 

[AngeloPetraglia]

Yep, I called that before he even got inside the forward fifty. I'm sure he heard me yell out from the crowd to tell him to get in the forward line and make a contest.

My Dad reckons he is going to be very similar to Cameron Mooney. How awesome would that be

Not sure that he will ever be as mobile as Cameron Mooney, however if he can continue to smash packs and snag a few big grabs he will be a very important player for us. He is a very BIG unit and likes to hurt people.

 

[desipura]

Yes i must admit he is improving in the way he manages to get his hands on the ball first instead of throwing players out of his path. Although last night on two occasion i saw him go up for the mark about 10 meters out from goal and instead of marking the football with two hands he on purpose pushed/slapped it to ground. He should try and mark it at every chance he gets...

Again a positive into a negative, how miserable are you?

 

[Hot Spenny]

I disagree completely. You are referring to contested situations, and I reckon Eade calculated the odds of Will slapping the ball down to our crumbers and goaling is greater than Will marking and goaling.

Admittedly, the commentators praised Will for this, so I am not being original here, but if Will can play this role deep in our forward line throughout the year I am confident our finishers will respond accordingly.

I agree with your disagreement.

This guy is so good, I love him to bits.

#1 dogs fan, as I recall before the start of the season, you shot down Wil big time. you were adamant that we was an awful footballer and that it was a sure thing that he would be gone at the end of the year. So after watching this guy actually play a game of football, no interruptions due to injury etc, what are your thoughts?

 

[bradism]

Every time he contests in a pack, i love looking for the roadkill that follows. there is always an opposing player getting up holding something, or gingerly standing up & whimpering away, its priceless.

Quite often some bulldogs players flattened as well....

 

[MrDOK]

I disagree completely. You are referring to contested situations, and I reckon Eade calculated the odds of Will slapping the ball down to our crumbers and goaling is greater than Will marking and goaling.

Admittedly, the commentators praised Will for this, so I am not being original here, but if Will can play this role deep in our forward line throughout the year I am confident our finishers will respond accordingly.

Agreed. His role is to provide a contest at FF and to get the pill to the ground so our small forwards can finish it off.

I should add, what his presence at FF does is allows the Dogs to kick long to FF, unlike last year when we had to kick to leading small forwards because we had no big man at FF to provide a contest. So now we have three options when moving forward instead of two (we also have the ability to kick goals from outside 50m thanks to Gilbee, Eagle, etc.)

 

[AngeloPetraglia]

Just watching the replay.

Minson twice intentionally brought the ball down to ground rather than mark that both resulted in goals.

1. First time to Griffen, free kick

2. Second time to Aker when he slotted it through at the Lockett end from an acute angle.

The man's ability just to make a contest has enormous benefits.

 

[who let the dogs out]

Quite often some bulldogs players flattened as well....

Haha .. I believe the term used was ' friendly fire '....

 

[Bulldogsnm1]

If they made an AFL playstation game with special moves then Minson's would have to be the 'smash out'.

Anyway, i'm glad Minson is rotating through the ruck more then what he was pre-season. I'm not sure of the actual numbers but its seems almost 50/50 between him and Hudson. Big Will would get lost if he spent any more time in the forward line and making him ruck really brings him in to the game.

I agree with this post, however isn't it completely at odds with what you have been saying for the last month.

 

[#1 Dogs Fan]

I disagree completely. You are referring to contested situations, and I reckon Eade calculated the odds of Will slapping the ball down to our crumbers and goaling is greater than Will marking and goaling.

Admittedly, the commentators praised Will for this, so I am not being original here, but if Will can play this role deep in our forward line throughout the year I am confident our finishers will respond accordingly.

I would have thought marking a football and going back then kicking the ball through the sticks would be easier. It has actually worked great for us with the cumbers at Will's feet but I personally like it when he takes a big mark and finishes with a big goal. He over reacts and celebrates crazy
Reminds me of Satanta from Carlton

 

[#1 Dogs Fan]

Again a positive into a negative, how miserable are you?

Mate !

I simply posted what I thought was a positive and a negative about Will's game at present.
No point in me posting twice or putting it in dot forms. Also I think your remark was unnecessary

 

[#1 Dogs Fan]

I agree with your disagreement.

This guy is so good, I love him to bits.

#1 dogs fan, as I recall before the start of the season, you shot down Wil big time. you were adamant that we was an awful footballer and that it was a sure thing that he would be gone at the end of the year. So after watching this guy actually play a game of football, no interruptions due to injury etc, what are your thoughts?

Yes you are correct I was probably very negative towards him because he wasn't doing much right at the time.
I have watched all the game so far this season both the NAB and Home and away games. He has actually improved dramatically. He isn't your Fevola or your Jonathan Brown. He is more the presenting big man that plays a decoy to set up goals to cumbers and players running by.

Only downside is I would love to see him take some more big contested marks and convert better He gets so excited and happy when he kicks a goal

 

[Mofra]

Just watching the replay.

Minson twice intentionally brought the ball down to ground rather than mark that both resulted in goals.

1. First time to Griffen, free kick

2. Second time to Aker when he slotted it through at the Lockett end from an acute angle.

The man's ability just to make a contest has enormous benefits.

Agree totally, and I think his ruck background has helped him do this. He is also laying quite a number of tackles so is working hard both ways which was something we really needed to improve on from last year (pressure on the opposition defenders on turnovers).

 

[stefoid]

He is a definate long target. Although I agree - if he can get both hands to the ball to slap it down, then he can wrap his mitts around it and hold on to it?

It might be a confidence/judgement thing. Maybe he is unsure if he actually is in a position to mark the ball so he spoils. Maybe in another game or 5, we might see him working out - 'hang on, there is the ball and here are my hands: GRAB IT!'

geez, two or three marks like that in the goalsquare and you have a 50 goal a year forward on your hands, and opposition backmen shting themselves trying to stop him. And thats exactly what you want for our crumbers to have a field day.

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

Apparently a lot of the credit is due to The Ox for Will's improvement.

 

[Gridlock'd]

I must admit I was quite sceptical when Eade first announced that Big Wil was going to play forward. I just didnt like his marking or kicking ability.

However, so far Bil Wil has been very impressive up forward. He always makes a contest, and on occasion he takes a valuable grab and kicks a goal. If he can only take a few more marks down there, he will be invaluable.

 

[kookadog]

Will is an important component in a dynamic forwardline.
His physical presence is unmissable, and he physically hurts the opposition. I'd like him to kick a few more goals but at the moment our forwards are functioning very well.