Universal Love Brad Close

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bellpark said:
Brad and Tom Atkins and are the running power glue (and Myers as well except for his disposal), that elevated this team. Others can come and go but for the next 3 years at least if they stay fit, they will be low profile essentials to our performance.
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Agree except for the Miers part he is actually one of our best users going inside 50 as a link player.
 
Seeds said:
Who are the others?
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Going by our named team of that day

www.foxsports.com.au

AFL Grand Final teams: Cats and Tigers buck historic trend as full-strength sides named

Grand Final teams: Cats and Tigers buck historic trend as full-strength sides named
www.foxsports.com.au www.foxsports.com.au

B: Jed Bews, Harry Taylor, Jake Kolodjashnij
HB: Lachie Henderson, Mark Blicavs, Tom Stewart
C: Mitch Duncan, Joel Selwood, Sam Menegola
HF: Luke Dahlhaus, Gary Rohan, Gryan Miers
F: Mark O’Connor, Tom Hawkins, Gary Ablett
FOLL: Rhys Stanley, Patrick Dangerfield, Cam Guthrie
I/C: Jack Henry, Brandan Parfitt, Zach Tuohy, Sam Simpson
EMG: Tom Atkins, Zach Guthrie, Esava Ratugolea, Brad Close
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the players I have in mind were all emegencies that day and never took the field. Plus Sam De Konig. And Jeremy Cameron of course. AND Isaac 'Norm' Smith.

EDIT How could I forget Tyson Stengle?!
 
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I love everything I know about this guy.
Humble, hard-working, team-oriented, non-traditional pathway... but then footy-smarts off the chart, runs hard all day, great skills and creativity.

Gerard Healey picked him out early on for his remarkable decision making, and I think he nailed it.
 
Cheers boys, big chance to do a double I think, it's a long season and no Selsey, so I suppose it's a "quiet confidence" they just might!
 
Drunkcat said:
Does anyone think this kid can get better? i look forward to see what he has this year.
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I don't see any deficiencies to how he performed the role he played in the side during 2022.

There would need to be a tweaking of his role. Hard to imagine that won't happen. This guy is worth his weight in gold.

His best is yet to come :)
 

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Drunkcat said:
Does anyone think this kid can get better? i look forward to see what he has this year.
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He had something about him from day 1 but added his incredible running power/endurance plus hitting the scoreboard in 2022.
Amazing season :thumbsu:
He may cop more opposition scrutiny this season , interesting to see how he copes with that and if he can maintain his desire and hunger.
Even maintaining his 2022 form would be exceptional !
 
Farmer2Goggin said:
He had something about him from day 1 but added his incredible running power/endurance plus hitting the scoreboard in 2022.
Amazing season :thumbsu:
He may cop more opposition scrutiny this season , interesting to see how he copes with that and if he can maintain his desire and hunger.
Even maintaining his 2022 form would be exceptional !
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How? If they tighten up on close, Stengle will have more space.

Brad is fantastic, but the opposition will be far more worried about AA who kicked more than 50 goals last year.

If formline continues, the only way to contain them as a group will be to stop any of them getting the ball in something that resembles space. Like Collingwood did in the 1st quarter of the QF last year. That is bloody hard to do though, and extremely hard to do for long periods of a game.
 
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4quarter_cat said:
How? If they tighten up on close, Stengle will have more space.

Brad is fantastic, but the opposition will be far more worried about AA who kicked more than 50 goals last year.

If formline continues, the only way to contain them as a group will be to stop any of them getting the ball in something that resembles space. Like Collingwood did in the 1st quarter of the QF last year. That is bloody hard to do though, and extremely hard to do for long periods of a game.
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Agree - not easy to stop Close but I think he will get more attention especially as he's invariably part of most of our score chains.
Stengle is another but we have so many weapons who play their roles it makes it difficult to limit us.
 
Drunkcat said:
Does anyone think this kid can get better? i look forward to see what he has this year.
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He's only 24, so peak physical performance is still three years away. He's nowhere near his ceiling yet, which is an exciting prospect if he remains injury free.
One of the things I love about him is his nouse ahead of the ball. On Grand Final day you could see the cogs turning in his head, thinking ahead of where the ball was and setting things up for his team-mates down the line. Whether it's a tap on in a marking contest to a player with advantage, or skipping the player with the ball because he knows who's getting the handball receive and he's going to wrap them up instead etc.
He's a really smart player and he has some mongrel about him, which is irreplaceable in footy.
 
Drunkcat said:
Does anyone think this kid can get better? i look forward to see what he has this year.
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Yes. Just doing it year in, year out. That's all.

For someone that knows as little as I do at this level, I got a good strike rate of late. Picked Brad as soon as I saw the highlights vid before he started with us. Watched it and said, "Hello!". Also saw us get smashed in the reserves at Cranny a while back, but Tom Atkins stood out like dog's balls, and was delighted when he got his chance in the Snrs.
 
Farmer2Goggin said:
Agree - not easy to stop Close but I think he will get more attention especially as he's invariably part of most of our score chains.
Stengle is another but we have so many weapons who play their roles it makes it difficult to limit us.
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Not sure Close does get too much more attention, purely for the other reason you mentioned…teams cannot afford to let Stengle run free, and there are only so many lock down players down back for the smalls.

Bit like Jezza running around on the second best key defender, must be like a Christmas every week for him 😃😃

Wonderful position for both the club and Brad Close to be in.
 
When your team has a wide list of talent, you don't really care if the opposition puts time into a player. On Grand Final day they tagged Stewart, so what, Tuohy became Stewart for the day.

Given how Close does his best work in transition, teams are welcome to try to lock him down, would do a number on any defensive zone structure
 
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