Calling all JR bashers - Apology thread.

[Jeremias]

Where are all the JR bashers mentioning how shit he is and how he should be banished to the Bullants reserves, never to be seen again?

Where are all the JR bashers who after each and every Carlton loss are the ones to single him out before any other player?

Where are all the JR bashers that call for his head if he doesn't get many touches?

This is a thread for the likes of CarltonFan, legendtofski, C4 etc., who, after each and every loss come on this board, after having barely been sighted mid-week, with the sole purpose of bagging JR.

Let's see what you are made of. Come in here and post your apologies to a kid that is trying to find his feet in the big league. Are you man enough, or will you be too scared to admit you are wrong and hide behind your screens, only to re-appear after JR's next game.

Russell was absolutely fantastic last night. Was clearly given a specific role by the coaching staff to tag Travis Johnstone out of the game, and he did it brilliantly. It's called sacrificing your game for the benefit of the team, and that's exactly what he did. TJ was hardly seen without JR right behind him or already with his hands around Johnstone readying himself for a tackle.

I had him down as one of our best on the night without a doubt because he stuck to his guns all game and didn't take a backwards step from fulfilling the role he was assigned.

Well done JR

 

[WeninRome]

I was there last night and I must admit I was really pleased with Russel in his second efforts.

What I noticed was that if he turned the ball over he would try his upmost to make up for it. There was two occasions where his pass missed the target yet he followed up with brilliant tackles almost 100 m from where he turned it over.

If only he can get the skills part of his game down pat, he would be a real contributer to our team.

 

[len_jet]

I would more than happy to apologise for my JR bashing... so long as there is a ligitimate excuse to apologise!

Although JR played one decent game last night the pure fact he was used in a tagging role indicates that Ratten is running out of options for this bloke. Tagger's efforts in today's game are only attributed with a "best" when they not only hold players but in turn become damaging themselves, ie: Rawlings, K.Cornes, Ling, Vince/Van Berlo (they look a like cant remember which one does their tagging roles). JR does not fall into this category, he was merely used as a negating tagger last night.

Taken at pick 8 he has not come on nearly as much as anyone has hoped or expected. While his 2nd efforts are great and his tackling is good he still turns the ball over too much and often is over zealous with his tackles and gives away silly free kicks.

bluejudd, while trying to make up for mistakes such as last night, the mere fact that he was in that position (ie: his kick missing the target) is what is frustrating and at this level, age and his development shouldn't be happening.

He is still young etc etc and while he will survive the cut this year (just) purely on the fact that we have worse deadwood to choose from to cut (blackwell, Ackland, saddington, benjamin, asaike, etc) next year will be his last chance one would assume. Suggesting that I would happily take a deal which would involve our 2nd round pick and JR to upgrade to say port's 2nd round pick, the higher our picks are in the draft this year the better and trying to upgrade some picks a few spots by tacking on some deadwood might be worthwhile

 

[Lapp_46]

Jordan Russell is no better than than the day he debut. His decision making and turnovers costs the team nearly every time he gets it. You dont pick a player in the first round of a draft to have him tagging four years on and not finding the ball himself. He is SHIT

 

[WeninRome]

I would more than happy to apologise for my JR bashing... so long as there is a ligitimate excuse to apologise!

Although JR played one decent game last night the pure fact he was used in a tagging role indicates that Ratten is running out of options for this bloke. Tagger's efforts in today's game are only attributed with a "best" when they not only hold players but in turn become damaging themselves, ie: Rawlings, K.Cornes, Ling, Vince/Van Berlo (they look a like cant remember which one does their tagging roles). JR does not fall into this category, he was merely used as a negating tagger last night.

Taken at pick 8 he has not come on at all. While his 2nd efforts are great and his tackling is good he still turns the ball over too much and often is over zealous with his tackles and gives away silly free kicks.

bluejudd, while trying to make up for mistakes such as last night, the mere fact that he was in that position (ie: his kick missing the target) is what is frustrating and at this level, age and his development shouldn't be happening.

He is still young etc etc and while he will survive the cut this year (just) purely on the fact that we have worse deadwood to choose from to cut (blackwell, Ackland, saddington, benjamin, asaike, etc) next year will be his last chance one would assume. Suggesting that I would happily take a deal which would involve our 2nd round pick and JR to upgrade to say port's 2nd round pick, the higher our picks are in the draft this year the better and trying to upgrade some picks a few spots by tacking on some deadwood might be worthwhile

Yeam completely agree.

However as he is still developing and thus will cause the odd turnover, it is a very good sign to see him chase and tackle his way to make up for the mistake.

As I said if he can eliminate the turnovers he will be a valuable contributer to our side. Until then he will continually get bashed on boards such as this.

 

[[ToTTi]]

To me it still just seems that he is not good enough. As a team going forward I think he'll be pushed out of the 22 as I don't think we'll need a 'forward tagger' every week. I'd much prefer Houlihan who can kick goals.

Having said that, I really do hope he takes alot of confidence from this season having not been dropped and banished to the bench ala his time with Pagan, and it brings out the best of JR next year. Perhaps with more confidence the stupid little mistakes will stop, and his goal kicking improves...

 

[Noodles71]

Russell is no more than a tagger at this stage. Too many turn overs, too many errors.
Put his body on the line a couple of times and tackled well, but needs more facets to his game to stay in this side.

 

[Jeremias]

Jordan Russell is no better than than the day he debut. His decision making and turnovers costs the team nearly every time he gets it. You dont pick a player in the first round of a draft to have him tagging four years on and not finding the ball himself. He is SHIT

See, this is what I'm talking about. Yet another keyboard hero that simply refuses to give credit where it's due.

I don't particularly like JR but I'm big enough to be able to give credit where it is due. He was one of our best last night without a doubt.

Whether he has or hasn't come on as expected since draft day is largely irrelevant to last night's performance. It's people like you that refuse to move on from a few mistakes he makes which is completely ridiculous as you view each and every thing he does with irrational bias.

Sure, he makes mistakes, I'm not going to sit here and tell you he doesn't. But tell me, which player doesn't make mistakes? The amount of errors he makes during the game is diminishing by the week.

He did a hell of a lot more good to the side than he did bad last night. You sound like yet another simpleton that only uses the statistics in order to gauge whether or not a player had a good game. When he is given room to run, Travis Johnstone is an incredibly dangerous player, an out and out matchwinner capable of turning a game on it's head in only a few moments. Yet last night, not only did you hardly see him, but each and every time he was near the ball, there was JR right on his heels ready to put some pressure on him.

To say he is shit is just a ridiculous comment. Remember, he's just a kid. He's still learning. Frankly, he's got a bloody long way to go. He has a lot to learn. I'm not saying he is a great player, far from it in fact. But give him some bloody credit when it's due. Week after week, game after game, JR is the whipping boy. He is the first one that supporters jump on and bag.

So why is it so hard for those exact same people to come back and admit it when they are wrong. I've bagged JR, I still do sometimes, in fact. But at least I recognise when he does a job and does it well, and deserves kudos for it. Well done to some that have followed suit.

Also, blaming him for where we took him in the draft is just silly. Sure, he hasn't come on how we may have wanted when we originally drafted him. But if you are going to hold a grudge against him for this despite his good performances in a different role then you may as well just give up because that is ridiculous.

It's ignorant fools like yourself that make me wonder if you were watching the same game as me last night. It's not a crime to admit you were wrong.

 

[BlueBelle]

Credit where credit's due. JR did a great job on Johnstone last night. Well done Jordan! I also believe this thread is a little premature considering we all praised him for his brilliant last quarter against Port at AAMI and he failed to follow up with similar performances for the rest of the year.

I hope he becomes a solid contributor in our team for many years to come but I'd like to see him string a few good performances together before we all jump on his bandwagon again.

 

[AlecDuncan]

Week after week, game after game, JR is the whipping boy. He is the first one that supporters jump on and bag.

Houlihan's back now to provide support in that area.

We need a wider spread of blame-takers. We can't rely on Russell to screw up every week.

 

[4blues]

Yeam completely agree.

However as he is still developing and thus will cause the odd turnover, it is a very good sign to see him chase and tackle his way to make up for the mistake.

As I said if he can eliminate the turnovers he will be a valuable contributer to our side. Until then he will continually get bashed on boards such as this.

How can he still be developimg? He has been at the club 4 years, will he still be developing in another 2 years. Yes he played well last night, but one game here and there isnt good enough, do a thread on JR when he has played 5 or 6 good games in a row.

 

[Lapp_46]

See, this is what I'm talking about. Yet another keyboard hero that simply refuses to give credit where it's due.

I don't particularly like JR but I'm big enough to be able to give credit where it is due. He was one of our best last night without a doubt.

Whether he has or hasn't come on as expected since draft day is largely irrelevant to last night's performance. It's people like you that refuse to move on from a few mistakes he makes which is completely ridiculous as you view each and every thing he does with irrational bias.

Sure, he makes mistakes, I'm not going to sit here and tell you he doesn't. But tell me, which player doesn't make mistakes? The amount of errors he makes during the game is diminishing by the week.

He did a hell of a lot more good to the side than he did bad last night. You sound like yet another simpleton that only uses the statistics in order to gauge whether or not a player had a good game. When he is given room to run, Travis Johnstone is an incredibly dangerous player, an out and out matchwinner capable of turning a game on it's head in only a few moments. Yet last night, not only did you hardly see him, but each and every time he was near the ball, there was JR right on his heels ready to put some pressure on him.

To say he is shit is just a ridiculous comment. Remember, he's just a kid. He's still learning. Frankly, he's got a bloody long way to go. He has a lot to learn. I'm not saying he is a great player, far from it in fact. But give him some bloody credit when it's due. Week after week, game after game, JR is the whipping boy. He is the first one that supporters jump on and bag.

So why is it so hard for those exact same people to come back and admit it when they are wrong. I've bagged JR, I still do sometimes, in fact. But at least I recognise when he does a job and does it well, and deserves kudos for it. Well done to some that have followed suit.

Also, blaming him for where we took him in the draft is just silly. Sure, he hasn't come on how we may have wanted when we originally drafted him. But if you are going to hold a grudge against him for this despite his good performances in a different role then you may as well just give up because that is ridiculous.

It's ignorant fools like yourself that make me wonder if you were watching the same game as me last night. It's not a crime to admit you were wrong.

Im sorry i do expect more from high draft picks... and why shouldnt I? They are the highly rated youngsters and should provide the foundation for making finals. He isnt so young anymore... He is now in his fourth year and the other players selected in the first round is franklin, roughhead, tambling, jordan lewis, Deledio, Griffin. Now do you think he has been a success? After four years in the system all he is good for is tagging and his not even so good at that. All those other players are dominating the afl and he is a nothing player. NO PLAYER at carlton turns the ball over as much as he does. A team will never win a premiership while they have players with the calibre of Russell in it. He is a major disappointment. And lets be honest Travis Johnstone really isnt a top line footballer. How about he actually plays a really decent game and tags and player whilst picking up 20 quality possesions. He had 4 kicks last night and i recon 3 were turovers. Wake up and smell roses mate.

 

[Jeremias]

Credit where credit's due. JR did a great job on Johnstone last night. Well done Jordan! I also believe this thread is a little premature considering we all praised him for his brilliant last quarter against Port at AAMI and he failed to follow up with similar performances for the rest of the year.

So you are saying that it's OK for people not to give credit just in case he isn't able to follow it up next week with a solid performance?

FMD, that's absolutely ridiculous. You say "credit where credit's due" yet come up with that absolute piece of crap? Come on BG, that is garbage.

I hope he becomes a solid contributor in our team for many years to come but I'd like to see him string a few good performances together before we all jump on his bandwagon again.

Who is jumping on which bandwagon? Please, show me where I said that JR is a good player. Show me where I said that I like him as a player? I'll save you the trouble and tell you that I have done neither. But that's not going to stop me from saying that he did well and credit him accordingly for a good performance.

I put out a challenge to people that come on here bagging JR week in, week out. He performed well last night so I would expect people that have done nothing but rubbish him and his performances to commend him for it. Looks as though you have managed to do so, albeit only with a back-handed sort of compliment.

 

[Jeremias]

How can he still be developimg? He has been at the club 4 years, will he still be developing in another 2 years. Yes he played well last night, but one game here and there isnt good enough, do a thread on JR when he has played 5 or 6 good games in a row.

Why can't we have a thread commending JR on his efforts in 1 game when we seem to have plenty of threads directly bagging him after a bad quarter here and there, let alone a bad game?

 

[Jeremias]

Im sorry i do expect more from high draft picks... and why shouldnt I? They are the highly rated youngsters and should provide the foundation for making finals. He isnt so young anymore... He is now in his fourth year and the other players selected in the first round is franklin, roughhead, tambling, jordan lewis, Deledio, Griffin. Now do you think he has been a success? After four years in the system all he is good for is tagging and his not even so good at that. All those other players are dominating the afl and he is a nothing player. NO PLAYER at carlton turns the ball over as much as he does. A team will never win a premiership while they have players with the calibre of Russell in it. He is a major disappointment. And lets be honest Travis Johnstone really isnt a top line footballer. How about he actually plays a really decent game and tags and player whilst picking up 20 quality possesions. He had 4 kicks last night and i recon 3 were turovers. Wake up and smell roses mate.

I'm pretty sure you lost all your credibility when you said that Richard Tambling is dominating the AFL.

Travis Johnstone is an absolute gun when on song. You sound like opposition supporters who refuse to give credit to Gibbs for demolishing his opponent on several occassions throughout the season because they were apparently injured.

You are raving and ranting about a lot of things yet you seem to miss the crux of the issue I raise in this thread. JR played well last night. Very well. He was assigned a specific role and carried it out extremely well. How you can be upset with his game last night I will never be able to understand.

Forget where he was drafted. For the purpose of this argument it is largely irrelevant. What number pick he was selected in the draft should not be the underlying determinant as to whether or not he should be given a little bit of kudos that he deserves for his performance.

It seems as though the point is lost to you. It might be worth your while to stick to the JR bashing threads which, as usual, will litter these boards during the week as you seem incapable of doing anything but talk down on his performances no matter how good they are.

 

[len_jet]

Why can't we have a thread commending JR on his efforts in 1 game when we seem to have plenty of threads directly bagging him after a bad quarter here and there, let alone a bad game?

SO WHAT? he has one half decent game on a bloke who was off loaded by the bottom side and was struggling to get a game there and you want us to give him plenty of credit and praise? Come on Jeremias your better than this... Johnstone is not a class mid fielder and this year has only done ok based on the fact that guys like delziel, black, power and rischettli are there to draw the main attention.

While Russell negated him last night, like I said, for a top draft pick to resort to using him as a pure negating tagger with no offensive impact like a cornes, ling, or rawlings we have really landed ourselves nothing more than a depth player who should be cut as soon as we can afford to do so.

If you have foxtel my friend go and watch Cameron Ling... drafted latish int he draft as a full foward he has worked amazingly hard over the years to be a premier tagger who has a very damaging offensive streak. Against Brent Harvey he has had 16 touches and kicked a goal playing at HBF! Harvey has had about 8 touches with zero impact.

 

[len_jet]

...It might be worth your while to stick to the JR bashing threads which, as usual, will litter these boards during the week as you seem incapable of doing anything but talk down on his performances no matter how good they are...

the thing is no one was bashing him this week... until this thread everyone seemed rather content with his performance. What you have done is come on here and try and instigate some support and give some credit to a bloke who has done so much wrong over the course of the year that of course people are going to turn this into a bashing thread.

He contributed last night, yes I will give you that but his game last night was no where near as important as the likes of Judd, Stevens, Cloke, Waite, Thornton, Grigg even Houlihan.

So before you try and have a dip at the people on this board for bashing a bloke who has done not much this year to negate these bashings you should question your actions of trying to heap praise on the bloke for having a half decent game.

 

[BlueBelle]

So you are saying that it's OK for people not to give credit just in case he isn't able to follow it up next week with a solid performance?

FMD, that's absolutely ridiculous. You say "credit where credit's due" yet come up with that absolute piece of crap? Come on BG, that is garbage.



Who is jumping on which bandwagon? Please, show me where I said that JR is a good player. Show me where I said that I like him as a player? I'll save you the trouble and tell you that I have done neither. But that's not going to stop me from saying that he did well and credit him accordingly for a good performance.

I put out a challenge to people that come on here bagging JR week in, week out. He performed well last night so I would expect people that have done nothing but rubbish him and his performances to commend him for it. Looks as though you have managed to do so, albeit only with a back-handed sort of compliment.

I gave credit because credit was due for his performance last night. Same thing you did. I just don't think it deserves a thread, calling for an apology, after ONE good performance that's all.

Which part of my post is garbage J? The fact that I'd like to see him follow up with a few good performances before I get really excited? Puhlease!

 

[Jeremias]

SO WHAT? he has one half decent game on a bloke who was off loaded by the bottom side and was struggling to get a game there and you want us to give him plenty of credit and praise? Come on Jeremias your better than this... Johnstone is not a class mid fielder and this year has only done ok based on the fact that guys like delziel, black, power and rischettli are there to draw the main attention.

Struggled to get a game at Melbourne? You must be joking mate.

Johnstone played 15 games last year and was injured for the remainder of those games with a troublesome achilles tendon injury. He wasn't offloaded by Melbourne because he was a bad player - don't be so narrow minded as to think that.

Look, I don't like Travis but to say that he isn't a class midfielder when on song is a ludicrous statement which does him a terrible injustice. For many a year we've seen what he can do to opposition sides at his best, and we even witnessed that first hand at the Telstra Dome earlier this year when he absolutely annihilated us.

If you are suggesting that guys like Dalziell and Rischitelli are drawing more attention from the opposition than TJ then you may as well give up as you have little clue what you are on about. If you were to ask the coaches on whether they would put more attention into stopping Bradd Dalziell and Michael Rischitelli than they would into stopping Travis Johnstone, I'd bet a pretty hefty amount that they would say, most definitely, the latter.

While Russell negated him last night, like I said, for a top draft pick to resort to using him as a pure negating tagger with no offensive impact like a cornes, ling, or rawlings we have really landed ourselves nothing more than a depth player who should be cut as soon as we can afford to do so.

Why are people so hell-bent on bringing up what pick a player was selected at in the draft as any sort of get-out clause for crediting a player for a good performance?

More to the point, where did I say that he was a good tagger? I've said nothing of the sort.

If you are telling me that we should be cutting a tagger from the list because he has no offensive side to his game then you seriously have rocks in your head.

If you have foxtel my friend go and watch Cameron Ling... drafted latish int he draft as a full foward he has worked amazingly hard over the years to be a premier tagger who has a very damaging offensive streak. Against Brent Harvey he has had 16 touches and kicked a goal playing at HBF! Harvey has had about 8 touches with zero impact.

Don't bother bringing up a comparison between the two as that is not what I'm here to do. Ling is a top quality player and tagger, Russell is nothing more than a plodder at the moment and I'm more than happy to admit that. But why does that exclude him from being credited with an excellent performance from fans? I dare say it's got something to do with negative connotations that the name JR brings with it, something which is quite ridiculous.

Also, it may be worth your while to think about what year, how old he was, and after how many years on the list it took for Ling to turn into a top-shelf tagger . I think you'll be pleasantly surprised to find that only a few years ago Cameron Ling's spot on the Geelong list was under constant scrutiny because he wasn't suited to his then-current role and the game looked to be passing him by. He was then only able to reinvent himself, and save his career, as a tagger.

 

[Jeremias]

the thing is no one was bashing him this week... until this thread everyone seemed rather content with his performance. What you have done is come on here and try and instigate some support and give some credit to a bloke who has done so much wrong over the course of the year that of course people are going to turn this into a bashing thread.

Oh, sorry. Should I refrain from starting a thread to praise a much-maligned player who deserves it on last night's performance, just in case it be turned into a thread that people come in with the mere intention of bashing him?

He contributed last night, yes I will give you that but his game last night was no where near as important as the likes of Judd, Stevens, Cloke, Waite, Thornton, Grigg even Houlihan.

So what? Are you trying to tell me that because there were 6 or 7 better performers than him on the night (even that is a new argument in itself), he shouldn't be commended for his efforts?

This is a team game. You know that, I know that. Everyone knows that. It's not up to 6 or 7 to do a specific job, but more often than not a victory relies on most, if not all of the 22 to do a job they have been given. And JR did EXACTLY what he was asked, yet people still seem so reluctant.

So before you try and have a dip at the people on this board for bashing a bloke who has done not much this year to negate these bashings you should question your actions of trying to heap praise on the bloke for having a half decent game.

You're right.

I should never have started this thread because someone only deserves praise for a good performance once they have backed it up with a few good performances in a row.

 

[Jeremias]

I gave credit because credit was due for his performance last night. Same thing you did. I just don't think it deserves a thread, calling for an apology, after ONE good performance that's all.

So you think that praise should be reserved for those that put a few good performances in? And those that perform well on the night don't deserve it? Are you going to come back next week if JR plays well and say, "Geez, JR was very good against the Lions and I commend him for it"? Credit needs to be given to players on their performance in that specific game. If he follows it up with a string of good performances then that's fantastic. But if he doesn't, I fail to see why he shouldn't get a little kudos for the game he performed well in.

Which part of my post is garbage J? The fact that I'd like to see him follow up with a few good performances before I get really excited? Puhlease!

The fact that you fail to give credit to someone because he hasn't done it on a consistent basis.

Fair enough that you want to see it from him more often. So do I. But that shouldn't stop you from recognizing the amount of good to come from his performance.

It's a little confusing. Did you give credit to Ando for his courageous mark in the dying seconds of the match? Or are you going to wait to see if he backs that up next week before commending him on it?

 

[BlueBelle]

So you think that praise should be reserved for those that put a few good performances in? And those that perform well on the night don't deserve it? Are you going to come back next week if JR plays well and say, "Geez, JR was very good against the Lions and I commend him for it"? Credit needs to be given to players on their performance in that specific game. If he follows it up with a string of good performances then that's fantastic. But if he doesn't, I fail to see why he shouldn't get a little kudos for the game he performed well in.



The fact that you fail to give credit to someone because he hasn't done it on a consistent basis.

Fair enough that you want to see it from him more often. So do I. But that shouldn't stop you from recognizing the amount of good to come from his performance.

It's a little confusing. Did you give credit to Ando for his courageous mark in the dying seconds of the match? Or are you going to wait to see if he backs that up next week before commending him on it?

Do you just post for the sake of it?

Can't you read???? I gave Jordan Russell credit for his performance last night

 

[thylacine60]

J, next time you pour something on a fire, make sure you know what it is.

 

[Jeremias]

Do you just post for the sake of it?

Can't you read???? I gave Jordan Russell credit for his performance last night

You did, and that's good.

But it was a nice little disclaimer you added in when you insinuated that he should only get full credit for the performance if he performs consistently

 

[Jeremias]

J, next time you pour something on a fire, make sure you know what it is.

I thought it was just water.....I swear I didn't know it was meth