He really seemed to drop off a cliff towards the end of 2017 and was clearly distracted all of 2018.
He was coming off recurring hamstring injuries. That surely had affected his kicking range. If you watch closely the last 2 games or so, Betts was kicking it at better range compared with midseason, and not looking to pass off as much. Hoping a good preseason can sort him out and he can still do some serious damage next year. Probably expect his level to be somewhere between this year and 2016/2017.
I think this is a very good and understated point. I think we've been focusing too much on his injury this year, but there are also issues of his roles changing constantly nearly on a weekly basis, depending on which forwards are playing along side him. I think this has unsettled his game to a certain degree.
Except that his form started to evaporate mid-season last year, well before Charlie departed. Charlie's departure hasn't helped, but Eddie was already in decline before he went.
That's not true. There were probably some slight form dip in the weeks leading to his appendicitis/appendicectomy. When he returned post-op against Port in the latter rounds he was excellent! He was also our best forward with 3 goals in the first Final against GWS, and against the Cats in the Prelim he scored 2 goals with reasonable contribution.
He was well down (compared with his previous output) from the 2017 mid-season break onwards. He's had a few good games here & there since, but he hasn't been able to perform at his previous level on a consistent basis.
Yes he was well down, but he ramped it up again after his appendix surgery. First game back after appendix surgery against the wet Round 20 against Port. It was a marvellous game by Eddie! Please refer to the first video here:
Hopefully we get another Haggis special for a quick pressure forward in this year's draft.
I think Gooch or Murphy is already proving handy replacements (as a pressure forward). Hopefully an extra preseason would bring them up to speed with the elite forwards of the comp. Someone like a Rankine would also be pretty handy!
Both look promising, but you can't have enough of these types.
Adelaide had it's bye in R13 last year. Before the bye, Eddie kicked 34 goals in 12 games (2.83 goals per game). After the bye, he kicked 19 from 12 games (1.58 goals per game). That second period includes the 4.4 he kicked against Port. In the first half of the year he had 8x 3+ goal games, in the second half of the year he only did it twice.
We were talking about 2017 in today's discussion. Twins were only spermatozoa back then!
I do have a theory on this, because I do remember clearly being angry at Eddie's form in the weeks preceding news of his appendicitis. I did think at the time he looked like he was playing injured, because his running and attack on the ball didn't appear smooth at all. So if we add the news of the appendicitis, factoring also he played significantly better after the surgery, I think his form dipped due to him having a grumbling tummy or an illness of sorts, and then culminating in an appendicitis. It's certainly more a theory rather than factual evidence, but there were signs he clearly played bad before and played good after the appendix surgery.
This
Were they identical twins? If so they were a spermatozoon
Are we talking about when the spermatozoans have already amalgamated with the egg? Because Eddie isn’t carrying them after the “initial phase”.
Identical twins result from 1 sperm and 1 egg with the fertilised egg then splitting into 2. And you’re right we’re side tracking. Better stop before someone gets outraged
No more kids
