Is Gary Rohan the worst finals player of all time?

[Shane Heard]

It's pretty funny to me how some people don't understand that if Stengle or Hawkins or Cameron is off the chain it's partly because the other forwards are keeping defenders away from them. I was at the game and Geelong deliberately plonked Rohan deep at full forward for much of the game where he took 2+ defenders away from the action a lot of the time. Hence Tom Hawkins repeatedly managing to get into one-on-one situations with plenty of space.

The stats also won't show things like Rohan managing to compete when the ball comes in to a pack of Swans and get the ball to ground. No stat but worth its weight in gold.

He also polled pretty well in the Gary Ayres medal - more votes than Stengle, for example.

“ get the ball to ground “

You mean ..dropped the mark …missed the ball..out bodied and out positioned and out smarted etc etc

 

[demondavey]

Rohan's team won by 81pts with roughly 80% of the play being undertaken in the Cats forward half and yet Rohan only had 7 disposals...!!! Unless his designated role was to shutdown McCartin's influence and/or be a decoy for Hawkins/Cameron, that's actually some achievement....

Rohan won Geelong the QF, but yeah, keep talking shit

 

[demondavey]

If Rohan was quiet in the GF, why do people continue to overlook his QF achievements this year? It’s getting to the point where he is becoming underrated. I reckon if Chris Scott

Chris Scott

Age

48

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182cm

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89kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.6

4star

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11.2

4star

HB

5.4

4star

M

5.1

5star

T

1.6

4star

G

0.4

3star

No current season stats available

D

13.2

4star

K

10.2

4star

HB

3.0

3star

M

2.2

3star

T

2.8

5star

G

0.4

3star

didn’t rate him he wouldn’t be playing, it’s not like Geelong have standards like St Kilda or Essendon.

 

[Jetafl]

Being a ginger with the name Gary he is on the backfoot from the get-go.

 

[eth-dog]

If Rohan was quiet in the GF, why do people continue to overlook his QF achievements this year? It’s getting to the point where he is becoming underrated. I reckon if Chris Scott didn’t rate him he wouldn’t be playing, it’s not like Geelong have standards like St Kilda or Essendon.

Because the QF is the exception, not the rule.

 

[kickazz]

“ get the ball to ground “

You mean ..dropped the mark …missed the ball..out bodied and out positioned and out smarted etc etc

Well no, it's about competing. The reason Geelong has performed poorly in several finals over the last decade was being unable to deal with intercept marking / Hawkins being double teamed.

Rohan being a credible option that on occasion can be very damaging means teams could not have players zone off in that fashion any more. Made our whole forward line function so much better.

To be fair this is a lot easier to see when you watch the games (live is better, but tv ok) rather than just hop on BigFooty at 2 in the morning.

 

[HairyO]

If Rohan was quiet in the GF, why do people continue to overlook his QF achievements this year? It’s getting to the point where he is becoming underrated. I reckon if Chris Scott didn’t rate him he wouldn’t be playing, it’s not like Geelong have standards like St Kilda or Essendon.

26 finals. A couple of very good ones. A couple of good ones. And many many really terrible ones.

 

[demondavey]

26 finals. A couple of very good ones. A couple of good ones. And many many really terrible ones.

So? Who gives a ****? Judge based off this year, and I state again, without his efforts in the QF they weren’t winning. Do people really care what happened 6-7 years ago? He has also been pretty significant in getting Geelong over the line in some big home and away games.

People need to get a life.

 

[HairyO]

So? Who gives a *? Judge based off this year, and I state again, without his efforts in the QF they weren’t winning. Do people really care what happened 6-7 years ago? He has also been pretty significant in getting Geelong over the line in some big home and away games.

People need to get a life.

Youre taking this quite personally.

 

[demondavey]

Youre taking this quite personally.

No I am really not, just looking at the realms of content on him and thinking ‘really? Is this still a thing?’

 

[HairyO]

No I am really not, just looking at the realms of content on him and thinking ‘really? Is this still a thing?’

Given he was awful in the Grand Final Id say yes.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Tom Hawkins

26

Tom Hawkins

Age

36

Ht

197cm

Wt

105kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

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Last 5

D

12.2

3star

K

7.9

3star

HB

4.4

3star

M

5.5

5star

T

1.9

4star

G

2.1

5star

D

12.7

3star

K

8.6

3star

HB

4.1

3star

M

5.1

5star

T

2.1

3star

G

1.6

5star

D

7.8

2star

K

5.6

3star

HB

2.2

2star

M

4.2

4star

T

1.0

3star

G

2.2

5star

had one All Australian in the 13 years BR. He's Moses Malone (fo' for fo') since.

Those who watched Geelong's plan of "bomb it on Hawkins' head in a one-on-three and hope he does something" for 4-5 years in the mid 2010s will know it's not a coincidence.

 

[kickazz]

Given he was awful in the Grand Final Id say yes.

Were you at the game?

 

[kickazz]

No I am really not, just looking at the realms of content on him and thinking ‘really? Is this still a thing?’

It's a thing, like a meme I suppose. Spend any time of BF and you will realise this. Winning the worst on ground medal as voted on Bay 13 in an 81 point winning side was classic pre-meditated BF. But it's funny and of no consequence so who cares. So it's just, as you say, "a thing".

That and Geelong haters grasping at straws to try and salvage some solace from the pain of our success .... IDK what but must make them feel better.


Thread should simply be titled "Let's hang shit on Gary Rohan". That would be fair. "Worst of All time" - well there are dozens worse, obviously.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Thread should simply be titled "Let's hang s**t on Gary Rohan".

AFL.com would like in on a bit of that action.

"Youse can write what youse write [sic] - it doesn't bother me, I don't read it. That's your job."

What an idiot! It's not like three quarters of the league would phrase it the same way.

Fortunately AFL.com has a Professor of Linguistics among the professional liniment sniffers who reside there to show Gary the error of his ways.

'Youse can write what youse write': Rohan unfazed by finals record

As Geelong prepares for the Grand Final, Gary Rohan isn't letting commentary about his September record get to him

www.afl.com.au

 

[HairyO]

Were you at the game?

No. Does it matter ?

Is your defence "he ran around heaps but you didnt see it on tv" ?

 

[kickazz]

No. Does it matter ?

Is your defence "he ran around heaps but you didnt see it on tv" ?

Just think you get a much better idea watching the game live, particularly seeing the impact on his opponent.

Wasn't even Geelong's worst forward on the day, not that I think anyone had a bad game. Bit hard to when you win Grand Finals by over eighty points.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

No. Does it matter ?

Is your defence "he ran around heaps but you didnt see it on tv" ?

It's related to the "he's played in 26 finals and has been consistently selected to play in them ahead of proven quality AFL players and to the chagrin of the fantasy nerds" defence. Ahead of Menegola. Ahead of Parfitt. Would have been ahead of O'Connor, if Holmes played. Someone like Miers is still probably getting dropped ahead of him.

The worst finals player of all time wouldn't have racked up 26 of them. That's illogical. That's a hell of a lot of finals: Trent Cotchin (for comparison) has played 16. It's like saying the worst player to ever play senior AFL football was a 200 gamer, rather than someone who was done after two games.

 

[HairyO]

Just think you get a much better idea watching the game live, particularly seeing the impact on his opponent.

Wasn't even Geelong's worst forward on the day, not that I think anyone had a bad game. Bit hard to when you win Grand Finals by over eighty points.

Oh for sure the Swans had 2 good players 2 or 3 average players and the rest shat the bed.

But if a team flogs another team and still has passengers then they arent even downhill skiers.

 

[Sky]

So? Who gives a *? Judge based off this year, and I state again, without his efforts in the QF they weren’t winning. Do people really care what happened 6-7 years ago? He has also been pretty significant in getting Geelong over the line in some big home and away games.

People need to get a life.

It’s not exactly an unpopular opinion to think Rohan would have to have one of the biggest gaps in the league when it comes to his best vs worst.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Because the QF is the exception, not the rule.

Well he's actually going at 1 good final per year at Geelong. Which for the premise of this thread should return a no answer.

2020 - 3 goals PF v BL (shortened games)
2021 - 2.2 v GWS in SF.
2022 - 3 goals v Coll in QF. 2 goals in PF v BL.

As eluded to earlier his pressure and tackling in the GF meant he had some influence. Just not on the scoreboard.
10 finals for Geelong and you could say he either played well or played his role in 5 of them. A few cats since 2016 would be batting at a lower average.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

It’s not exactly an unpopular opinion to think Rohan would have to have one of the biggest gaps in the league when it comes to his best vs worst.

When you're a low volume possession forward, there's only goals for us to go by. He's not going to have a permanent midfielder's out of "Well he got 18 disposals, so he wasn't terrible... there must have been worse players out there." He's not going to have a defender's "Well his opponent only kicked one goal so that's a pretty solid defensive performance."

For someone like Rohan, it's goals or nothing. He could have kicked a goal or two in junktime in the grand final, would that really have made his performance that much better?

 

[Sky]

When you're a low volume possession forward, there's only goals for us to go by. He's not going to have a permanent midfielder's out of "Well he got 18 disposals, so he wasn't terrible... there must have been worse players out there." He's not going to have a defender's "Well his opponent only kicked one goal so that's a pretty solid defensive performance."

For someone like Rohan, it's goals or nothing. He could have kicked a goal or two in junktime in the grand final, would that really have made his performance that much better?

I don’t think he was bad in the grand final because 81 points is a team effort. He was clearly doing things around the ground that we weren’t seeing from a screen.

 

[PhatBoy]

Given he was awful in the Grand Final Id say yes.

When is every member of a 22 always at their best or always playing a prominent role? Players would be all paid the same if they always played at the same level relative to one another

Why do people care so much. He played a huge role in the QF and getting through it.

He had 10 touches - standard - and two goals in the preliminary final as well.

 

[STPer18]

The greatest redemption story ever told. How lucky for all of us that we were here to witness it.