Saw that and thought he didn’t have much of an option,
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Player Watch Josh Rachele - Sent To The Gulag!
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Saw that and thought he didn’t have much of an option,
I was a huge fan of Rachele in his first year simply because he was a very accurate goal kicker and I saw his scoring potential. Last year was a partial let down as his goal kicking dried up, while playing midfield time at the expense of his goal accuracy. Throughout his career though, I can safely say he’s also one of those ambidextrous types like Tex and Rankine/Betts. That last goal he kicked last night was a pressure cooker and to be confident to swing it on his left was supreme foot skills.
I don’t think his attitude is very far off now, it’s more a matter of fine-tuning the attacking flair and the defensive agggression.
I don’t think his attitude is very far off now, it’s more a matter of fine-tuning the attacking flair and the defensive agggression.
In the final quarter, every player should be made mandatory to tackle and not bump. Fatigue is likely to kick in and an error in judgment in the bump could be too costly. Rachele should have tackled, but I think it’s something he’ll learn from.
Exactly! The player people are describing is Lachie Murphy, and we all know what type of player he is.
Some people on this board have fallen for the media narrative that started earlier this season and can’t seem to ignore it since, regardless of the very good things he does for a 3rd year player.
Genuine match winners like Rachele and Rankine are needed if we are ever to compete for flags again.
ok that makes a bit more sense - at the game I didn't have that angle and I had a bit of an outburst wondering what the **** kind of effort that was
definitely looks like he pulls up as to not bump the guys head
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I definitely think it applies to Chayce Jones.
I think a large portion of the blame for his failure to develop sits with Nicks and duds like Michael Godden.
If you watch how Jones played back in 2019 you could see that he was a see ball, get ball player with great pace and a penetrating foot.
2020 rolls in and the narrative is all about defence and playing defensive football and you could literally see that he went from this fast attacking mid to trying to play as a defensive mid and was just running around looking totally lost. It was almost like they were re-teaching him how to play football from scratch.
In the end Nicks and the other coaches smashed a square peg into a round hole and in doing so they coached his natural instincts out of his game and turned into a B grade player.
In order to stop the same same thing happening with Rachele, they need to let him play his natural game and encourage him to trust his instincts as a player because if they try and coach it out of him it's hard to get it back.
El Doederino
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Spot on. Unfortunately Rachele did the right thing here.
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BACCS, I don’t know what’s happened to you this season but you’ve gone from defending the club at all costs in the past to making some of the most sensible and balanced comments all season.
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100%
Talk to Rowey about the instructions James had to follow.
The passage of play where he did set up an I50 late was hard to watch.
So slow, nearly got caught.
He needs to retire.
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Golumless
A bigger deal out west.
I think that's more a convenient argument then reality.
Now, in saying that, it is very likely we're focusing on Rachele defensive game and trying to make him more consistent on that side. It's the area where he has the most scope for improvement, and it's something that will just click into place if we keep putting the work in. Defense is the area that, once it clicks, will turn Rachele into an elite small forward.
That said, if there is one area Rachele has put work into - and this may be where the overthinking argument comes from - it is shot selection. Rachele last year struggled at this, with his average shot having an xscore of 2.76 (gen play 2.56, set shot 3.13) . This year, that's jumped up to an xscore of 3.05 (gen play 2.87, set 3.33). Where has that increase come from? Rachele is taking less shots from > 40 m. Last year, most of Racheles shots came from 40-50 m with 18, and another 8 past 50 m. Now the problem here is Rachele isn't great at this range, going at ~33% per shot between 40-50 m (AFL average in 2023: ~42%) and 12.5% at >50 m (AFL average in 2023: ~27%), whereas he's > 50 % once he gets anywhere within 40 m. This year? most of his shots have come from 15-30 m taking 15 of them and only 14 from >= 40 m (no appreciable change in accuracy). The other thing is Rachele is taking better quality shots in the 30--40 m range for his skill set, seeing he's now > 65% from anywhere <= 40.
I think your "overthinking" is just a player focused on rounding out his game and focusing on trying to create better opportunities then blazing away. Because the other part here is Rachele has been just as destructive with the ball in hand this year as was last. Perhaps more so, seeing he'll eclipse last years goals and goal assist totals and is about the same for score involvements.
Really though. I think the biggest thing Rachele needs is a big preseason just to put the pieces together.
I think both sides of the Rach debate are half right, and try to ignore or downplay the things on the other side:
“Yes he kicked 3 goals inc the amazing match winner but his shirking is unacceptable”
“I don’t care that he has multiple cringey efforts per game, he kicked the match winner!”
Well said
The two instances Redman got the ball, Rachele was not his direct defensive opponent.
Someone, probably Laird, missed a handover as Redman pushed up.
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Mr MysteryGuest
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Think some of the poor defensive efforts are more from lapses in concentration than softness
It obviously wasn't pre planned, but does anyone else see the resemblance of Racheles celebration to the one Hird did when we won it for the Dons against North 20 odd years ago?
Because there is more and more evidence that Nicks hasn't changed as he can't so he still hasn't learnt. He did eventually dropped Smith and ROB many weeks too late but brought Smith back and he is still crap and yet to drop him again, at least ROB has contributed since his return. He hasn't recalled McHenry but still select Murphy who has been shit, it was understandably last year when Murphy contributed in games and was excellent against Geelong in Geelong why he persisted but this year......also has stuck with the youngsters of late but I suspect he will default to the same at the start of next year.
50BC
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End of day, Rachele is only 21 and statiscally he is already easily in the "above average" band for small/medium forwards. Yes he has some things he needs to continue to work on to improve, but I'm pretty confident he will reach a higher ceiling over the next few seasons.
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3 tackles inside 50. Equal game high, including one that directly lead to a goal.
But this guy “doesn’t work defensively”.
Btw I was watching him pretty closely, he did not look like he was moving freely at all, I don’t think his knee is quite right.
One thing I have noticed with Rachele, some players when there is a ball to be won make it their primary focus just to grab it, then worry about what to do with it later. With Josh, you can clearly see his mind is working a couple steps ahead, he doesn’t want to just grab the ball and be in no position to do anything, he’s looking to be creative.
I agree that he at times needs to learn when to do the simple play, but it’ll come with him.
But this guy “doesn’t work defensively”.
Btw I was watching him pretty closely, he did not look like he was moving freely at all, I don’t think his knee is quite right.
One thing I have noticed with Rachele, some players when there is a ball to be won make it their primary focus just to grab it, then worry about what to do with it later. With Josh, you can clearly see his mind is working a couple steps ahead, he doesn’t want to just grab the ball and be in no position to do anything, he’s looking to be creative.
I agree that he at times needs to learn when to do the simple play, but it’ll come with him.
If Rachele wins us a final or even a flag with a left foot snap, which he could do, I'm not going to give two shits about some random tackle he didn't quite stick....
jackster83
Killing with a smile
I noticed a few players for both sides only going in half hearted with tackles last night.
Clearly the shitshow that is the MRO is impacting how they are playing.
The sooner Laura Kane hands in her resignation the better.
I haven't changed how I post at all, I just try to have some balance. If the club deserve a whack, I'll give it; if they deserve praise, I'll give it.
Someone like Lachie Murphy has played way better footy at AFL level than he has the last 12 months, but he seems to be regressing and after 100 games that isn't a good sign. Fine as depth, but should never be best 22.
I find it funny that the microscope is so heavy on Rachele's "defensive efforts" and "lack of chasing".
Obviously haven't watched much of our so-called good midfielders for the past 15 years.
Obviously haven't watched much of our so-called good midfielders for the past 15 years.
The people picking up on it at this point are just looking for anything slightly off defensively so they can feel some sort of weird validation in their opinion. If you looked this closely at most players in similar roles, I reckon you could pickup one or two poor defensive efforts a game, but they'll never be highlighted as it isn't the 'in' thing to do.
He was cracking in very hard in that 4th quarter last night and won a game for his club, they are the actual facts. In what world do you think your hypothetical reality would actually happen?
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