Player Watch Luke Pedlar

[Mutineer]

I largely point the finger at Hamish, given his decade long inability to pull off a high draft pick success that has spanned several development teams...however the two don't need to be mutually exclusive. That no mid is now more highly regarded than when they were drafted other than Soligo, points to a serious problem. The propensity to fumble and inability to hit targets points to development. I remember Pedlar as being a good kick in his draft year, often injured and a big reach at 11 but a long penetrating kick. 4 years later, best bet is to ask him kick it to the opposition, as you know it'll go elsewhere.

Good kick in his draft year is a stretch, he's always had a tendency to not lower the eyes and bomb it forward to nobody in particular, more a composure thing than anything IMO...less bull at a gate approach would help.

 

[rabidcrow]

This is it. If we just leave him in the SANFL, or give him limited AFL minutes primarily in the forward pocket, he is presumably going to continue posting disappointing performances. Then when we get to the end of the year, what have we learned? Is he part of our future or not?

Why not just bite the bullet and run a bunch of our potential inside mids through the middle and see what happens? Who stands up? Who can't hack it? Let's find out now in a season when wins and losses no longer matter, rather than waiting to 2025.

Didn’t they run him through the mid full time in the Sanfl last week? Given his shoulder issues, wouldn’t be surprised if he plays 3-4 more in that role and then put out for the year to get the shoulder fixed ready for next year


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[BACCS]

Play him at AFL level, there are more effective disposals in here than you'll see from Murphy or McHenry in an entire game.

 

[Peter Doherty]

Play him at AFL level, there are more effective disposals in here than you'll see from Murphy or McHenry in an entire game.

Surely the AFL didn't put up that 'highlights' package of an Adelaide player in the SANFL.

Did they?

 

[BACCS]

Surely the AFL didn't put up that 'highlights' package of an Adelaide player in the SANFL.

Did they?

Why not? The AFL website stream all of these games, last one I remember was Curtin after his 30 disposals. They tend to put up packages of notable players who have had a good game.

 

[Peter Doherty]

Why not? The AFL website stream all of these games, last one I remember was Curtin after his 30 disposals. They tend to put up packages of notable players who have had a good game.

Fair enough.

 

[MRB37]

Surely the AFL didn't put up that 'highlights' package of an Adelaide player in the SANFL.

Did they?

Usually Vardy Magic does their own, so if they're saying someone else made it i'd take their word for it.

 

[bigman]

His form and fitness this year have been way down. Last year he was in the first 10 or so for most running drills in pre-season.

This year he was generally at the back of the group and he often looked spent. This year in games after one or two attacks on the ball he often looks exhausted.

Add his shoulder issues and he loses much of his value from last year on top of a kicking effectiveness which is average at best this year.

He actually looked much better on the weekend but was still struggling for breath on many occasions, but his kicking in th first half was still horrendous.

 

[Moonwatcher]

Those in power have all repeated the same mantra. Pick the best team to win this week. There's not a lot of long term thinking going on, which is half the frustration with the current situation. They developed a plan in the pre-season and they're not deviating from it even if it's shooting themselves in the foot for next year.

We have typically developed a premiership capable team every 5 years with this policy. We've just got a weak list and weak coach.

 

[Soggy2112]

Good kick in his draft year is a stretch, he's always had a tendency to not lower the eyes and bomb it forward to nobody in particular, more a composure thing than anything IMO...less bull at a gate approach would help.

I don’t see his kicking as a major issue.

Yes, he blazes away probably more than you’d like, but there’s a big difference between a player running 10m and kicking 55m flat and hard, versus someone who kicks the ball high in the air out of the contest, giving ample time for intercept defenders to do their job.

For the most part, Pedlar does the former. A lot of elite level players are also culprits for that, Dangerfield, Treloar, Cripps, Martin, de Goey are all culprits for this as well.

Like anything, there’s only a handful of players in history who were the complete package. What Pedlar can do when he’s playing well far outweighs the negatives.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

I wonder what our plan is for him for the 2nd half of the season?

He's delaying shoulder surgery. You'd assume that's not so that he can bank some more SANFL games.

Would the plan be to build to the bye, then return to AFL after that?

If he's just going to play SANFL then surely he's better off having the surgery now and not screwing up his preseason, particularly as it sounds like he was a bit off the fitness pace last preseason.

 

[MRB37]

I wonder what our plan is for him for the 2nd half of the season?

He's delaying shoulder surgery. You'd assume that's not so that he can bank some more SANFL games.

Would the plan be to build to the bye, then return to AFL after that?

If he's just going to play SANFL then surely he's better off having the surgery now and not screwing up his preseason, particularly as it sounds like he was a bit off the fitness pace last preseason.

You're thinking long term there, you gotta narrow that focus to next week. That's the plan.

 

[Interloperer]

I wonder what our plan is for him for the 2nd half of the season?

He's delaying shoulder surgery. You'd assume that's not so that he can bank some more SANFL games.

Would the plan be to build to the bye, then return to AFL after that?

If he's just going to play SANFL then surely he's better off having the surgery now and not screwing up his preseason, particularly as it sounds like he was a bit off the fitness pace last preseason.

It feels like a weird narrative control exercise where they're trying to play up the fact that the injury occurred, but minimise its apparent severity.

The injury definitely shifted a lot of talk around Pedlar from "WTF has happened to this guy? he's less than useless now!?" to "A promising player unfortunately cruelled by injury again! How unfortunate."

 

[cmndstab]

We have typically developed a premiership capable team every 5 years with this policy. We've just got a weak list and weak coach.

I was thinking about exactly this the other day. In our history:

1993 - prelim
1997/98 - premierships
2002 - prelim
2005/06 - prelims and a dominant side.
2012 - prelim
2017 - grand final

We've never gone more than 5-6 years without getting right back into the pointy end of the ladder... except now. We're now likely to end our seventh season in a row without playing finals.

Either something has gone wrong with our approach, or the rest of the competition has moved on and that approach doesn't work anymore (to the extent that it ever did).

Even though we didn't win them, we were genuine chances for a flag in 2005/06 and 2017, and arguably even 2012. At the moment we don't look anywhere near it.

 

[Soggy2112]

We have typically developed a premiership capable team every 5 years with this policy. We've just got a weak list and weak coach.

It’s a fair point.

Cornes coached two years, made a prelim final, then sacked after missing finals the following year.

Robert Shaw, coached two years, didn’t make finals and was sacked.

Malcolm Blight, premiership in his first two years, left after missing finals in 1999.

Gary Ayres, missed finals in his first year, made finals in his second, a prelim in his third and then axed for missing finals in his fifth.

Neil Craig, prelim in his first two years, axed after two years out of finals.

Brenton Sanderson, prelim in his first year, axed after two years out of finals.

Don Pyke, finals first year, GF in second, axed after two years out of finals.

Nicks is the first coach we’ve had to not make a prelim within three years in the job, and the first coach to survive more than two years out finals. He needed more leeway initially because of the players he had, but it’s time we got ruthless again.

 

[Owen_AFC97]

I was thinking about exactly this the other day. In our history:

1993 - prelim
1997/98 - premierships
2002 - prelim
2005/06 - prelims and a dominant side.
2012 - prelim
2017 - grand final

We've never gone more than 5-6 years without getting right back into the pointy end of the ladder... except now. We're now likely to end our seventh season in a row without playing finals.

Either something has gone wrong with our approach, or the rest of the competition has moved on and that approach doesn't work anymore (to the extent that it ever did).

Even though we didn't win them, we were genuine chances for a flag in 2005/06 and 2017, and arguably even 2012. At the moment we don't look anywhere near it.

We were a much better side in 2016 than 2017. Absolutely botching it in the final round cost us.