Player Watch Pick #18 (2019) - Mitch Georgiades

[Wargreymon90]

I think knowledge about ACL recovery is a lot better nowadays. It won’t impact his career as much as it would have 20 years ago. Genetics will play a part of course

 

[longdonkey]

He was very bad through all the preseason games and then the first two games of the season and it wasn't just the missed goals. Positioning was off, marking was off, spatial awareness was poor, disposal was poor etc. They persisted with him as long as they could (probably too long) and then Finlayson was fit and replaced his role in the team.

He then went back the SANFL and has made zero progress on any of the issues with his game to the extent that his main involvements in the game he got injured were (1) Goal kicked from the goal square after being whacked by SANFL spud off the ball (2) Caught htb (3) Handball to teammate about to be runover (4) Dropped chest mark.

Finally, people always complain about the coaches not choosing to do like-for-like replacements at selection. Well in this case Lord was the best like-for-like replacement available. Georgiades can't do the Dixon role - he is not big enough and not aggressive enough. Asking Marshall or Finlayson to do that role is counter productive as they perform better when they can play off the big gorilla forward.

So Lord was always the best option for the team and he performed admirably.

The Georgiades situation was handled well by the club up until the point that he got injured. And then s**t happened.

If we were playing a better team than West Coast last week Lord would not have played and if he doesn't get a touch on Friday night all the people who said it was the right choice will have selective memory and want him dropped.

 

[Jimmy95]

If we were playing a better team than West Coast last week Lord would not have played and if he doesn't get a touch on Friday night all the people who said it was the right choice will have selective memory and want him dropped.

He deserved to be selected based on sanfl form and is the forward on our list that can play the Dixon role of smashing packs.

He's going to be really big and strong in a couple years.

 

[El_Scorcho]

The ACL pulls him back a bit I’d have thought

That's the worry, impossible to know whether he'll be back to his best. I think it's always worth giving key forwards time.

 

[El_Scorcho]

If we were playing a better team than West Coast last week Lord would not have played and if he doesn't get a touch on Friday night all the people who said it was the right choice will have selective memory and want him dropped.

I felt the same, Lord and Teakle were "let's give them a run in a squash match" type selections who wouldn't have been selected if it was a big game. I guess i'm not overly against that, especially with young talls, but it would have been tough to take from Georgiades perspective and that would override the willingness to give a kid his debut for me.

 

[PrisonBars4life]

Ollie Lord (a player not fit to carry Georgiades' bags) says hi.

**** off mate. The guy kicked 4.0 when Georgiades kicked 2.4 and then put in a great debut. If Wines or Boak had a goal accuracy of 22% you'd be shredding them for being no hopers. Dropping Georgiades might be tough and a marginal call but Marshall, Dixon, and Finlayson have all performed. Lord kicked 1.1 set up 2 more, and parted the seas in Dixon's absence (which Georgiades can't). You'd sit in a toilet cubicle next to Hinkley and tell everyone that his shits sounded wrong. When you're potting other young players to pursue criticism #8374747 of Hinkley, it makes you look like a jerk.

 

[Coobk001]

It is ironic that as out of touch as he has been, the injury occurred because he dropped another lace out chest mark, from a beautiful kick honouring a great lead.

Hopefully with the year off he can mature a bit and clear his head of all the crap going on in it and hit next year with gusto.

 

[Schulzenfest]

* off mate. The guy kicked 4.0 when Georgiades kicked 2.4 and then put in a great debut. If Wines or Boak had a goal accuracy of 22% you'd be shredding them for being no hopers. Dropping Georgiades might be tough and a marginal call but Marshall, Dixon, and Finlayson have all performed. Lord kicked 1.1 set up 2 more, and parted the seas in Dixon's absence (which Georgiades can't). You'd sit in a toilet cubicle next to Hinkley and tell everyone that his shits sounded wrong. When you're potting other young players to pursue criticism #8374747 of Hinkley, it makes you look like a jerk.

Cool story mate. Get back to me in 2025 when Ollie Lord is playing VFL and Georgiades is killing it for West Coast.

Also the only reason Lord doesn't have a goal accuracy of 25% is because he put two easy shots out on the full.

 

[FishingRick04]

Absolutely gutted and saddening to think.
Mitch Georgiades will merely just be another Bowen Lockwood

More Damon White, Nick Salter

 

[El_Scorcho]

More Damon White, Nick Salter

Georgiades has already kicked more goals for Port at more goals per game than any of these players, including Lockwood.

 

[MALTSY]

The effort was there. It's not always easy to get kicks in a team getting flogged but he was finding the ball. I didn't complain about him being dropped when Finlayson returned because we were tall enough and he was the obvious one to drop, but I did complain about him not getting a game over Lord.

He went back to the SANFL, played a couple of weeks, kicked 3 of the team's 7 goals in his last SANFL game before that selection.

He was the obvious selection and should have been picked.

I feel like I had to have the same arguments on here a couple of seasons ago about Marshall and before that about Butcher. You back in your blue chip KPF prospects. You give them every opportunity while they are putting in the effort. It is always a mistake to leave them wallowing in the SANFL when they could reasonably be gaining experience at AFL level. When we finally did it with Marshall, it clicked for him and the talent and effort coalesced despite people whinging about his form week in week out on this board.

Disagree. The effort wasn't 100% there. We've all seen him at his best and he was waaaay off that level.
He was provided opportunities and it became clear he was in a rut, dropping his head and not chasing.
Lord played well and showed plenty of endeavour and aggression.
It was the right decision.

 

[El_Scorcho]

More Damon White, Nick Salter

Sorry to double quote you but this comparison is absolutely ridiculous. Some enormous revisionist history given what we've seen of Georgiades already. Not even considering that he's a 21yo KPF and that, as I feel like i've said 10000 times on this forum, young KPFs will have fluctuating form need to be backed in through that if they're going to make it.

18 months ago most of the board was arguing that Georgiades was the 2nd coming of christ and that Marshall was a dud who was never going to make it. He's the best key forward prospect we've had since Tredrea, only Marshall gets close.

 

[El_Scorcho]

Disagree. The effort wasn't 100% there. We've all seen him at his best and he was waaaay off that level.
He was provided opportunities and it became clear he was in a rut, dropping his head and not chasing.
Lord played well and showed plenty of endeavour and aggression.
It was the right decision.

I don't agree. I'll agree his confidence was probably low, but he was still finding a lot of the footy for a key forward at both AFL and SANFL level. That doesn't happen if you're not working hard. Touches for key forwards come entirely from workrate, especially in a team that's losing.

Georgiades played against Brisbane and in a thumping against Collingwood. Lord played in a walkover against the worst side in the league by some distance. Lord looked good and I have nothing against him, but Georgiades had more touches and marks in both his games than Lord did against West Coast, including a game where we got smashed off the park. He kicked 1 goal in both of them. The idea that Lord was bringing something Mitch couldn't bring or that he was in some sort of form Mitch wasn't in isn't really supported by the facts.

Lord playing well doesn't automatically make his selection correct given who we left out.

 

[PrisonBars4life]

Cool story mate. Get back to me in 2025 when Ollie Lord is playing VFL and Georgiades is killing it for West Coast.

Also the only reason Lord doesn't have a goal accuracy of 25% is because he put two easy shots out on the full.

Okay so you hate the coach, most of the players, and regularly get into fights on here. Why are you still here? It's a serious question. There is plenty I'm not happy about, but I'm not going around potting 20 year old debutants. Lord was great. He might make it he might not, but he's earned a string of games to find out. I still have faith in Goergiades, but if he can't improve his set shots, he doesn't belong on an AFL field. He's not Matthew Richardson/Buddy Franklin/ Max King who can afford to be a poor shot for goal. He's not a tredrea or Westhoff who covered up poor set shots with mercurial goal kicking on the run and unlimited tanks to run up the field all day. If he had even a passable goal accuracy he would have played 100% of games the last season and a half (and has still played more than 80% as it is). He hasn't and if he ends up at WC because he blames Hinkley for not picking him, then **** him.

 

[El_Scorcho]

The guy kicked 4.0 when Georgiades kicked 2.4 and then put in a great debut. If Wines or Boak had a goal accuracy of 22% you'd be shredding them for being no hopers.

Just to clarify, Lord's goalkicking accuracy against West coast was 25%. We hardly went from mentally disintegrated Butcher to prime Schulz here.

 

[PrisonBars4life]

I don't agree. I'll agree his confidence was probably low, but he was still finding a lot of the footy for a key forward at both AFL and SANFL level. That doesn't happen if you're not working hard. Touches for key forwards come entirely from workrate, especially in a team that's losing.

Georgiades played against Brisbane and in a thumping against Collingwood. Lord played in a walkover against the worst side in the league by some distance. Lord looked good and I have nothing against him, but Georgiades had more touches and marks in both his games than Lord did against West Coast, including a game where we got smashed off the park. He kicked 1 goal in both of them. The idea that Lord was bringing something Mitch couldn't bring or that he was in some sort of form Mitch wasn't in isn't really supported by the facts.

Lord playing well doesn't automatically make his selection correct given who we left out.

Lord was awesome. He had a groundball get and hand off for an assist that half our 6ft midfielders would have fluffed. His spoil GA in the goalsquare was the best play from a forward i've seen since Westhoff kicked a goal from the 10th row of the stadium in Shanghai. Made 2-3 other really strong plays by imposing himself. A midfielder with a disp efficiency of 20% is a net loss. A forward with accuracy of 20% is a net loss. Georgiades has 2-3 elite traits but his first 2 years were earned off the back of elite goal kicking. He was dropped in rd 3 because Marshall, Dixon, and Finlayson are all quality forwards. Lord got picked ahead of him last week because Georgiades was as bad as John Butcher in front of goals against the u18s. He played 19 games last year and was backed in to correct the issue but has only gotten worse. There is a point where it becomes his responsibility to fix.

 

[El_Scorcho]

Lord was awesome. He had a groundball get and hand off for an assist that half our 6ft midfielders would have fluffed. His spoil GA in the goalsquare was the best play from a forward i've seen since Westhoff kicked a goal from the 10th row of the stadium in Shanghai. Made 2-3 other really strong plays by imposing himself. A midfielder with a disp efficiency of 20% is a net loss. A forward with accuracy of 20% is a net loss. Georgiades has 2-3 elite traits but his first 2 years were earned off the back of elite goal kicking. He was dropped in rd 3 because Marshall, Dixon, and Finlayson are all quality forwards. Lord got picked ahead of him last week because Georgiades was as bad as John Butcher in front of goals against the u18s. He played 19 games last year and was backed in to correct the issue but has only gotten worse. There is a point where it becomes his responsibility to fix.

Again, Lord's accuracy was 25% against West Coast. A "net loss"?

There is never a point where it's not the club's responsibility to fix, unless we want to trade him for unders and watch someone else turn him into a superstar. You fix it by playing him through it. He's getting in positions to kick goals probably more than any other player in our side.

 

[PrisonBars4life]

Again, Lord's accuracy was 25% against West Coast. A "net loss"?

There is never a point where it's not the club's responsibility to fix, unless we want to trade him for unders and watch someone else turn him into a superstar. You fix it by playing him through it. He's getting in positions to kick goals probably more than any other player in our side.

Lord kicked 4.0 last week. He missed a snap and was nervous on his first set shot. He actively contributed to 3 goals and probably more with some of his work up the ground this week. If Lord kicks poorly in front of goals for an entire season and then in 3 out of 4 games the next season, I'll start to view the issue as more ingrained than nerves. I don't think he shouldn't be persevered with, but there are 3 forwards performing in the AFL, another young KPF who looks okay and has performed better than him recently, and Georgiades problems are not new. He got dropped initially for Finlayson whose won 2 games off his own boot. You can't argue he shouldn't have been dropped when Dixon is performing and needed in ruck, Todd is as important to our future as Georgiades and is performing, and Finlayson is keeping us in games (and rucking). Okay so maybe Georgiades should have been 1st in line after that. Lord has been close to selection at times as a named emergency and he kicked 4.0, give him a crack. Based on past selections, Georgiades would have been told to back it up once more and he's back in. That is not permanent exile.

 

[EskimoPAFC]

Another way to look at it is: if you arent debuting Lord in a situation like last week, why even have him on the list?

Its not like giving games to a cooked TJ or Lycett whose careers are almost over, its giving an up and comer a taste of the big time.

We've spent 10 years complaining about Ken not putting games and development in to young talls.

 

[1954]

Lord and Georgiadis are obviously totally different types, one is the big body who with more experience may eventually be capable of holding down chf for a decade, the other is a flashy high flyer who will regularly drop in and out of games but at times can do the absolutely spectacular.

Let's hope they are both developed to their full potential and become key members of a well functioning attack in successful Port Adelaide teams.

 

[backtozero]

Another way to look at it is: if you arent debuting Lord in a situation like last week, why even have him on the list?

Its not like giving games to a cooked TJ or Lycett whose careers are almost over, its giving an up and comer a taste of the big time.

We've spent 10 years complaining about Ken not putting games and development in to young talls.

100%

I love Georgiades and wanted to see him back playing AFL sooner rather than later, but no issue at all with blooding Lord against the worst team in the competition. There was no better time to do it, and it was great to see another young tall perform well.

If Georgiades were available this week, then I'd want to see him line up against St.Kilda.

 

[Schulzenfest]

Okay so you hate the coach, most of the players, and regularly get into fights on here. Why are you still here? It's a serious question. There is plenty I'm not happy about, but I'm not going around potting 20 year old debutants. Lord was great. He might make it he might not, but he's earned a string of games to find out. I still have faith in Goergiades, but if he can't improve his set shots, he doesn't belong on an AFL field. He's not Matthew Richardson/Buddy Franklin/ Max King who can afford to be a poor shot for goal. He's not a tredrea or Westhoff who covered up poor set shots with mercurial goal kicking on the run and unlimited tanks to run up the field all day. If he had even a passable goal accuracy he would have played 100% of games the last season and a half (and has still played more than 80% as it is). He hasn't and if he ends up at WC because he blames Hinkley for not picking him, then * him.

Lord wasn't 'great'. He had 10 touches and 5 clangers against the worst side in the league spending most of the game matched up on half backs like Alex Witherden and Reuben Ginbey. And the whole 'Georgiades needs to improve his set shots' argument really doesn't hold water after Lord sprayed a 10 metre out and a 30 metre out shot straight in front out on the full.

Under no circumstances should he have been picked ahead of Georgiades, and while this is more bad luck than anything else, the butterfly effect of picking Lord over Georgiades has led to Georgiades doing an ACL at the absolute worst possible time for us. Georgiades has now become one of our highest priority signatures of all time, because if he leaves now he'll be lucky to be worth a third of what he was worth this time last year, especially with West Coast likely to have a very high pick in the PSD. None of this would have happened if we'd just played him in the AFL last week.

 

[Sir Watchalot]

You don't drop a young player who is putting in the effort and getting in good positions but just missing shots. You back that player in. His issue was purely mental and the best way to solve it would have been to have been given 5-10 low stakes shots at goal in good positions against a hapless opponent with silver service delivery.

It's the dropping of Butcher for round 4 2014 all over again. Do we give our blue chip KPF prospect who is trying hard and trying to find form an easy kill to gain confidence at this level, or do we play someone who is far less likely to make it?

Jeez are you trying to start the Butcher thing up again?

 

[Sir Watchalot]

Absolutely gutted and saddening to think.
Mitch Georgiades will merely just be another Bowen Lockwood

Not really comparable stories

 

[Powerage]

* off mate. The guy kicked 4.0 when Georgiades kicked 2.4 and then put in a great debut. If Wines or Boak had a goal accuracy of 22% you'd be shredding them for being no hopers. Dropping Georgiades might be tough and a marginal call but Marshall, Dixon, and Finlayson have all performed. Lord kicked 1.1 set up 2 more, and parted the seas in Dixon's absence (which Georgiades can't). You'd sit in a toilet cubicle next to Hinkley and tell everyone that his shits sounded wrong. When you're potting other young players to pursue criticism #8374747 of Hinkley, it makes you look like a jerk.

Before you go telling people to **** off buddy you might want to compare apples with apples. Ollie Lord kicked at 25% GA in 1 game and was lucky to reach that. His work was done on a defender nearly 3 inches shorter than himself who plays as an inside midfielder, never as a key defender. It was a credible debut from a player who was at least prepared to put his body on the line and was decent at ground level. However he needs to be fitter to deserve more than one AFL game in a row. The reality is he would not have got a touch in the second half had he been playing on a tall defender from a decent club.