Opinion Travis Varcoe

Assuming Varcoe is worth pick 10 in any draft, would you trade him?

  • Yes

    Votes: 48 39.7%

  • No

    Votes: 30 24.8%

  • Get stuffed Meto

    Votes: 43 35.5%
  • Total voters
    121

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I have to say, I find it completely inexplicable that for some reason Saturday night represented the proverbial tipping point for many people regarding Varcoe. Seems bizarre and arbitrary given that there he showed clear signs of improvement from what he delivered in the two weeks prior to the Freo game. Two goals and 14 possessions at 92% efficiency is completely acceptable output for someone playing his role; on the whole, his performance was more encouraging than dispiriting.
 

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Baudolino said:
I have to say, I find it completely inexplicable that for some reason Saturday night represented the proverbial tipping point for many people regarding Varcoe. Seems bizarre and arbitrary given that there he showed clear signs of improvement from what he delivered in the two weeks prior to the Freo game. Two goals and 14 possessions at 92% efficiency is completely acceptable output for someone playing his role; on the whole, his performance was more encouraging than dispiriting.
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Almost certainly because we lost and people want some blood letting when we lose. Though his 14 possessions and 2 goals is not the key figure, it is the 0 possessions in the first quarter when the game was decided that has tipped me over the edge.

And the fact we lost a game because we were bullied out of it and he is our weakest player when it comes to body contact.
 
bulletproof said:
And the fact we lost a game because we were bullied out of it and he is our weakest player when it comes to body contact.
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There are obvious deficiencies with his tackling technique that need to be corrected, but he's not weak or soft or lacking in intensity and endeavour. While tackling and pressure act stats don't negate criticism of his legitimate shortcomings, they also can't be dismissed as totally irrelevant either. At the most basic level, what the pressure and tackle stats tell you - and I see no way of deriving any other conclusion from the data - is that he is fundamentally willing and able to work hard off the ball to help us regain possession.
 
Baudolino said:
There are obvious deficiencies with his tackling technique that need to be corrected, but he's not weak or soft or lacking in intensity and endeavour. While tackling and pressure act stats don't negate criticism of his legitimate shortcomings, they also can't be dismissed as totally irrelevant either. At the most basic level, what the pressure and tackle stats tell you - and I see no way of deriving any other conclusion from the data - is that he is fundamentally willing and able to work hard off the ball to help us regain possession.
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The issue is not with his tackling, the issue is winning the ball in dispute, be it in the air or on the ground, if there is an opponent near him he can't get the ball or stop his opponent winning it.

I think that is a fairly major problem, even if his role is to run and carry, there is a level of competitiveness that all AFL players should be able to reach and he is failing on that score pretty badly at the moment.
 
year of the cat said:
I'm the same. I've supported him on this forum numerous times but Sat night's effort has turned me. Too many half-hearted displays. It wasn't just his lack of desire to win the footy it was the lack of chase when we didn't have the footy. He was an absolute passenger in a game that needed everyone to step up to the plate. The 2 goals he kicked don't compensate for all of that in my mind.
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He's been a passenger in two thirds of all the games he's ever played. It's just that we've been able to carry him until the last couple of years.
No I'm not a hater, I want him to be good, it's just that he goes completely missing for really long periods of the game and you have no idea where he is or what he's doing.
 
While he's not as bad as his 2013 comeback, I think he is still in our bottom 6. However, I really only want him to ever play in our forward 50 and crumb off Hawkins and provide forward pressure. With Motlop coming back and hopefully Bundy in soon, they should play more up the ground and let Varcoe stay at home.

There are other players that are worse then him on the park right now.
 
+1 I'd be more than happy with this scenario.
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Alkanphel said:
While he's not as bad as his 2013 comeback, I think he is still in our bottom 6. However, I really only want him to ever play in our forward 50 and crumb off Hawkins and provide forward pressure. With Motlop coming back and hopefully Bundy in soon, they should play more up the ground and let Varcoe stay at home.

There are other players that are worse then him on the park right now.
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Well then,.....name them!...... since you reckon he's going so well by comparison. :rolleyes:
 
Just a few stats for those who think he isn't in our best 22 "on merit". The rankings only include players to have played 2 or more games:

Goals per game: 1 (equal 5th at Geelong)
Disposals per game: 13.75 (14th)
Tackles per game: 5.25 (4th)
Clangers per game: 1.38 (18th)

I must say for a guy who hasn't had an impact this year he's sure kicked a few goals. For a guy who is soft, lazy and doesn't put his body on the line he sure tackles a lot. And for a guy whose lack of care with his disposal really pisses some fans off he sure makes a lot less clangers per possession than most players.

Now I'm not going to argue Varcoe's been brilliant this year. He had a great game against Brisbane, a shocker against Richmond and a bunch of games where he's done ok but not stood out. But based on performances right now he's comfortably in our best 22. If we think dropping him for a short time would spur him on to be better then that's fine. But let's not kid ourselves that it would be based on form and that the player coming in is likely to perform better. If you think they are look at how guys like Thurlow, Walker, Brown, Burbury, McCarthy and Sheringham have gone so far this year. Over the season every one of them has given us less than Varcoe and all of them have far bigger flaws in their games than Varcoe.

That's the problem with saying a guy is not in your best 22. You actually need 22 other players to fill those places and right now we clearly don't have 22 guys playing better than Varcoe.
 

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Footy Smarts said:
Just a few stats for those who think he isn't in our best 22 "on merit". The rankings only include players to have played 2 or more games:

Goals per game: 1 (equal 5th at Geelong)
Disposals per game: 13.75 (14th)
Tackles per game: 5.25 (4th)
Clangers per game: 1.38 (18th)

I must say for a guy who hasn't had an impact this year he's sure kicked a few goals. For a guy who is soft, lazy and doesn't put his body on the line he sure tackles a lot. And for a guy whose lack of care with his disposal really pisses some fans off he sure makes a lot less clangers per possession than most players.

Now I'm not going to argue Varcoe's been brilliant this year. He had a great game against Brisbane, a shocker against Richmond and a bunch of games where he's done ok but not stood out. But based on performances right now he's comfortably in our best 22. If we think dropping him for a short time would spur him on to be better then that's fine. But let's not kid ourselves that it would be based on form and that the player coming in is likely to perform better. If you think they are look at how guys like Thurlow, Walker, Brown, Burbury, McCarthy and Sheringham have gone so far this year. Over the season every one of them has given us less than Varcoe and all of them have far bigger flaws in their games than Varcoe.

That's the problem with saying a guy is not in your best 22. You actually need 22 other players to fill those places and right now we clearly don't have 22 guys playing better than Varcoe.
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Look, I have been one of the biggest Varcoe supporters for eight years. But I don't want someone after 150 odd games and at their peak age to not even be winning 14 touches a game. That was probably acceptable in his third year. Sorry.

But also, I do not want him away from the club. I want him in form! And as Partridge has accurately put, why is he immune to omission? Better players than Varcoe have been dropped in recent years, and bounced back stronger than ever.
 
SJ said:
why is he immune to omission?
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Why assume that he is immune? And don't say because he hasn't been omitted. A very plausible (if not likely) explanation is that it has been discussed many times and at great length but the outcome of those discussion has always been to persist with him for a range of reasons. That doesn't make him immune.
 
meto said:
I should hope not, he's been a bone of contention since he returned mid 2013, besides Jordan Schroder deserves and needs to play now.
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Schroder only deserves selection if one were to consider disposal stats as the only metric by which to judge the quality of players, and in particular, young players. Disposals do matter, of course, but should not be used as the exclusive measure of footballing ability. Simon Hogan consistently accumulated mammoth numbers at VFL level, but his atrocious field kicking, along with several other notable weaknesses, precluded him from earning selection to the senior team on any more than a couple of occasions.

I've seen nothing from Schroder in the VFL to suggest he deserves selection over Varcoe.
 
cynical said:
If Blicavs was out of the side then Varcoe can do his job on the wing running to space and avoiding contact. A job he does much better than Blicavs.

We have no way near the depth to drop the guy. Yeah it's disappointing that someone with his talent isn't an A grader but he still does enough to get a game.
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Are you serious? Blitz is already worth plenty more than Trav and is still improving. For a start he has endurance, can take a contested mark, can win a contested ball, skills by foot are ok, skills by hand are ok, makes good decisions for the majority of the time and gets involved with the game at crucial times by running to the right spots to be a help to his team mates, not just running forward for the cheapy over the top etc... His stats don't set the world alight but I know which guy I'd rather play with week in week out.
Trav is like a poor mans Daniel Wells, and that's saying something!
 

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Opinion Travis Varcoe

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