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Sorry to that fifty dollars, mate, but zero chance. No mid rotation spots for him. I'd be surprised if he gets even 10% centre bounce attendance, and you can't win a Brownlow kicking bags.
We’ll see. Regardless of my bet he’s a gun. All the talk of him not being worth what you paid is crap. He will star at Freo.
 
Walters picked up 3 votes for his 25 disposal, six goal game against Port in 2019.

So if Bolton can just do that every home game, it's fine.
I would love that, but that is just home games.
You need to factor in the umpire - Cripps factor, plus they will want to see golden boy Nick Duckos (great player, notwithstanding) win one as well.
 
Sorry to that fifty dollars, mate, but zero chance. No mid rotation spots for him. I'd be surprised if he gets even 10% centre bounce attendance, and you can't win a Brownlow kicking bags.

I think he will get plenty of on ball time, maybe 60% fwd, the rest split between bench and midfield.

Maybe vary with opponent, who else is up fwd for us etc., but I think his pace and explosiveness are a real point of difference from Young/Andy/Serong/Fyfe/Ras.

If we play against a quick midfield like Port, Bolton could be a great option in the centre.
 

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I would love that, but that is just home games.
You need to factor in the umpire - Cripps factor, plus they will want to see golden boy Nick Duckos (great player, notwithstanding) win one as well.
thoughts on Naicos with Plantar Fascitis?
 
Sorry to that fifty dollars, mate, but zero chance. No mid rotation spots for him. I'd be surprised if he gets even 10% centre bounce attendance, and you can't win a Brownlow kicking bags.
I guarantee you he will get alot more mid minutes than you think. You dont have anyone like him in there.
 
I think he will get plenty of on ball time, maybe 60% fwd, the rest split between bench and midfield.

Maybe vary with opponent, who else is up fwd for us etc., but I think his pace and explosiveness are a real point of difference from Young/Andy/Serong/Fyfe/Ras.

If we play against a quick midfield like Port, Bolton could be a great option in the centre.
He will go in there when you need something to happen and things aren't going your way also which is an underrated weapon to have for a team with an already very good midfield.
 
I guarantee you he will get alot more mid minutes than you think. You dont have anyone like him in there.
I tend to agree. Our midfield is emerging and is close to the most exciting young group in the competition potential-wise. However, considering our inability to convert stoppage dominance into scores and the fact we finished 10th last year I doubt a player of Shai's calibre couldn't crack a spot in there. I'd have him rotating with Switta and Young.
 
I tend to agree. Our midfield is emerging and is close to the most exciting young group in the competition potential-wise. However, considering our inability to convert stoppage dominance into scores and the fact we finished 10th last year I doubt a player of Shai's calibre couldn't crack a spot in there. I'd have him rotating with Switta and Young.
Agree with all of that, would also add, small forward position is either feast or famine and you dont leave a player of Shai's talent in a FP full time. There will be games, quarters etc that he cant get near it inside F50, you dont just leave him there to rot. You want your best most impactful players where the ball is IMO.

I reckon even the most positive Freo fans are going to be shocked at how good he is, alot of short memories in footy.
 
Agree with all of that, would also add, small forward position is either feast or famine and you dont leave a player of Shai's talent in a FP full time. There will be games, quarters etc that he cant get near it inside F50, you dont just leave him there to rot. You want your best most impactful players where the ball is IMO.

I reckon even the most positive Freo fans are going to be shocked at how good he is, alot of short memories in footy.

I remember Bolton was lighting up Optus on just about every game he played on it. And now it's his home game.
 
I remember Bolton was lighting up Optus on just about every game he played on it. And now it's his home game.
Yep, been mentioned many times on our board. Whilst he will make oppo teams look silly in a phone box, in space on your big ground, he is unstoppable.
 

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You’d think so, but apparently we’ve been playing Chappy on Bolton to help develop his defence of small forwards.
We're going to be a nightmare matchup for the Hawks and other teams with several roaming smalls

Clark on Ginnivan (mostly for the LOLs - Clark would take the shutdown effort personal). Walker on Moore. Chappy on Watson (might be a mismatch here)
 
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We're going to be a nightmare matchup for the Hawks and other teams with several roaming smalls

Clark on Ginnivan (mostly for the LOLs - Clark would take the shutdown effort personal). Walker on Moore. Chappy on Watson (might be a mismatch here)
I want to monster their midfield and smack them about. I hate that we didn't beat them last year when we had them on the ropes in the third.
 
I know it doesnt mean he will in the regular season but in last weeks match sims Bolton seemed to spend nearly 50% of his time onball and 50% forward. He looked fantastic at centre bouncedowns.
I would suggest thats what should happen IMO.

He is a better mid than small forward if you ask me. What makes him special, is he can play both roles very well and find a way to hurt you.
 
I would suggest thats what should happen IMO.

He is a better mid than small forward if you ask me. What makes him special, is he can play both roles very well and find a way to hurt you.
The most dire need for Freo atm though is forward line productivity. 50/50 split would be great but unless Frederick/Switkowski/Walters all up their output this year I would suggest that Bolton would be spending more time forward than middle.
 
Let me clarify: I am a huge Shai Bolton fan. As Sully says, we need a small forward to put goals up really bad, we've got a lot of pieces in place but previously did not have a small forward who can could win a game off his boot. We have a more-than-adequate midfield; we had the highest clearance differential in the league in 2024—and that's without our first choice ruckman for most of the year. We're getting access! We've lacked threats up forward to cause chaos for opposition defences.

What we actually needed to improve upon was capitalising on midfield dominance with scoring threats. Especially needed some so-called "downhill skiers"—how often did we fail to put points on the board during relentless one-sided quarters, and then face a comeback?

I would be surprised if we played Shai anywhere close to 50-50. I expect we'll see him occasionally getting dropped into crucial contests to mix it up like we did this year with Switta (who had 4% CBA overall—I'd expect a little more from Shai).
 
Listening to Schmook this morning and apparently Shai spending the majority of his time in the forward line over summer.

I do expect that he'll actually play a higher proportion of midfield in the season proper, but we're clearly settling him as a forward first.


That matches what you are saying. I am surprised Bolton attend 40-50% of CBA's last year.

 
From an offensive game plan point of view, we don't want Bolton or Switta as the marking target from a centre bounce clearance. We want Treacy, Amiss or Jackson leading for that mark.

So all of our small forwards in that 6-6-6 starting point aren't in the game unless they are at the bounce or the marking target brings it to ground, in which case the ball is going to be 35 to 55m out and that's exactly where the smalls line up.

Starting a burst small at the bounce makes all the sense. Even before you bring in how the guy defending someone like Matthew Johnson in the forward line during the bounce can't just swap when he and Bolton swap for the repeat stoppage.

As long as it's not Switta for Bolton and we bring a stoppage mid in to replace Bolton for follow up stoppages after a bounce, there's a degree of chaos caused in opposition back lines.
 

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