Where is Monfries at?

[Smyth94]

I've been a big fan of Gus for a while now, I honestly thought he turned the corner (RE: consistency) during the 2nd half of last season but this year there's been just too few 'decent' games from him.

He's played almost 100 games and some one of that experience should be way more consistent, 1 good game in 5 simply isn't good enough for someone of his talent.

IMO EFC should consider trading Monfries whilst he still has value.

 

[daffo]

No, i'm still a fan of Monfries. He works extremly hard and gets the best of himself. He does at times fade in and out of games, which I don't understand as he keeps his workrate up for all the game. Maybe our run & carry game means that he is mistiming his leads or they are simply bypassing him for a longer kick to one of our forwards.
He deserves a spot in the side.

 

[thebigboy]

He's playing a very underrated role in the forward line at the moment. His work leading up to the ball is very good for someone of his size.

I would like to see him given a run on the ball more often. On the very few occasions he's played on the ball, he's looked very good and polished.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

I've said it a number of times but physically he's not up to AFL standard. It's genetics and he doesn't have the good ones.

He's too small, not strong enough, not quick enough and he doesn't have the skills to make up for his physical deficiencies.

He battles his guts out and is courageous but that can only take you so far.

He won't be in our best 22 round 1 next year.

 

[Jesse Custer]

I've said it a number of times but physically he's not up to AFL standard. It's genetics and he doesn't have the good ones.

He's too small, not strong enough, not quick enough and he doesn't have the skills to make up for his physical deficiencies.

He battles his guts out and is courageous but that can only take you so far.

He won't be in our best 22 round 1 next year.

Depending on injuries of course. You know, we're never able to field our strongest 22.

 

[Smokin]

I actually think if we get Fletch and Hurley back by Melbourne, if not the week after, and then NLM back as well meaning he or Mcphee can be freed to play the lead up role as well with perhaps Lucas, Monfries may find himself at Bendigo a lot sooner rather than later.

Just gives us too little, too often unfortunately, and doesnt provide crumbing strength whatsover.

I think our forwardline always seems to operate better with Jetta, even if he hardly touches it, and I think this is the main reaosn. Monfries, as the 2nd "small" is always up on the wing, when we need him providing defensive pressure under the contests. Others can play that lead up role, we need constant pressure at ground level.

 

[Smyth94]

When you look at Gus' stat sheet, it's pretty good but then you have to rate his performance on what position he plays - small/medium forward

For one he doesn't score anywhere near enough goals - only once has he cracked the 20+ mark (2006). It begs the question - what exactly do the coaching staff rate him on?

For mine, he doesn't score enough goals when forward and isn't damaging enough when collecting possies in the middle.

 

[eth-dog]

I've said it a number of times but physically he's not up to AFL standard. It's genetics and he doesn't have the good ones.

He's too small, not strong enough, not quick enough and he doesn't have the skills to make up for his physical deficiencies.

He battles his guts out and is courageous but that can only take you so far.

He won't be in our best 22 round 1 next year.

this gives me complete confidence in Gus, and that he will dominate for the rest of the year

 

[Daytripper]

Unfairly maligned.

When playing as a pure forward, usually cops a good defender enabling another player to be freed up.
Can also play a negating role on an attacking defender.

Works hard, good foot skills and excellent hands for a player his size.

Its very difficult for anyone playing as a pure HFF to rack up lots of posessions or influence games on a regular basis.

I was sceptical about him a few years ago but now he is quite important to the team structure. Doubt he'll be going anywhere.

 

[Smyth94]

Unfairly maligned.

When playing as a pure forward, usually cops a good defender enabling another player to be freed up.
Can also play a negating role on an attacking defender.

Works hard, good foot skills and excellent hands for a player his size.

Its very difficult for anyone playing as a pure HFF to rack up lots of posessions or influence games on a regular basis.

I was sceptical about him a few years ago but now he is quite important to the team structure. Doubt he'll be going anywhere.

For someone with good footskills he turns it over a fair bit, or otherwise doesn't do enough damage with his touches.

 

[lemon chicken]

Just does enough to keep his head above water and has a good game once a month to restore everyones faith but overall doesnt do enough when we need him to. Too slow, reflexes arent great, seems to be a slow thinker on the ground ie. takes forever to passs off and is constantly diving and hoping for a free. Doesnt have a great bag of tricks for a permanant HFF. Probably a fair chance he'll be best on next match now.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

I still have faith, but he needs to stop lifting his feet when marking. Had a good game on the weekend, kicked two goals and had two assists on the weekend, and had Bock playing on him for periods.

 

[Nuts4Bolts]

He's infront of Davey at the moment.

 

[Daytripper]

For someone with good footskills he turns it over a fair bit, or otherwise doesn't do enough damage with his touches.

Without his foot skills you could probably put down the Carlton and Collingwood games as losses.

Does plenty of damage IMO. Lovely shot at goal generally and usually puts it in the right spot when hitting up targets.

 

[ant555]

Unfairly maligned.

When playing as a pure forward, usually cops a good defender enabling another player to be freed up.
Can also play a negating role on an attacking defender.

Works hard, good foot skills and excellent hands for a player his size.

Its very difficult for anyone playing as a pure HFF to rack up lots of posessions or influence games on a regular basis.

I was sceptical about him a few years ago but now he is quite important to the team structure. Doubt he'll be going anywhere.

No he is maligned for good reason.

He is slow so most weeks the opposition can play a taller defender on him and not worry about him getting away becasue of his pace. This leads to him getting spoiled in a lot of marking contests becasue of his height and the closing speed of the quicker taller defenders.

He is also one of the dumbest footballers on the list. He takes the game plan of play on as much as you can and turns it into a handball to the first bloke you see without evaluating if the player is under pressure. How many times does he handball to players under masive pressure ?

He has shown now sign at all that he can move into the midfield.

He leads to the pockets all the time.

He does not kick enough goals.

The kid has played 83 games, the same amount as Wtason. Jobe has established himself as bordering on elitle midfielder. Gus has established himself as the player who is still promising soemthing but not really delivering it yet. How much longer can we let an 80 game player on deliver something every 3rd or 4th week ?
How much longer do we want to stay at the bottom and accept players like Dyson and Monfries giving ok performances but never really troubling the opposition week in and week out ?

 

[The Donners]

When you look at Gus' stat sheet, it's pretty good but then you have to rate his performance on what position he plays - small/medium forward

For one he doesn't score anywhere near enough goals - only once has he cracked the 20+ mark (2006). It begs the question - what exactly do the coaching staff rate him on?

For mine, he doesn't score enough goals when forward and isn't damaging enough when collecting possies in the middle.

Correct me if I'm wrong but Monfries is the number 1 at the club for goal assists.

True though, he doesn't kick anywhere near enough goals. Having said that, neither do any of our forwards!

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

We should definitely put his name out there and see what we can get.

He's a guy we can take a punt with and even if we lose out then so be it. I doubt we'll lose a lot anyway as we have a number of players that can play his role and do it better or just as well.

I'd rather get another ruckman on our list because over the past 3 years we are yet to have 2 competent ruckman run out at any one time.

 

[Windas_Magic]

One of our most disappointing players this season, he's just not doing much at all at the moment. Should be dropped.

 

[Enki]

Honestly, I'd look at trading him or at least seeing if there were any good offers.

Having said that I doubt Knights and co would do it.

 

[Brent Prismall#9]

Guys dont forget he is still only 22 there's plenty of improvement left. At the moment i like what i see he plays a lead up and shut down role which isnt easy. Look some of his matches and who he has shut down, last year shaw & mcleod, this year hodge. He plays a selfless game and i dont see anyone else on our list able to fill that void. Dont worry next year he will easily be in our best 22 unless you can tell me who can replace his role?

 

[BrunoV]

I agree with a lot of the concern over Monfries.

His body is not maturing which is problematic. He is no where near as slow as he is being made out to be, and covers a lot of ground in those games that he plays well in which suggests that he can move (see Knights applause after Hawks game).

He is not strong enough at this stage and may just be late developer.

Of all the negatives that are being put forward how about...he just looks like a good player. Monfries can take an overhead mark for his size, moves well (if not as quick as Andrew Lovett), his kicking action is nice and he is composed enough to kick a set shot through the two big sticks.

Monfries also plays one of the most thankless roles on the field. He is either leading up to the wing to provide a target or is tagging the best opposition rebounding defender which does not help his stats.

I can't say that he hasn't been disappointing (especially after his second half of 2008) and his is approaching the 'crossroads' as they say. We wouldn't get more than a third round pick based on what players in similar positions at other clubs got (think Farren Ray) and it would be a waste of he games that we have put into Angus to trade him for a 3rd round pick.

 

[George Washington]

Correct me if I'm wrong but Monfries is the number 1 at the club for goal assists.

This, 11 Goal Assists most at Essendon, 19th in the league with Giansiracusa leading on 16.

 

[ant555]

Guys dont forget he is still only 22 there's plenty of improvement left. At the moment i like what i see he plays a lead up and shut down role which isnt easy. Look some of his matches and who he has shut down, last year shaw & mcleod, this year hodge. He plays a selfless game and i dont see anyone else on our list able to fill that void. Dont worry next year he will easily be in our best 22 unless you can tell me who can replace his role?

22 and 84 games and he is still improving.So how much longer do we have to wait ? He should be doing it week in and week out now.

And you can not count the Hodge game this year. Hodge was injured going into the game and then missed the next few weeks. Pretty easy to have a victory over a star player who could not run!!

 

[EFL Boy]

I would say a fair majority of AFL players do not develop early.

Is it just me or do most supporters have a high expectation of Gus?

Yes he has shown what he is capable of and then he has his games where he does nothing.

But correct me if I am wrong, don't most teams have those sorts of players?

If we had every player on our list playing consistently week in, week out, then you would have to think we would be top 4.

And I don't think he is played as a goal scoring forward. He leads up, provides a target up the ground, therefore, taking an opposition player out of the 50 and freeing up space for Lloyd,Neagle an co.

Robert Murphy from the dogs for example, He plays this sort of roll in my opinion. When he was 22, he kicked 16 goals from 19 games.

Murphy averages 15 possies and 0.9 goals a game, Gus averages 14.4 possies and also 0.9 goals a game. Monfries also averages more tackles per game.

I am very happy with the way Gus is developing, but I am not sure what a lot of our supporters expect from him?

He is doing exactly the job we need IMO, and he is a very important player in our side.

 

[Smyth94]

22 and 84 games and he is still improving.So how much longer do we have to wait ? He should be doing it week in and week out now.

And you can not count the Hodge game this year. Hodge was injured going into the game and then missed the next few weeks. Pretty easy to have a victory over a star player who could not run!!

The Monfries issue looks like its going to divide opinions...I remember you saying that he was given too many games at the start of his career and now that I look at it - its probably a fair assertion.

Even though Monfries has played 84 games you can't help but feel like he's playing as if he's around the 50-60 mark, he still is quite young. My issue with him is his consistency, very frustrating. I'm prepared to wait and it seems like the coaching staff love him - rightly or wrongly.