Will Ash Smith play 50 games?

[thekelvin]

It's a dependant on him getting much game time this year. If he plays WAFL all year without too many call ups, I think he'll go back east at the end of the season. He has competition. If he were to move on, I would wish him all the best as I did with Stevens and Stevenson.

Good call. He could get into a lot of clubs best 22. It would be hard to imagine him not overall cracking 50 games.
A spot will come up for him I'm sure.

 

[Bender_]

I hope he does.

 

[Mattman93]

Brennan's manic playing style fools people into thinking he's better defensively, but he's not.

Smith might look a bit relaxed out there but his concentration is fine and he concedes goals through dumb, hot-headed errors far less frequently than Moju. Bowling Mackenzie over while attempting to go third man up and allowing Walters to stroll into goal on the weekend is a good example.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Brennan's manic playing style fools people into thinking he's better defensively, but he's not.

Smith might look a bit relaxed out there but his concentration is fine and he concedes goals through dumb, hot-headed errors far less frequently than Moju. Bowling Mackenzie over while attempting to go third man up and allowing Walters to stroll into goal on the weekend is a good example.

I'd rather to have players out there that go in too hard on occasion as opposed to those who do the opposite.

 

[Mattman93]

I'd rather to have players out there that go in too hard on occasion as opposed to those who do the opposite.

Yes, I'd rather have Brennan out there than a player who runs away from marking contests scared. Good point.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Yes, I'd rather have Brennan out there than a player who runs away from marking contests scared. Good point.

Leave Morton out of this.

 

[beatlesmith]

Brennan is a better kick, better holding defender, better mark and much more intense. Smith has athleticism and probably a better reach. There's good reason that Brennan took Ash Smiths spot and neverlooked like losing it.

Nice bloke, but needs to lift to get a game, even if we have injuries.

I don't think he's either of those things to be honest. Smith is much more capable of keeping a forward in check and not leaking goals, and is much more damaging with his kicking (although both are rather erratic in this regard).

 

[flamingEMBERS]

Schofield should never play anything but the 3rd tall role. His rebound and attack is too important.

Schofield will become one of the best defenders in the game not just running defenders. Imagine what a weapon he could be if he made some of the best forwards accountable. Why put ceiling over his head.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Schofield will become one of the best defenders in the game not just running defenders. Imagine what a weapon he could be if he made some of the best forwards accountable. Why put ceiling over his head.

My argument is that you'd be putting the ceiling over his head by making him more accountable.

 

[eagles rule]

Saw one passage of play against freo where he was out muscle by Walter on a high ball. Still the same guy that always seem lost on high balls.

Yeah that effort from smith was very poor , he needs to increase his desperation and being forced to earn his spot via the wafl may be the making of him ..

 

[flamingEMBERS]

My argument is that you'd be putting the ceiling over his head by making him more accountable.

Not really, his defensive abilities are pretty awesome for a guy whose just entering his prime. Really he should only get better. Why wouldn't you use your better defenders on the oppositions best forwards especially if he will be able to run off them and make them look silly

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Not really, his defensive abilities are pretty awesome for a guy whose just entering his prime. Really he should only get better. Why wouldn't you use your better defenders on the oppositions best forwards especially if he will be able to run off them and make them look silly

Assuming Brown stays, I can't see why he and eMac wouldn't be taking the best two forwards from the opposition. Mitch gets a lot of hate but he'll make a good lock down defender.

 

[flamingEMBERS]

Assuming Brown stays, I can't see why he and eMac wouldn't be taking the best two forwards from the opposition. Mitch gets a lot of hate but he'll make a good lock down defender.

Im not denying this, and Brown staying is definitely a a top priority of mine I was merely supporting the point another user said about ash smith playing "tall" as the 3rd key defender IF Brown was to leave. I 1000% back in Schofields quality to be able to destroy KPFs in the near future if Brown was to leave and we didnt get an appropriate return in the draft, free agency or trade.

 

[Ian Dargie]

I was merely supporting the point another user said about ash smith playing "tall" as the 3rd key defender IF Brown was to leave.

Nah – he'd be giving away 2-3 inches on some of those forwards.

 

[the harry]

From what I remember of 2011 he was able to play on a surprising range of players though. He'd manage on someone like Mayne I would suspect, and has played well on Betts iiirc.

 

[Dark Sharks]

Either way, you wouldn't find Smith putting in HALF the effort Brennan did chasing Franklin and Rioli in that last hawks game. Just like you wouldn't find smith going HALF as hard at the ball to injure Goldstein in the roos game at hobart.

The best thing Smith has EVER done for mine was against the giants where he took that mark, turned and then twisted around and sprinted past Palmer to bag himself a sausage roll. It was really impressive. 1 time where he grew some nuts, took the game on and used his pace

 

[Eastern Rangers]

Yeah that effort from smith was very poor , he needs to increase his desperation and being forced to earn his spot via the wafl may be the making of him ..

That was Wilson after he turned it over by trying to nail a flat pass from defence through the square, just didn't push back hard enough.

Or perhaps it was both of them?

 

[Eastern Rangers]

Either way, you wouldn't find Smith putting in HALF the effort Brennan did chasing Franklin and Rioli in that last hawks game. Just like you wouldn't find smith going HALF as hard at the ball to injure Goldstein in the roos game at hobart.

The best thing Smith has EVER done for mine was against the giants where he took that mark, turned and then twisted around and sprinted past Palmer to bag himself a sausage roll. It was really impressive. 1 time where he grew some nuts, took the game on and used his pace

The best thing Smith did was take Walker to the cleaners in 2011. Brennan is scalpless.

 

[Ian Dargie]

From what I remember of 2011 he was able to play on a surprising range of players though. He'd manage on someone like Mayne I would suspect, and has played well on Betts iiirc.

How about a player 190cm and up?

If we're talking about a 'third tall', that's more the threshold.

 

[beatlesmith]

Either way, you wouldn't find Smith putting in HALF the effort Brennan did chasing Franklin and Rioli in that last hawks game. Just like you wouldn't find smith going HALF as hard at the ball to injure Goldstein in the roos game at hobart.

The best thing Smith has EVER done for mine was against the giants where he took that mark, turned and then twisted around and sprinted past Palmer to bag himself a sausage roll. It was really impressive. 1 time where he grew some nuts, took the game on and used his pace

Well isn't this some hyperbole.
Smith's 2011 was better than Brennan's 2012. He has simply played more good games, beyond these moments that you are so keen to talk about

 

[Reminiscence]

I feel Brennan has surpassed Smith easily.
Just his sheer will and desire to win the ball and the game through any means makes me love him already. We already have the poise of kickers such as Hurn and Schofield, we can afford one to two hard nuts in Brennan. Smith is way too soft and lack luster I feel.

The one to look out for I think would be like you guys have already said. Train Wilson was highly rated as a junior, and I think he could do surprisingly well in cracking into the back 6 a few games if he can play at his top level+keeps developing.

 

[Ghossein]

FLASHBACK!

its 2010

the board is convinced the club has no idea what its doing and that the following defenders are useless:

FLASH FORWARD

its 2013

the board is still convinced it knows more than the club

 

[the harry]

????

Surely everyone has faith in Shepp? Good skills, some pace, looks really good forward of center and when he gets some size will be able to handle playing of the hbf a bit better.

To draw any comparison between McGinnity and Emac/Schoey though..... Even with poor disposal Emac has the job of a defender, stopping his man from kicking goals. He's been doing this for w few years now.

McGinnity's role is yet to really be defined. We don't use a tagger anywhere near as much as in the mid 2000's and we don't have heaps of room for a defensive forward. Then we have a heap of medium/small defender.

He'll still get games this season, but both Schoey and Emac had height on their side so even with brain fades/poor kicking they were always more likely to be long term than McGinnity.

Fact is that there will likely be a player with better skills than McGinnity but with similar physical attributes.

 

[the harry]

The best thing Smith did was take Walker to the cleaners in 2011. Brennan is scalpless.

How about a player 190cm and up?

If we're talking about a 'third tall', that's more the threshold.

How tall is Walker?

 

[Underdog]

I feel Brennan has surpassed Smith easily.
Just his sheer will and desire to win the ball and the game through any means makes me love him already. We already have the poise of kickers such as Hurn and Schofield, we can afford one to two hard nuts in Brennan. Smith is way too soft and lack luster I feel.

This is a key point I think.

Smith might be the better overall player but Brennan offers something different from the rest of our defence and plays a role.

You could mount an argument that he is better for team balance particularly as we don't have a lot of speed down back and Smith doesn't seem to use his pace effectively.