I agree that he is not overly quick, but please tell me where over the past 2 games, his skills have been poor amongst his 38 possessions. He never double grabs, his handballs hit the targets and his foot skills have been very good.

By all means put forward points about why you don't think he will make it, but please don't make stuff up to simply beef up your argument.

Regards Cazzesman

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Ricky Gervais - “Everyone has the right to hold whatever beliefs they want. And everyone else has the right to find those beliefs f***ing ridiculous.”

I posted some info on how he has gone in the last 2 games.

38 possessions 10 contested and 20 tackles.
Not even Kouta had this many contested possessions.

To give an idea how good that is Sam Mitchell and Hamill are the only 2 players in the league who get over 5 contested poss a game this year.

THe kids got game !!

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*(grow - fun - gah)

Yeah but whatabout your whataboutism.

As I said, he was still a teenager a couple of months ago, he's the same height as Aaron Hammill, he gets a shitload of the pill & his skills are BETTER THAN AVERAGE!
If you cannot see his potential, simply because he got burnt off by Burgoyne in the first quarter, then you're a fool!

Its not all speed,its a balance, we have not got the right balance yet, but I think AB is part of the mix.

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

When Peter Burgoyne is on he is an absolute gun. Runs that hot and cold. Made a lot of champion Brisbane players look like rubbish in the GF.
Gives us contested ball and tackling and team things as well as decent disposal. If this is the worst player we have at the club then we would be undefeated right now.

Burgoyne certainly gave him the run around but at the same time AB was still in the clinches shovelling a shitload of ball out for us. He had a significant hand in a number of our centre clearances in the first half.

He was mostly exposed for pace when Burgoyne took him deep forward. I get the idea Bentick likes to be in close eg under the packs, rather than the open spaces.

I'd think we might see him match up on Licuria this week. Would be interesting.

Bentick actually does have really good skills - his kicking style is text book - mark it down - in two years u will be applauding benticks skills wangers.

I predicted last year that Bentick would play 150 games. I hope he does (for my sake and the CFC's sake) because his only real deficiency is pace. His skills are very good, he's brave, he puts his head over the ball, he tackles hard.

His only downside is his pace. But every team needs their slow midfielder to extract the ball. Was Ratten quick? Nope - he was pretty slow as well, but was there a player except Diesel who you'd rather to get the ball out of the packs? I don't think so.

It's a big call but Bentick is more Ratten-like - simply because he has the same attributes that Ratten had - tough, hard at the footy, good tackler, good skills by hand and foot but a bit slow. He's even the same height.

Is Scott West quick? Not really but he sure as hell racks up effective possessions. I think Bentick's one of the ball winners that we've been crying out for.

I might be overrating him but his positives far outweigh his negatives. If he does his job, he doesn't need to be quick - he should be the one sending Simpson, Russell, Walker etc. off on their way - these 3 are quick, and I haven't even mentioned Stevens - and Scotland showed he has a bit of toe.

I don't think it's any surprise to see us play a lot better when Bentick has been able to get 15+ possessions and 5+ tackles. All the other so-called slow ball-winners in the side have skill deficiencies that basically negates their ball-winning ability. If you are going to be slow you have to be able to use it otherwise you are not going to cut it. Sam Mitchell is slow, he rarely wastes the ball though, ditto Brock McLean. Brett Johnson is the one i'm thinking of here and I think he's gone at the end of the year.

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"A good composer does not initiate. He steals."

- Igor Stravinsky

I just wish his haircut didn't remind me of Heath Culpitt's

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“Every single element of the Club has to be the best in the league, meticulously and methodically, and only by doing this will we be elite and challenge for number 17.”
Greg Lee

Why on earth were we wasting our time playing Johnson? Benticks gets the ball and uses it well. His skills are top notch whereas Johnson would just bang in on the boot McCormick style.

We can offset Benticks pace by loading up the midfield around him with Jets. Having said that, for heavens sake get the kid a sprints coach. I used to think Campbell Brown was slow, but he's manage to improve his pace by doing sprints training, to the point where I now think he's acceptable. Bentick doesn't need to be express (and never will be) he only needs to gain a yard or two.

He and Simmo play well together and seem to have an understanding, no doubt from all their VFL games together.

I reckon Bentick is faster than Ratten, but much younger.

And woudl you seriously expect him to match up with Burgoyne for speed? Sam Mitchell wouldn't, Ratten certainly wouldn't.

But how many contested possessions did Burgoyne win? And how many tackles?

Interesting comparison with mitchell who is a really good extractor.Heard mitchell say he worked hard on pace in the preseason and has got quicker so no reason why bentick couldnt have specialist coaching.Burgoyne was a strange match up for him and I doubt that many of our side have the pace to go with him.
Agree at this stage that bentick should be preferred to johnson .

Bentick 5 contested Burgoyne 1
Bentick 11 tackles Burgoyne 2

Burgoyne=Stevens=Camporeale style of player. Free wheeling and attacking.

Bentick(hopefully) = Kirk=K Cornes


Looking at the stats Bentick and Kouta are the only players who are winning contested ball in our team.
Carrazzo and Scotland are not.

Carrazzo has only had 12 contested possession all season (very suprising)
Scotland has had 40
Stevens 27.
Campo 28
Kouta 68
Bentick has had 16 from 6 games (=3 full games with his bench time early in the season)

We have a serious problem with winning contested ball and clearing it.
Bentick can do that job. Blackwell can also do it for the future.
We need a few more to step up. Smith hopefully next year.
Murphy looks like a Cousins type who can win his own ball and run with it.

Not really. At the risk of getting lynched, Carrots is quite Campo-esque. A creative running player who racks up the stats cause he runs to the right places, not because he is in there winning the hard stuff.

I reckon Simmo wins more hard ball than Carrots.

Mitchell is good around thr clearances but with everit ramming down your throat even I could clear the ball occasionly. Still, he even gets a few clearances when talor is rucking so he cant be all bad.

Interesting thing is if he is in the mix for next year why has he been given so few games this year. Would be happier if the match committee had of used this failed season for trying new things (and new players) rather than desperately trying to get off the bottom. If Fev, Stevo and Campo are injured rest them. Why were some of the guys in the Ants retained this year if the coaching panel had already decided they weren't worth a go. I know we've had a light injury list but it is very disappointing that the MC appears so inflexible. AB is doing well, but can't be rated that highly by the MC if they choose to give him so few games.

Disagree Gerry (but agree with you on your T-Lo thread!)

I think what's happened is that Pagan has given the retreads another final go, and has tried to keep the youngsters keen in the 2's (and part of a winning team). I think he continued to give Johnson a go but probably put marks against his name for every missed pass or shot on goal, and then finally dropped him. Same for Banno, Morrell etc.

At the same time, I think the feel in the 2's has been to take their chance if they get it. And now, Simmo and AB have done that. Ab ws shown up abit on the weekend for pace, as expected, but extremely ballsy call to put him on Burgoyne. maybe to prove to him that he has to work on certain things.

Now, those 2 have taken the spots and there is little need for Johnson to be retained.

Just saw on AFL.com that roughhead got rising star this week. Im sure he deserved it.

Say bentick plays the rest of the games this year but doesnt get a nomination will he still be eligable for next years award(that make sense)

I am unfamilar with NRS rules

*ahem*


As I read it he has played 11 games so far, so must get nominated this season, next season will be too late.