amazonstud wrote:
I was surprised that Cornes was not penalised more often for holding off the ball against Stevens. I think it emphasises that we need a couple of bigger bodied players on ball to take out the taggers.
It's been a big controversy in the media about the better players not being given a fair go and how with 3 umpires one should notice a star player being held, his run impeded, and an opposition player not caring about the ball only about stopping him from having an even chance of getting to the ball. At the Blues Stevens is the player to whom the opposition assign their best tagger. I have been watching the tagging of Stevens for the last few weeks and he is getting frustrated but we don't have the numbers to change that situation at present.
Dennis is taking Stevens and his tagger out of the centre square and playing him across the wing and half forward and trying to use Stevens pace to break the tag. To cover for the loss of Stevens on ball Dennis and the MC have been trying to use Bentick and Carrazzo at the cxentre bounce. It worked for a while but then Port re-arranged their centre bounce group and ruck set up and started to get the ball out of the centre.
I thought that Dennis also use the game to shuffle players around and the MC got to assess a few players before the trading and delisting period.
Here we go again
Sorry Ammo totally dissagree. Stevens big bad tagging group this year include Hodge Bell Coughlan twice Crawford Goodwin Carr Cross which is hardly an intimadating group of tagers. Then the run with group (who still try and get the footy) Peverill Lucuria Ling and then the tagging group of McDonald Baker Stenglein Ablett KCornes and the that big nasty TSelwood! Out of the taggers he would have only beaten McDonald when getting 10? disposals in Pagan called "junk time" after we came good in the last 1/4 against Melbourne is that really a win? He has been embarrased twice by Kane Cornes who I don't think holds at all when tagging. What Cornes does is stands infront opponent gets the footy first gives it off then gets back to his opponent he is the best at this going around the AFL. Stevens has let 9 opponents rack up 25 disposals or more in a game including Hodge with 34 Coughlan 38 Carr 32 Licuria 35 and my guess is 16 out of his 19 opponents would have been in the oppositions best players. In 10 games this year his opponent has had more of the ball if they were all taggers why are they getting more of it? Personally I would say Stevens has only really easily beaten 1 opponent this year and that was 2 weeks ago against Coughlan otherwise he has broken even or been easily beaten. Seems to me clubs either tag Stevens and they know he struggles or they go head to head because they know who plays on him will have a good game. For the last 10 weeks the excuse has been he must be injured or he was sick then he played 2 good games and then everyone says he looks fine now and then after another bad game the excuses start up for him again.
Look Stevens is a very good player and we need him up and firing but at the end of the day I don't think he is the A Grade player everyone thinks we were getting or think we have got. To me he is a very good 3rd midfielder at a club not the no.1 who really should play on a wing because of the way he plays and I've coverd that before. For a so called A grade player he has never made an All Australian team and won't again this year while being in his prime. When will the excuses stop for him because everyone else in this side has been smashed on here?
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