Adrian Deluca's stats: 8 10 18 11 1 0 1 1 0 0

Thats in a side that was screaming out for a tall target inside 50 to kick goals. SOme of you may say well he took 11 marks set up play...BULLSHIT! His man who at times was Joel Smith or other creative players zoned off him because they knew that Deluca would run to the bloody wing get an easy mark and then take his time as he does turn around and kick it up in the air to where his direct opponent was standing helping his mate out. I could've taken 11 marks out there if i wanted to run into space like that when my man didn't care what i was doing because he knew id turn the ball over and not hurt him. He is 200cm +!!! A head taller than most of his opponents!!! TAKE A CONTESTED MARK!!He is not good enough and its that simple. He is a turnover merchant and i dont place the blame soley on him for last nights effort but gee did he contribute!

MB

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Loooook OUT!

Don't blame Archie for doing what Pagan wanted him to do.

Do you really believe Pagan instructed him to get the footy and wait for the Hawks to all run back and then pop it up to the contest where the odds are the most infavourable to us? I highly doubt it. I am very sure Pagan would've instructed Deluca to play the CHF's role and thats something he didn't do.

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Loooook OUT!

I'm no big fan of Archies but if you believe Archie was playing to pagans game plan then surely he would of spent so much more time on the pine. Or maybe you're saying Pagan just tolerated Archies non disciplined game.

Seriously if blokes are following instructions they get game time . I think in this case you are being a little too critical of a guy who although is no star obviously does what the coach asks. Why else has he not been dropped.

Also could you please define what the CHF's role is in this Pagan game plan? To me it means playing in the centre and hoping to get the ball and move it into the forward line to a 3 on 1 contest to our detriment.

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I know a little secret. And i'm not sharing.

Fisher was on the hff and possibly had half his possession backward of centre. Tell me that was not at Pagan's direction.

deluca is not good enough for AFL football. it is beyond me how his mediocrity is tolerated. he presents on the wing yes, but then he coughs it up repeatedly. shocking foot skills. cannot take a contested mark to save himself. very slow minded. complete lack of vision. i think he gives everything he has, but at the end of the day, he is not AFL standard

Did you think Justin Madden was up to AFL Standard when he started with us? And look what he went onto, the guy nearly won a Brownlow. Now not disagreeing with you but.... sometimes people need time. I hope for his sake this is the case.

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I know a little secret. And i'm not sharing.

In 2004 he was great...WHAT'S HAPPENED TO HIM??

He was terrible out there. I couldn't believe my eyes. He was just jogging around like someone lost. He had no idea what he was doing, he cannot read play to save himself, and his marking in packs is atrocious. Everytime he took cheap mark, he'd fart-arse around, looking, looking, looking, looking, KICK THE flower BALL! I was out of my seat, I couldn't believe it!

He's lost as a footballer and should not be playing in the top grade.

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--------------------------------------------------------"The only one that could ever love me..."

i hope so too. but has he shown anything to suggest that he is going to become a great player for us? his ruck work is average as well. something i had actually forgotten about. i really don't think deluca is AFL standard and i can't see him making it long term. if he proves me wrong i'll be more than happy to eat humble pie. but this is his third year in the system after being a mature age recruit, and quite frankly i don't believe he is any better than when he came into the side in 2004.

You're right deep doewn i know but i just have a little bit of false hope...

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I know a little secret. And i'm not sharing.

Ever since that bloody injury...but how's a foot affect your marking? Surely confidence should not be an issue for someone of his age, experience etc.

I'm dumbfounded with Rex.

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--------------------------------------------------------"The only one that could ever love me..."

The data below compares De Luca to other players all 198cm+ from 2004 to now.

The players highlighted by colour indicate other players who play predominantly as an uber-large forward (not sure about Seaby?). The rest are predominantly number one ruckmen or backup ruckmen.

On all these measures De Luca performs more poorly than most of his contemporaries. In fact there are two uber-large forwards (Gardiner and Holland) who have all performed better than De Luca since 2004 yet now find it hard to get a game, whereas De Luca gets a game week after week.

Huge forwards (particularly those who cannot take contested marks and can be easily run off with a mobile opponent) are just not as scary for opposition teams as they used to be, they seem to be dying out.

Yet we have one of the last of the dinosaurs.

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|♥♥♥♥♥♥| http://www.blueseum.org |♥♥♥♥♥♥|

Give him a break. What do you expect of him? To be a top ten ruckman?

Right now he is a roll player, and so far he's done his roll. You have to admit he is improving.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw60JKnwy2g

You can't just pick out Deluca.. he was dreadful yes... but there weren't many Carlton players that weren't dreadful.

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GO BLUE BOYS!!

not to mention some of the leads his made inside forward 50, he ran across the ground and blocked some of Kouta and Whitnall's lead. His new gloves helped his soft hands, maybe wearing a helmet can help his brain function properly.

Archie is possibly just a short time player for us. As people have pointed out that his is a role player.

IMHO, apart from the really bad game against Melbourne, the last 2 weeks were servicable. I think the gloves have helped him. I believe he will end up being squezzed out by Mclaren, Kennedy and Bryan (and maybe Carlos) during the year. I think that if Livo or Hartlett will even squeeze him out as if any of these players come into the team, Lance may go forward and there really is no need to Deluca.

In all honesty, I would rather see another running player on the bench and use Mclaren in Archies role. If anything, I think Prender would be a better prospect then Archie as he has a big tank and can run all game. Can pinch hit in the ruck, and can't kick any worse. ( I await the abuse now as I duck for cover).

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Leaders do not care what other people say about them. When people start talking crap about you, thats when you know you've made it

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Just because I'm offended, doesn't mean I'm wrong.

Well CaptnCarlton, you obviously weren't watching the Bullants game were you? Prenda took some nice marks in the forward line, but he needs quite a bit of work to get up to Carrazzo's standard of goalkicking. On the other hand, Deluca's goalkicking is fine. His footpassing could do with a bit more penetration, but he took a number of good marks on the lead followed by nice handballs to players running towards goal.

I love the way that people whinge about Pagan's "kick long" strategy. Then when he allows a possession game, what do people say but "kick it long, why don't you". How many of the people complaining about Deluca holding the ball up were at the ground? On the TV, with the usual tight shot on the player with the ball, you can't see what Deluca sees. Namely 50/50 contests with Hawthorn having sweepers to win the ball in numbers on the deck. And take into account the strategy when he gets the ball. Often they were after Hawthorn had been into attack and we tried to work the ball out with our players having flooded back. He was a good option for our players on the way out. A big bloke who was always on the move. A bloke who had managed to break free of his man to present, and present he did again and again. I would like to see the stats for effective disposals. I would think they wouldn't back up this nonsense about turning the ball over repeatedly.

But maybe you just don't get a sense of the game when you watch it at the ground. Much better to watch it on TV and see whether his facial expressions are sufficiently Ramboesque.

Won the ball well but took too long to get rid of it and do you want your bigman marking the ball on the wing in the role of a small player ....needed some smalls running past to take the receive..we didnt have that and he became a mark and kick player which isnt what you need into days game.

Watched Bryan and Kennedy in todays Bullants game and both have mobility problems...Bryan looks ok vs Cameron Cloke but Cam couldnt run out of sight on a dark night and Josh Kennedy is a good colt but doesnt have the Jonothan Brown, Barry Hall, Warren Tredrae mobility and that will hinder him at senior level...Kennedy is a pack marking strongman but with the flood tactics will find it hard to mark the footy when he has big packs of players to contest with....

Dont think you would want Bryan and Kennedy in the same team.....as well as French..makes you very immobile and inflexible..Deluca probably covers the ground better....

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"When you have the attitude of a champion, you see adversity as your
training partner."
- Conor Gillen

Hasn't kicked a goal all year.