SWANSBEST
30th April 2004, 06:01 PM
Keep Lloyd locked up
By Paul Roos
April 30, 2004
ESSENDON's Matthew Lloyd is the best forward in the business - one of those rare players who can manufacture a goal out of nothing.
He's like a get-out-of-jail-free card for Bombers coach Kevin Sheedy and tomorrow afternoon at the MCG is the Sydney Swans' turn to attempt to keep Lloyd under lock and key.
I think Barry Hall for us is quickly evolving into that type of player and certainly is now one of the top five or six forwards in the game right now.
But in my opinion Lloyd is the No.1 forward in the competition period and as silly as this sounds he's probably underrated because he's often overshadowed by teammate James Hird.
Lloyd started the season on 599 career goals and has kicked 18 already this year. I reckon he's at the peak of his powers.
And unfortunately for the rest of us there aren't any signs those powers are waning especially after he bulked up a little over the off-season and is a bit stronger.
The other forwards around the league in my opinion who really standout right now are Brisbane's veteran full forward Alastair Lynch and their young centre half-forward Jonathon Brown, plus Melbourne's David Neitz and Port Adelaide's Warren Tredrea.
I also think Hall after the way he's started the season for Sydney belongs in that group.
I'm sure there will be plenty of focus on Hall and Lloyd going head-to-head tomorrow afternoon in the battle of the key forwards with both players crucial to their teams' success.
Hall is still improving and has shown this year that he's taken his game forward significantly but I still think he can get better and better.
That's very important to the Swans but the big thing with Hall now is his consistency.
Key forwards like Lloyd, Lynch and Tredrea when they play a bad game it is still a good game by comparison to other players.With Hall now, that's starting to be the case too because in his bad games he still kicks two goals and gets 10 or more possessions, they are not complete wipeouts.
That to me is the main test of a quality player.
I think as a team Brisbane and Lynch are probably the best exponents at exploiting this.
The Lions might be under the pump, struggling after having three straight goals kicked on them and playing terrible but it sometimes only takes one goal to change everything. That's what the elite forwards do best, they get you that desperately needed goal out of nowhere. It's like a circuit breaker that can swing the momentum back your way.
Lloyd v Hall
It's not your classic full forward match-up so at the end of the day it's a little hard to judge.
If Lloyd kicks six or eight goals you know he's had a good game by his standards and when he's in that sort of form Essendon are always going to be tough to beat.
It's a little hard to assess Hall in that way because in our team structure we don't just judge him on the number of goals he kicks .
At the end of the game I think you have to judge both Hall and Lloyd against themselves and their respective best games.
http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,9427312-23211,00.html
By Paul Roos
April 30, 2004
ESSENDON's Matthew Lloyd is the best forward in the business - one of those rare players who can manufacture a goal out of nothing.
He's like a get-out-of-jail-free card for Bombers coach Kevin Sheedy and tomorrow afternoon at the MCG is the Sydney Swans' turn to attempt to keep Lloyd under lock and key.
I think Barry Hall for us is quickly evolving into that type of player and certainly is now one of the top five or six forwards in the game right now.
But in my opinion Lloyd is the No.1 forward in the competition period and as silly as this sounds he's probably underrated because he's often overshadowed by teammate James Hird.
Lloyd started the season on 599 career goals and has kicked 18 already this year. I reckon he's at the peak of his powers.
And unfortunately for the rest of us there aren't any signs those powers are waning especially after he bulked up a little over the off-season and is a bit stronger.
The other forwards around the league in my opinion who really standout right now are Brisbane's veteran full forward Alastair Lynch and their young centre half-forward Jonathon Brown, plus Melbourne's David Neitz and Port Adelaide's Warren Tredrea.
I also think Hall after the way he's started the season for Sydney belongs in that group.
I'm sure there will be plenty of focus on Hall and Lloyd going head-to-head tomorrow afternoon in the battle of the key forwards with both players crucial to their teams' success.
Hall is still improving and has shown this year that he's taken his game forward significantly but I still think he can get better and better.
That's very important to the Swans but the big thing with Hall now is his consistency.
Key forwards like Lloyd, Lynch and Tredrea when they play a bad game it is still a good game by comparison to other players.With Hall now, that's starting to be the case too because in his bad games he still kicks two goals and gets 10 or more possessions, they are not complete wipeouts.
That to me is the main test of a quality player.
I think as a team Brisbane and Lynch are probably the best exponents at exploiting this.
The Lions might be under the pump, struggling after having three straight goals kicked on them and playing terrible but it sometimes only takes one goal to change everything. That's what the elite forwards do best, they get you that desperately needed goal out of nowhere. It's like a circuit breaker that can swing the momentum back your way.
Lloyd v Hall
It's not your classic full forward match-up so at the end of the day it's a little hard to judge.
If Lloyd kicks six or eight goals you know he's had a good game by his standards and when he's in that sort of form Essendon are always going to be tough to beat.
It's a little hard to assess Hall in that way because in our team structure we don't just judge him on the number of goals he kicks .
At the end of the game I think you have to judge both Hall and Lloyd against themselves and their respective best games.
http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,9427312-23211,00.html