Where is Gary Rohan at with his career?

[Auntie.Gerald]

It is fascinating how we reflect on a game and I do it too.........

ok so i have just finished watching the game and I am thinking......."hmmmm..... Kennedy, Macca, Jack, Parker and Mal seemed to always have the footy in the hand last and were dominant as usual........Kennedy appeared to be playing with his own footy and was fire...........strangely though McGlynn didnt feel like he touched the ball as much and yeah the young ones or newbies Rohan, Towers, Lloyd, Rampe, Laidler, Harry didnt really appear to have much impact via disposals or winning the ball............Birdy seemed to be primarily tagging and didnt play as loose in the first two qtrs and Jetta appeared to phase in and out of certain qtrs but overall I was happy with Jetts...........Buddy appeared to be really dominant last night and Reidy looked really strong and had potent impact in different roles........our backs looked strong even though our midfield second qtr appeared to allow Carlton to play quite direct and send in tough balls for our backs to contend with. Once again Ted Richards was all class but Nick smith and Reg had a few blunders when not under alot of pressure first qtr."

OK so that is usually what is going thru my mind on first impressions straight after a game and just chatting with friends.....

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Then I ask myself "what are the odds of Rohan, Towers, Lloyd, Rampe, Laidler, Harry having 25 disposals in a game each?"

Answer "very very low" and the reason is simple........our team this season plays a very very direct style of football. We are doing anything we can to isolate our talls upfront into one vs one situations because that works for the team we have and the strengths we have upfront. We dont play chip around and let everyone walk away with 20 disposals each.

That means if we are gong to play very direct footy we need a fair few guys who are simply going run like a triathlete all day long nullifying the opposition running players and that is where BJ, Towers, Lloyd, Rampe, Laidler, Harry and to some extent Rohan last two weeks too........their role is "NOT" to be inside clearing the ball out of a pack........nor setting up of play.......ie if Kennedy gets the ball out of a pack it goes to say a Jack or McGlynn or Parker who are playing in tight also and then it is straight to Buddys or Goddsie's area of influence......... in a one vs one contest hopefully

So what are all the other guys doing in the game? What are Towers, Lloyd, Rampe, Laidler, Harry doing????........ well pretty much the same as NICK SMITH just minimising the effect that the opposition can have on the outcome of the game.

In the opening qtr of the game I watched Towers and Gary Rohan like a hawk. I saw Towers simply putting busy pressure on Carlton defenders who were trying to play out of the backs........Towers chased down Yarren who passed to another Carlton player 10m away, Towers continued on and chased after him, and that Carlton player handballed it another 15m to a team mate and Towers continued on chased after that player too.........ie Towers chased 3 carlton players in a row in a few seconds of play as quick as he could to minimise the effectiveness of the forward entry........on this particular play Ted got out marked but on many others not so via the efforts of our young thin guys chasing and applying pressure and forcing mistakes.

Rohan had a very promising first 15min off HBF with two breaks with the ball and kicked towards Bud........ and the goal Gary scored with the slingshot footy over the top. Then Rohan rested upfront and was simply putting pressure on the Carlton Backs trying to minimise their exit and help our midfield and Backs to equal or get on top.

Lloyd, Birdy and Harry were continually in the "run with" roles floating back, midfield and forward and applying as much pressure as they could on Carlton players

Yarran, Judd, Simpson,Thomas ie dangerous attacking players were reduced to approx 14 disposals each except Simpson i think had close to 20. Our outside players, our pressure forwards or a tagging backs did their job and broke the rhythm, the momentum and the influence of the opposition !

[Xie Shan]

Brilliant post, I didn't notice Towers so much on Saturday but all the players you have mentioned did this at various stages against the Blues. Rohan was good I thought, I just don't know whether he keeps his spot when everyone is fit, it depends on how the leg is feeling I guess since the rod won't get taken out until the end of the season.

[aguy]

Brilliant post, I didn't notice Towers so much on Saturday but all the players you have mentioned did this at various stages against the Blues. Rohan was good I thought, I just don't know whether he keeps his spot when everyone is fit, it depends on how the leg is feeling I guess since the rod won't get taken out until the end of the season.

Is it definite he is having the rod out at the end of the year or is that just rwo speculation ?

[tasmania60]

Agree no rush !

[goswannies]

Is it definite he is having the rod out at the end of the year or is that just rwo speculation ?

Speculation I'm afraid. Rods aren't always removed. There are many variables that determine whether the rod necessitates removal (but a significant few are, delayed fracture healing, pain - which he recently mentioned he still has some - and impaired function -eg loss of pace, impaired kicking etc). But it should be noted that rod removal doesn't guarantee improvement in any of these (or any other) symptoms.

Similarly, metalwork can sometimes remain in situ with no adverse consequence. My tibial plate & 8 screws still happily live in my leg after nearly 10 years.

[dimelb]

Very thoughtful and interesting post AG - makes sense to me.

[Xie Shan]

Speculation I'm afraid. Rods aren't always removed. There are many variables that determine whether the rod necessitates removal (but a significant few are, delayed fracture healing, pain - which he recently mentioned he still has some - and impaired function -eg loss of pace, impaired kicking etc). But it should be noted that rod removal doesn't guarantee improvement in any of these (or any other) symptoms.

Similarly, metalwork can sometimes remain in situ with no adverse consequence. My tibial plate & 8 screws still happily live in my leg after nearly 10 years.

Yep I should have clarified, apologies for that, I'm just going by what I've read here and elsewhere about others who have had similar injuries.

[rojo]

Thanks AG that helps explain what I was seeing and I must admit wasn't too happy about. My query about it is that many of the tackles didn't stick. Yes, they may have pressured or impeded players by chasing them down but many times those players were able to shrug off the tackle, play on and deliver the ball to their forwards and to advantage. Just running from one player to the next without actually stopping anyone seems pointless to me!

[Swanny40519]

Great insight AG.

I watched a replay of the game yesterday and I thought Towers tried hard and did some good work in smothers, chases and had some clearing handballs. Rohan is improving with every game and a couple of times showed what he could do with his pace and tackling pressure.

[Auntie.Gerald]

it is a fair point Rojo

it could be probably summed up on what pressure or pressure roles allow us to get the game on our terms

Obviously getting a game "on your terms" builds predictability for your leads, runs, movement etc and gives u the best chance to play at your best and win

I thought Mick did a good job on trying to basically replicate our game plan on Sat night and issue a massive challenge to his team which they could only handle for 2 qtrs then went bust as we won the armwrestle..........which was more like a game against the Hawks or Geelong etc where we are fighting for teh upper hand usually all game

re effectiveness of pressure........unfortunately we dont have the time nor wide screen footage to sit down and say.........using Deano as an example........"for every time Dean that you put pressure on the opposition what was the result"

if you laid a tackle what was the result ie did we get the ball back and then use effectively ?

If you shirt grabbed but stayed on your feet what was the result?

if you simply chased to ensure a hurried kick what was the result down field?

By doing a tackle or chase pressure did that force Carlton to change strategy and not try and play it by hands out of the backs? Did this then allow us to get the game back on our terms and then did we kick on a score goals ?

[Go Swannies]

I thought I saw some of the best signs from Gary on Saturday for all his games this year. The first goal of the game was reminiscent of the one against the Cats. And after the game he came over to our area and I thought he was radiating confidence in a way that I haven't seen for ages.

[rojo]

I thought I saw some of the best signs from Gary on Saturday for all his games this year. The first goal of the game was reminiscent of the one against the Cats. And after the game he came over to our area and I thought he was radiating confidence in a way that I haven't seen for ages.

+1