I would hope that his motivation should be to break into the side on the merit of him consistently playing NEAFL footy that is too good for selectors to ignore. I'm not sure why he would have (or be audacious enough to believe he deserves to have) any expectation to be playing senior footy at this stage of his career. He certainly hasn't been a standout at senior level and been good without being brilliant at NEAFL level.
FT @LionsNEAFL 19.14 (128) @swansreserves 15.19 (109) Goals Rose 6 Robinson 2 Jack Dawson Aliir Pink Ronke Foote Fisher #neafl #goswans
It was pretty even after the first quarter shame that we gave them that head start. However it was worrying how easily they marked the ball in our forward 50 given how strong our back six has been this year.
Disposals Robinson 27 Rose 23 Dawson Cunningham 22 Foote 20 Laidler 17 Florent Edwards 15 Aliir Murray 13 Jack 12 Marsh 10 Maibaum Talia 9 Brown 9 Leonardis Pink 8 Fisher 7 Johnson Buckley Ronke 6 Barkley Maze 3
Marks Foote Dawson 6 Aliir Talia 5 Maibaum Cunningham Ronke Rose 4 Laidler Murray 3 Buckley Marsh 2 Jack Florent Edwards Pink Robinson 1
Tackles Dawson 5 Jack Robinson 4 Marsh 3 Leonardis Fisher Buckley 2 Laidler Johnson Florent Edwards Aliir Pink Ronke Maze Barkley 1
I am not sure about the goal kickers. Did not Maibaum get one?
He was part of the team at the end of last year, including finals. Now Melican has gone past him. I don't think he's going to get back into the side as a tall defender no matter how well he plays in the NEAFL. And Shaw has been playing him all over the place to see if he can't find another way in (a la XR last year).
We just looked so small against them. Whilst Maibaum was good up forward it left us seriously short in defence. Particularly with Aliir in the ruck. Considering Dawson was being tagged by Beams i would have played him deeper in attack in 2nd half.
The end result was indicative of their better play, but gee we blew some chances in that final qtr.
Okay they gave Maibaum's goal to Robinson. Not sure how given Maibaum's size and build difference.
During the footy off-season he went back to Kenya (or Sudan) to participate in a family wedding there, maybe the first time since he was a kid or young (?). I wondered earlier on whether that experience has affected his focus on footy. I can imagine that young refugees in particular may struggle with identity issues from time to time, like 'who am I' and 'where do I belong?' Among all the uncertainties of life as a sort of trail-blazer in the competitive AFL environment it must be difficult to find your way. Even the Irish players whose culture is similar to ours have their problems in finding their feet. Whatever Aliir's issues are I hope we will persevere with him.
I don' think it is anything more than the fact he let someone else have a crack ahead of him and that person (Melican) has now made it extremely difficult to get back in the team.
There's a KPD slot up for grabs soon and there's always the possibility of injuries but I suspect he's very frustrated. Time will tell of course but I would expect many clubs to be making inquiries to the player and the club re Aliir this off season. I think that he'll stay around but stranger things have happened
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