I can thoroughly recommend re watching our winning games from this season, I'm getting excited all over again about our potential, exciting times :-)
I can thoroughly recommend re watching our winning games from this season, I'm getting excited all over again about our potential, exciting times :-)
Fox footy had a good summary of our premiership window. It went something like this.
2022 - A smokey. If Buddy can stay fit and impact, and young'n continue upward trend, and we can cover for Dawson.
Otherwise the window opens up 2025-2027 when the next generation kick in. Maybe earlier if we use the cap space from Buddy to target an established star.
A few things were mentioned about Wicks' defensive game, not by you but the chap you answered. He was very effective I think. In Fact he was not effective against teams who have two fast defenders giving them drive. Why? Because opposition targeted Papley. It started with Essendon. They stuck Hind on Paps. Wicks took Guelfi which was probably a mistake.
Paps, while a great small forward, goal kicker and attacking beast, is not the best defensive player in the comp. He used to be great but some of his efforts in the last few years have been extremely lazy. Opposition coaches have noticed and now they play their most dangerous attacking weapon at HB on him to run off and create. In the Essendon game Wicks was literally chasing two blokes.
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I’m sorry but I don’t agree. A forward’s job first and foremost is to score or assist in scoring. His secondary job is to help in defence if his team needs this. With Paps, he always gets one of the best defenders and as long as he kicks and/or assists in a bagful, I don’t care if his man runs off him.
I appreciate Wicks’ s defensive play, but wish he would impact more with scoring- scoreboard pressure is the best pressure you can exert on your opposition!
I agree with you to a point. The best small forwards such as Cyril and Eddie could destroy you by kicking or setting up bags of goals such that it really didn't matter what they did in defence. However, it's very rare for a team to have more than one of these guys at a time (Paps is our equivalent). I suspect Wicks lacks that X factor to do this and needs to contribute in other ways, especially defensively given how much attack is now generated off the rebound. His output did drop as the season progressed but he certainly showed alot more than the other options (Ronke, Taylor, Bell, Gray). We could play a mid in his position (Errol, Campbell, Stephens, Rowbottom, Chad) but suspect that they would struggle to impact much more and / or be wasted in the position. If Wicks can tidy up his goal kicking, he's best 22.
Agree with scoreboard pressure. Disagree about forward pressure. Creating forward pressure forces the opposition into errors or just banging long. This gives our players up the ground chances to intercept. By doing this forwards get more opportunity at goal without having to win the ball back out of the back line and therefore being under pressure.
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Fair enough Wolftone. I guess Wicks did this but fell away towards the end of the year- maybe he needed a bit of a rest.
Also, he needs to improve his goal kicking and give away fewer frees! But I agree at this stage he is ahead of the others, as mentioned above by Ralph.
Like some have suggested, I started re-watching games from this season. I've only just finished Round 1 v Brisbane. Wicks was tremendous offensively. He kicked 2 great goals. The second, a snap shot on the run from just inside 50; one of the goals of the year.
Cyril was a great defensive forward and set up a lot of his offense by pressure and great tackling. Wicks plays with confidence. Sometimes overconfidence. He's like Papley in that respect. When he has the ball in range of goal, he feels he can kick it. He had a number of close misses this year. I think Wicks is more than just a defensive forward.
It was fun watching the game. Gulden had a spectacular debut. Logan kicked 3. Mills and Heeney were stars. Rowbottom was injured in the 1st quarter but played out the game and played very well. No Franklin. No Hayward. No Jmac. No worries.
If Wicks can get anywhere near Cyril, I think we would all be very happy. He certainly showed this potential in the early games this year, but like others re-watching our games, particularly our great wins, I think his form fell away as the season wore on. Of course it was a very difficult year for our players and so I think he could have been”managed” like some of our other youngsters. Hopefully next year he will recapture the form he showed against the Lions and Tigers as I’m sure he has the ability.
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