I have to admit during the middle quarters I was wondering where Gulden was. Then I saw the stats and was surprised at how many possessions he had. It must have have been those blink and you miss it moments you mentioned.
For Campbell it was the opposite. Like you, I also thought he had more possessions than the stats said.
You're getting upset over nothing. Just hypothetically, suppose there were 6 players that your rated roughly equal 7th BOG, thus up for a single coaches' vote: Stephens, Chad, Gulden, Mills, Hickey and Heeney. As a coach,why wouldn't you give the vote to the one who has been struggling in the VFL as a confidence booster? I think it's smart coaching and understanding your players. Remember that Stephens was only selected because JMac went out for H&S protocols, so a confidence booster makes a lot of sense for me. Why not use the vote to help a struggling player feel better about himself? I noted during the game that Stephens looked really stoked to be in the side and was really up for the game. A good coach has to find the right mix of encouragement and criticism to get the best out of players. It's not about doing anyone a favour. My comment was not about Stephens, but rather a compliment to Longmire. For all I know, Ratten gave the vote to Stephens.
I turn down the Channel 7 commentary so there's noise but nothing discernible to my deaf ears! I find the commentary almost nauseating. Carey I'd prefer not to hear from anyway, Darcy is a dead set moron, and BT is a clown. Almost nothing comes out of their mouths that is informative or of interest to a switched on follower of the game.
In another thread, someone posted a video of a game from the 60s or 70s at Glenferrie Oval. That clip proved 3 things.
1. The quality of player skills has improved markedly over the years
2. The standard of playing surfaces has improved markedly over the years.
3. Football TV commentary has declined terribly over the years.
This is rather bemusing there have been plenty of nasty comments posted on here about you know who by you that you didn’t have any issue voicing.
Borderline hypocritical in my opinion.
In regard to the subject in hand Stephen’s did play well and probably deserved the vote but I did like the thinking behind Ludwig’s reasoning.
Coaches votes don't necessarily always correlate with the official list of best players. But can sometimes offer more insight....
Lloyd's game was one for the ages - a brilliant performance.
And Stephens looked every inch an AFL footballer, not something I was ever convinced I'd say. He tackled hard, he went hard at the ball, went back when he had to, demanded the footy, made great decisions - it was all a delightful surprise. And a reminder for all those who have suggested we just gift him senior games that these attributes need to be earned the hard way. Good on him for showing this resilience, look forward to seeing more of it.
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