Gawn named captain of All-Australian team

On 100% game time. And his best game of the year

Or Port

Lame.

Niknat is JL - both had better days and doing sfa on the pine.

Also true

Max Gawn is the ruck equivalent of Ringo Starr of the AA side. He's not the best ruckman in it.

Yep 40% on the pine, the AA selectors know him well.

No he did not get beaten by Grundy. Grundy flogged Vardy earlier in the year. He kicked 2 goals in the 1st quarter when he was playing in the forward line, not on Naitanui. Naitanui only played 60% in that game and dominated Grundy when on the field The 2nd game was one of the most pathetic performances the Eagles have ever put up and the pies just played kick to kick all day, yet still he was the best eagle afield and better then Grundy https://twitter.com/AFLPlayerRating/status/1421397450661634052

Nope they want to reduce his minutes cause they are worried about his knees. He can def play longer. The extra ruck was just poor selection choices that have worked in the past when the backup ruckman was better, like Lycette and Hickey. Vardy was not up to it plus the new rules mean the game requires more run. Nicnat can clearly go for longer. All his best games were the games he played the longest. With the interchanges capped he swaps with the extra ruckman playing, which has limited many of his games to low 60s%. Poor selection and game plan all year. It’s no secret he can last longer, they just kept thinking the kick and mark style game plan would work

But the point I'm making is what makes you say West Coast didn't let him play longer minutes, as opposed to he was not fit enough to play those minutes? What you're saying about Vardy and Williams suggests that West Coast would have preferred not to play them if possible, but maybe felt they had no choice because Naitanui needed to rest on the bench?

Cloak. “ West Coast has just missed the finals and you’re telling me they put Naitanui on the bench for the sake of it?” Yeah they really did. I’ll save my full rant about this for an Eagles review article, but yeah they really did. Vardy was statistically the worst player in the comp this year, like 569th of 569 and they played him in the last 3 games of the year despite averaging only 3 possessions a game. In every game Vardy played they reduced NicNats minutes. They even reduced him to 61% in the game vs Melbourne and he was still the Eagles best player. Interestingly the 568th ranked player was the other Eagles backup ruckman Bailey Williams, but at least he is just a kid. For a team that got overrun in the midfield all year, the match committee has a lot to answer for. I’m harping on about Naitanui a bit, but thats because he is the only thing to be proud of from my team this year. I just went full footy nerd and added up NicNats SuperCoach scores for the 10 games they let him play over 70%. He averaged 130 points in those games off an average of 72% game time. That would have him number 1 in the comp on SuperCoach as well. He can stay out there longer but the club continues to play 2 ruckman which doesn’t work

What's average about being on top of the AFL player ratings?

Grundy beat him this year. Grundy was average by his own standards. So was NicNat. A dearth of talented inform ruckman in the comp this year. Touk Miller's on the bench keeping the big fella company. West Coast reject Hickey was as good as any for most of the year.

God I love this forum some times. People often quote the literal worst possible description of a player or team. Hot or cold ay??????? You literally could not have picked a worse player to use as an example. Only Touk Miller from the Gold Coast has been as consistent as Naitanui this year. On the player ratings per each game, Naitanui was the Eagles best in 11 of their 12 losses and 2nd best in the 12th (when Petrucelle had a blinder). He was no lower then the Eagles 5th best player in the round 1 win, when they played Vardy and reduced his minutes. He was the Eagles 4th best on 2 more occasions when they again played Vardy and reduced him to 60 percent game time. In every other game he was the Eagles best of 2nd best player. The majority of time the best. He polled coaches votes in every game that an eagle polled in bar those 3 reduced minute games. He would likely have been the best eagle in those 3 games also if they let him play longer. Bontempelli, Wines, Oliver, the other 500 odd players, have all been more hot and cold then Naitanui this year

Answering a post that suggested against the evidence, that 2015 was when Gawn became dominant. Sandi declining was still better than Gawn at that time.

Better than Sandilands, etc, etc, etc

The AA selectors make mistakes every year. This is one. They backed themselves into a corner by picking Gawn as captain. Then they couldn't have him coming of the bench, could they? He's a great ruckman, but Naitanui is better.

But obviously the AA selectors don't know as much as you do. Probably take your gripe to them.

Your first line is correct. No caveat needed. Gawn plays more minutes so he does more. The Eagles have Barrass and McGovern to take intercept marks. You are comparing the springbok with the panther. What's more, Gawn's own teammates didn't nominate him for MVP. Maybe they know more than you?

The A.A selectors have sat him on the pine because he's had plenty of practice. Sandilands? I thought you were talking 2021?