What's Happened to Gilbert?

[SainterK]

Terrible disposer of the ball now, gets caught, double grabs, fumbles.

What's new. Just keep him away from the F50 FFS.

Why, because it worked out so badly for the team when he was up there tonight?
In case you missed it, when he was up there, he gave us a very mobile tall target and one that had to be watched very closely, by whoever was on him. That meant that instead of whoever was on him just being able to zone off him and double team Roo, he had to chase Gilbert around, and as a result, Roo had taken 7 marks by about half way through the second quarter.
How many did Roo take after Gilbert went out of the forward line (at around that stage, half way through the second)? I'm guessing very, very few. In fact he hardly touched it after Gilbert left there.
It's not all about one guy and how well he does in a particular position, but how the team goes as a whole, while he's in that position.

Just checked the stats and not only did Roo hardly touch it after the approximate time Gilbert left the forward line, but he didn't take a single mark for the rest of the game. Not one.
When Gilbert was up there, as well as getting a few marks and kicks himself, his presence allowed Roo to go one out against McGuane and he took 7 marks in about a quarter and a half (according to the stats they put up on the big screen, around half way through the 2nd). When Gilbert went down back and Roo was regularly double teamed, ZERO MARKS in two and a half quarters. Facts.

Agree APS, and I'll add to that, when we had Roo and Gilbert, Gamble looked better because he wasn't trying to be a KPP (which he is not)

Doesn't have to be Gilbert, but someone, please.

[Con Gorozidis]

Terrible disposer of the ball now, gets caught, double grabs, fumbles.

What's new. Just keep him away from the F50 FFS.

Why, because it worked out so badly for the team when he was up there tonight?
In case you missed it, when he was up there, he gave us a very mobile tall target and one that had to be watched very closely, by whoever was on him. That meant that instead of whoever was on him just being able to zone off him and double team Roo, he had to chase Gilbert around, and as a result, Roo had taken 7 marks by about half way through the second quarter.
How many did Roo take after Gilbert went out of the forward line (at around that stage, half way through the second)? I'm guessing very, very few. In fact he hardly touched it after Gilbert left there.
It's not all about one guy and how well he does in a particular position, but how the team goes as a whole, while he's in that position.

Just checked the stats and not only did Roo hardly touch it after the approximate time Gilbert left the forward line, but he didn't take a single mark for the rest of the game. Not one.
When Gilbert was up there, as well as getting a few marks and kicks himself, his presence allowed Roo to go one out against McGuane and he took 7 marks in about a quarter and a half (according to the stats they put up on the big screen, around half way through the 2nd). When Gilbert went down back and Roo was regularly double teamed, ZERO MARKS in two and a half quarters. Facts.

well spotted. we need some more talent up fwd. kosi IS NOT the answer. Gilbo is the only guy in the side with the athletic talent to at least worry the opposition.

if u watch the finals u see nick maxwell and others just pay no respect to mini whatsoever. they just run of him and go over and team up on roo. when gilbo plays fwd u notice at very least the backmen pay attention to him and are scared to run off him.

[AnythingsPossibleSaints]

well spotted. we need some more talent up fwd. kosi IS NOT the answer. Gilbo is the only guy in the side with the athletic talent to at least worry the opposition.

if u watch the finals u see nick maxwell and others just pay no respect to mini whatsoever. they just run of him and go over and team up on roo. when gilbo plays fwd u notice at very least the backmen pay attention to him and are scared to run off him.

Exactly. And last week it was Blake and Gamble they zoned off to get to Roo. They just paid no attention to either of them and that's why Roo was going up against 3 or 4 (the one he was on, the loose one next to him, plus whoever was zoning off Gamble and Blake).
You have to put someone there who they will actually stay with and Gilbert has proved to be that guy, even if he hasn't gotten a heap of it himself yet.
The main problem, as I said earlier, is that they're so Roo conscious that even if Gilbo put on a good lead last night, which he often did, as he was so much quicker than whoever he was on, they still looked for Roo (and I think this really frustrates Gilbo, who seems to think he has to be getting it every two seconds, to be doing his job). Even so, our forward line looked the best it had in ages in the first quarter and a bit last night, with Roo, Gilbo, Gamble and Milne zooming all over the place. If we actually stuck with it for a few weeks, they could tell them to also look for Gilbo and he would also learn more about exactly where and when to lead.
But they just seem to hit the panic button so fast whenever things start going badly and revert back to the old setup that keeps getting us close, but not close enough. Sometimes a bit of short term pain can bring a lot of long term gain. Ross and co seem to have forgotten this. They need to have the guts to see their vision through, or we're in deep doody.
As for Kosi, he's not the worst option up there, as they also need to stay close to him and he usually kicks well and can take team lifting marks. The main problem is when they have the ball and we need Kos to chase, obviously and the fact that his lack of mobility means he's often in the general area with Roo and they often go at the same marks.
Ideally I'd like to see Kosi at FF, Roo at CHF and Gilbo around half forward, where he can use his serious speed and endurance to advantage. He can do the leading up to the wings (taking a Maxwell or someone with him) and then just thump it long in the general direction of Roo and Kosi, with Milne and Schneider and maybe Steven at their feet and maybe Gamble up there somewhere.

[seano1]

Terrible disposer of the ball now, gets caught, double grabs, fumbles.

What's new. Just keep him away from the F50 FFS.

Why, because it worked out so badly for the team when he was up there tonight?

Yes...and almost every other time. He's a backman, he stays down back, with Zac, Blake, Fisher and all the other 'successful' swingmen we've used forward. We immediately gained some run down to the F50 with him down back.

Exactly he is a backman always will be ,he stops more goals than he will ever kick as he cant straight often enough to be a chf

[AnythingsPossibleSaints]

As opposed to Roo, who's so accurate?
What simplistic, thoughtless, unimaginative trash.
So you'd rather we have the situation we had last week and in the second half last night with Roo going up against 2, 3, 4 and not looking like taking a mark?
How far do you think that's going to get us? Milne was our forward line in the end last night and we surely all know relying on him does not get it done in September.
No one's saying Gilbert will be this A Grade CHF, or that he won't be missed down back, but at the moment, he seems to be our best option and can be covered sufficiently down back, where it's been widely acknowledged we have a surplus of options.
This is the time to make some GUTSY calls, not to continue to play it safe and conservatively.
The likes of Collingwood will SMASH US, if we do.

[gringo]

The thing I liked about the tigers was their attack, just kept peppering. I still think someone that will carry the ball in to the 50 with pace is needed.

Thats why I want Will Johnson to get a go. In the nab he had a couple of really good attacking runs and tried taking the game on. Thats what we need more than anything else a bit of flair in our attack from someone other than Milne. Gamble looks a bit slow and makes us look even more dowdy so far.

[thejiggingsaint]

I cant for the life of me see what we gain by turning a VERY good defender into a donkey by putting him up on the forward line

[Con Gorozidis]

I cant for the life of me see what we gain by turning a VERY good defender into a donkey by putting him up on the forward line

we gain a lot. hes our best athletic talent. i just cant believe people are so quick to pull the pin on this. learning to time ur leads takes time and also the rest of the team getting used to having u as an option takes time.

we need more talent in that fwd line and at very least gilbert draws a quality defender away from roo. at very least.

gilbo vastly more of a talent than nearly everyone on our list. should be persisted with up fwd. wit his height and running ability and his side-step could be a damaging fwd. gilbo can improve his kicking but noon else can be taught to have has gilbos natural height/athleticism.

opposition teams just snub their noses at the likes of mcqualter/dempster/blake in the fwd line. their general attitude is cool im a free man in defence. ill get over and spoil roo when i have to then ill run fwd and be an attacking defender.

not saying hes a sure thing. its a bit like luke skywalker in star wars. hes untrained and raw in attack. but he remains our only hope. hes the guy with the raw talent to make a difference up fwd.

and just like luke the coaches and the fans need to just stick fat with him.

[SainterK]

I really don't care if it's Gilbert, Fisher, Lynch...

Put someone in there.

Just watched the first quarter again, it was lovely to watch.

Roo played better with Gilbert there, Gamble played better as a result of two talls being there, the knock on effect of our forward line being structured properly is evident.

[degruch]

As opposed to Roo, who's so accurate?
What simplistic, thoughtless, unimaginative trash.
So you'd rather we have the situation we had last week and in the second half last night with Roo going up against 2, 3, 4 and not looking like taking a mark?
How far do you think that's going to get us? Milne was our forward line in the end last night and we surely all know relying on him does not get it done in September.
No one's saying Gilbert will be this A Grade CHF, or that he won't be missed down back, but at the moment, he seems to be our best option and can be covered sufficiently down back, where it's been widely acknowledged we have a surplus of options.
This is the time to make some GUTSY calls, not to continue to play it safe and conservatively.
The likes of Collingwood will SMASH US, if we do.

I'm sorry, you're totally correct...we need a player at CHF who marks and can't kick to help inspire the rest of our forward line to do the same, whilst encouraging our backline to be as stagnant as possible. We do not have a surplus of Gilbert's, that's for sure, the one we need stays back whilst a forward plays forward. Simple, I know.

If you want us to take risks so that Collingwood won't smash us this season, you'll get a nasty surprise.

[Sobraz]

I thought Gilbo's game was actually quite good on the weekend, and he looked very dangerous in the first 1/4 when forward, and busted his gut for the whole match...

He put a massive effort, but unfortunately some things didnt come off this time around... He was caught a couple of times, but every time he was trying to create...

Personally, I'd like to see him on ball more... He played in the centre at times in the last 1/4 on friday, got one massive clearance that resulted in a shot on goal, is a tackling/combative machine... He is hard to tackle and wins 50/50 balls often, so Id like to see him midfield/wing where he can use his ball getting ability and run and carry more...

He can be useful both inside and out, as a mid, as he has both attributes already in his game...

But back to the OP, nothing is wrong with Gilbo, he's one of the few who's going along just fine IMO...