my zac "lightbulb" theory

[terry smith rules]

If someone else has said this previously I apologise.

However this thought just came to me.

Maybe Zac and his lack of form/ confidence etc this year goes back to that fateful moment in the GF.

His amazing lunge to spoil the ball and then see Scarletts boot destroy his work.

Maybe he is beating himself up for costing the saints the gf (you can addd the kick out here). Maybe he know doesn't know whether to go his instincts (like that lunge) or do it all differently.

And know he is caught in this world of not one or the other, should I stay or should I go.

His body language this year is nothing like it was last year.

You would hope that if he is having issues from the gf that the club would provide some counselling support

fqf

[bigcarl]

maybe that is a factor. maybe he has personal problems.

another possible factor is that for the whole of last season he was under pressure to keep his spot with most expecting max to slot back in.

this drove him to levels that no one expected and he justly earned his spot in the grand final team.

personally i'd elevate tommy walsh from the rookie list with a long-term view to using him as one of the bookends. put a bit of pressure on zac and kosi to perform.

both seem to be in the side mainly by default at the moment, although i can think of a good replacement for kosi at ff.

[terry smith rules]

maybe that is a factor.

another possible one is that for the whole of last season he was under pressure to keep his spot with most expecting max to slot back in.

this drove him to levels that no one expected and he justly earned his spot in the grand final team.

yes I have thought this as well

[Selhurst Saint]

That is and interesting thought, and perhaps you are onto something.

At the B&F last year, I bumped into Zac and thanked him for his year and told him how thrilled we were to have him at our club.I wasn't being overly gushing in the style of a Bruce Macavaney, however he looked at me as though I was taking the p1ss out of him and he wasn't worthy of such praise. Maybe his self belief is shot over the GF. Bearing in mind he had been on an IV drip during the previous night he did exceptionally well just to get out on the ground.

[undecided]

If someone else has said this previously I apologise.

However this thought just came to me.

Maybe Zac and his lack of form/ confidence etc this year goes back to that fateful moment in the GF.

His amazing lunge to spoil the ball and then see Scarletts boot destroy his work.

Maybe he is beating himself up for costing the saints the gf (you can addd the kick out here). Maybe he know doesn't know whether to go his instincts (like that lunge) or do it all differently.

And know he is caught in this world of not one or the other, should I stay or should I go.

His body language this year is nothing like it was last year.

You would hope that if he is having issues from the gf that the club would provide some counselling support

fqf

if it wasn't for the bounce of the ball this moment could of won us the gf.

[terry smith rules]

If someone else has said this previously I apologise.

However this thought just came to me.

Maybe Zac and his lack of form/ confidence etc this year goes back to that fateful moment in the GF.

His amazing lunge to spoil the ball and then see Scarletts boot destroy his work.

Maybe he is beating himself up for costing the saints the gf (you can addd the kick out here). Maybe he know doesn't know whether to go his instincts (like that lunge) or do it all differently.

And know he is caught in this world of not one or the other, should I stay or should I go.

His body language this year is nothing like it was last year.

You would hope that if he is having issues from the gf that the club would provide some counselling support

fqf

if it wasn't for the bounce of the ball this moment could of won us the gf.

exactly, I have nightmares about so good knows what he is going through

[bigcarl]

exactly, I have nightmares about so good knows what he is going through

guilt feelings maybe.

s***, it wasn't his fault and i hope someone has told him so.

even if it had been his fault (which it definitely was not), it didn't cost us the game.

poor forward efficiency was more to blame.

[bigcarl]

as sRs has pointed out several times, he is falling into the trap of worrying about his opponent rather than the ball.

no-one could touch him last season when he made the ball the object.

[mordi]

get him to talk to Cats fans ( like my cubicle neighbour) who swear it was all Scarletts skill that cuased the rebound.........

[roxanne]

Thought he was incredibly gutsy to get back out there on Sunday (and we missed him when he was off - Adelaide's run started then). He also took a hit to the face in a collision with Raph. Just shook it off, carried on, did some good things. Most fullbacks do it tough one out....one of our strengths has been backs and mids getting back to support each other in defense. Zac has been caught out one on one more this year. I actually think he's a highly skilled player and has the flexibility to go forward. We're a better team with him than without him. I think we should all BACK ZAC.

[plugger66]

I have a theory. He is out of form and down on confidence.

[Dr Spaceman]

I have a theory. He is out of form and down on confidence.

I also have a theory.

E=mc2

[wasaintsfan]

may be we are expecting to much of him... for instance when he went off injured against adelaide our backs fell into a bit of a hole... comes back on and magically it holds up again..... even when playing poorly they seem better off with him in the backline then without

maybe its just the team balance who knows but when hes hot hes hot.... and i think he is starting to get his confidence and fitness back now that the structure is back

[35...LEGEND]

I think he's getting there....albeit slowly.

Anyone else notice one of those Zac interceptions Sat night ??

Need's to get his "mongrel" back,lay a few solid bump's and he'll be fine IMO...................i hope

And yes...........EYES ON THE PILL YOUNG FELLA.

[ace]

I have a theory. He is out of form and down on confidence.

I also have a theory.

E=mc2

I have a similar theory but with deltas before the E and before the m

[Milan Faletic]

He was on an intravenous drip the night before the Grand Final.

He lost 6 kgs in the pre-season.

Maybe Kosi should have crumbed that great spoil instead of watching Ablett pick it up and rebound it back in to their 50, costing us the GF.

Lay off Zac. It took Gilbert, Fisher, and even Maguire a little while to settle in. Even Gram took time as did Goddard.

Mini was delisted and have a look at the posts that used to bag Blake.

Short memories.

[avid]

Comes down to two questions:

1: Will Zac ever come out of this form slump?
It's possible he might be all washed up -- tragically -- but I imagine he'll be able to recover what he had last year, eventually.

2: Is the best way to help him out of this form slump to drop him to Sandy (help him build some confidence there) or to nurse him along in the 1sts (show our unfailing confidence in him)?
I imagine the latter. But I don't know Zac, and I don't really know how form slumps work either.

(tsr's original post is consistant with this, as a possible original cause.)

[bobmurray]

We really shouldn't be casting aspersions on our fantastic bookends..

Zac and Kosi....what a pear...

[Enrico_Misso]

He lost 6 kgs in the pre-season.

I think that is the real reason.
He still looks weaker than last season so maybe he hasn't re-established his conditioning.

Last year he was great at watching the ball and having the strength and timing to punch it away.
This year he seems to just watch his man and either gives away a free or fails to get a fist in.
Maybe it is all related to his lack of muscle which in turn impacts his confidence.

[plugger66]

He lost 6 kgs in the pre-season.

I think that is the real reason.
He still looks weaker than last season so maybe he hasn't re-established his conditioning.

Last year he was great at watching the ball and having the strength and timing to punch it away.
This year he seems to just watch his man and either gives away a free or fails to get a fist in.
Maybe it is all related to his lack of muscle which in turn impacts his confidence.

So you actually think he hasnt put it back on? He would be the same weight and muscle as last year and god knows how people would know how much weight he actually lost.

He is out of form and his confidence is down.

[St Ick]

I didn't really envisage my first post to be bagging a saints player, but I really have some huge doubts over Zac. Over the past month, he has run under the ball following his opponent (often when 3rd man up), missed crucial tackles, and missed his man's body when trying to initiate contact countless times.

The thing with Zac, is that he is often playing deep, so his mistakes or misses (more often than not) result in opposition goals, which are more obvious than had they occurred deep forward for example. Noone can question his endeavour, but I honestly believe he just isn't up to it. At his best, he is quite showy, he isn't your typical no-nonsense backman when he has his confidence up, which often brings about his downfall. Last years grand final comes to mind in the 3rd - was it Stevie J he tried to take on or tap in front of (not blaming him for the loss but its definitely an issue for him) - sorry for being vague, memory of that match is blurry, was a whirl of emotion that day and have refused to watch it on tv since.

Last year, he deserved his spot in the side, but when you win 19 in a row and only lose 3 for the year, the gig has to be a lot easier and obviously the spotlight or opposition pressure wasn't quite on our backs like this year.

I know this is a side topic and no doubt covered in depth already, but why on earth did we get rid of Goose? Gaertner looked good in that preseason match, but is he ready to step up, Walsh is obviously very raw, why I bring this up is because we just don't have the depth for Zac to have a go in the resies, did we shoot ourselves in the foot? He has always been (with me), and remains to be - the biggest worry and issue in our best 22.