#2 Jordan De Goey

[MatthewBoydFanClub]

[Tannin]

He looks out of sorts. He isn't holding marks, he isn't getting kicks, and he's not a shadow of the player he was in late 2016.

I present three possibilities:

(1) He is pissed off with life, with football, and especially with the club and is looking to be traded.

(2) He just hasn't managed to get his form back after injury - don't forget, he's only a youngster and youngsters don't step straight back into senior football carrying on where they left off the way 150-game players do. Just cut him a little slack and await results.

(3) He struggles to play deep forward and needs to be promoted back into the guts, which is what he's good at. In particular, he (like Fasolo) is trying to play like a KPP - flying for marks and dropping them - instead of getting front and centre like a proper small. Once Cox comes back to his proper place in the goal square and starts bringing the ball to ground, JDG will start scouting the packs and snapping truly. (Farcealolo, meanwhile, will keep trying to outmark blokes three feet taller than he is and wondering why the coach is not impressed with him.)

Which of the three do I think most likely? I'll sit on the fence and say a equal parts all three. If he can pick up 30-odd possessions and a couple of goals, he'll forget all about being pissed off and uninterested and start performing to his ability, which is enormous.

[thesoretoothsayer]

[Member 7167]

I just hope he is a bit out of sorts due to the lack of game time at AFL level and he will come good. I have always thought that he would become a true A Grader in time. This became questionable when it was obvious that he was too much of a party goer to reach the professionalism required.

I am now hoping his is doing a "Swanny" and is turning his life around after putting his football career in jeopardy.

[Pies2016]

Yep, I'm with Tannin on this one.

He looks a fair way from his previous best right now. That's OK in the short term but he needs to make a statement of intent ( or not ) on the field sometime before the end of this season or the club would have every right to question his commitment.

I'm not for trading him at all but potential can only take you so far.

[RudeBoy]

[Mugwump]

It's a big worry, as this is a #5 draft pick we are talking about, here, who has delivered less than most mid-20s. He looks like a bull midfielder to me, and his psychology, from a distance, is that he wants to be the centre of attention.
So put the boy in the middle for two weeks, I think, and tell him if he does not fire he goes back to deep forward or the twos. He seems to have a brain shortage, but hopefully he can turn it around.

[mooretreloar]

^^
Spot on. To be at his best, he needs to play 80% in the midfield. The Essendon JLT game proved this. However, it is a hard midfield to get a gig in, so he needs to have another string to his bow, which is a playing as a half forward.

There will be a game soon that we let him loose in the midfield, but in the meantime he will keep learning to play as a forward.

In the future, he will become a first choice mid, as players like Pendles and Sidey are given alternative roles.

[Bob Sugar]

[stui magpie]

I think he's just coping a reality check that he can't (yet) crash through tackles at AFL level.

I liked a lot of what he did and the intent of what he tried to do. Kid while be a weapon.

[mooretreloar]

[neil]

many players after a layoff have a good first game and a quiet second

[dalyc]

[Bob Sugar]

[bally12]

Pretty good handball from the base of the pack to Pendles for the sealer.