#5 Jamie Elliott

[doriswilgus]

I don’t know if anyone has noticed,but this year Jaime has been missing every shot at goal from the right hand side of the ground.For some reason he always pushes the ball to the right when he kicks from there.It’s very strange.

[inxs88]

[Raw Hammer]

And running so far right too.

[bally12]

His problem is he holds the ball too close to the midline of his body. This results in an up-and-down kicking action and either shanks kicks off his instep to the left or inside out kicks fadimg to the right.
If he keeps the ball on his right hip-line he'll make contact with the fatter part of the ball, his right hip will swing through naturally and he'll get a more of a right to left shape.
Mark Williams more or less describes this when he advises right footers to keep thr ball in line with their right side.

[lazzadesilva]

Is there anyone at the club who can teach him to kick straight at goal?

[BazBoy]

Look this might not be the place to put this but I’m thinking Billy Elliott may be carrying some kind of injury

Has anyone noticed how he struggles to get up after a contest

[Bruce Gonsalves]

^^ Billy's back is stuffed, wouldn't surprise if it his last year.

[LaurieHolden]

Undoubtedly degenerative back conditions, and injuries accumulated over multiple seasons look to have caught up with him.
He's gone goaless in 4 games this year.

When his original injuries gelded his ability to leap, he evolved his defensive game to one where he would hunt the opposition defenders with his pace. If it wasn't goals, he was contributing with goal assists.

I've noticed during several matches this year, when he's had a hard physical contest / knock he's been left clearly distressed.
He's just not riding the knocks, and I fear its limiting his game influence.

Might a few matches rest be required? Hopefully that's all that's needed to get him rolling again.
But with the likes of Harvey Harrison and Joe Richards looking for a senior berth, he's going to need a return to form before the mid-season break.

[burnsy17]

Billy looks broken, he needs a week off.

Is moving like a man with a stuffed back.

[Johnno75]

The other issue is that he is not taking the opportunities in the game. His set shots were deadly last season but is missing relatively easy shots in 2023.

[K]

Gleeson:

Elliott rides the clutch like no other

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/four-points-elliott-rides-the-clutch-like-no-other-20230723-p5dqjr.html

"In the best clutch team in the AFL, Jamie Elliott is the equal of any player in the AFL for the clutch moment.

Is he the best small forward in the competition at the moment? That depends on whether, like Toby Greene, you categorise him as one.
...

Eventually, he succumbed to injury and missed a couple of games around the bye with a shoulder. Evidently, that shoulder was troubling him far more than anyone outside the club knew. Maybe he was also carrying something else that improved with the rest, for he has come back a completely different player. Or, more accurately, he looks like the player from last season and the years before.

Elliott kicked 10 goals in the first 11 games but since his return from injury has 18 in five. And it is clearly not just the number but when he has kicked them.

He does not look now to be troubled for pace, he is sticking marks on the lead, and he is kicking with confidence again.

The difference for Collingwood with Elliott fit and in form is profound. A side that continues to win, they are not a heavy scoring team, but rather the most difficult to score against. They have struggled to have a settled forward line all year.
...

The return to this sort of form for Elliott is critical to Collingwood’s ability to wrong-step some of their finals rivals. He is like a Greene in that he is a hard match-up – too quick for many key defenders but also has a leap that gives him a strength overhead as a marking player that makes him difficult for smaller backmen.

So he creates a degree of uncertainty about Collingwood’s attack, somewhat like the way Bayley Fritsch does at Melbourne, in that the key forwards are not always the preferred targets and so can create randomness for structured defences to try to combat."

[Jezza]

Been in brilliant form since the bye. 18 goals in 5 games.

2 goals vs Adelaide (H)
5 goals vs Gold Coast (A)
4 goals vs W Bulldogs (A)
4 goals vs Fremantle (H)
3 goals vs Port Adelaide (A)

[Meredith1965]

[Jezza]

[K]

Need a big one from Jamie. Played only 2 1/2 games in the last 5 weeks, so hopefully no niggles.

In the news:

Matthew Lloyd (Footy Classified) put the heat on him. Only 16 disposals, 1 goal in two finals.

Jamie quoted saying coulda gone to Brissy end of 2019, but glad he didn't.