Port 2014 - Pre-Season/General Discussion

[JK]

Robbie Gray, his clearance work this year has become elite, he is as good as anybody in a contest either in the middle or around the ground.

Not bad for a bloke who is second for marks inside 50 at his club, with over 30 goals too.

In my biased opinion he is, on form right now, the best player in the competition.

Likely to get Crowley this week, just hope RG doesn't get sucked in

[Phantom Gossiper]

Robbie Gray, his clearance work this year has become elite, he is as good as anybody in a contest either in the middle or around the ground.

Not bad for a bloke who is second for marks inside 50 at his club, with over 30 goals too.

In my biased opinion he is, on form right now, the best player in the competition.

Crazy to think he has remained so long in brownlow betting for so long, especially given he has been at the top of the coaches award votes.

[bennymacca]

Probably the sort of bloke that doesn't really ever get 40 touches but will get you 27 and a goal and set two others up. Maybe easier to go unnoticed. Shouldn't be, but I doubt he will get anywhere close to the brownlow. He is more like the player that gets second best every single week than the guy that wins it off his own boot, if that makes sense.

Shoein for AA on the HFF and port BF though

[JK]

Probably the sort of bloke that doesn't really ever get 40 touches but will get you 27 and a goal and set two others up. Maybe easier to go unnoticed. Shouldn't be, but I doubt he will get anywhere close to the brownlow. He is more like the player that gets second best every single week than the guy that wins it off his own boot, if that makes sense.

Shoein for AA on the HFF and port BF though

2nd best every week would do the Brownlow comfortably (get what youre trying to say though)

[Booney]

Probably the sort of bloke that doesn't really ever get 40 touches but will get you 27 and a goal and set two others up. Maybe easier to go unnoticed. Shouldn't be, but I doubt he will get anywhere close to the brownlow. He is more like the player that gets second best every single week than the guy that wins it off his own boot, if that makes sense.

Shoein for AA on the HFF and port BF though

To be honest benny, it doesn't make sense.... he is averaging 25 disposals, 3 tackles, 1.5 goals, 4 marks (1.5 of them I50 ), 6 clearances and Port have won 14 games.

If he gets 4-5 first preference ( 15 ) and 3-4 second preference ( 8 ) from our 14 wins, so votes in 7-9 games he might have 20-23 votes without too much trouble.

[Johno6]

deserves to finish top 5 in the brownlow,
probably doesn't even get most votes for his team.

[bennymacca]

i just went to the AFL website, and looked at the best players for each game.

he was in port's best 15 times this season (which is pretty awesome)

of those, he was best on ground 5 times, second 4 times, 3-5th 6 times.


still not sure he will get 3 votes in a lot of those games. boak, westhoff, wines, wingard seem to be more eye catching. boak will steal a lot of votes imo

[Phantom Gossiper]

Difference with a Gray compared to Boak to me is his general class and uncanny ability to work through traffic. Gray always reminds me of a GAJ the way he moves in and around a contest. He is silky smooth and has a great goal sense as well.

Boak to me is a grunt, hard running, hard tackling work horse.

Both exceptional players in their own right, but to suggest Gray isnt eye catching enough is not accurate I dont think.

[valleys07]

Difference with a Gray compared to Boak to me is his general class and uncanny ability to work through traffic. Gray always reminds me of a GAJ the way he moves in and around a contest. He is silky smooth and has a great goal sense as well.

Absolutely- his resemblance to GAJ is uncanny in traffic, always gets his hands free and distributes more often than not, to a team mate.

Have absolutely loved watching him this year. Coming back from a car accident like knee recon, to his form this season, is nothing short of remarkable.

Wont win the brownlow. Deserves to poll well but agree with Benny, Boak will steal some votes from him- particularly in our lean patch, when Boak was just about carrying the team on his shoulders.

[valleys07]

Congratulations to Robbie Gray- who was today confirmed as the winner of the 2014 AFLCA award.

Terrific reward for a terrific season!

[gossipgirl]

Congratulations to Robbie Gray- who was today confirmed as the winner of the 2014 AFLCA award.

Terrific reward for a terrific season!

but don't mention the game on the weekend

[Rik E Boy]

Robbie Gray, his clearance work this year has become elite, he is as good as anybody in a contest either in the middle or around the ground.

Not bad for a bloke who is second for marks inside 50 at his club, with over 30 goals too.

In my biased opinion he is, on form right now, the best player in the competition.

Buddy for mine and Rockliff and Ffye perhaps but Gray has been a ripper this year. I reckon he'll go close to taking Charlie home. Not sure Westhoff, Wines and Ebert will steal many votes but Boak will poll well.

regards,

REB

[valleys07]

AFL trade news has Tyson Goldsack playing his last game for Collingwood tonight- with Port offering him $1.2m over 3 years.

Not sure how i feel about that. Is a Goldsack type of player someone we are crying out for? What are others thoughts?

[bennymacca]

Not sure he kicks enough goals. Good honest player but if port are going to give him that sort of money it makes crameri (who went for 1.8 over 4) or betts (who went for 2 over 4) comparative steals

[Ron Burgundy]

Forget the goals. He's averaging 5 kicks a game this season. 103 kicks for the season.
If he maintains this pace, he will earn $4000 a kick over the contract.

[valleys07]

My thoughts too Benny. The only way I can see it working, is if we deploy him into that defensive forward role similar to mayne/puopolo, releasing wingard/gray into the midfield. We may see westhoff spend more time forward next season with the evolution of hombsch into that 3rd tall down back. Agree though- surely there is more in the market for $1.2m over 3!

Waste of time.

[Jim05]

Goldsack is a Scania.
Port can do far better

[Spargo]

Carlton will probably pick him up...

[daysofourlives]

Here we go again with salary talk and what they are worth.
IMO any player that is a regular in a teams best 22 would on average get near 400k per year, its not that much.
I think if Port had Goldsack it would free up Westhoff to remain as a key forward target for 95% of the game.
Would be a good pick up for Port especially at that price

[Booney]

Here we go again with salary talk and what they are worth.
IMO any player that is a regular in a teams best 22 would on average get near 400k per year, its not that much.
I think if Port had Goldsack it would free up Westhoff to remain as a key forward target for 95% of the game.
Would be a good pick up for Port especially at that price

Agreed. He'd probably be a $300k player at Collingwood, you want him to come to your club, you'll have to pay him more.

Playing as the third forward, along with the defensive pressure he applies, seems like someone Port should really go after.