Why no love for Attard?

[strauchanie]

He has done extremely well for a no-name rookies unexpectedly propelled into the AFL. But, remember folks, 15 other clubs passed him up at the end of 2006 and so did we until right at the end of the rookie draft. Why?

The same could be said for Westhoff from last year (pick 70 odd?)
and several years ago Hird and Chris Grant (both 70 odd). Recruiters and clubs frequently know stuff all

[meher baba]

He has done extremely well for a no-name rookies unexpectedly propelled into the AFL. But, remember folks, 15 other clubs passed him up at the end of 2006 and so did we until right at the end of the rookie draft. Why?

The same could be said for Westhoff from last year (pick 70 odd?)
and several years ago Hird and Chris Grant (both 70 odd). Recruiters and clubs frequently know stuff all

I take your point (and the point made by others on this thread before you).

But, while there are some hidden gems among the dross, the truth is that most of the players who struggle to get a game in the AFL are less talented than the Judds and Riewoldts that every club is chasing after from about the time their voices break.

[GRAMophone]

Irrespective of Jayden's abilities and potential abilities I would like to acknowledge his efforts this year and wish him well for his TKR and rehabilitation.

[snoopygirl]

He was having surgery on his knee yesterday. Would be nice to hear that it has gone well for him. Glad that the club have stated they will support him. Was pretty down in the dumps about it on Saturday.

[evertonfc]

Agree with MB here.

He has been handy this year, but his only strengths are his endurance, pace and discipline. He seems to be a poor reader of the play, his disposal is very unreliable and he certainly isn't a Glenn Archer type who can just throw his body around and have a huge presence without touching the ball.

He usually does a reasonable job of negating a small forward. He'll be happy if he picks up 6 disposals to his opponent's 10 disposals and 1 goal. That will be marked as a good game from him. But think of Vossy in 2004-2005 and Leigh Fisher in 2006. They would usually rack up at least 13 disposals, 8 marks, chop off a few opposition inside 50's and set up a few goals. And while doing this they would usually stop their opponent from having a real influence on the game. That is the performance of a quality small defender.

Attard is probably the most one-dimensional player on our list. When he completely tags his opponent out of the game it will look pretty good and it does help the team. But if his opponent gets the 2-3 goals that they usually would, then there is no benefit in having Attard in the team. If he doesn't tag well, then he contributes absolutely nothing and is just another passenger.

This year he has done his job of negating an opposition small forward pretty well. But the value of having him in the team if we're making a serious assault on the flag is very questionable.

Super post - agree 100%.

It's a fine line for Attard being effecitive. If his opponant gets the better of him, even a bit, we're almost playing a man down.

I wouldn't be shattered to see him delisted, but I'd expect we'll keep him on the rookie list.