Armitage is a long way off it.

[dcstkfc]

Had one clearance. He's a hard nut, but he is a long, long way off being a no.1 mid. And he doesn't run and create, he needs to get on his bike if he's not winning the hard ball. The ball is in your court Dave, 12 weeks to go, step up and stop putting in these stinkers.

[Saintersss]

He had a really good start, but has struggled in recent weeks.

He needs to lift.

[jonesy]

He's just a player.

Was born 15 years to late. Would of been good in the 80s/90's

[Eastern]

Inexperience creates inconsistency. Armo, like most/all young and/or inexperienced players are going to have stinkers every now and again. It's part of the learning process !!

[dcstkfc]

He's just a player.

Was born 15 years to late. Would of been good in the 80s/90's

Interesting perspective, and I don't totally disagree.

Is he a bit like Brock McLean, one-paced and not creative enough?

[plugger66]

At least we dont mark players week by week.

[dcstkfc]

At least we dont mark players week by week.

Mate I've been saying this for weeks.

[suss]

You can't look at one game against the best team in the league and say 'he's a long way of it'. He's had a good year and will feature heavily in the b&f votes. He certainly wasn't our best player tonight but he certainly wasn't our worst either.

[Teflon]

Threads a tad harsh.

The kid has been doing a great job replacing Hayes.....not an easy gig.....WITHOUT a ruckman...and little inside help.

[dcstkfc]

You can't look at one game against the best team in the league and say 'he's a long way of it'. He's had a good year and will feature heavily in the b&f votes. He certainly wasn't our best player tonight but he certainly wasn't our worst either.

No, he doesn't win enough of it and has played some pretty average games.

Good v Richmond, Adelaide, Freo
Poor v Essendon, Carlton, Hawthorn, Collingwood

Average v Lions, Melbourne

Geelong doesn't count as he played forward

[saintbob]

Very, Very harsh he has been one of our best over the last 4-5 weeks.

Seemed to spend a lot more time in the forward line tonight, maybe he's a little bit sore.

[dcstkfc]

Very, Very harsh he has been one of our best over the last 4-5 weeks.

Seemed to spend a lot more time in the forward line tonight, maybe he's a little bit sore.

Again, the bias for midfielders has been confirmed. We are one of the bottom 2-3 clearance teams in the league. He is our leading inside midfielder.
Yet people continue to heap massive praise on him after 20 touch, 3 clearance 5 tackle games (just as an example). He is plugging away, and it's not for want of effort, but he is off the pace at the moment when you look at inside mids across the league.

[Dr Spaceman]

I agree he's not there yet, but he's had a fairly good start. Especially in the absence of Lenny.

He will continue to improve but at this stage of his development that can only happen through continued games at senior level. Unless his form really drops off, the VFL should be a no Armo zone.

[plugger66]

Very, Very harsh he has been one of our best over the last 4-5 weeks.

Seemed to spend a lot more time in the forward line tonight, maybe he's a little bit sore.

No he is just an average footballer. Nothing wrong with that but people look through glasses that I want to see.

[jonesy]

Very, Very harsh he has been one of our best over the last 4-5 weeks.

Seemed to spend a lot more time in the forward line tonight, maybe he's a little bit sore.

Again, the bias for midfielders has been confirmed. We are one of the bottom 2-3 clearance teams in the league. He is our leading inside midfielder.
Yet people continue to heap massive praise on him after 20 touch, 3 clearance 5 tackle games (just as an example). He is plugging away, and it's not for want of effort, but he is off the pace at the moment when you look at inside mids across the league.

Agree.

People overate our average/young players games.
Armo's the type of footballer you'd want to make it,but at the moment I just see a borderline player who holds his place in a poor side,but not in a top 8 side

[suss]

Very, Very harsh he has been one of our best over the last 4-5 weeks.

Seemed to spend a lot more time in the forward line tonight, maybe he's a little bit sore.

Again, the bias for midfielders has been confirmed. We are one of the bottom 2-3 clearance teams in the league. He is our leading inside midfielder.
Yet people continue to heap massive praise on him after 20 touch, 3 clearance 5 tackle games (just as an example). He is plugging away, and it's not for want of effort, but he is off the pace at the moment when you look at inside mids across the league.

Dunno but I reckon the boss would be happy if armo got 20 touches, 3 clearances and 5 tackles each week. He's still only played 38 games and is roving to a very junior ruck man.

[noreason41]

Threads a tad harsh.

The kid has been doing a great job replacing Hayes.....not an easy gig.....WITHOUT a ruckman...and little inside help.

Umm, Wood had 40 hitouts, McEvoy had 30, not big enough a difference to say we were without a ruckman this game.

Not to mention McEvoy was our 5th highest disposal getter

[Teflon]

Threads a tad harsh.

The kid has been doing a great job replacing Hayes.....not an easy gig.....WITHOUT a ruckman...and little inside help.

Umm, Wood had 40 hitouts, McEvoy had 30, not big enough a difference to say we were without a ruckman this game.

Not to mention McEvoy was our 5th highest disposal getter

Yes, but am I only referring to this game when I say Armos been good and have we broken even in most games ruck wise this year?

Bens great round the ground. The problem is his tap work aint flash and youngmids like Armo could probably benefit from that....

[AnythingsPossibleSaints]

Had one clearance. He's a hard nut, but he is a long, long way off being a no.1 mid. And he doesn't run and create, he needs to get on his bike if he's not winning the hard ball. The ball is in your court Dave, 12 weeks to go, step up and stop putting in these stinkers.

Pretty hard to get clearances when you spend almost the whole night in the forward 50!

[noreason41]

Threads a tad harsh.

The kid has been doing a great job replacing Hayes.....not an easy gig.....WITHOUT a ruckman...and little inside help.

Umm, Wood had 40 hitouts, McEvoy had 30, not big enough a difference to say we were without a ruckman this game.

Not to mention McEvoy was our 5th highest disposal getter

Yes, but am I only referring to this game when I say Armos been good and have we broken even in most games ruck wise this year?

Bens great round the ground. The problem is his tap work aint flash and youngmids like Armo could probably benefit from that....

Collingwood has had Jolly missing for most of the year...
they are 15th for hitouts (note that Geelong is 12th, Hawthorn is 11th and we are 10th) -
How have they been going losing most of the hitouts??

[mbogo]

WELL this entire thread makes me sick - Armo might be a great guy - but if he wanted to show ANYTHING - today was the day and he did NOT!
But he was not alone.
What does this mean? A long time waiting I guess - SADLY. ...

[Iceman234]

Main thing for Armo tonight is learn something from it.

He was led to the ball all night, but it could actually be good for him to beaten badly if that makes sense - as long as he learns from how hard his opponents worked and realises what is really required.

[vacuous space]

I'm not sure why Armo spent so much time forward. Then again, I'm not sure why we keep persisting with playing in and under mids in the forward line. It only worked in 2009 when we were clobbering teams. Now that we're not winning out of the centre, those players are just disappearing. It's not just Armo tonight. Steven wasn't doing much before he was thrown into the middle. The same holds true of just about anyone we've stationed in forward 50 this year.

Considering we just played the benchmark team, it's hard not to look at what they do with a bit of envy. They rotate huge numbers through the middle and the bench. The only permanent forwards are the big guys. It's a really stark contrast to us. We had two taggers in the middle for most of the game and they went with ball-winners. It comes as no surprise to me that they won out of that.

Armo's a ball winner. You either play him in the centre or you don't play him at all. Tonight we had him spectating from the forward line again. I don't know how many times Ross needs to see that guys like Armo, Eddy, Mini aren't permanent forwards. I doubt Cripps or Ledger will be either. It strikes me that only truly exceptional players make it as forwards. Ross keeps trying to send grunts down there to do it.

[BringBackMadDog]

Armos biggest problem is that He doesn't work hard enough when he's getting beaten. He has to learn to just run harder and will himself into the game, that's what makes good players great players

[dcstkfc]

Had one clearance. He's a hard nut, but he is a long, long way off being a no.1 mid. And he doesn't run and create, he needs to get on his bike if he's not winning the hard ball. The ball is in your court Dave, 12 weeks to go, step up and stop putting in these stinkers.

Pretty hard to get clearances when you spend almost the whole night in the forward 50!

How much did he play in the forward 50? I really am struggling to remember.
I'll happily retract some of my statement if I can get this backed up with numbers.