I reckon this bloke would have to be the complete package for a small forward.
What we wanted from Kenna and what he failed to give us, we have found in Eddie.

Eddie's over head marking is a treat to watch. I read somewhere on here that someone thought they saw Davies, up in the stands, cringe every time Eddie kicked a goal. While Davies is good over head, I reckon Betts is the better option in this instance.

He's not as lazy as some people first thought. His defensive pressure in the forward line is second to none. It's a credit to himself that he is able to tackle someone, bring them to ground, get up and tackle the next person. In these situations, you'll usually see Eddie do it 3 or 4 times.

His goal sense. Awesome. Seems to know exactly where the goals are every time. This ability is very crucial for a small forward and especially in Denis' gameplan where if the ball is brought to the ground by a spillage or a dropped mark, the small blokes are there to swoop and nail the goal. Couldn't fault Eddies efforts last night, however, if I were Denis, I would have said to Eddie "Listen son, every time Lance goes to mark the ball, you be at his feet and I promise you will have a field day". Should have done it more and could have easily kicked 2 more.

His weaving ability. Slipper little fella when he has the ball and he is ducking and weaving. For those of you who attended training after Eddie was picked up by us, you'll remember a handball goal drill where there were two teams and the only way to score a goal was to handball through the goal. Eddie was particularly good at this and displayed what he could do in heavy traffic. Last night, I thought his ability to do this was at it's best as he danced around two blokes and nailed one of his three goals.

Eddie, for mine, is the complete package for a small forward. One thing he lacks though is a certain level of aerobic capacity, but, once he gets that under his belt he will be even more dangerous.

_________________
Writer for SuperCoach Paige www.scpaige.com.au
Twitter - @johnfeeney24

Phoenix Johnson, agree.

His goal sense in the third quarter was great. He was willing to dodge and run to get within goal scoring range and looked settled when he had a shot.

I look forward to him kicking 6 goals in the AFL sometime soon..

But will he be able to get the same opportunities in a Fev Centric forward line?

I think last night showed that we are not always Fev centric.
Granted he wasn't playing but Waite is more than capable to bob up and jag a few goals.

I think Pagan has now realised this.

_________________
Writer for SuperCoach Paige www.scpaige.com.au
Twitter - @johnfeeney24

You hit the nail PJ. I still dissagree with the amount of time Eddie spends on the bench....he should be left in the forward line for the whole game and worry about having fresh legs in the midfield. The only reason Eddie got a bit towards the end was because of those injuries...i have no doubt that he would have sat off for the better part if both Carrats and Campo weren't injured in that 3rd quarter....mind you Campo played out the game but still had to sit out the better part of the 3rd.

_________________
R A D I C A L B R O T H E R S

Inspired by the One-Minute Sculptures of Erwin Wurm

"All in all is all we are..."

At the moment, I think Eddie is doing what Pagan wants him to do.
He's getting the opportunities to kick goals and he isn't mucking around.
At first I wanted to see Eddie get more game time when he first started out, but then I sat back and considered that he had a bout of OP last year and gained a bit of puppy fat on him.
Despite Pagan's efforts to get him as fit as possible, he still lacks the aerobic capacity to play out a full game.

However, give him 2-3 more pre seasons and we shall see Eddie playing out four quarters and perhaps even small bursts in the midfield.

_________________
Writer for SuperCoach Paige www.scpaige.com.au
Twitter - @johnfeeney24

true, considering the amount of ground he covered last night....sh** the little bugger was runnin round taking guys down left right and centre...

_________________
R A D I C A L B R O T H E R S

Inspired by the One-Minute Sculptures of Erwin Wurm

"All in all is all we are..."

My two comments on Betts is that you can see the moments hesitation when they go to tackle him cause they don't really know how to tackle a guy who only comes up to their belly button without going over the shoulder. And that moment is all he needs.

Secondly, he knows when to give it off and when to back himself (what I like to think of as his "Screw this, I'll just do this myself cause lets face it I'm better than all of you" moments)

He didn't even look at the goals on his 3rd goal. Just turned onto his left and nailed it (probably had his eyes closed just to make it challenging!)

Sweet

A good example of his scintillating goal sense.

_________________
Writer for SuperCoach Paige www.scpaige.com.au
Twitter - @johnfeeney24

Another thing in Betts' positives is:

He kicks straight - he has kicked 10.3 in his AFL career. That is he shoots at 77%.

If only our overall conversion rate was like this...

_________________
"A good composer does not initiate. He steals."

- Igor Stravinsky

yeah good effort from Eddie. The main things he needs to improve are fitness, which will come with time, and a bit of a tendency to overcommit in some of his chases.

PJ, how many more does he have to kick before the cult status is here?

_________________
The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

Ronald Reagan

The cult status was there since the Wizard Cup and some may even say when he kicked 4 in the Intra Club a few months back.

IMO, if Eddie keeps jagging the goals and doing the magical things, the cult status will be through the roof.

_________________
Writer for SuperCoach Paige www.scpaige.com.au
Twitter - @johnfeeney24

I think Eddie is to Denis' Carlton what Peter Bell was to his North of the mid-90s. He'll be trained to be there at the fall, and soon, he'll be the swooping small man at stoppages inside F50.

_________________
And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

I'm pretty peeved he doesn't get more game time. Given the passengers we've got, I'd rather carry eddie.

_________________
The measure of a life is a measure of love and respect
So hard to earn, so easily burned
In the fullness of time
A garden to nurture and protect

#DopeThenStash

Eddie for CHF!!!!!

_________________
“Every single element of the Club has to be the best in the league, meticulously and methodically, and only by doing this will we be elite and challenge for number 17.”
Greg Lee

Let's face it we should thank the Tigers after all we had vertually committed in taking Knobel in the pre season draft until the Tigers had snared him.

At best we may have picked up Betts as a rookie. I doubt we would have any wins on the board if Knobel was available. Eddie no doubt has played a big part in both our wins.

As much as we need support for French I'll take Eddie over Knobel any day.

Thanks Tigers.

Thank you very much Richmond.........

Bloody Hell! I wanted to run out on the ground and hug Eddie Betts when he kicked those specials in the last quarter!! ... And I live in Sydney!

How flower good is it that we finally have an electrifying, crumbing goal kicker. His skills really lit up the night.

Amazing evasive skills. What a sight watching defenders throwing despairing tackles and lunges in attempt to stop him... only for the ball to be going through the big sticks before they can even say "Where's the little bugger got to?"

Eddie: Simply the Betts!!!

_________________
When Dick became President, it was as if everyone at Carlton came out of the hailstorm and into the sunshine - Stephen Kernahan

YARRAN!!





.

Well, without trying to be a flatliner, he's not exactly the COMPLETE package. He'll always struggle to stick his tackles etc (ie, the Davey stuff) because of his height. What he'll need to do is work on this thighs and be strong enough to stick them, but without losing his pace.

But gee... he's close

_________________
Love Cricket? Love me