Don't know if its introverted personalities or coaching but I agree with you in that we don't have many players at all who like to back themselves in.

Players of the type who will see a gap in between 3 opposition players and say 'righto, I have enough pace and skills to break through them all and/or get them to come after me and set up someone else'. It's not because they don't have the talent to, otherwise they would be here, its just that they are scared to for whatever reason. Could be they are scared of making themselves look foolish, or a directive from the coach to play more defensive. I don't know.

Currently, the only ones who do this are Judd, Bower, Armfield and Murphy. Waite and Walker are two who are also good at it but we need a hell of a lot more of them, and fast.

All good teams' players have a touch of confidence (not arrogance) about them but we don't see that enough from our players even though we know that they have the talent to do that.

All good teams' players have a touch of confidence (not arrogance) about them but we don't see that enough from our players even though we know that they have the talent to do that.

The too many introverts query did cross my mind, but I don't think its a big issue. The main issue is they haven't played that many games, which is why their more introverted/not as confident, which will generally be the case. If they have the ability and drive to play, it wont matter about their personality.

I think our issue is more leadership, when things get tough out on the ground. Essendon* still have Fletcher, Lucas and Lloyd. We only really have Judd who provides leadership at the moment, with Simmo to a lesser extent coming into that category. The others who will or do provide leadership qualities are Waite (Injured) and our number 1 picks Kreuz, Murph and Gibbs, who are all too young at this stage to provide legitimate leadership qualities. And no our vice captain is not a leader, he is a squib.

why their more introverted/not as confident, which will generally be the case. vice captain i

The too many introverts query did cross my mind, but I don't think its a big issue. The main issue is they haven't played that many games, which is why their more introverted/not as confident, which will generally be the case. If they have the ability and drive to play, it wont matter about their personality.

I think our issue is more leadership, when things get tough out on the ground. Essendon* still have Fletcher, Lucas and Lloyd. We only really have Judd who provides leadership at the moment, with Simmo to a lesser extent coming into that category. The others who will or do provide leadership qualities are Waite (Injured) and our number 1 picks Kreuz, Murph and Gibbs, who are all too young at this stage to provide legitimate leadership qualities. And no our vice captain is not a leader, he is a squib.

People assume introverts aren't as confident however this isn't always the case.....often it's the extroverts that lack confidence deep down and they seek attention to compensate.

Judd, Kreuzer and Bower are supposedly all introverts and I'm very happy with their performances so far this year.

Steve Waugh was an introvert and he always seemed to rise to the occasion when required.

Gibbs probably wouldn't be deemed to be 'extroverted', but there was a fair bit of play (and several stoppages) on the wing right in front of me in the last quarter, and, sadly perhaps, he was the only bloke that I saw and heard getting stuck into the Bombers with any sort of aggression - physically and verbally. Some of their guys were particularly 'verbal' (easy to do when you're ~8-9 goals up), but Gibbs was the only one I observed giving any lip and physicality back to them. A bit of a shame to see a few more not give a yelp, unfortunately.

Anyone who thinks Gibbs just cruises along and passively goes about his footy with perhaps a perceived lack of passion for the jumper (I've heard all that said many times already), would've been well served to see those few exchanges on the wing. Looked to be taking the situation pretty bloody personally to me, and stepped in to fly the flag when a couple of our guys were copping some treatment. Introverted perhaps, but I don't mind if they're willing to step up when it's required. Simpson and Joseph are another two that typically show some ticker in this regard, but we'll need to get more blokes on the same page with this. Probably need to be a bit more 'unsociable' as a playing group, and find some more mongrel.