While your comments seem overly harsh (I dont think anyone playing AFL grade footy can be considered soft), your point about him pulling out of contests is spot on. He opts for self preservation often over taking a hit - not a body crunching season ending hit.

I could mention what he's like in a boxing ring too, but that'd be taking cheap shots.

I've no problem with him being a loose man or a defender at all... as long as he does it with aggression and a "fk you" attitude to the opposition. He has shown he can be absolute dynamite as a "QB" type backman setting up the play. But that mongrel instinct to not let your opponent get away with anything just isn't there. Also when the chips are down and the opposition are having a red hot go at the physical contest, he moves further away from the action.

This has not always been the case - one of his most outstanding games as a youngin' was against Collingwood a couple of years ago, and a moment of play where Didak or Medhurst tried to show him no respect and sell him candy. He had none of it, and buried the guy in a hard tough tackle. That's when he was all skin and bones... Carlton won that day, and that sort of contest from Gibbsy, you just thought what he could do when he put on some mass...

So something has changed, that's all I can gather.

He's been left on his own for too long.
He hasn't progressed like some others ( cotchin, martin ) because the possies he has played or the time he has played in them have not allowed him to grow into the player we expected.
He has been allowed to take the easy option for far too long.
The coaching staff haven't push him to become a better player and allowed to mosey around at his own pace which they are apparently satisfied with.
With his poise, skill and reading of the game I expected him to rip games apart this year, but apparently that's too much of an expectation.
For the coaching staff, him and some supporters that will surfice,
and that's were Carlton will stay.

A couple of things worried me from the weekend. First of all, his lack of natural instinct to put his body on his opponent, make contact and then gain a bit of space to mark. Case in point - the turnover on the wing that resulted in a goal. I'm not calling him out for being soft here (although he may well have been). My greatest concern was his lack of instinct to make that body contact. Can this be taught or re-learnt? I'm not sure.

The other thing I picked up reading the stats post game. 25 touches, 1 contested. Every other Carlton player had at least 2 (apart from the sub Lucas). This is not a great sign.

Of course Gibbs is still an automatic selection but I don't want my number 1 draft pick playing the QB role. This role is more suited to a Scotland type player. I want him winning clearances, breaking lines and consuming an opposition tagger.

_________________
Racing & sports tips, form, odds and systems building - http://www.puntingform.com.au

Mystery why AFL clubs aren't on the same page as supporters. Where Gibbs was picked shouldn't even enter into the discussion. Goddard, Hodge, Deledio and Yarran are former pick ones or former top ten picks who have been used in the backline. Bryce is just filling in whilst we're undermanned.

You need to pay more attention if you think Gibbs didn't put body on his opponent.

Yes I agree Kouta but a player like that has been wasted down back for so long.
He could easily have been played as a floating mid.
This could in my opinion would have given him licence to run between HB/HF and also taught him more in his education of the game.

I want him jumping over packs and marking the ball one handed, landing on his feet and sprinting through not around players before kicking a long goals from 70m out.

We have to be realistic though.

I see a 200+ HBFer in Gibbs. Not always the quarter back either just plain backman like AA Enright. He will break lines there and get the inside fifties we want from him playing there. He will also be asked to do the odd runwith role onball and will play the odd game forward where he will do well.

..unless he's being employed as a tight checking defender, which is doubtful considering how the coaches use him [and noises coming from the MC], then he's effective while we are either controlling the game upfield or breaking even.. ..but when we're being dominated and our 'press' is breaking down he often gets caught in space and can't effect the situation.. ..not neccessarily his fault, but a loose defender is often no real definitive help when the press gets broken down..

..a hard working high hf role could see him be the hit-up target coming out of the backline, and for the brief stint during the 4th Q when he was given leave to roam a bit more fwd he provided options and ran the ball more..

..otherwise i thought he did a fair job, he made a few mistakes but most did, was a pretty rusty team performance for the most part.. ..i think the idea of him being given time in the midfield is dusted for the time being.. ..fwd or back it's the flanks for him.. ..differing views on where he's best.. ..i think he's a fine, nice safe option down back.. ..and a dangerous, creative option up fwd.. ..the dark years have mentally scarred our club i believe..

_________________
..if you can't be good, be good at it..

I thought his last quarter was good. Played more attacking off half back. A bit like Yaz. Some nice line breaking and some good inside fifties. He smelt blood and went the throat. Good on him. He kept positioning himself well behind the ball at each stoppage ,compressed well when we had it deep in attack and was rarely beaten in any one on ones.
Hope he takes that form into next week.

For those calling him soft, have obviously never seen a game of SANFL where it's a lot more crash 'n' bash then the AFL.

Never once can I recall Gibblett squirming or shirking a contest as a 16 y.o playing against big blokes.

He's not going to be a Robbo or Bootsma , but not everyone can. You need a guy like Gibbs in your side to even things out.

_________________
Go to http://www.snoutslouts.org/ for a look at the mighty GFC...

The guy just doesn't like making mistakes - so in playing him in the back half run with/tagging roles over the past few years he has conditioned himself to always play the percentage option, will take no risks and doesnt really back himself to break a line or take a chance.

We therefore wont see the flair and skill he used in the SANFL as a 16/17 year old - or you will only see glimpses of it.

When Laidler, Yarran et al are back in our back line - we need him to play a sustained period up forward and tell him to back his creative instincts.

_________________
"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

Dirko you've seen more of his SANFL games than most. Apart from being played in different positions do you think he's influencing the game more now than when he was at the Bays?

_________________
Make Carlton Football Club your sponsored World Vision Child today

Best at streaming through the middle and directing players were to lead...

http://www.smartreplay.afl.com.au/?roun ... ality=high

http://www.smartreplay.afl.com.au/?roun ... ality=high

Love the pass to Hampson off the side of his boot.

Our best kick after Yarran. You don't need every player getting his hands dirty in packs like Kreuzer, Judd, Robbo, Curnow and Ellard. Prefer Gibbs coming into a stoppage and receiving to deliver the ball like Stanton. Can kick over the zone. You see how he creative he is when he wrong foots opponents and set players up. You can't teach this awareness to blunt weapons such as Robinson.

[youtube]-ziV30TizxQ[/youtube]

And yet he didn't get a single vote from the coaches. Take note Jon Anderson and Greg Baum.

Fair enough. But he's going to have to become a far better runner, if he's going to ever play that role.

That's exactly right. Stanton runs himself to complete exhaustion every game. Bryce jogs around at 75% and leaves plenty in the tank at the end of a game IMO.

That's the thing that is really frustrating. Seeing blokes like Stanton and daisy Thomas push themselves to the limit and reaping all the benefits. I think most would agree that Gibbs has more natural talent and smarts than those two, however he just doesn't have the same urgency to push himself and the required urgency to take the game on and be the difference.

Because a highlight from the days when Fevola was playing is entirely relevant to his current form.

We've obviously been undermanned since 2008 cos Gibbs has been playing uncontested hb since then.

Don't compare Gibbs to Yarran, Neither like the hard stuff but at least Yarran is quick, evasive and kicks well with both feet. Gibbs aint quick, he aint evasive, he aint fierce, he aint a gut runner....in fact he harly runs at all for a hb. just likes to take the mark (uncontested of course) jog a few mteres and kick to someone else

_________________
If I want your opinion, I'll give it to you!

..Gibbs reading of the play across HB is good, in our team it's very good.. ..as good as Snotland, Thornton is the best at it in my opinion, though he's got a hella lot more experience in this regard.. ..as i've said before though Gibbs plays safe far more often than creative.. ..he's great at switching play and kicking across/over zones.. ..but this is all reliant on the harder working team mates upfield..

..it's partly him, but also i believe more to do with coaching.. ..i can see and understand why some posters want him down back, for the potential they see and what he at times delivers.. ..but what they want is a slight variation than the coaches, going by the way he performs on field week in, week out..

..the way he's being coached, won't extract more than 75% of what he could deliver.. ..and this is part positional, and part 'role'..

_________________
..if you can't be good, be good at it..

The Gibbs of 08 looks so much better than the current version. WTF ??

Someone else said and i agree, gibbs creative talent is choked in defence and in the midfield. He plays safe. He is ensure if he gets hands on the ball, he does give it way and controls it. This is absolutely the right thing to do, but forward of centre he is more steve j like by hand. His periphal vision is excellent and he finds the outside open player. We he does not get enough opportunity to execute this skill.
Also i think gibbs could play full forward. He rarely loses one on one contests and is unlikely to be double teamed. He does have a lot going for him to play forward and he has skills others in the team dont have. We just need fill his role down back and release him.

_________________
'‘He had an enormous capacity to pump himself up and get the best out of himself when it mattered. He had a fire in his belly – a passion for the contest like few other players’' -- D Parkin in reference to the dominator