Jake Batchelor | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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Jake Batchelor

Tigers of Old said:
It's so hard to know, they go through so many players these days. Had various opponents at given times.
As a pure stopper he's probably done his job last week as many of the Lions moderate forwards had little impact.

Some will argue he's not the worst player on our list and would be stiff to get dropped from a team that won by 79 points.
However Bachar aside, my belief is we've not got enough quality ball coming from HB.
Lennon should be groomed in his role. We need more players who can reliably hit targets by foot coming out of defence and Batch misses too many.
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They're fair points.

I might look at dropping him in a different week, but considering tight checking will be needed against a heavily defensive Melbourne side on a wet deck, I'd keep him in at least for this week. I'd rather 7 touches and Batch's direct opponent with no goals rather then Lennons 20 touches, and the his man getting off the leash. Each goal on Friday night will be worth its weight in gold.
 
No doubt this week's game v Melbourne will be a dour, unattractive struggle TT and Batchelor would add to that but we have no shortage of guys who can shut down a player. Rance, Vlaustin, Morris & Astbury are all quality stoppers.
What we don't have is class from the back. I think Roos will target Houli as our delivery man and we'll need a plan B when that happens. Enter Bennon.
He will also give us flexibility if we need to throw him forward.
We need to beat Melbourne, not get dragged down to their level. We've got more class at our disposal, lets see it used.
 
I think we will get dragged to their level regardless. It sucks, but If this was a dry deck, get all the class you can. Belt them on the rebound with slick movement. On a wet deck we will be bombing to contests long down the line, heaps of stoppages, it's going to be hard for any class to stand out.
 
I wonder if Jake could reinvent himself as the big bodied stopper/tagger on baller type? Long shot I know but just a thought.
 
tigertim said:
I wonder if Jake could reinvent himself as the big bodied stopper/tagger on baller type? Long shot I know but just a thought.
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It's been my only thought too Tim...don't like his chances in tight an his endurance ,but in saying that while his on the list(2years) try an find a place that may benifit the team, you never know
 
I agree too!

He is a big bodied type and since we have him for another 2 years, signed on last year, why not.

When Grimes comes back, Rance, Astbury, Chaplin we can't play all of them.

But you know we play the conservative card too much.
 
I think he's still too heavy to play the role he'd be best suited for, personally.

Played his best football in 2011 when he was a skinny kid.
 
As our list continue's to improve he will be a solid depth player, this is how we get closer to top 4, not everyone can be Alex Rance...
 
Batchelor has been an enigma for me, he cannot compete in the air against taller competitors but is a very good mark when intercepting. I think I saw the answer last week .....he has a very poor vertical leap! When running for a loose ball it bounced on its head high into the air, three players leap for it and Batchelor had a noticeably lower jump than the others. Problem has been and will remain if we need to place him on a taller player or similar size that can leap and mark.
 
Stylo said:
I think he's still too heavy to play the role he'd be best suited for, personally.

Played his best football in 2011 when he was a skinny kid.
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Yep was a lot more mobile back then. Looked like he was going to be the next Joel Bowden..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw9yiT6V8rkr

He's stagnated big time as a footballer. Development wise just hasn't improved.
 
Tigers of Old said:
Yep was a lot more mobile back then. Looked like he was going to be the next Joel Bowden..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw9yiT6V8rkr

He's stagnated big time as a footballer. Development wise just hasn't improved.
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Never saw him as skilled as Bowden - more the pity.
 
He's definitely improved. Funnily enough people talk about Rance, but he was much maligned here by the experts too.

He's still got less than 50 games. There's still time for him to improve.
 
The average tackles stat that worries me despite the fact I love his aggression, go figure.
 
Tigers of Old said:
Yeah. Nah.

http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-richmond-tigers--jake-batchelor
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How much defensive responsibility did he have in those early days? Sure we could send him back to being a LMID, but that's not what the team needs from him. He's been recreated in terms of a player (I won't debate whether that's a good or bad change), but if you look at two years ago he wasn't even remotely close to getting a gig. At Coburg he looked like he shouldn't even be on the list.

Now he's a fringe 22 player. That's improvement. He's disposals and marks are increasing in the new position, and that's just the tangible stuff we can see on websites like that. What I'd like to know is all the intangibles. How many spoils, intercepts, 1%ers is he doing. He appears to be getting scored against, but is that when the teams in transition and he's been trying to be our 2nd Houli? How many 1 on 1 contests is he losing?

I think there's scope for improvement, and don't think he's done for yet. I don't think he's in our best 22, and when Grimes and Chaplin come back he may struggle. However, if we lose Rance and Chaplin over the next year or two, we need to have something in reserve. Elton may be one but we haven't got a second yet........
 
IMO Jake is a valuable player in that he falls into that 23-32 on our list. Not in your best 22 but will play many games each year. Needs to dramatically improve his disposal to be in the best 22
 
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