Welcome to Tigers: Jason Castagna

[TigerMasochist]

True to form, George had another blinder and again finds himself in the thick of the Richmond best. Personally I had him 3rd behind the premiership captain and the All Australian captain. IMO George was comfortably ahead of Riewoldt and Titch because he brought the heat on the ground and in the air, often in the same play. He bagged 3 goals to go with his 6 tackles (3 inside 50) and covered Towner’s arse all day. Towner had a howler, but George had some spare time so he just went about doing his job for him. As MD Jazz observed, George is adding key forward to his CV. ;D

Castagna was credited with four spoils, but he brought the ball to ground more often than that. There is no doubt that his aerial game belies his short stature. As Leysy astutely mentioned earlier, George gets serious altitude and is feline-esque in the way that he lands on his feet and then goes again at the fall. His ability to make high intensity repeat efforts has been elite in rounds one and three. And I’m not just talking about chasing tail. He can make a spoil on a key position defender, follow up and harry would be crumbers, scrap for position in heavy traffic and then get on the end of the ball all in less than ten seconds. It’s a shame he didn’t get the best opportunity to showcase that talent last week. His senior teammates in the midfield and defence made it near impossible for him to ply his trade in the R2 road game. A forgive run from a young colt on the up.

George has started to exhibit freakish abilities, both offensively and defensively. He outmarked Ryan Burton (191, 90) one on one when disadvantaged in front position and under a hospital Jack Higgins pass on centre wing in Q3. He was able to combine with and match Titch Edwards for electric handball movement on at least two occasions, resulting in 1.1 for the tigers. The most noteworthy of which came early in Q4, when he hammered O’Meara with a tackle at the top of forward 50. While Hawthorn retreated, he followed his work all the way to just outside the goal square, ransacked Frawley at ground level, (who he had outclassed in the air repeatedly throughout the day), stole the ball, briskly flicked it off by hand to Titch, who in turn set Butler through with a slick hand pass into the goalsquare. Butler took the opportunity to flaunt his polished soccer skills with a showy tap in on the goal line. And unsurprisingly there was a lot of noise about the Butler party trick. But the accolades should’ve gone to Jason Castagna. Particularly given the class of player he humiliated en route to this particular Richmond goal he was involved in. George was involved in 9 others Richmond scores, equal second for the match with Titch. And just a quick recap on the outclassed scalps... Frawley. Burton. O’Meara. An All Australian premiership defender and two young stars.

Defensively, George is developing an impressive habit of protecting us from shabby i50s, by either spoiling blokes twice his size, or if the ball is on the ground, lapping slower opponents to prevent the easy rebound. In one instance in Q3, Conca (?) blazed inside 50 from the centre square to the advantage of two Hawthorn defenders (at least one of the mullets) and George managed to beat both to the pill and turn a certain turnover into an easy loose ball get. Then like all smart smalls with an extra second of time, he centred to the corridor. Smarts, athleticism, tenacity. Leadership too? He did Towner’s job for him on Sunday and he was critical in turning the game our way as soon as he came on the ground in the season opener.

This bloke kid is quietly going apesh!t. In fact, his form is so hot that he is on track to become one of the most criminally underrated young players in the competition. If we just look at his 2018 statistics and multiply his current averages, he is on track for over 35 goals, 80 tackles and 50+ spoils at the end of the season proper. It’s a very simplistic way to get a yardstick, but the numbers sound as flashy as his performances in Rounds 1 & 3 have looked. Can’t wait to see how he goes on Saturday against an improving Brisbane outfit.

Geez! Are you his mum Gypsy? ;D Haven't had time to rummage through the replay yet, but it sounds like Georgie was even better than I thought at the game.

 

[Baloo]

Geez! Are you his mum Gypsy? ;D Haven't had time to rummage through the replay yet, but it sounds like Georgie was even better than I thought at the game.

He was very good. Got 2 votes from me

 

[Blind Turn]

Beautiful summary. He's added tearing in at the centre bounce on occasion to his resume, a few times with good effect. His handball skills under pressure are underrated.

Handball skills? Are we talking about the same guy?
Maybe Castagna has decided to do the exact opposite, with his hand balling, than what he did last year. He must be Bizzaro Castagna

 

[tigersnake]

True to form, George had another blinder and again finds himself in the thick of the Richmond best. Personally I had him 3rd behind the premiership captain and the All Australian captain. IMO George was comfortably ahead of Riewoldt and Titch because he brought the heat on the ground and in the air, often in the same play. He bagged 3 goals to go with his 6 tackles (3 inside 50) and covered Towner’s arse all day. Towner had a howler, but George had some spare time so he just went about doing his job for him. As MD Jazz observed, George is adding key forward to his CV. ;D

Castagna was credited with four spoils, but he brought the ball to ground more often than that. There is no doubt that his aerial game belies his short stature. As Leysy astutely mentioned earlier, George gets serious altitude and is feline-esque in the way that he lands on his feet and then goes again at the fall. His ability to make high intensity repeat efforts has been elite in rounds one and three. And I’m not just talking about chasing tail. He can make a spoil on a key position defender, follow up and harry would be crumbers, scrap for position in heavy traffic and then get on the end of the ball all in less than ten seconds. It’s a shame he didn’t get the best opportunity to showcase that talent last week. His senior teammates in the midfield and defence made it near impossible for him to ply his trade in the R2 road game. A forgive run from a young colt on the up.

George has started to exhibit freakish abilities, both offensively and defensively. He outmarked Ryan Burton (191, 90) one on one when disadvantaged in front position and under a hospital Jack Higgins pass on centre wing in Q3. He was able to combine with and match Titch Edwards for electric handball movement on at least two occasions, resulting in 1.1 for the tigers. The most noteworthy of which came early in Q4, when he hammered O’Meara with a tackle at the top of forward 50. While Hawthorn retreated, he followed his work all the way to just outside the goal square, ransacked Frawley at ground level, (who he had outclassed in the air repeatedly throughout the day), stole the ball, briskly flicked it off by hand to Titch, who in turn set Butler through with a slick hand pass into the goalsquare. Butler took the opportunity to flaunt his polished soccer skills with a showy tap in on the goal line. And unsurprisingly there was a lot of noise about the Butler party trick. But the accolades should’ve gone to Jason Castagna. Particularly given the class of player he humiliated en route to this particular Richmond goal he was involved in. George was involved in 9 others Richmond scores, equal second for the match with Titch. And just a quick recap on the outclassed scalps... Frawley. Burton. O’Meara. An All Australian premiership defender and two young stars.

Defensively, George is developing an impressive habit of protecting us from shabby i50s, by either spoiling blokes twice his size, or if the ball is on the ground, lapping slower opponents to prevent the easy rebound. In one instance in Q3, Conca (?) blazed inside 50 from the centre square to the advantage of two Hawthorn defenders (at least one of the mullets) and George managed to beat both to the pill and turn a certain turnover into an easy loose ball get. Then like all smart smalls with an extra second of time, he centred to the corridor. Smarts, athleticism, tenacity. Leadership too? He did Towner’s job for him on Sunday and he was critical in turning the game our way as soon as he came on the ground in the season opener.

This bloke kid is quietly going apesh!t. In fact, his form is so hot that he is on track to become one of the most criminally underrated young players in the competition. If we just look at his 2018 statistics and multiply his current averages, he is on track for over 35 goals, 80 tackles and 50+ spoils at the end of the season proper. It’s a very simplistic way to get a yardstick, but the numbers sound as flashy as his performances in Rounds 1 & 3 have looked. Can’t wait to see how he goes on Saturday against an improving Brisbane outfit.

nice GJ, enjoyed the read. I'm a big fan. One play for me sums up George's insane unconventionalism. I don't have fox anymore so I've only seen the game once damnit, in a pub full of UFC screens and fans with no sound, but there was once when we were kicking to the PRE, last Q? pass comes across the ground to his lead, but he hangs back, only half goes for the ball. I yell at the screen 'what are you doing Georgie?". If he'd gone full tilt he would have marked it IMO, but his man got it, he tackles him, ball, free to George, kicks the set shot. End result the same!. he kicks the set shot from the exact same posi as if he'd just gone for the mark on the lead. That's not saying he always does that, he often/ usually he does go full tilt so I'm not bagging him, but the thing is, he is so unpredictable, I don't think that even he knows what he's going to do next. I love him

 

[tha8ball]

I reckon this kid is a pretty good footballer. He is probably playing the hardest position in the side at the moment - he is required to play far taller than he is, to use his pace, to run and harass non stop and to kick goals. He doesn’t do one of them in a game and he cops heat. Realistically he is a kid. 33 games he has played. 33! All footballers go through inconsistencies early on... Tracking really well when you think about it.

 

[tigerlove]

How good is his set shot kicking so far. Leaps and bounds ahead of last year. Hopefully it's reward for a lot of effort put in at training in this facet of his game.

One he kicked long range on the weekend was a beautiful set shot but not a large sample size yet, the other two goals he kicked on the weekend were from the the goal square. Will be a huge advantage if he can nail more set shots this year, so far so good.

 

[easy_tiger]

ransacked Frawley
This bloke kid is quietly going apesh!t.

:hihi

im a fan.

 

[Letsroar]

Has shown improvement this year with his goal kicking but want to see more evidence from 15-40 meters straight in front to be convinced it is solved

 

[MD Jazz]

Handball skills? Are we talking about the same guy?
Maybe Castagna has decided to do the exact opposite, with his hand balling, than what he did last year. He must be Bizzaro Castagna

You haven’t watched this year? Try it, helps when making comments.

 

[Sir]

I can't be the only PRE that has young children (daughters) that watch 'The Next Step' (its a fake reality show around a dance studio where tweens do modern dance/compete)

Surely someone else has noticed how much Catagna looks like 'James'???

DOPPLEGANGER!!!!

 

[Blind Turn]

You haven’t watched this year? Try it, helps when making comments.

I was referring to last year. You obviously don't read subtleties.
I'll make my references more black and white next time

 

[Rfc4Ever]

I can't be the only PRE that has young children (daughters) that watch 'The Next Step' (its a fake reality show around a dance studio where tweens do modern dance/compete)

Surely someone else has noticed how much Catagna looks like 'James'???

DOPPLEGANGER!!!!

Agree. My daughter watches this show religiously.

 

[MD Jazz]

I was referring to last year. You obviously don't read subtleties.
I'll make my references more black and white next time

IIt was a smart arse reply. Deserved a smart arse response. George has some neat moves with his hands when under pressure. Had them last year too.

 

[Blind Turn]

IIt was a smart arse reply. Deserved a smart arse response. George has some neat moves with his hands when under pressure. Had them last year too.

Go back through this thread and you will see I am one of his biggest advocates, but hand balling was definately not one of his strengths. I suggest you go back and watch some footy.
I was using humour to support your concept that he's improved, not being a smart arse but you obviously didn't get that either

 

[Timmy99]

Had another great game. Must be one of the first picks each week.

6 Tackles.
3 goals.
15 touches.
5 Marks.

 

[BT Tiger]

He is a real improver this bloke

Set shots look much better over the last couple of weeks

 

[seven]

He is a real improver this bloke

Set shots look much better over the last couple of weeks

Think he is starting to play to his potential.
Tougher game next week.
Hope he can keep it up

 

[Brettstigers]

Good game is obviously improved but one should always get a knock in.

Hit up two into the five yard box i.e. easy points. If you can't make the distance then it needs to be at least ten out to give the forwards a chance. Pet hate of Blight as a coach - would have pulled him for it.

 

[turk-d-tiger]

I had him for 40 goals this year so far has 8 goals 4 behinds exactly same as townsend jack has 9 goals 5 behinds

leader is Dusty with 12 goals 4 behinds

 

[Smoking Aces]

Leysy is onto something here.