Goodbye Mabior Chol | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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Goodbye Mabior Chol

bringbakflemmo

Tiger Superstar
Apr 15, 2009
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I thought his efforts after the ruck contests were good but he had no impact on the game.
Would prefer Soldo at the moment.
 

achillesjones

"just kick it to Royce"
Apr 19, 2004
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Seems to be tiring. Might be playing injured. Lacked his usual spark to do the flashy moves today.
 

eZyT

Tiger Legend
Jun 28, 2019
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He gets another crack. Right call but Mabs has got to make it count.

tough conditions, sure,

and in his defence, Lynchy and Jack were never comfortable.

but big Mabs couldn't have played a poor game at a worse time.

potentially a real sliding door moment.

Its a tough one the laconic style thing.

you cant say

'look more intense'

its their style.

just like you couldn't say to Mitch Robinson

'look more laconic'
 
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Jul 26, 2004
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Hasn’t played well when it’s wet.


No he hasn't. The conditions don't suit him one bit it seems. That said he's got to do better than a handful of touches.
When he dropped that mark yesterday in the open I'd seen enough.
I'm a fan of our current structure (with the relief ruckman) but CCJ or Balta could do no worse than what Mabior has served up in the past fortnight.
Disappointing but I'm guessing the MC will be looking elsewhere this week. Chol has dropped his opportunity.
 

RoarEmotion

Tiger Champion
Aug 20, 2005
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6,449
Was at the game from the southern stand. He was avoiding contact at all ruck contests. Was completely gassed many times too. If I’m groping for reasons maybe he is asthmatic - I used to struggle in the super cold And not be able to breathe. Whatever it is though - fitness, medical or mental he needs to sort it out to compete in all conditions.

Love his goal kicking and that is valuable but you have to work hard to make space or go and get it otherwise you are completely dependent on your teammates to do the work for you.
 

Harry

Tiger Legend
Mar 2, 2003
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Thought Nank struggled in the ruck against kruezer who isn't one of the bigger rucks. Chol struggled even more so. Would like to see Soldo do the heavy first ruck lifting while nank floats around the ground where needed. Especially against the eagles nank could plug holes in front of kennedy darling and McGovern
 
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Jul 26, 2004
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Just on this..seems plenty want Balta to come in as a replacement for Chol who's been playing forward & ruck.
However Balta is being developed as a key back at VFL level.
He showed mid year that he was getting lost & confused when being shuffled around all over the place.
Do we want to go back to that or give the lad some consistency?

If looking for a Chol replacement (who struggled in wet conditions), then I'd look at CCJ who's been playing very well in a similar role to Chol at VFL level.
However the braver move may be to stick with Chol despite his quiet output the past fortnight, & hope he does better on a dryer day.
 
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Tony Braxton-Hicks

There are no stupid ideas, just stupid people
Aug 10, 2004
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They've been shuffling him in the VFL the past 2 weeks, which suggests they're keeping him in mind for a role that isn't key back, and/or that they'd go with Garth for that defensive role anyway.
 
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Bullarto Tiger

Tiger Legend
Mar 17, 2012
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Is going to be an interesting dilemma for MC to address.
Not convinced that Chol is going to be sufficiently dependable or competitive in September.
 

LeeToRainesToRoach

Tiger Legend
Jun 4, 2006
33,186
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However the braver move may be to stick with Chol despite his quiet output the past fortnight, & hope he does better on a dryer day.

Don't think we can take players into finals who aren't physical when they need to be. Chol has shown improvement but has work to do in this area. Two quiet games against bottom four opposition doesn't bode well for the tougher games to come.

In 2017 we brought in Graham and Townsend late, both hard players. Broad too, who is hard enough.

Yeah Balta lost form and deserved to go back to the 2's, but he's naturally aggressive and will keep coming at the opposition. He is a like-for-like replacement for Chol and gives us that point of difference that Soldo and CCJ (at this stage) don't.
 
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Brodders17

Tiger Legend
Mar 21, 2008
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Just on this..seems plenty want Balta to come in as a replacement for Chol who's been playing forward & ruck.
However Balta is being developed as a key back at VFL level.
He showed mid year that he was getting lost & confused when being shuffled around all over the place.
Do we want to go back to that or give the lad some consistency?

If looking for a Chol replacement (who struggled in wet conditions), then I'd look at CCJ who's been playing very well in a similar role to Chol at VFL level.
However the braver move may be to stick with Chol despite his quiet output the past fortnight, & hope he does better on a dryer day.
Its not ideal to use a 20yo to plug gaps, but i reckon he went back to see if he could be a cover if Grimes or Broad went down, rather than it being about him not being good enough as a fwd/ruck.
If he is our best option to play that back up role he should now finals are almost here.