Adam Cooney: Lazy?

[wimberga]

Want your definitive opinion

Is Cooney Lazy?

I want to hear a yes or no and why, maybe some examples.

My mother watches him during the warm up and always complains about how lazy he is. He gets plenty of the ball on the field and is damaging most times, but is he lazy? could he be doing more?

[hujsh]

Maybe when losing a tag...but if this is what he does when lazy then i can't wait to see him try.

[Go_Dogs]

I don't think he's lazy, I think he's pretty driven. He's suffered from lack of pre-season at times and a fitness base that hasn't allowed him to work at the level required.

[Twodogs]

Not lazy. He works to hard at training.

[Bulldog Revolution]

I think its an unfair label

Thought he worked very hard last year and so far this

[Mantis]

Want your definitive opinion

Is Cooney Lazy?

I want to hear a yes or no and why, maybe some examples.

My mother watches him during the warm up and always complains about how lazy he is. He gets plenty of the ball on the field and is damaging most times, but is he lazy? could he be doing more?


Who really cares about the warm-up. I am too busy trying to finish the last of my full strength beers to worry about a warm-up.

Adam's work-rated during 'game time' has certainly improved over the past 12 months and if it continues to improve he will become an elite player within the competition.

[mjp]

Want your definitive opinion

Is Cooney Lazy?

I want to hear a yes or no and why, maybe some examples.

My mother watches him during the warm up and always complains about how lazy he is. He gets plenty of the ball on the field and is damaging most times, but is he lazy? could he be doing more?

Perception.

People need to remember that Cooney is a burst runner, not a Daniel Cross type accumulator. When he goes, he goes flat out for a short time - and then he will walk or jog to recover. Then he goes flat out again.

It is not physically possible for him to provide continuous, repeated efforts at the rate of speed/intensity that he runs with. He isn't lazy - he is just a different kind of athlete to some of the others your mum is used to seeing.

[wimberga]

she goes for collingwood, as if thats not annoying enough, she is always on about him being lazy

I must admit that during the games i dont think he is lazy at all, and totally agree with what you are saying MJP. I do however think that his warmup is PERCEIVED to be a bit slack.

Maybe hes not very flexible. and Mantis, who cares about the warmup? It's just preparation for the match and as a result not so important to do 100%. But its probably something he doesnt want to slack off on if he ever wants to be captain though.

[Mantis]

Maybe hes not very flexible. and Mantis, who cares about the warmup? It's just preparation for the match and as a result not so important to do 100%. But its probably something he doesnt want to slack off on if he ever wants to be captain though.

Our present captain slacks off during the game so slacking off during the warm-up should count for very little.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Cooney usually has good tackle stats (that sounds slightly naughty) which normally means he's been working hard.

[natsy]

i am not a big fan of cooney and think he is overrated. for me, its not that he is lazy, but that he is most interested in "sheepdogging", scrapping around at the back of the pack just in case he can get the glory of snapping a quick goal but never going for the hard ball. problem is, the goal doesn't usually eventuate. in the mean time, his man is loose and gains possession of the ball when the dawg's trademark inconsistancy kicks in. i'm sure i wouldn't mind if he was a consistant sheepdog though!

the reason i think he is overrated is due to his stats. he gets heaps of touches every week, but they are sometimes (and, in a bad week, often) detrimental to the dogs scoreline or don't really have a positive impact on the game. last week for instance, i heard him mentioned on SEN news as best on ground for the dogs. clearly he wasn't (although picking their best on ground last week would have been a hard task), but can deceive loads of people due to the stats. perhaps thats not really cooney's problem, rather it is the problem of lazy reporters that don't actually watch the game.

at times i have been in favour of trading him (i think we could do pretty well out of that trade!) but i do appreciate his potential. maybe it would do him good to be dropped to the VFL for a week when he is underperforming, i think once he knows his position is not as safe as it has been previously it might make him try a little harder.

perhaps i am misunderstanding his skill set and game plan, please enlighten if this is the case as i'd prefer to be a fan than a hater!

[LostDoggy]

The quality of his disposal is a class above. Last week, even when we were being killed all over the ground, whenever Coons or Aker got their hands on the ball, their kicks in any direction would find an open player and hit them right on the chest.

He IS slightly over-rated by most of us though, justifiably, though, off the back of a handful of games where he's won the game for us off his own boot -- 6 centre-square clearances in 5 minutes in the last quarter, kicking five goals in a second half to drag us back from forty points down, tearing open a midfield and racking up 30+ touches to set up a glut of goals etc etc.

If he can pull these efforts together to become a consistent match-winner, he will have justified the hype.

[Sockeye Salmon]

i am not a big fan of cooney and think he is overrated. for me, its not that he is lazy, but that he is most interested in "sheepdogging", scrapping around at the back of the pack just in case he can get the glory of snapping a quick goal but never going for the hard ball. problem is, the goal doesn't usually eventuate. in the mean time, his man is loose and gains possession of the ball when the dawg's trademark inconsistancy kicks in. i'm sure i wouldn't mind if he was a consistant sheepdog though!

the reason i think he is overrated is due to his stats. he gets heaps of touches every week, but they are sometimes (and, in a bad week, often) detrimental to the dogs scoreline or don't really have a positive impact on the game. last week for instance, i heard him mentioned on SEN news as best on ground for the dogs. clearly he wasn't (although picking their best on ground last week would have been a hard task), but can deceive loads of people due to the stats. perhaps thats not really cooney's problem, rather it is the problem of lazy reporters that don't actually watch the game.

at times i have been in favour of trading him (i think we could do pretty well out of that trade!) but i do appreciate his potential. maybe it would do him good to be dropped to the VFL for a week when he is underperforming, i think once he knows his position is not as safe as it has been previously it might make him try a little harder.

perhaps i am misunderstanding his skill set and game plan, please enlighten if this is the case as i'd prefer to be a fan than a hater!

When someone writes this much shit in just their third post, you just have to wonder about their motives.

[LostDoggy]

When someone writes this much shit in just their third post, you just have to wonder about their motives.

Was wondering the same thing SS.

FWIW I think that he is definately not lazy.

I reckon Cooney's defensive side of game, chasing & tackling has improved out of sight.

With us wanting to be more accountable in the middle it could only be a positive that he has stepped up in that area.

He also has to learn how to handle the close tag, as he can go missing for period in a match if he is being shut down.

[The Underdog]

Was wondering the same thing SS.

FWIW I think that he is definately not lazy.

I reckon Cooney's defensive side of game, chasing & tackling has improved out of sight.

With us wanting to be more accountable in the middle it could only be a positive that he has stepped up in that area.

He also has to learn how to handle the close tag, as he can go missing for period in a match if he is being shut down.

Cooney's defensive pressure and tackling have been very good in the last couple of years.
I think he's quite underrated as a crumber/hard ball get guy. When he's on he can pull the ball out of the pack and clear it more dangerously than anyone in our team. One other thing he does that is underappreciated is kick goals. He doesn't get much credit for it but he is goalkicking midfielder. He is the most dangerous player we have in the midfield for a number of reasons.
I agree though on the point about hard tags. He has struggled with good pressure from a close checking opponent. Hopefully with a decent pre-season under his belt he'll have the strength and endurance to get over this.
He is not lazy.

[LostDoggy]

Dont think he is lazy. I think he would rather be a Chris Judd than a Daniel Kerr. We need him to be a combination of those 2

[Twodogs]

perhaps i am misunderstanding his skill set and game plan, please enlighten if this is the case as i'd prefer to be a fan than a hater!


Cooney's job is to lose his tag. If he gets caught on the wrong side of the contest and his opponent gets the ball that's bad luck but but he's ran hard to lose his opponent and that's what he should be doing. Some of the other guys could be working a bit harder to cover him maybe but you cant shoot Adam for doing his job.

[The Dogfather]

I think his work rate looked good in the NAB cup games. It's consistency that he needs to work on. There's no doubt he's shown us flashes of brilliance on and off since 2005, it just doesn't happen often enough.

[Mofra]

I think Cooney was lazy in his first two seasons. His 06 showed he would chase, and his 07 his workrate going the other way was better than many other established senior players.

As MJP alluded to, he is a burst player who has added strength & an inside midfielder capacity to his game. If any player on the list is to elevate themselves from good to elite footballer, Cooney is the most likely this year, given he was solid last year off no pre-season. He also has the ability to move forward & kick goals - this is a devastating ability to escape a tag, as some taggers like Rawlings & Baker aren't fantatsic overhead & Cooney does time his leads well from the F50. He is a little like Hodge in this regard - can play multiple poositions well.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Cooney's job is to lose his tag. If he gets caught on the wrong side of the contest and his opponent gets the ball that's bad luck but but he's ran hard to lose his opponent and that's what he should be doing. Some of the other guys could be working a bit harder to cover him maybe but you cant shoot Adam for doing his job.

Good point. This is precisely why I'm loathe to criticise a player with regards to not being accountable or a ball winner... I always have a feeling that my direct observations during a game may not reflect the role the coaches have for the player. I know Eagleton is one who is often labelled as being unaccountable and a one way runner. It may be true, but it may also be he is being told to hang off his player and be a free man.
Having said that, one of the things I am critical of Cooney is he appears to shank a fair percentage of his kicks for goal on the run, when not under a great deal of pressure. Seems to me to have a problem steadying himself. I feel more confident when he is havign a set shot.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

When someone writes this much shit in just their third post, you just have to wonder about their motives.

I think a bit harsh? At least natsy attempted to explain his reasons why he doesn't rate Cooney... and did give a disclaimer that maybe he's missing something, and was seeking to engage others' opinions on his thoughts.
It wasn't as if he said Cooney is gobshite, and we will never win a premiership whilst he is in the side."

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

i am not a big fan of cooney and think he is overrated. for me, its not that he is lazy, but that he is most interested in "sheepdogging", scrapping around at the back of the pack just in case he can get the glory of snapping a quick goal but never going for the hard ball. problem is, the goal doesn't usually eventuate. in the mean time, his man is loose and gains possession of the ball when the dawg's trademark inconsistancy kicks in. i'm sure i wouldn't mind if he was a consistant sheepdog though!

the reason i think he is overrated is due to his stats. he gets heaps of touches every week, but they are sometimes (and, in a bad week, often) detrimental to the dogs scoreline or don't really have a positive impact on the game. last week for instance, i heard him mentioned on SEN news as best on ground for the dogs. clearly he wasn't (although picking their best on ground last week would have been a hard task), but can deceive loads of people due to the stats. perhaps thats not really cooney's problem, rather it is the problem of lazy reporters that don't actually watch the game.

at times i have been in favour of trading him (i think we could do pretty well out of that trade!) but i do appreciate his potential. maybe it would do him good to be dropped to the VFL for a week when he is underperforming, i think once he knows his position is not as safe as it has been previously it might make him try a little harder.

perhaps i am misunderstanding his skill set and game plan, please enlighten if this is the case as i'd prefer to be a fan than a hater!

Hey Natsy,
I've bolded the points I'm responding to.
With regard to the "sheepdogging". As I think somone else has pointed out, this may in fact be the coaches role designed for him. We do know that he often cops a hard tag. You have to ask why this is so if he is in fact not a player other coaches rate as the type of player who if not directly shut down could hurt them.

We also know that at many times he seems to have struggled breaking hard tags and often Eade throws him forward as a means of shaking the tag or at the least negating it by beating his man overhead, and forcing the opposition to change his opponent. If you look at Cooney goal output it's quite good for a midfielder. I think he's quite a good kick from a set shot but needs to improve his goal accuracy on the run.

Cooney has had a couple of less than ideal pre-seasons due to injuries which have probably contributed to his inability to run out a tag. Word is he has had a very good preseason this year and hopefully this will see him have a higher fitness base to build a good season from.

Have a check of his stats, http://www.pro-stats.com.au/psw/web/team_home?tid=115

Try comparing His 1% er's, contested ball winning, inside 50's, rebound 50's, bounces, with some other similar type players in the comp. and you'll see that whilst he is not in the higher echelon of elite players yet, he is not deserving of too much scorn either.
An interesting comparison is with Simon Goodwin of Adelaide for one. Cooney stacks up pretty well.

Whilst he has yet to really take the comp by storm, I think some of your observations may be clouded somewhat by your memory focussing on the things he does wrong, whilst perhaps some of his strengths go unnoticed.

I think perhaps the fact he was a number 1 draft pick clouds things. We seem to expect perhaps that this somehow means that this player will ALWAYS turn out to be the best player in the comp.

The things I would like to see Cooney improve on are his conversion rate on goal when on the run (overall though his goal/point ratio is still above 60%- which is very good), and reducing his error rate a tad.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Dont think he is lazy. I think he would rather be a Chris Judd than a Daniel Kerr. We need him to be a combination of those 2

Do you think that it might be a tad unrealistic to expect this? If this is what we are expecting of Cooney then I think it's fair to say we might never cease thinking he's overrated.
I'm sure all 15 clubs would relish having a player with the skillsets of both Judd and Kerr, but at the end of the day I think they'd realise they may be likely to be disappointed more times than not in expecting any player at their club to be both.
Personally I'll be happy if Cooney can just fulfill his own potential and use the skills he has to maximum effect.

[hujsh]

Your right YHF he does look good against Goodwin although i'm not sure their contested possession stats are right. Good looking site for stats.

I think if the draft order was a secret everyone would be very happy with Cooney's career so far.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Your right YHF he does look good against Goodwin although i'm not sure their contested possession stats are right. Good looking site for stats.

I think if the draft order was a secret everyone would be very happy with Cooney's career so far.

I think the comparison with Goodwin on that site was only for 2007 season. I think if you want to look at career averages you need to subscribe. I too was surprised at the comparison with Goodwin. In fact I initially chose him because I thought it would show a disparity b.w Cooney and Goodwin on contested possies. Perhaps it highlights that Cooney has improved somewhat in this regard..........or as you say the stats are incorrect.

Good point. I hadn't thought of it in those terms...it raises an interesting question.. for another thread.

[ledge]

I dont believe he is lazy , just lazy looking as some exceptional footballers look. Hawkins from geelong has same look also Nathan Ablett.

[LostDoggy]

Do you think that it might be a tad unrealistic to expect this? If this is what we are expecting of Cooney then I think it's fair to say we might never cease thinking he's overrated.
I'm sure all 15 clubs would relish having a player with the skillsets of both Judd and Kerr, but at the end of the day I think they'd realise they may be likely to be disappointed more times than not in expecting any player at their club to be both.
Personally I'll be happy if Cooney can just fulfill his own potential and use the skills he has to maximum effect.

Granted Cooney isn't half the player Judd or Kerr are. I believe he still looks to do the flashy runs (Judd) rather than the hard stuff with touches of brilliance (Kerr).

[hujsh]

Dont think he is lazy. I think he would rather be a Chris Judd than a Daniel Kerr. We need him to be a combination of those 2

I'd be happy with either

[LostDoggy]

I'd be happy with either

Of course, but he never will be. Im talking about the way those 2 play

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Granted Cooney isn't half the player Judd or Kerr are. I believe he still looks to do the flashy runs (Judd) rather than the hard stuff with touches of brilliance (Kerr).

OK I see what you mean now. Yes you may be right... but I'm just not sure whether that is by design or by instruction. His assets are his running, and creativity.... and I wonder whether he is instructed to get in position to utilise those abilities.
Also I wonder how much his injuries during pre-seasons gone by have hobbled his ability to do the hard stuff over a 22 round comp. Hopefully we'll see this year as he has supposedly had a great lead up this year.

I would contend though that he has improved the defensive side to his game in the past 12 months especially. But I guess it's hard to change peoples perceptions of your strengths/wekanesses until you do it over a long period of time.