Are Magpie Fans loosing patience with Pebbles?

Anthony Rocca is a player that opposition teams love to hate and it appears some factions of the Magpie army may be loosing patience with his on field performances. Coach Mick Malthouse was forced to defend the big fella after he was asked by a member why he was still being selected despite his inconsistent performances.

Malthouse correctly pointed out that “It’s not just a matter of possesions”. This is something that the general football public don’t seem to understand because it is something they do not see. Rocca may not get a lot of the footy but it is his efforts in other areas that make him a very important part of that Collingwood forward line. When you look at his 2007 stats he was still the leading goal kicker with 54 goal, 15 goals clear of Travis Cloke. Malthouse also quoted another important fact that would probably go unnoticed by supporters “He had the most effective tackles inside 50 by a big man.” And from memory he was pretty high up on the contested marking stats for 2007 as well. The tackling stat is an interesting one and indicates maybe the small orwards need to lift that area of their game.

Although I don’t think Rocca will be the main focal point for the pies going forward, which you would think would be Cloke, he still provides some much needed team based 1% er type acts that the players are well aware of even if the people watching the games are not. I reckon the Magpies will get great value from Rocca if he is playing more of a decoy role and creating some space for the other forwards like Cloke to lead into. He is also very good in a contested marking situation, even if he doesn’t take the grab he must still be able to bring the ball to ground and provide some crumbs for the small forwards like Didak and Davis. These small forwards rely heavily on this sort of contest from the big guys.

Post you thoughts below on whether you think Rocca has still got something to offer the Pies.