Jeremy Brockie ? thread

Jeremy Brockie is the new Shane Smeltz!

That finish in Christchurch against the Wanderers was sublime ...

(Oh, that ? should be a black heart symbol, but the website doesn't recognise it)

 couldn't find another Brockie thread.

Where should he be? Hasn't settled this season with the rest of the team. Scored some unbelievable and scintillating goals, but also gone missing a lot and you wouldn't put your mortgage on him turning in a performance in a game.

Can he be simply a clinical finisher like Smeltz? Or can he be a goal scoring play maker like Ifill? Or should he be playing as a winger/wide midfielder?

I don't think we've had the best out of him this year. He has been an unsettled component of the front third of our team. Only settled guys seem to be Ifill, Leo and Louis Fenton.

I guess this could be equally said for Stein, one of the other players we'd look to to replace Greenacre, Ifill and Brown as our consistent scorers.

Brockie is incredibly frustrating. He's lazy and selfish and just when you think he's done enough to get dropped he scores a couple of insane goals and then is safe for another few weeks. I know lots of people on here like to bag Totori for being lazy and selfish but I reckon if he got as much game time as Brockie he'd probably be about the same - scoring crazy goals often enough to be a top scorer in the league but wasting heaps of chances and never doing any tracking back

 Have a look at the A league teams he has played for.

New Zealand Knights, North Qld Fury, Newcastle Jets and us. Not exactly the top flight.

Seems to go to teams he thinks he will get a game.

He is just overrated.

I'm convinced. You're a troll. 

Ah, playing your beloved "I'm old, you're young" card again,  a forum classic. 

Love you too. <3

He is very frustrating to watch. He has the talent to put the ball in the back of the net but I just don't think he has the work rate to make the most of his talent. His off the ball movement is non existent sometimes, but that can be said about a few of our guys atm.

His job is to score... i'd take his goals over Greenacres workrate and strike rate.

Agreed.

He does expect the ball to come directly to him and rarely moves for it or creates space. It's very frustrating. But, has scored some vital goals too so is doing ok overall really.

Jeremy Brockie is a lazy bastard but does score goals....end of

Brockie is infuriating, honestly - but hes currently the only one scoring for us.

I don't think Brockie has provided an assist all season.

 Assists? I do believe we have just been the victim of 'USA sports cultural imperialism'.

Fair point. He needs to start getting involved in the game more than just popping up and scoring a goal. Greenacre worked his arse off for 90 minutes at a time, making runs to drag defenders away from the ball, as well as getting the ball and distributing it wide. Brockie does none of that, and I'm not sure if that is a good or a bad thing.

And messi in midfield! Unfortunately we only have cernak. 

My main point was that no assists just reinforces the fact that he's a lazy player that makes little movement to allow others to score and doesn't put others into space to score. He's getting goals which you can't complain about but no assists for a forward that has played every game this season, something's not right there.

Yeah. Shcokingly I agree with Leggy on this:  Stein is the better player.

 Gee I didn't mean this to be a bag brockie thread!

just how best to use him. For a player so widely bagged he has outscored everyone else in our team by daylight. And I can't remember missing many. I think his problem might be if he is going to be a striker: how many are winners? If he turns on his scoring shoes like that day in Melbourne after we are 4-0 down that isn't much use- they've gotta be activated from the first minute of every game. It's probably a team thing too- if we're firing a lot of good delivery into him, he's going to score some goals.

I'm going to go ahead and say his best future with us is as a striker, based on this season. We just need another one too! And Stein hasn't been picking them up of late, but hasn't had the game time either.

Most have observed Stein is best finishing through balls, and with the ball at his feet,  whereas Brockie seems comfortable in the air and creating for himself, as well. 

Stein might be a better player- so far Brockie has been the better finisher, and also has utility value to burn. 

We need another playmaker- Cernak may be able to do a job- I liked his role on Saturday. But we need to replace Ifill- he's slower and more injured this season, if he plays next year I can't see him being at full speed. 

It's not a beat up Brockie thread. The points made are valid. He is a lazy player, he does pop up and score goals, he has no assists although there have been several attempts. I thank him for the goals but sometimes there really are players in a better position and he should not be shy in passing to them. I appreciate most strikers are selfish but there's selfish for ones self and selfish for the team's benefit. Although I have noticed that if he scores, then he's more keen to put some effort in. If he isn't scoring, he goes awol.

I would compare him to Smeltz. He is lazy but will still pop with more goals than the rest of the squad (...combined?).Smeltz never got many if any assists. 

You might complain about his work rate but you will miss his goals more than seeing lots of running. But he is lazy and we will hear about it every game. Especially when he doesn't score.

I don't think he's comparable with Smeltz. Smeltz is consistent scorer of the poacher variety - he just pops up in good positions and nabs goals on a regular basis without ever looking particularly impressive. Brockie is an attacking player but not necessarily a striker, he doesn't score goals consistently he scores in streaks and then goes for a while without scoring at all. The goals he does score are often spectacular or at least kinda random (both vs MVFC, or that wind-assisted cross that turned into a goal) but he doesn't seem to pop up in the box and slot chances the way that Smeltz does. Smeltz has played 48 games for the AWs and scored 23 goals, Brockie has played 34 games and scored... 0 goals. Sure he's come off the bench or played in different positions but still, 34 games without a goal for someone who's playing as a striker in club football now seems kinda crazy.

I personally don't think that playing Brockie as a central striker makes him more likely to score goals than if he was playing on the wing, because the goals he scores are not "striker's" goals like the goals that Smeltz scores - they are long range screamers or crazy volleys or whatever (with the odd exception like the one against Perth on Saturday). I'd rather see Stein played as a central striker and Brockie on the wing than the other way around personally. I still think Stein is quality and things just haven't quite clicked for him recently, but I get the sense that if he scores one goal his confidence will come back and he could be a real asset for us.

The difference between Smeltz and Brockie for me is that Smeltz often scores 'clutch' goals - e.g. directly contributing to a win. Brockie doesn't seem to pop up when it really matters most of the time - though you could say that's a harsh criticism considering the team as a whole has been a shambles this year.

That is why Ifill was so good for us last season - he always scored when we needed it the most.

I don't agree with you at all there, he has been vital to many of the games we have picked up points from.

• Newcastle Away - scored the first 2 goals in a 3-0 win.
  
• Perth Away - scored the equalising goal in a 1-1 draw.
  
• WSW home - scored the goal in a 1-0 win.
  
• Heart home - scored the equalising goal and the winning goal in a 3-2 win
  
• Perth home - scored the winning goal in a 1-0 win.
  

Of our 5 wins this season, Brockie has been a vital part of 4 of them, so I have no idea how you can think that he hasn't popped up when we need him the most.