Matt Simon

[brett]

Just thought I would chuck two cents on his progress.

With Mrdja back on struggle street and Mori moving on it looks like Matty will have to step up, not into those shoes, but his involvement will no doubt increase.

I really rate the guy. His signing is possibly more like 'We need to sign the best Lightning players as a rule' rather than 'Here's a gap in our squad, let's fill it'.

But as it turns out, he offers something completely unique to our forward line. He has pace over short and long distances, can finish, has high energy levels, and can challenge in the air.

He missed a header just wide at the end of the derby but he had risen up between two defenders, somehow hung in the air as if he was treading water, and nodded one that Mori or Sasho wouldn't have got to.

He's a young striker with miles of potential and I for one hope he gets a chance to really develop. If he had been playing instead of Mori for the last three weeks I don't know that our record would have been any worse and he might have by now shown us that he can hold down that role.

[uncleyellow]

I agree, he has some fire in the belly too. It is a great chance for his development. some thought he wasnt too flash last week, but that header was close...

When we played QLD in pre- seson ( i think it was pre season), he burnt Tiatto and moore a couple of times, and scored! (if I remember right?)

[drummingman]

completely agree with the above. i used to play with matt, top bloke and is very passionate about the game. he isnt frightened to take a shot and will always contest the ball.cant really add to much else to what brett said but i hope he gets more game time this year so he can fine tune his skills. we won our under 10s grand final and premiership going back all those years ago.

[marinermick]

wyomingtiger said:

Just thought I would chuck two cents on his progress.

With Mrdja back on struggle street and Mori moving on it looks like Matty will have to step up, not into those shoes, but his involvement will no doubt increase.

I really rate the guy. His signing is possibly more like 'We need to sign the best Lightning players as a rule' rather than 'Here's a gap in our squad, let's fill it'.

But as it turns out, he offers something completely unique to our forward line. He has pace over short and long distances, can finish, has high energy levels, and can challenge in the air.

He missed a header just wide at the end of the derby but he had risen up between two defenders, somehow hung in the air as if he was treading water, and nodded one that Mori or Sasho wouldn't have got to.

He's a young striker with miles of potential and I for one hope he gets a chance to really develop. If he had been playing instead of Mori for the last three weeks I don't know that our record would have been any worse and he might have by now shown us that he can hold down that role.

anyone who gets under covic's skin is a legend

in fairness to mori he did contribute two assists in his three games (should have been three if browny got that easy one) and often took two defenders with him in his clever angled runs

gave petrovski more space

this is something that simon could well have done and i hope he has absorbed the wisdom and knowledge of mori because the guy is a deadset legend

[dibo (pron. "DIB-OH")]

i'm still waiting. his height and athleticism certainly give us something we haven't otherwise had, but what i'd need to see is that ruthless, almost arrogant, streak that good strikers seem to have.

'yup, i'm gonna score here, nothing you can do about it, gonna turn you inside out and then slot past that fella and everyone else is buying me beers tonight...'

but oddly enough, there are basically very few good tall strikers in this comp -

mrdja - seemingly always crocked
coveny - good but so so old
zdrilic - hahahahahahaha
djite - now we're talking
reinaldo - couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo

others have tried and failed - luka glavas springs to mind. simon's a little bigger than him and doubtless much stronger, so he's closer to the djite style, maybe not as good a first touch but will run harder.

at least simon will give an option when we seem to lose the creative juices and start punting the ball forward - the number of times laybutt simply crawled over the top of mori for easy clearances on sunday was pretty embarassing, not so much for mori but for whoever was dumb enough to think that ball was going to work...

i think if he turns it on though, he and sasho could cause some serious carnage.

[skilbeck]

give simon a good run probly not a start but give him a good 40 minutes, all he needs is probably experience he doesnt cut it for me atm but id like to be proven wrong and experience will grant that chance

[DJ]

IMHO Matty is a little short of the first 11

He will run his arse into the ground and never give up, he'll give as good as he gets and he's getting quicker! The main weakness in his game that I have seen is his finishing (which for a striker isn't the best), but his progression over the past 12 months has been fantastic.

He will get more chances this year and it's up to him to take them..............if he spends more time on his feet than his arse he's heading in the right direction

[bikinigirl]

. i was hoping that after melb with nik out and sasho doubtful that matty might have got a start up front with mori (alas, not to be)

. i think they could have complimented each other well with mori drawing defenders and getting into the right position at the right time. whilst matty could have run his arse off making a general nuisance of himself and taking direction from a master

. as it turns out i think mori and sasho are too similar (although generally they didn't get great service)

[Jesus]

I am not convinced on him. He is pretty fast, and athletic, but I do not think he is up to it at this stage. A striker needs more. Maybe he will prove me wrong. But I have not seen anything so far that has made me thought he was up to the challenge.

[Pete]

I'm 'wait and see' on him I'm afraid.
Shows some potential and some flaws too.
Great in the air, good dash on him, but he's always falling over - and sometimes at the wrong time.Seems to want to get onto his right foot instead of chancing a left stab.
As I said, I'm wait and see on him, but I do hope he is given ample opportunity to prove himself at this level now that Mori has gone.

[Ursus]

Needs to be able to hold the ball better in front of goals. Hopefully that will come with strength when he grows. Get him into the gym and build some muscles.

[greenpoleffc]

Djite, pah. Over rated donkey.

I am not sure that Simon is the best Lightning striker TBH. Woodcock always impresses me with his pace and football brain. Totally different kind of striker than Simon and doesnt have the physical presence.

Simon and Saso for 90 mins would give us an idea if he can fill Niks role but in all honesty, if Nik is goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooone, then we need to get the chequeebook out if we want to win this comp.

[Jimmydinho]

I was a bit annoyed when i found out that we'd signed Mori instead of gettin Simon and chucking him in the deep end.
Good to see his involvment will increase

[thesandman]

I'm with Jesus and Pete. He's tall, and fast, and....well, that's about as many positives as I can see.

I'm always keen to see him on the field because I'm always keen to see if he's got a bit more than last time. Perhaps he's having trouble stepping up mentally (as dibo said)?

Still, when you look to develop young talent it's going to be rare for somebody to jump right in and blitz them - generally they will show a bit of a slow start. I don't remember what he was like at lightning, but obviously Lawrie sees something in him.

[Bearinator]

Nik is gone. Forever. Forget that donkey. Simon needs to step up. With our best players out, Sunday is the perfect stage to throw him in the deep end. Give him a go Lawrie. Worst case, we go down, he has a shocker, then at least you know he needs more work.

He has scored past QLD before. He is hungry. Feed him.

[Auburn Mariner]

Djite, overrated, you must be joking!! Absolute star, will not stay long in Australia. And to think he comes from the Kuring-gai area of Sydney, an area the Mariners are associated with!!!

And his mate Nathan Burns is also a NSWelshman, from up in my part of the world on the Central Tablelands.

Simon needs some serious time in the gym, working on his upper body strength. Then he will be able to compete better, physically, in 1-on-1 contests. I rate him, hope he is with us over a period of time.

[valentius borealis]

I thought that on a couple of occasions in the derby, he'd get the ball but would then get caught in 2 minds regarding whether to shoot or pass, and ending up just giving the Newcastle defence more time to be able to counter whatever he was going to do so that by the time he did pass or shoot, the scoring oppurtunity was gone.

[jocwa08]

GET SIMON ON THE PITCH SUNDAY!!!

[DJ]

jocwa08 said:

GET SIMON ON THE PITCH SUNDAY!!!

off the subs bench yeah I agree

[djebella]

In his own words play him from the start