#9 John Noble

[Boot]

In my opinion, John Noble has done very well to establish himself as a regular in the Collingwood defensive group. He has speed, courage, desperation when required, great ball handling skills, reasonable disposal skills and provides the attacking run off the halfback line that was a key factor in the game plan that worked so well in 2022.
The only knock on Noble is the obvious physical statue of the man...He is by AFL standards a small man. His relative lack of size and associated strength makes it very hard for him to compete physically with his direct opponent. Hence, there is always the risk that if he gets caught out in a direct one-on-one contest I think he will rarely win that duel. Luckily, or good teamwork, he doesn't get caught out that often but I suspect smart opposition coaches are a wake-up to this weakness and would look to isolate Noble in the defensive 50 area of the ground, as they know if it becomes a one-on-one contest most AFL forwards would be able to physically out maneuver Nobel when the contest becomes a test of strength.
Looking at Collingwood's core defensive group of Moore, Maynard, Murphy, Howe, Quaynor, Crisp and now Frampton, they all have good body strength that makes them very good at winning one-on-one contests. Now the fact that that whole defensive group is so good at one-on-one contests probably allows for Noble to be carried as with good team work they should be able to cover him to avoid him being isolated in the defensive area of the ground and leverage Noble's strengths for run & carry to help clear the ball and turn defense into attack.
Hence if it becomes a choice between the runners from defense in Maynard, Crisp and Quaynor or Noble I would be listing Noble last in that group for a starting spot in the team. Perhaps the wing position is where Noble is better suited as his run and endurance offers similar traits to Sidebottom but again his one-on-one contest work would be behind the likes of Josh Daicos and Steele Sidebottom and we haven't seen Noble display the attacking skill set of those two to challenge them in their current winger roles.
When looking at our best team for 2023, I think Noble is battling with Will Hoskin-Elliot for the last role on the bench and may get to be the sub for a lot of games given a full list to select from. That said it's a good sign that a pretty good player, that Noble has shown himself to be, will be struggling to keep his spot in the team which provides good depth and pressure on everyone to perform else they'll be replaced.

[Boogie Knights]

I'm firmly in the pro Noble camp so you're not alone in this view.

I believe the biggest knock (that I can discern) is his size (combination of height and weight).

Yes, there have been times where he has been brushed off when attempting a tackle, or pushed too easily off the ball or line; but nearly all players have some weakness to their game and Noble makes up for this with effort and desire. A passage of play late last season saw him dive for an unlikely smother of a shot on goal and then when an opposition player gained possession from the ball spilling free, he dived again for a fingertip tackle to bring that player down when seemingly running to open goal. This late in a close game is something that lifts the team and the fans.

Some will say his disposal is poor, but I am yet to be convinced of this. I think he's an excellent and penetrating kick and am more than happy to see him break from defence, take a bounce and deliver forward of 50.

The great thing is that we have a real evenness across the playing list where positions 15 through 30 are all worthy of being top 22. This is a great but unenviable thing for selection committee time and makes for some understandable variance in fan best 22s.

[Pies2016]

If every player on our list improved year on year like Noble has, we would have won the flag last year.
The guy was overlooked in several National drafts, eventually taken in a mid season lottery and now finds himself getting a game every week in a decent side. That’s rarified air and he’s clearly squeezed everything out of himself and he should be applauded for that.
The key to “ protecting “ Noble from being exposed is to give him a match up that suits him. Play him on a ground level player who isn’t experienced or had to many pre seasons under his belt ( if possible ) That’s when Noble is at his most damaging. You want him being proactive and using his strengths out of defence, rather than being caught up in one on one defensive actions against an opposition A grader.

[Pebbles Rocks]

Hes a good player. The only reason why he might not be in a best 22 is that our biggest strength is our backline and he is not tall.

[uncanny]

Johnny Noble was a very good player for us last year and deserved his spot in the side; except ....
He got caught with the ball and had poor patches in the preliminary final loss. Hopefully that is a game he can learn from and not a sign that the opposition have worked out how to go through him as a defender...

[MatthewBoydFanClub]

To drop a guy from the team he either has to be playing poorly or you have a much better player who can take his place. You're also only as good as your last game. In the case of Noble he was playing as good a football at the end of last season as he has ever played and if you plan to drop him who are you going to replace him with? Let's say for instance WHE makes a move to the backline to make way for Bobby Hill to play in the forward line, how does Noble may way for WHE? I just can't see it. Let's say we choose to play the taller key defender in Frampton and move Murphy out onto the flanks, does that push Noble out of the side? I can't see that either. For me the only way I see Noble being pushed out of the side is if he's playing poorly and based on his most recent form in the preliminary final against the Swans I can't see that happening.

[MatthewBoydFanClub]

[Monco Matt]

With ball in hand, he is a good player. Generally, he uses the ball well and has speed in his favour. However, he is not a ball winner and is beaten in contests too often. We have plenty of ball movers and some can also win contests, Noble's body size & physicality is his issue. So, I think he can be replaced with someone more physical. I want our runners to also be able to win contests and push the opposition off the football more often than not.

[LaurieHolden]

[MatthewBoydFanClub]

After the comment that he was being caught with the ball in the preliminary final I checked his stats. There was one free kick against him which I assume was for being caught with the ball. So only on one occasion was he caught with the the ball. Also he has 17 possessions which was about sixth or seventh for a Collingwood player. I think only Moore and Howe were ahead of him as defenders. As I said it will take a very good player to push him out of the side.

[gurugeoff]

he has done amazingly well for a mid year draftee - but a bigger stronger version of himself would be preferred, but same goes for lots of players

[Cam]

His height and weight, and ability one-on-one, as others have mentioned.

Off the chain and he is part of our top 3 most consistently damaging runners with Crisp and Nick D. He proved invaluable with his second efforts and as much of footy now is zones rather than matchups he was a one of our offensive rebounding keys.

[Rd10.1998_11.1#36]

Perhaps people putting Frampton ahead of Noble in Best 22 lists are forgetting that the former played 6 games in a team that finished 14th while the latter played 25 in a team which finished 3rd

While he played a couple of decent games and we all hope he’ll be a good recruit for us, Adelaide effectively replaced Frampton with Keane who, no disrespect, wasn’t exactly setting the world on fire before taking a year off

[Pies2016]

Maynard - Frampton/Murphy/Dean - Howe
Quaynor - Moore - Pendles /Crisp

For mine, any of the above players form our likely best balanced back six and while Noble doesn’t appear above as a best 18 player, there will be a bench of five this year. He still becomes an important player, in that the coaches would give him a role which would likely free up one of Crisp or Pendles to spend some time on the ball.
Naicos will spend little time in the back line this year. He came to club as a silky goal kicking midfielder. They won’t be wasting those god given talents in the back half for much longer.

[inxs88]

Finals footy is about winning contests at all costs. The Preliminary Final was an obvious audit that he failed badly. One can never deny his endeavour, sacrifice and desire but he should over the Summer attempt to put on 5 kg of muscle particularly around the core and biceps.