What we should look to do in the remaining games

[Binmans PA 26,469]

It seems to be a hot topic at the moment...how do we get the draft picks, but at the same time develop something for the future. I would say experimentation. If the experiments work, then well and good. Use them for short bursts, so we know there's something to implement next season. Some posters have also been saying that we should drop those that won't be with us next season (ie Macca, maybe Wheatley, Robbo etc). But I don't think it's as simple as that. As captain, Macca should be allowed to play out the season. What I'd do with him is play him off the bench and rotate him through the middle. That's basically what we're doing now, but he deserves to play each game, because he's still doing the team things, just not as effectively as he once did.

Now to Robbo, with his lack of discipline this week, it gives our coaching staff the perfect chance to give him another rest. Just for one week and say to him, 'look Robbo, if you want another contract next year, start doing the team things'. Meanwhile, I'd restructure the forwardline and begin to shape it into our future forwardline. But more on that in a moment. Other senior players such as Wheatley and Wheels, should be given a chance to play out the season (and possibly even another yearly contract), but if they don't do the team things (which Whealen could never be faulted for), send them back to the 2s as well.

Furthermore, this has been discussed by a few posters too, but I'd begin to rest Brock and keep a watchful eye on some of the youngsters (ie Jetta, Bennell and Jurrah) and make sure they don't over-exert themselves in their first seasons and pick up little injuries, which may keep them out for next year (ala Aussie last season).

Now to discuss the forwardline. If Robbo isn't going to do the team things, I'd rather play youngsters, even if it means they have to play on the best defender(s). There's no point in playing a guy who goes to ground after/during almost every contest. It's getting to the stage that Neita was at early last year...he looks knackered. But the thing with Robbo is he doesn't do the team things either, so unless he improves his attitude over the next few weeks (which he won't), I'd continue to drop him.

So without Robbo, this is what I'd do... I'd play Bate and Jurrah in the forward 50 by themselves, I'd push everyone out, except those two. I'd play everyone else up across half forward and push them up to the wings. I'd throw Jetta in there at certain stages and rotate him with Jurrah, as Jet's tackling pressure and footy smarts (he has great vision) will be inavaluable both up the ground and in the forward 50. Bate, I'd keep as a stay-at-home full forward, just as Bailey did vs Hawthorn in the NAB cup. Petterd could play across half forward, as a leading player up the ground. While, Sylvia, Morton and Green can sneak inside 50 and rotate through the middle. This is how I'd play Sydney this week.

In the following weeks, I'd really like to see them bring Watts back and allow him to develop an understanding with Jurrah and Bate. We need these boys playing together. Watts may not be big enough yet, but he like Jurrah has a very smart footy brain. With Watts playing, I'd restructure the forwardline again. Bate would push out to centre half forward, leaving Watts, Jurrah and Jetta isolated in the forward 50. Bate can kick a long goal, so playing him as a CHF suits him perfectly. Watts, Jurrah and Jetta are all capable of crumbing, but we'd need someone to bring the ball to the ground, so it might not work to start with, but still, we have to start developing it. Watts will be that player to bring the ball to the ground, eventually.

There's another guy who I haven't even mentioned yet, who I'd play in place of either Jetta or a smaller backmen and that'd be Aussie. As last year showed, he's quite capable of kicking a couple, so hopefully he can get back this season for a few games.

Now, I haven't even discussed the backs yet. I'd keep playing Rivers, because it'd be good for his confidence to make it through an entire season without an injury (which isn't entirely true, with his ankle vs WC, but he's had a sustained period this season). BUT, if he does have any niggles, I'd give him a few weeks off. Then, there's Frawley. I'd continue to give him the big jobs each week, but not just the big guys, continue to give him a variety of different players to play on (from your Brad Johnson types to your bigger bodied power forwards in Fevola). Challenge him every week. As someone else mentioned in a thread 'round here somewhere, the backs improved last year, because they were thrown the challenge. I think there's a lot of truth to that, but I think they're also a talented bunch. Personally, I think this was one of the main factors in Jared Rivers' development being fast tracked, as a youngster. Keep giving them the big tasks to see if they're up to it.

While with Warnock, I'd continue to do a similar thing. He seems to play better on the bigger bodied opponents and is less versitile than Frawley, so perhaps it would be interesting to play him on different types too, to see if he has any other strings to his bow.

As for Grimes, Bailey's doing the right thing with him at the moment. I'd continue to play him across half back, as he develops. He gives us that poise and assuredness that we often lack, under extreme pressure. If he's getting sore at all, I'd be giving him a rest too. Just a week or two off. We want everyone fit and firing next season.

Finally, the midfield is the area of the ground that we're certainly vulnerable in. It seems that we've started by developing our backline (last year) and during the latter stages of this year, our forwardline. Unlike our backline, which seems more settled in the long term, our forward half still has a bit of experimentation to come. But the midfield is our final port of call. Fix that up, get games into the youngsters and all of a sudden you begin to win games.

There are 3 attributes that we desperately lack in our midfield: 1) pace and ball carrying ability, 2) elite/even decent, consistent disposal by hand and foot and 3) great decision makers. Decision making often comes with experience, but some have a natural ability to 'know' exactly what to do, without having to play 50 games beforehand. They are rare in their numbers, the Judds, the Rich's, these types, who have come straight into the game and with little AFL experience make the correct decisions. We don't have that in our midfield. We have it in our forwardline, but not midfield. During the second half of 2009, there seems to have been a concerted effort to inject pace into our midfield, with the likes of Davey, Jetta and even Jurrah at times (as of late), being released into the midfield. These players have ticked the three boxes that we lack, but they cannot be everywhere.

It's slowly become obvious that the team cannot carry Jones, McLean and Moloney in the one midfield. They each offer none of the three categories and so, when we play the good teams (ie Geelong), we struggle. It wasn't in the forwardline that we lost the Geelong game and it probably wasn't even in the backline. It was lost in the midfield. When a team's midfield does not apply enough pressure, on the ball carrier, to either turn the ball over, or keep the ball in their half of the ground, everyone else is put under pressure (especially the backs). So when our midfield or engine room if you like, is beaten, it's natural that we loose games. That's how it works. So why do I spiel? We need to begin to work towards finding a combination in the middle that works for us. We need a back up plan, should Scully and Trengove not be ours, come next season. So, I'd persevere with Flash in there, as I would Morton, because both offer some of the 3 categories we lack. What they don't offer is ball winning ability, so at least one or two (of Moloney, Jones or McLean, but not all three), must win that ball.

It's up to the coaching staff, to come up with a couple of different centreline combinations, to work through games this year. The aim of this is to develop for the future, not win soft victories, in a season that equals only development and pain for us, the supporters.

That should be the focus for the next six weeks, in all departments. What does everyone else think?

Edited July 21, 2009 by AdamFarr

[deeflog 679]

Too long for me to be bothered reading, but to answer your question i think the remaining games should be used to get games under young kids belts....Cheney, Spencer, Bail, Watts and the list goes on.

We need to find out if there is a spot on our list for next season for Dunn, Valenti, Hughes, Mackenzie.

So lets put the kids out there and let them have a taste of it and tell Brock, Bruce, Jones, Davey to get ready for next season

[Steamin Demon 370]

Gee Adamfarr are you going for a job at Demonland or something ??

A simple answer to your your VERY long thread is rest good players just like other clubs do at this time of year.

Good effort though mate.

[Binmans PA 26,469]

Haha, it might have just come out a little long winded.

[Sir Why You Little 34,819]

For the remaining games we should all just sit down to a nice big pot of tea & rest.

Save the Energy for next year when i will be yelling for wins every week.

[beelzebub 22,282]

What we should look to do in the remaining games ?

Just one thing........

lose !!

[H_T 2,941]

Too long for me to be bothered reading, but to answer your question i think the remaining games should be used to get games under young kids belts....Cheney, Spencer, Bail, Watts and the list goes on.

We need to find out if there is a spot on our list for next season for Dunn, Valenti, Hughes, Mackenzie.

So lets put the kids out there and let them have a taste of it and tell Brock, Bruce, Jones, Davey to get ready for next season

I'll second that.

PS. can we now move the motion...

Edited July 21, 2009 by High Tower

[Bring-Back-Powell 13,386]

There's another guy who I haven't even mentioned yet, who I'd play in place of either Jetta or a smaller backmen and that'd be Aussie. As last year showed, he's quite capable of kicking a couple, so hopefully he can get back this season for a few games.

I'd be stunned if he plays at all this year. He's been listed as 3-4 weeks since May.

Why can't the club just declare him out for the season? It's getting a little silly now.

Edited July 21, 2009 by Bring-Back-Powell

[Akum 2,660]

Geez Adam, bit of time on your hands? Loved the bit about it becoming slowly obvious that we can't play all of Moloney, McLean & Jones in the mid at the same time. "Slowly" is definitely the right word.

What concerns me about our midfield is its inability as a unit to exert any pressure on the other team's midfield when it's dominant. It seems that we can't do anything other than just hand over the middle of the ground. There's no defensive pressure whatsoever from the midfield when they're getting smashed.

As you imply, there's no point just sitting back waiting for the coming of our midfield Messiah. This IMO badly needs fixing before Scully gets here. So two things. The first is that to beat the better teams in the comp, we MUST have a reliable tagger or two in the midfield. Geelong, for example, know that they can effectively obliterate the game of the best opposing midfielder via Ling, so their opponent is one mid down from the start of the game, a huge advantage. The obvious candidates are Jones & Bartram, on different types of players. Are there others who can do better? We really need to find out.

The second is that we need to try players like McKenzie & Valenti to see if their defensive pressure is any better - i.e. can they give us some drive even if the opposition midfield is on top? Because at the moment, it seems to be only Moloney who can do that.

For the forwards, I'd like to try Stef as a key forward changing in the ruck, to see if he shows anything there. I think he's going to be great one day, it's a matter of where he's going to be most valuable, and it's about time he was settld down a bit and not have to change with each game. And I'm afraid too that Newton deserves another go on his Casey performances, though maybe he's better to stay in Casey working on the parts of his game that need to improve. For Juice, 2010 is either his last year, or the year he finally becomes a player, and if he stuns us all and becomes a player, he'd be a huge asset, so it's a matter of whether for next year it's better for him in the seniors or in Casey working on his game..

[Binmans PA 26,469]

What concerns me about our midfield is its inability as a unit to exert any pressure on the other team's midfield when it's dominant. It seems that we can't do anything other than just hand over the middle of the ground. There's no defensive pressure whatsoever from the midfield when they're getting smashed.

Agreed. The pressure is lacking mostly because we lack pace and the ability to read the play.

As you imply, there's no point just sitting back waiting for the coming of our midfield Messiah. This IMO badly needs fixing before Scully gets here. So two things. The first is that to beat the better teams in the comp, we MUST have a reliable tagger or two in the midfield. Geelong, for example, know that they can effectively obliterate the game of the best opposing midfielder via Ling, so their opponent is one mid down from the start of the game, a huge advantage. The obvious candidates are Jones & Bartram, on different types of players. Are there others who can do better? We really need to find out.

Yeah, I suppose Ling is not the fastest man in the Geelong team, so it proves we don't need the fastest bloke to be our tagger. Jones could still yet fill that position. It was an interesting move from Bailey last week. I hope Jones gets a tagging role again this week. I wouldn't mind giving PJ a tagging role on Goodes this week, as well and leave Stef to do the rucking.

The second is that we need to try players like McKenzie & Valenti to see if their defensive pressure is any better - i.e. can they give us some drive even if the opposition midfield is on top? Because at the moment, it seems to be only Moloney who can do that.

Agreed, once again. Gives these blokes a try, just like Newton. I wouldn't play Juice until the Freo match though. No one's really mentioned Miller in a while either, so I suppose that is good?

Edited July 22, 2009 by AdamFarr

[Einstein 1]

Quality post Adam.

If I ever have to write a thesis on tanking, I know what I'm going to plagarise.

[beelzebub 22,282]

Actually there is no real harm and much upside with developing Jonesy's tagging ability. He may have more positve effect. We do need more taggers. With the likelyhood of other players taking the "glama" midfield roles Jones may actually come into his element. Less emphasis on his requirement to dispose of the pill without incident is a plus too.

[Binmans PA 26,469]

Actually there is no real harm and much upside with developing Jonesy's tagging ability. He may have more positve effect. We do need more taggers. With the likelyhood of other players taking the "glama" midfield roles Jones may actually come into his element. Less emphasis on his requirement to dispose of the pill without incident is a plus too.

Well put, I agree.

[Binmans PA 26,469]

Quality post Adam.

If I ever have to write a thesis on tanking, I know what I'm going to plagarise.

Haha, thanks mate.