Where is our weakness?

I think our players are good enough.

Let's see..............We have no stay at home FF, nor a player that's willing to play the crumber role full-time, our midfield gets killed in contested possessions and clearances, and our backline would have to have one of the worst records with disposal by foot.

Neeld has heaps to work with.

Noone here can answer this question because we do not know what Neeld needs to fulfill his style of play.

Besides Jones, Frawley and Garland, all of them gone missing when challenged...

Where are our weaknesses ? well we could all argue in circles about this.

Lets just agree that there are holes, there are weaknesses.

None of us are charged with either noting them or attending to them. Judging by comments already uttered by our new coach hes quite au fait with where they are. He has already put in an order to List manangement to address this.

But it wont happen overnight....well you know the rest

Holes in our list, or weaknesses?

Holes;

No small forward

No big bodied forward for said small forward to crumb off

- we can draft for a small forward (with pace), we can trade for a big bodied FF (or wait for someone to develop)

Weaknesses;

Lack of clearance ability

Lack of focus for full games

Lack of experience

Lack of knowledge of defensive responsibilities

Lack of toughness (numerous players unwilling to go when it's their turn)

Lack of consistency

Lack of mature bodies.

Still at base camp, clearly. Hopefully Neeld knows how to climb a [censored] mountain lol!

Let's see..............We have no stay at home FF...

Is Chris Dawes still out of contract? If so, I would be beginning to detach the kitchen sink ...

Besides Jones, Frawley and Garland, all of them gone missing when challenged...

The upside of this is that the change doesn't necessarily involve list changes.

Is Chris Dawes still out of contract? If so, I would be beginning to detach the kitchen sink ...

Article in the HUN today says he has committed to the Pies

Where is our weakness?

I think our players are good enough.

Yes, we have the cattle but we haven't had a cattle prod... hopefully Neeld may be the answer to that.

We do need a good (operative word) big bodied forward, preferably with a few seasons under the belt, and we need a good solidly built "utility" player who can move between the midfield and forward line as a small crumbing forward.

To know what our weaknesses are first of all we have to understand what specific roles Neeld has in mind for each position and how the players are going to perform their specific tasks. I'd suggest that at this stage no one apart from Neeld and CS etc would know so it's going to be very interesting to see who they target in the trade period and the draft. I think that some players who struggled under Bailey may improve a lot now and visa versa.

I think we need to used to the idea of talking about roles rather than positions with Neeld.

The gaps seem to me to be:

A forward the mids can aim for from the centre clearances. Role to get and trap the ball forward.

Two sets of inside mids (who are used to working in tandem),including a utility player who can play tall or small. We have one set at best.

Fast run through from the backline who can direct play. (quarterback as someone put it elsewhere).

Backline. This is not our weakness. Bailey focussd on this area first, recruited and developed well, and we have 8 - 9 players who can rotate through there. However, we don't have a play maker, "quarterback" like Scotland, Leon Davis, Josh Hunt, Birchall or Guerra. All top four sides now have this player.

Midfield. Sylvia, Moloney, Jones provide grunt and hard bodies. Bail, Blease the run. Davey if he can ever recapture his dash and dare. Trengove pure class. Gysberts hopefully in the mould of Pendlebury. Midfield needs time and maybe one more classy A-grader apart from Trengove.

Forward. This is our weakness. No crumbing forward (how will Wonna or Maric go under Neeld?) No power forward yet, Cook and Watts to come but having only these 2 options makes the list too thin.

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Backline. This is not our weakness. Bailey focussd on this area first, recruited and developed well, and we have 8 - 9 players who can rotate through there. However, we don't have a play maker, "quarterback" like Scotland, Leon Davis, Josh Hunt, Birchall or Guerra. All top four sides now have this player.

Midfield. Sylvia, Moloney, Jones provide grunt and hard bodies. Bail, Blease the run. Davey if he can ever recapture his dash and dare. Trengove pure class. Gysberts hopefully in the mould of Pendlebury. Midfield needs time and maybe one more classy A-grader apart from Trengove.

Forward. This is our weakness. No crumbing forward (how will Wonna or Maric go under Neeld?) No power forward yet, Cook and Watts to come but having only these 2 options makes the list too thin.

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I agree Maldonboy38.

I agree completely we are on the same page today.

Will Wona and Maric be there in 2012?

Not sure both will be.

I would jetison both, Maric has never really showed enough and Wona is hardly ever on the park!

Backline. This is not our weakness. Bailey focussd on this area first, recruited and developed well, and we have 8 - 9 players who can rotate through there. However, we don't have a play maker, "quarterback" like Scotland, Leon Davis, Josh Hunt, Birchall or Guerra. All top four sides now have this player.

Midfield. Sylvia, Moloney, Jones provide grunt and hard bodies. Bail, Blease the run. Davey if he can ever recapture his dash and dare. Trengove pure class. Gysberts hopefully in the mould of Pendlebury. Midfield needs time and maybe one more classy A-grader apart from Trengove.

Forward. This is our weakness. No crumbing forward (how will Wonna or Maric go under Neeld?) No power forward yet, Cook and Watts to come but having only these 2 options makes the list too thin.

.

I think Gysberts will become that extra A- Grade midfielder with another 5kg of muscle on his body. Don't discount Fitzpatrick as another big bodied forward option he has good size and pace and just needs some experience and a godd run with injuries.

I agree Maldonboy38.

I agree completely we are on the same page today.

Will Wona and Maric be there in 2012?

Not sure both will be.

I would jetison both, Maric has never really showed enough and Wona is hardly ever on the park!

I think Wonna is worth perservering with.

Forward. This is our weakness. No crumbing forward (how will Wonna or Maric go under Neeld?)

I'm not so sure about this. Jurrah would be an exceptional crumber if we could just develop some aerial contests for him to crumb off. He's very instinctive and quick off the mark. The flipside is that he's also very good in the air if he can find space. He'd be very very tough to defend in the right environment.

The encouraging aspect about whatever our holes and weaknesses actually are we now have access to very good intelligence from outside the club. The unbiased and clinical appraisal will go a lo g way to being able to attend to our shortcomings. Neeld has already told us what and who. 

I think Wonna is worth perservering with.

Will he ever have a 16 game season?

My problem is he is only ever up for 5-6 games a year.

2012 had better be a good one if he is kept.

The MFC cannot go on forever giving a spot to someone who is hardly ever available.

Backline. This is not our weakness. Bailey focussd on this area first, recruited and developed well, and we have 8 - 9 players who can rotate through there. However, we don't have a play maker, "quarterback" like Scotland, Leon Davis, Josh Hunt, Birchall or Guerra. All top four sides now have this player.

Midfield. Sylvia, Moloney, Jones provide grunt and hard bodies. Bail, Blease the run. Davey if he can ever recapture his dash and dare. Trengove pure class. Gysberts hopefully in the mould of Pendlebury. Midfield needs time and maybe one more classy A-grader apart from Trengove.

Forward. This is our weakness. No crumbing forward (how will Wonna or Maric go under Neeld?) No power forward yet, Cook and Watts to come but having only these 2 options makes the list too thin.

.

For lack of other options and to fill a need I think we've made the mistake of putting Sylvia in the middle for too long. He would be a luxury on a forward flank, or even deep with the occasional burst in the middle. Great hands, great kick. Not a natural midfielder.

In looking at our shortcomings we need to remove emotion or any wanting of fairytale stories etc. Nqr's and occasional shows are fine for your local footy club. TISM this is AFL . Either you're playing or you're not. you're either right or you're not, you either do your job or you won't have one.

There will be in some eyes casualties and to others opportunities.

Go Dees

Will he ever have a 16 game season?

My problem is he is only ever up for 5-6 games a year.

2012 had better be a good one if he is kept.

The MFC cannot go on forever giving a spot to someone who is hardly ever available.

Yes, it is going to be interesting to see what view a new coach coming in will have. Neeld can take a dispassionate stance as he is coming in without having had to support Wona through what were obviously very trying times. If Neeld considers Wona to be worth persevering with, then maybe the lack of an "emotional attachment" will help Wona to focus on his performance as a player. Here's hoping.

Edited September 19, 201113 yr by hardtack

A tall target upforward and a couple more tough on-ballers would have to be very near the top of the list.

Will he ever have a 16 game season?

My problem is he is only ever up for 5-6 games a year.

2012 had better be a good one if he is kept.

The MFC cannot go on forever giving a spot to someone who is hardly ever available.

I get that.

But we don't have a whole lot of players similar to Wonna.

Grimes also has trouble staying on the park but I am ok keeping him going for a few years yet...

Their is probably some room for some class, hardness, speed and skill across the ground but if I was putting a team up I'd go with:

FB: Grimes Frawley Garland

HB: Blease Rivers Tapscott

C: Jones Moloney Davey

HF: Sylvia ****** Watts

FF: ******* Howe Jurrah

Foll: Jamar ***** Trengove

Int: Martin McKenzie Gysberts Green

So:

1. Top line midfielder. Maybe you can say Moloney = Ball, McKenzie = Wellingham, Trengove (in a year or two) = Swan, but were still short on our Pendlebury. It's why I'm so keen to go for this O'Meara guy along with Jack Viney.

2. CHF. I'm almost certain Neeld's game plan will need a true CHF in the Cloke mold. Watts could be that one day (maybe) but he isn't now. We can probably get away with a Howe/Jurrah combo deep forward, we don't have to be a carbon copy of Collingwood and these 2 are so strong in the air, but we need a CHF.

3. Crumbing forward. We need at least 1 of these types of player. Wonaeamirri? Maric?

Edited September 19, 201113 yr by the master