Dees find their crumbing forward - I'm rapt!

[hardtack 10,187]

Reality check... as good as it would be to see Davey playing the crumbing forward role, let's not forget the OP is from a "close cource" (unnamed) and as such essentially a rumour until we see him line up in the forwards or hear it from Neeld himself. Would be nice though, if true :-)

[binman 39,625]

They say big men take time to develop. I think the same is true for small forwards .

Davey will go well in attack .

His decision making from half back was poor because he is TOO attacking .

Those he say he is better at half back must have missed all the turnovers that lead to goals .

I'm glad Misson has taylored his program .

10 tackles and four goals(for us) a game would be nice from Flash .

Yep, i agree. The amount of times last season he coughed it up trying to pin point a pass back into the corridor from hb were telling, partic at docklands. Those kicks spearing to a forward will be telling. If true, top move

[dee-luded 2,958]

They say big men take time to develop. I think the same is true for small forwards .

Davey will go well in attack .

His decision making from half back was poor because he is TOO attacking .

Those he say he is better at half back must have missed all the turnovers that lead to goals .

I'm glad Misson has taylored his program .

10 tackles and four goals(for us) a game would be nice from Flash .

Very good for drafting top recruits Biff. Thanks No 32...

[Swampfox 190]

I would be surprised Neeld had any other position for him but the forward pocket

Davey has excellent closing speed and keeping the ball in our forward 50 has been a major issue during the Bailey reign

I had high hopes for Maric to fill the role and in fact thought Wona when fit could have been excellent as he is very hard to tackle

Davey when playing up the ground has a tendency to look for a better option and thus keep hold of the ball too long giving defenders more time to cover holes

Milne from the Saints has made this position his own and i cant see any reason why Davey cant

I would expect a return of 2 goals per game (even in assists) a winning role for any crumbing forward

[DEELIRIOUS 156]

Maybe they envisage the same for Sam Blease, seems to be much like Davey this pre-season, struggles in the same areas, am I sensing a Davey-Blease combo???

[Macca 16,174]

Davey in the FP or .......in the BP . Not sure there's any inbetweens . " A Phil Matera or a Wanganeen" .

The guts of the ground requires more and more grunt and :"go" these days . Possibly not his go .

Would be extremely happy if he proves me wrong because he's a fantastic deliverer of the footy when he's on .

Edited December 22, 2011 by Macca

[nutbean 8,837]

Maybe they envisage the same for Sam Blease, seems to be much like Davey this pre-season, struggles in the same areas, am I sensing a Davey-Blease combo???

I would say doubtful - Blease has shown one thing in his short time in AFL. He can be a line breaker and that is going to be his biggest weapon. Davey showed that a times he could also be a line breaker off HB but alas not for a while.

[Arrow 1,257]

Absolutely brilliant idea.

I personally cannot fathom how people say Davey is such an elite kicker.

The man stabs at every kick and he squibs so many for crucial turnovers its not funny. Yes when he gets it right the man can kick a ball but his consistency is poor and the truth is 8 of his 10 kicks go less than 30 meters anyway.

[Footynut 302]

I have directly spoken to Neeld about this. He said Davey will definitely play the year forwar of centre. He obviously has this as a clear part of game plan as I had this discussion with him in October before he had even really been in the job too long.

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

He's got it all except the ability to cop a hard tag and stand under a slow ball.

He wont get as hard a tag as there are now more good players needing coverage.

I dont unfortunately, see him taking a whack in a crucial hard fought battle and bobbing up Milne-like.

Agree with the shortcomings.

Given his history i cant think why you wouldnt have a Steven Baker/ Ryan Crowley type that could run with and pester him until he overheats.

Regardless of where he is on the field he needs to deal with his lack of maturity and poor attitude. He shouldnt be in the leadership group and he needs to make a position his own this year rather than being a temperamental front runner.

[Good Times Grimes 2,396]

I think that Davey is probably the best player on our list to play this position at the moment, but it is something that will need to be addressed during the next trade week and drafts. We will not win a premiership until we have a bonafide small forward.

[rpfc 27,692]

Disagree. Since when has the HBF flank been used to regain form?

His best footy has been played up forward.

I will answer you rhetorical question - the HBF has been the place where you put out of sorts players since modern football removed the requirement to directly on anothe person.

And Davey played his best footy as a mid who went behind the ball in 2009 (Bluey) and 2010.

Happy for him to go forward more but FP is a very difficult place to play an he will have I all to do.

Good luck to him.

[Tony Tea 2,792]

The key question: can Davey deliver goals in big games? Light forwards are all too easy to corral into the wrong spot by canny backmen. Why do you think Davis and Milne always seem to be in the wrong spot when it matters, and go missing in big games? Light players are easy to shove around. Davey must endeavour to be front and centre in traffic, not scooting into space for easy goals against rubbish sides.

[savoydee 6]

Agree with the shortcomings.

Given his history i cant think why you wouldnt have a Steven Baker/ Ryan Crowley type that could run with and pester him until he overheats.

Regardless of where he is on the field he needs to deal with his lack of maturity and poor attitude. He shouldnt be in the leadership group and he needs to make a position his own this year rather than being a temperamental front runner.

Please advise whom you would have as a crumber and also who would you have in the leadership group?

[DeeSpencer 23,689]

Please advise whom you would have as a crumber and also who would you have in the leadership group?

I'll answer on Rhino's behalf. Crumber - Kelvin Lawrence, Michael Evans or Sam Blease (I'd prefer Blease back but they are trialling him forward in preseason).

Leadership group - Moloney, Grimes, Trengove, Jones, Frawley or Rivers, Jamar and Green. All guys who put their body on the line, win contested ball (except for Green) and work their butts off at training.

[Bossdog 2,002]

Don't tell me green does not get the hard ball. Over many seasons he has put his head over the ball

[Hells Gates 505]

Don't tell me green does not get the hard ball. Over many seasons he has put his head over the ball

Really...?

[ox_5 163]

Really...?

Yes, really. You have a short memory if you believe otherwise.

Countless times he has backed unknowingly into packs to be completely crunched.

[Bossdog 2,002]

Really...?

Broke his jaw a couple of years ago going for the hard ball Yes Reallyl

[rolly 149]

Green was about 12 goals away from being AA in 2010 and when he was named captain there were not too many dissenters...

he had a poor year last year, i don't think anyone is going to argue that, but the fact is that prior to 2011 he had one of if not the best left foot set shot in the comp...

his courage should never be questioned, one of the few aspects of his game last year that could vouch such credibility...

he almost became a defualt KPF last year and he was never going to succeed at that but as a 4/5th forward he becomes a massive assett

question marks on his ability to handle the pressure of having the C in an underperforming side...

think he has alot to offer the club still in regards to maturity and experience, but perhaps not as captain...deffinately keep him in the leadership group but instead give the big tick to moloney or jamar (maybe trengove/frawley co. capt??)(wish trengove was a 5 year vet so we could give him the captaincy now)

EDIT- sorry, unlike everyone else i got sidetracked off topic...

Davey can play small forward quite successfully i think, but not in the traditional sense...

if he can build his engine which is no guarentee i would like to see him play like a nahas or cyril...as in i would like to see him pretty much as an outside, outside midfielder roaming around the flanks/wings rather than the pockets. i think with our medium marking types there will be a lot of contests around half forward and i can see him kicking alot of running goals from 45

Edited December 23, 2011 by rolly

[binman 39,625]

One thing i like about Davey up forward is his set shots. Despite missing taregts more regulalry in the last couple of seasons i reckon that's more to do with his high risk choices rather than technique. If he plays up forward regularly he'll have his fair share of shet shots and convert at a pretty good percentage.

[Ron Burgundy 8,584]

Green was about 12 goals away from being AA in 2010 and when he was named captain there were not too many dissenters...

he had a poor year last year, i don't think anyone is going to argue that, but the fact is that prior to 2011 he had one of if not the best left foot set shot in the comp...

his courage should never be questioned, one of the few aspects of his game last year that could vouch such credibility...

he almost became a defualt KPF last year and he was never going to succeed at that but as a 4/5th forward he becomes a massive assett

question marks on his ability to handle the pressure of having the C in an underperforming side...

think he has alot to offer the club still in regards to maturity and experience, but perhaps not as captain...deffinately keep him in the leadership group but instead give the big tick to moloney or jamar (maybe trengove/frawley co. capt??)(wish trengove was a 5 year vet so we could give him the captaincy now)

Absolutely agree with every single thing stated above.

To suggest Green doesn't put his head over the ball is a disgrace. In 2010, he was arguably the bravest footballer in the country.

[Harcourt 146]

Interesting thread.

I reckon we'll see a lot of new tactics to beat the press this year. Hawthorn have tried and had reasonable success with the left foot short kicking off half back game plan. I wonder what we'll see from the dees.....

I reckon by putting Davey forward we might see an attempt to try and catch our opposition on fast break type plays from kick-ins. I quite liked our double huddle set plays under Viney where we had two groups of players about 20m apart from a kick-in. With Davey and Jurrah in the second group providing short, sharp sprints towards goals we are going to score a lot of goals if we can execute.

[hardtack 10,187]

Absolutely agree with every single thing stated above.

To suggest Green doesn't put his head over the ball is a disgrace. In 2010, he was arguably the bravest footballer in the country.

+1

[Barney Rubble 1,576]

One thing i like about Davey up forward is his set shots. Despite missing taregts more regulalry in the last couple of seasons i reckon that's more to do with his high risk choices rather than technique. If he plays up forward regularly he'll have his fair share of shet shots and convert at a pretty good percentage.

I mostly agree. When they moved flash up the ground whether it be on the wing or HBF, it was to use his pace and deadly left foot. That worked quite well for a while.

A little like TJ in that he was too clever for his own good and tried to thread a needle. The opposition worked both of them out and new exactly where they were going to deliver the ball. They both turned over the ball so many times because they didn't have a plan B.

Forget about Daveys last season, he was playing injured or recovering from it for most of the season. His knee would have to be 100% this year to even think about playing FP, the position requires someone who can twist and turn and get onto his left foot. Remember he doesn't have a right foot and handball is not a preferred option for him.

Just one thing Binman in your last sentence Was that meant to be Set Shot or [censored] Shot?