Top heavy up front?

[monoccular 16,073]

Not really an issue if Dawes plays higher up the ground as he does.

Clark will be stay at home full forward if such a thing exists.

If we had 3 Darren Bennetts up there on a wet day I would start to worry.

These three big guys are all fairly good on the ground ball.

If they are all injury free and in the same team it's a great problem to have.

Ahh..the memories. Darren Bennett - fabulous and exciting, until the rains set in then his lack of expertise/skill below his knees really belted him.

By contrast, all our tall forwards are remarkably agile below the knees, so shouldn't be nearly as troubled as was Darren.

[Guest]

I like the idea of three forwards but we need that crumber. Howie as a medium forward is great as well. Maybe the crumbing forward is one who will be bought up through the ranks? For the moment, an aging Shannyn Byrnes will be the crumbing forward but I think/hope that won't last until mid year. Hopefully one of the kids will be ready to get some senior games into them by that stage.

[Alcho Dee 269]

Get Steven Milne to the club a.s.a.p

[McQueen 17,863]

Get Steven Milne to the club a.s.a.p

What for, exactly?

[Biffen 12,327]

Get Steven Milne to the club a.s.a.p

No tiprats policy forbids it.

[What 18,810]

I like the idea of three forwards but we need that crumber.

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/2014-01-03/jay-kennedyharris-interview

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,410]

Ahh..the memories. Darren Bennett - fabulous and exciting, until the rains set in then his lack of expertise/skill below his knees really belted him.

By contrast, all our tall forwards are remarkably agile below the knees, so shouldn't be nearly as troubled as was Darren.

I wouldn't have thought Dawes was particularly agile. But don't get me wrong - I like his strong, bullocking style. In that aspect of his game he reminds me of David Neitz.

[Lil_red_fire_engine 10,185]

Comparison with Hawthorn is all about proof that the structure works and not about the quality of the player. Of course it will work better with consistent quality midfield delivery as its fair to argue that any forward structure does. The key with this structure is regardless of the quality of player they all have good endurance and in the case of Clark, Hogan and Howe have excellent mobility for their size. I am less concerned about our small forwards as I expect in typical Roos style it is more mids that will rotate through to play these roles rather than permanent crumbers or specialist pressure forwards. This is probably even more likely with the introduction of interchange restrictions.

"Coach Paul Roos has spoken with Viney about his role for next season and rather than burning him out through the midfield, the youngster will spend more time at half-forward in 2014."

The above taken from the below article. I expect there will be a fair rotation of mids playing forward rather than specialist smalls this year.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-01-07/hogan-deserves-the-hype

[Goodvibes 3,596]

Reading the thread title I assumed we'd moved from a traditional 4-4-2 to a 3-4-3 or 4-3-3 formation. The expression "up front" seems to be sneaking into the AFL vernacular.

[Rocknroll 912]

On the other hand, How would you defend against it? Who would you send your number one shut down defender to? Who would you try and run off? Three big capable dudes, all can run, all can kick a sausage, and a jumping jack looking for a launching pad.

I cant wait to see how it works out.

[Deecisive 1,652]

we do not have poor quality playing surfaces any more so I would expect that we can run 3 bigs, clarke has proven he is pretty agile I seem to remember him crumbing quite a few of his goals. Hogan is reputedly pretty quick off the mark and lets not forget enthusiastic so I would hate to have him chasing me. We are going to stretch most clubs backlines if we can keep them all on the park, if we cannot then we still have fitzy and Watts in reserve all are capable of kicking goals, a couple of crumbing forwards able to apply good defensive pressure and we will see a lot more scores. I would expect seeing all three of those guys down forward will give players bringing in the ball a lot more options than they have had in the last year. and lets hope that we dont play that stupid extra man in defense type of football as the oppositions extra man usually kills us when we go into attack.

[Pennant St Dee 11,279]

Get Steven Milne to the club a.s.a.p

WTF are you joking or are you very naïve?

[jazza 1,323]

"Coach Paul Roos has spoken with Viney about his role for next season and rather than burning him out through the midfield, the youngster will spend more time at half-forward in 2014."

The above taken from the below article. I expect there will be a fair rotation of mids playing forward rather than specialist smalls this year.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-01-07/hogan-deserves-the-hype

mm,played judd forward last year to save legs for the entire game

other coaches did similar things to make sure teams could use the bench for rotations which are now limited

as for the top heavy dees,im not worried, im excited and ready for a big season

[puntkick 325]

I think Jack Watts is the one to play the Goodes type role.

I think JW might need you to get down there with your physc skills

[monoccular 16,073]

I won't even start to worry about being top heavy unless and until we get Clarke, Dawes and Hogan out on the field together.

[Alcho Dee 269]

Get Steven Milne to the club a.s.a.pWTF are you joking or are you very naïve?

joking.