The Need for Outside Midfielders

[TGR 1,367]

17 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Throw the kitchen sink at Josh Kelly.

No more kitchen sinks left.

We used it with Lever.

[Elegt 872]

Bump

[olisik 4,060]

Using Wings and Flanks as retirement homes isn’t working. Need specialists here to play the role. Not ex inside mids

[DV8 2,271]

9 minutes ago, olisik said:

Using Wings and Flanks as retirement homes isn’t working. Need specialists here to play the role. Not ex inside mids

Not working Now after the AFL introduced 666.

An interesting turn of phrase... makes me wonder if Gil is a spiteful sort?   maybe his serpent got loose again.

[Elegt 872]

We've had this issue for years when will people wake up to it

[DV8 2,271]

On 3/24/2019 at 2:58 PM, TGR said:

No more kitchen sinks left.

We used it with Lever.

Lever and Kitchen ? TGR

[rjay 23,887]

It's the game plan stupid (or our players understanding of it)...

Yeah we could do with some leg speed, and you sure as hell could've tipped tipper would cause grief tonight.

Apart from Frost (and he doesn't count cause he's not to AFL standard), our back 6 are slow as treacle, and to think some say Lewis back will maker a difference.

..we continually get sucked into the contest which allows an easy outlet for our opponents.

Oliver lays a tackle, Viney wants in on the act...the EFC player scrubs a hb over to Viney's player 20 metres in the clear and off they run.

A free kick, centre infringement in the first Q...the game stops but Oliver, Brayshaw & Viney play on taking advantage. Problem is it was an obvious EFC free kick. The ball comes back to EFC. Max is on the mark our 3 mids are forward of the circle. EFC nicely positioned....bang.

So many times since & including the prelim our guys get drawn to the contest & the oppo's clean up with a much better structure.

Yep, we don't have a lot of leg speed but we can cover if we play smart and we're playing really dumb.

It's not rocket surgery guys, it's football.

 

[DV8 2,271]

27 minutes ago, Elegt said:

We've had this issue for years when will people wake up to it

You build from the basement and up, elegt.   Not from the penthouse and down...  we have the base.  Maybe we got into finals too quickly,  and now they changed the rules on us.

Setting us back...  and so did our injury management,  last 2 seasons, has hurt us

[Demon Dynasty 15,364]

On 7/1/2018 at 2:39 PM, Elegt said:

We desperately lack outside mids and have far too many slow inside mids in our team, this becomes evident when we play at the mcg or play running teams. on defensive transition our mids are 20m behind their men. I have seen this all season and seen it as our main deficiency. It is disgraceful we have not recruited any runners over the past few years. having dom Tyson in  the side makes this twice as bad. 

Some of our astute off field pundits have more  foresight than our entire FD & coach.  Nice work Elegt.

Fritsch is our obvious answer (medium term) on one wing and should have been groomed / worked on (gradually into this role in back half of last year and pre-season).  One of our best disposal by foot players and yet he is being wasted deep in our back half?  He was lost last night and looked a shell of a player compared to last year.

On 7/1/2018 at 9:09 PM, brendan said:

I’m a bit worried about the AFL Changing rules at seasons end, let’s say they bring in zones or something similar I don’t think that suits our contested game style suddenly outside runners could become very valuable if they have the space to open up a game, hunt could potentially dominate for example 

Another foresightful post.  So along comes 6/6/6.

More 1 v 1s, yes you no doubt still need to get your hands on the pill but our bias towards too many plodding big bodied inside mids was always going to hurt us this season once the ball is clear of congestion.

Burst speed, agility and foot skills (finish) are now more valuable than before 6/6/6.  In truth they never lost their value but are now almost priceless!

On 7/1/2018 at 9:26 PM, stevethemanjordan said:

Nah, don't need em. 

Ask Goody. I arksed him. 

He only plays inside mids on the wings like Tyson and Harmes and it's the same with half forwards. ANB and Petracca. 

Ball use, composure and speed is overrated. He thinks it, not me. 

 

Is that a serious post Steve in terms of hearing it first hand?

On 7/1/2018 at 11:01 PM, Elegt said:

spuds like Sinclair and armitage showed our wings out today. desperately need fitness.

☝? Sadly we are now going to be ruled by almost any team that has outside mids with a bit of leg/burst speed and even mediocre disposal skills by foot now with the exception of maybe some of the skinnier grounds like Marvel against very ordinary opposition where we might be able to control the game a little more if we can cause enough stoppages.

With our current line up we would probably be more successful playing out of Marvel vs the G.

6/6/6 has now made some on our list and the overall make up of our list ...redundant.

Big changes needed to it before 2020 if we are to get back to being competitive again and make finals in 2020.

Pitty there's no mid season draft.

Edited April 5, 2019 by Rusty Nails

[Hellaintabadplacetobe 4,089]

Fritsch should be playing this role but is being played our of position by necessity currently. 

I was hoping KK might be someone who could give us some outside run. I know he is underdone but he doesn't appear to have any pace, like the majority of our list.

Hibberd is looking well below par down back,  I wonder if he could play wing when Lever n May return? 

[Demon Dynasty 15,364]

7 hours ago, rjay said:

It's the game plan stupid (or our players understanding of it)...

Yeah we could do with some leg speed, and you sure as hell could've tipped tipper would cause grief tonight.

Apart from Frost (and he doesn't count cause he's not to AFL standard), our back 6 are slow as treacle, and to think some say Lewis back will maker a difference.

..we continually get sucked into the contest which allows an easy outlet for our opponents.

Oliver lays a tackle, Viney wants in on the act...the EFC player scrubs a hb over to Viney's player 20 metres in the clear and off they run.

A free kick, centre infringement in the first Q...the game stops but Oliver, Brayshaw & Viney play on taking advantage. Problem is it was an obvious EFC free kick. The ball comes back to EFC. Max is on the mark our 3 mids are forward of the circle. EFC nicely positioned....bang.

So many times since & including the prelim our guys get drawn to the contest & the oppo's clean up with a much better structure.

Yep, we don't have a lot of leg speed but we can cover if we play smart and we're playing really dumb.

It's not rocket surgery guys, it's football.

 

This is also true in terms of the way we play Rjay.

Correct the above among other aspects (3 v 1 going up in a marking contest down back...been happening for years ...Goody & Co. Incapable of seeing / correcting this?) and get some genuine outside talent off the wings and HB and away we go.

And let me repeat....as I've said so many times....please can we recruit players with a footy brain who know when to go fast or slow (ie; can assess a situation before playing on and giving off to someone who is under pressure already or running straight ahead into congestion) and can also hit targets by foot consistently.

[beelzebub 22,225]

7 hours ago, rjay said:

It's the game plan stupid (or our players understanding of it)...

Yeah we could do with some leg speed, and you sure as hell could've tipped tipper would cause grief tonight.

Apart from Frost (and he doesn't count cause he's not to AFL standard), our back 6 are slow as treacle, and to think some say Lewis back will maker a difference.

..we continually get sucked into the contest which allows an easy outlet for our opponents.

Oliver lays a tackle, Viney wants in on the act...the EFC player scrubs a hb over to Viney's player 20 metres in the clear and off they run.

A free kick, centre infringement in the first Q...the game stops but Oliver, Brayshaw & Viney play on taking advantage. Problem is it was an obvious EFC free kick. The ball comes back to EFC. Max is on the mark our 3 mids are forward of the circle. EFC nicely positioned....bang.

So many times since & including the prelim our guys get drawn to the contest & the oppo's clean up with a much better structure.

Yep, we don't have a lot of leg speed but we can cover if we play smart and we're playing really dumb.

It's not rocket surgery guys, it's football.

 

And we knew all of this before the first bounce.... totally validated by the last.

Sadly, imho, it won't matter who we play (our list ) as long as your opening comment resonates 

Souffles are not made with soup recipes

[Redleg 37,553]

Look at all the sides doing well. They have all drafted quick skilful kids or recycled players and are able to spread and play to a modern game plan.

Look at our team yesterday and we looked very slow and play to last years game plan which was not subject to 6-6-6. 

We haven’t moved on and adapted and it shows in the way we can’t score from repeated inside forward 50’s and are scored heavily against from limited inside 50’sin our back half. 

We are playing the wrong style of footy with the wrong type of players.

The worst part is our Coaches don’t acknowledge it or do anything about it. 

Maybe playing Billy or Jeffy would have added some run and skill, instead of the fumbling, useless ANB, remembering with terrible umpiring and everything, we only lost by 3 goals.

We are not pro active or even re active, we are inactive.

[beelzebub 22,225]

Just now, Redleg said:

Look at all the sides doing well. They have all drafted quick skilful kids or recycled players and are able to spread and play to a modern game plan.

Look at our team yesterday and we looked very slow and play to last years game plan which was not subject to 6-6-6. 

We haven’t moved on and adapted and it shows in the way we can’t score from repeated inside forward 50’s and are scored heavily against from limited inside 50’sin our back half. 

We are playing the wrong style of footy with the wrong type of players.

The worst part is our Coaches don’t acknowledge it or do anything about it. 

Maybe playing Billy or Jeffy would have added some run and skill, instead of the fumbling, useless ANB, remembering with terrible umpiring and everything, we only lost by 3 goals.

We are not pro active or even re active, we are inactive.

Absolutely agree.

Currently we are dead in the water.

Might find my skis...

[Redleg 37,553]

1 minute ago, beelzebub said:

Absolutely agree.

Currently we are dead in the water.

Might find my skis...

Have you got an extra set for me?

My weekends are now free.

[beelzebub 22,225]

2 minutes ago, Redleg said:

Have you got an extra set for me?

My weekends are now free.

Yep ...lol

Gotta pair of rock-hoppers for ya Red

[Elegt 872]

Get stretch garlett Baker in we need pace regardless of how bad they are. I see a lack of two way running and you'll notice shiel who is just an okay player tore shreds on our midfield simply just because he didn't stop running. Oliver brayshaw and harmes don't two way run.

[Lord Travis 10,158]

Does anyone here have any knowledge of the upcoming draft? We have to use our first round pick this year as per the draft rules of not using one in the draft in the past 4 years.

Who are the best hard running and pacy midfielders in the upcoming draft? We need quick mids who have good footskills and run both ways. Ports most recent draft crop of Conner Rozee, Zak Butters and Xavier Duursma gave us headaches in round 1 and look built for the modern game. Butters in particular looks like he will be a very damaging player.

Who are the best pacy and agile small forwards? We need quick small forwards who can use speed to harass like Aaron Davey of years gone by and hit the scoreboard too. The likes of Spargo have poor-average pace and offer little to no defensive pressure (see Spargo zero tackles in round 1!). They also do not consistently hit the scoreboard, averaging less than a goal a game.

[Demons11 6,404]

I think our issue is nothing to do with outside speed.  Our current mids have been incredibly lazy and are not working back into defence. 

[Elegt 872]

2 minutes ago, Demons11 said:

I think our issue is nothing to do with outside speed.  Our current mids have been incredibly lazy and are not working back into defence. 

Is it laziness or the fact they simply don't have the tanks to keep up?

[Demons11 6,404]

23 minutes ago, Elegt said:

Is it laziness or the fact they simply don't have the tanks to keep up?

Laziness 

[jnrmac 18,943]

We lost contested ball 3 times I believe for 2018.

We have lost it 3 times already in 2019; 5 if you count JLT.

No point in having fleet footed wingers if you don't win the ball.

[Jaded No More 57,771]

The wings of the MFC- where slow declining players go to retire. 

[Elegt 872]

14 minutes ago, Jaded said:

The wings of the MFC- where slow declining players go to retire. 

The flank should be that spot... Wings shohuld be for runners like Scully and Isaac smith

[whatwhat say what 18,881]

59 minutes ago, Lord Travis said:

Does anyone here have any knowledge of the upcoming draft? We have to use our first round pick this year as per the draft rules of not using one in the draft in the past 4 years.

Who are the best hard running and pacy midfielders in the upcoming draft? 

knightmare's early 2019 rankings: http://www.espn.com.au/afl/story/_/id/25376887/afl-draft-chris-doerre-top-20-prospects-2019

noah anderson, sam flanders, mitch o'neill, matthew rowell, caleb serong, jeremy sharp, cooper stephens, dylan stephens sound like the likeliest prospects for this role

most important thing is to pick a player who can a) be developed properly and b) have a bit of luck on his side

if we maintain current position i imagine we'll be all over rowell like a cheap suit - all the draft experts have been raving about him for a couple of years now, since his u/16s year at least

 

Edited April 6, 2019 by whatwhatsaywhat