Stacking the Defence

[Red and Blue realist 2,058]

2 hours ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

 

But knowing it didn't work they had the chance to fix the 'tall forward' problem (Jackson won't be a fix for several years) at end of 2019 and did not. 

 

Jackson was the (partial) fix, there was very few tall forwards who moved last year, Patton, Jenkins and Ryder at a stretch. So it's not like there were a heap around, plus there were few tall forwards in the draft. 

[Bay Riffin 1,478]

4 hours ago, Canplay said:

Salary cap and first round picks belong for key fwds or gun midfielders -  never backs or undersized rucks!   I consider we’ve wasted another 4 first round picks in lever, may and Jackson -   Those picks should have seen us pushing for flag in a couple of years.

May is playing good football, Lever OK and you are writing off Jackson.

who were you spending them on in this 50/50 hindsight scenario ?

[Lord Nev 13,512]

27 minutes ago, binman said:

That's not quite true nev.

In 2018 we absolutely leaked goals up to about half way through the season. But in large part that was due to our ultra aggressive game plan that exposed us on the turnover and the fact that even then we had mids who didn't work hard enough defensively.

Goody addressed both of these issues and IIRC, from about round 12 till the end of the season we were the second hardest team to score against. And in the finals we kept the highest scoring team in the league (the cats) to 50 odd points and the hawks to not much more.

I'm not saying in totality, I'm just saying those particular aspects, the one of one weakness and the back half turnovers, were reasons we leaked goals.

[buck_nekkid 6,043]

I am happy that all the muppets are yelling from the balcony.  It means the emperor is exposed.  What they say can be patently incorrect into ‘why’, but I love the fact that they are calling us out.  Now the heat goes on, then we need to see the response.  Going on as it simply has been cannot be allowed, and this spotlight on incompetence is something we as supporters should be absolutely cheering on.

[YesitwasaWin4theAges 6,708]

3 hours ago, Scoop Junior said:

Not sure if King has done his full research on world sport.

Liverpool spent 140 million euros on Van Dijk (centre back) and Alisson (keeper) in the last two years and just won their first league title in 30 years.

Van Dijk-  75 million pounds. 150 million AUD

Alisson- £ 65 miliion pounds. 130 million AUD

I'll write a check for the Club.

All money they received for the sale of Coutinho £140 million pounds.

But they do have the best strike force in world football with Salah, Firminho and Sane.

Edited July 7, 2020 by Win4theAges

[YesitwasaWin4theAges 6,708]

49 minutes ago, Bay Riffin said:

May is playing good football, Lever OK and you are writing off Jackson.

who were you spending them on in this 50/50 hindsight scenario ?

Lever is in no man's land blaming others for not flying for balls he should be.

Zero accountability.

Zip,nothing, nada.

[Scoop Junior 3,513]

1 hour ago, Win4theAges said:

Van Dijk-  75 million pounds. 150 million AUD

Alisson- £ 65 miliion pounds. 130 million AUD

I'll write a check for the Club.

All money they received for the sale of Coutinho £140 million pounds.

But they do have the best strike force in world football with Salah, Firminho and Sane.

They had Suarez, Sturridge, Gerrard and Sterling in 2013/2014 scoring for fun (in fact the first three scored more than Salah, Firmino and Sane this year) but they still lost the title to City.

They conceded 50 goals in 2013/2014; this year it's 25.

The big money purchase of defensive reinforcements was critical for them to take the next step and win the league. 

[Lucifers Hero 40,314]

2 hours ago, Red and Blue realist said:

Jackson was the (partial) fix, there was very few tall forwards who moved last year, Patton, Jenkins and Ryder at a stretch. So it's not like there were a heap around, plus there were few tall forwards in the draft. 

 

3 hours ago, Accepting Mediocrity said:

Which established, gun key forward were we supposed to recruit at the end of 2019? They don't exactly grow on trees. Drafting one was the best we could hope for.

You have both quoted me out of context.  And I acknowledged that Jackson was a future fix. The problem is now, 2020.

There were other things we could have done and it is in the part of my post you didn't quote:  to get a fwd coach.  To spell it out he could have fast-tracked the development of the tall fwds we have, help overcome their deficiencies and develop cohesion in the fwd50 and with the mids.  It could have commenced and gained momentum over the off-season.  I would imagine Weidemen would be better prepared if there was a specific person to help him/mentor him.  There is no-one for him to learn from.  I mean really, who ever heard of an AFL club not having a proper Fwd Coach!

We chose not to appoint one so there is no use the coach etal lamenting our inability to score in 2020.  We had the chance to make it better while building the future in Jackson.

Edited July 7, 2020 by Lucifer's Hero

[roy11 3,893]

19 minutes ago, Scoop Junior said:

They had Suarez, Sturridge, Gerrard and Sterling in 2013/2014 scoring for fun (in fact the first three scored more than Salah, Firmino and Sane this year) but they still lost the title to City.

They conceded 50 goals in 2013/2014; this year it's 25.

The big money purchase of defensive reinforcements was critical for them to take the next step and win the league. 

"Attack wins you games, Defence wins you titles"

 

[chook fowler 19,519]

Never mind the defence, I find our offence offensive.

[Scoop Junior 3,513]

BUMP

One of the great things about winning a flag and hopefully being a successful footy club is reading the articles about the positive things the club has done and is doing, almost setting the example for the rest to follow. This is especially so after all the negativity we have had to endure for so long.

While a lot of the negativity during the 2007-2013 period was justified (even though it still hurt us to read it), I thought it was fairly unjustified at times after that period while we were rebuilding, especially with some of the key decisions we made in drafting/trading and the over-reaction to losses last year. The easy analysis from the journos was "Melbourne stuffed up their first rebuild in 2007-2010, they'll just do it again" and there was a failure by many of them to appreciate a strategy that was smart, creative, innovative and brilliantly executed.

So let's lap up the positive articles now and enjoy it more by remembering comments like these in the article in the first post of this thread.

David King - "They've gone May and Lever as part of their big spend, who are very good players, but what influence can they really have on winning games of football?"

I do like King as he does try to provide some insight and he was not the only one who said this at the time. But it's too good not to use!