Left Field

Very few AFL players, including the elite, could say that they have never dogged a contest. And here we have criticism of a 19/20 year old at the very start of his career playing against grown men whilst surrounded by a complete on field leadership vacuum (Neita excluded, Brock off the ground and Yze continuing to get a game although he has become the poster boy for squibs). Bater appears intelligent enough to learn from the mistake and move on. He has plenty of upside in him. In a team that need to find 10% improvement annually to keep up, I suggest we move our focus to the under performing 6 year+ players on the bigger bucks. To me, they appear to be holding us back more than the kids.

Take the point about getting onto the paddock but in terms of productivity/minutes played Brock is right up there. Happy to see Brock captain next year if we have moved into rebuild mode. Otherwise, let someone (not necessarily Bruce unless his kicking improves) hold the role for a couple of years through our peak.

Looked all over the internet this morning Fan - nowhere online is probably the short answer. Not sure what they would tell us (but I think we may have lost the takeaways after half time without a full midfield rotation). I was also interested in stats for CJ, Daniel Bell and Simon Buckley (three mfc prototype run and carry players).

Thanks Fan. Looking forward to offering you very large beers when you next come up to Sydney. BTW did you notice Buckley (I think he is becoming my new project player)??

Thanks BK - good contribution for those of us interstate.

Oh and btw how did you see Buckley's contribution?

Happy to ask Fan... Do we have a likely focal point at CHF or are we going to continue to enter the forward line via the wing/flank? How did you see our "run+carry+hit target" from half back and through the centre? I understand Whitey played forward - will Jamar or PJ play 1st ruck releasing JW forward? How did Neaves go? Do you think we will stay as tall ahead of centre this year? How did you assess Miller? Thanks, SBT

I agree our ruck division is now second tier but I think this has been magnified in recent seasons by the fact that we had primarily an "outside" midfield. With the maturation of the inside young guns, most notably McLean and Jones, we should be able to improve our clearance stats even if our hit out stats stay the same. I also think the addition of Paul Williams as mids coach should have a really positive impact this year.

Jack, this is a real hobby horse of mine. In AFL we seem to measure K, HB, P, T, HO's etc but not a granular enough level. Bludgers like, say, Joel Bowden look a million dollars on paper unless you see where, when and how he gathered his touches. In the US they have more granular stats and although I generally disagree with over-analysing these sorts of things, there is a template that I reckon we should look at. In Gridiron, they measure yards carried and yards thrown. Both assume the attacking team retains possession. In other words, yards sideways or backwards do not count. Incomplete plays do not count. This is the epitome of effective possession. I may start a new thread. In the meantime, Godders stats last year improved heaps and Colin is still in the rehab group. Neither will influence our ability to win the flag this year although Col could be a wild card.

Work In Progress.

Very keen to see Neaves. Agree with DD re fitting three into one side - I guess it will be decided by their form on the training track. If all 3 are in, I agree that PJ will probably play as a fixed forward and ruck that area, allowing Jamar and Neaves to rotate off the bench and play a kick behind. Really looking forward to the footy now the real cricket is gone.

Couldn't agree more which is why I didn;t say "wins hitouts" in #1 above. I reckon the two stats we need to see but don't currently gets are (1) hitouts to advantage and (2) effective metres per possession (but that is another topic).

Great point but I am not sure I agree with your examples. Cox works all over the ground which means he gets back to help out his ordinary defence when the ball turns over. I reckon Whitey wears out the wings and flanks and almost never does the 1%er's working back to help his defence after a turnover....Whitey was, is and always will be a wide reciever imo. Note none of this is about how tall they are!

My suggested criteria for a good ruckman are pretty simple: 1.winning first use at “stop plays”. By this I mean, on balance, creating more opportunities than the opposition to attack from static situations. 2.owning the coridor as a target. Presenting up the middle of the ground, especially ahead of the half backline, so that the team can attack at any angle as they enter the forwardline (I hate entering the forwardline through one side or the other because it denies the forwards space) 3.getting around the whole ground – the kick behind ruckman will be exposed (if they haven't already) as a bludger employed only by coaches who are scared of the oppositions forwards 4.obtaining and using possessions to the advantage of the team 5.being multi-dimensional (ie its no good only being good over head or below the knees, or only ever handpassing the ball) Yes we have a relatively short ruck division, but if you break down what you want in tall players, then it gets worse for us I reckon. To me, the current "best practise" ruckman appear to be: Dean Cox – (1) good, although he has a great following division (2) very good, a strong presence who causes weaker ruckman to run wide (3) excellent (4) high possession winner who uses the ball well and (5) not a great contested mark but useful in most categories. Peter Everitt – (1) fantastic (2) pretty good - certainly competitive (3) tends to go forward more than back but recently played with a midget forwardline structure (4) gets it a lot and has lovely skills (5) better on his own than in a contest but fantastic below the knees and a deadly shot on goal. Brendan Lade – yes although he aint really tall I rate this bloke highly. Good in the taps, brave as they come, not covering as much ground as he once did but still hurts his opposition ruckman, lovely creative skills and better than most at contested and uncontested possession gathering. An old, medium sized master who we should try to get as an AC as soon as he retires. The big boy from Freo is promising but I reckon the opposition will work him over around the ground next year so I suggest we wait before we call him the next BIG thing! Now to our ruck divison: JW – (1) robbed by the new rule (2) plays as a wide receiver (3) one of the best going around in this area (4) uses the ball well short and on his best form gets lots of it and (5) better in space but good below and above his kness. MJ – (1) yet to have a winning season (2) better than JW but still nowhere near elite (3) not a fabulous athlete yet (4) hopeless here. Does not win enough footy and (5) better than many but not as good as the best. PJ – (1) hopeless on disclosed form (2) in between JW & MJ (3) moves well and seems to have good pace (4) good skills but hard to judge on his limited outings to date and (5) much better below the knees than above. Neaves – yet to be seen at the top level but a good prospect. Sorry if this all sounds a bit negative but I was trying to put some framework around a continuing theme............ _____________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Previous thread - Top of Board - Next thread -