Who will prosper and who will suffer under Eade? [Archive]

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Dry Rot

24 Aug 2004, 23:57

dogman22

25 Aug 2004, 09:45

I'd love to see a centre square of West, R. Murphy and Cooney, with Murph and Gia swapping off a forward flank.

Some good points raised - Hahn and Faulkner, I reckon, would really prosper under an accountability-based midfield, where we may need to push Eagleton back out to a wing. I reckon Birss and Cross would be ideal to rotate through the midfield as well - both hard runners, who can play good accountable footy.

Johnno and Bubba should both play as almost permanent forwards next year - hopefully Shaggy can step up to become our rebounding half-back flanker. The big thing that these guys need to learn, especially running out of the backline, is that as soon as they have disposed of the ball (hopefully by a long kick to CHF), they need to double back and stand an inch away from their opponent, on the chance that the ball comes straight back down.

Dog Town

26 Aug 2004, 08:31

Johnno and Bubba should both play as almost permanent forwards next year - hopefully Shaggy can step up to become our rebounding half-back flanker. I would have thought if there was anything we had plenty of it is running back flankers.We have Gilbee and Murphy who can also fill the void left by Smith going forward if he does indeed go forward.We dont need Hargraves playing that role especially given that his versatility means he will play on some pretty dangerous opponents.

Dog Town

26 Aug 2004, 08:46

A very good post from Stefoid on another thread:

"I wonder which players will benefit from a more contested style of play, and whic ones will suffer?

I dont think Westy, Cross or Cooney will mind either way. Johno and Eago have obviously done pretty well out of the running and uncontested mark midfield style of play. But I reckon Hahn and Faulkner arent suited to it.

Maybe if we go to a more contested style of play, hahn and faulkner will benefit, and Eago and Johno will be pushed out of the midfield? Murph might also enjoy more of a contest than run,run,run.

I would like to see our midfield rotation next year consist of:

westy, cooney, murph, guido, hahn, cross and faulkner

with johno getting a run in bursts but spending most of his time up forward."

What do you think?I doubt we will be playing an overly contest based style of footy.He said he wants to play a style that will be effective at the dome.That to me says we will be pushing back behind the ball pretty hard and making it hard for guys to score and then running it forward in space.There will probably be alot more packs around half back but more one on ones involving our forwardsThis is also pretty similar to the way he had the swans playing at the SCG.

Eade had a tendency to change his tactics for different opposition when he was at Sydney especially in away games.In his second last season they played one of the Adelaide sides at footy park.I remember he pushed all his midfielders into the centre during general play to clog up the midfield and force the opposition wide.I dare say he will do something fairly similar with us especially when we are away from home.

It all depends on who plays what position as to whether a player will benefit from the style Eade is likely to bring in.If we do push back alot harder and flood to a certain extent then guys like Bandy,Rawlings and Johnson will love the space to lead into and our ball carrying types like Gilbee,Murf and Mcmahon will be pretty important.I think you will find we will win alot more contests through having numbers around the ball as opposed to just loading up with your tougher players around the footy.Ball winners like West,Cross,Birss ect will be hugely important as they always are but the running players will still be as important as they were before.

I suppose we cant really speculate until wesee the way Eade actually wants to play.I am only going off what he has said and the way Sydney played under him.He said his philosiphies on footy would remain the same as they had always been.

stefoid

26 Aug 2004, 11:16

Dog Town

26 Aug 2004, 16:18

Good point, I would love to start winning a few at the dome. How does St Kilda play? they have won their last 15 matches straight there.

I know they have that big bugger gherig sitting in the square, and a mobile strong marking CHF in Riewolt leading up the ground, plus they have hamill as a forward line storm trooper.

But how does their midfield play?

I find it hard to put my finger on there exact style of play.They have so many guys that go through there midfield that it makes it hard to keep track.They definetly leave plenty of room for there forwards to lead into.They moved the ball extremely quickly earlier in the year before sides worked them out a bit.Statistically they are middle of the road in every stat except for contested marks and marks inside 50 which probably indicates Riewoldt,Gehrig,Kosi and Hammill are carrying them somewhat.

On a related note, Eade had locket at Sydney. Do you think he places a big emphasis on a focal FF? We dont really have a big bustling FF type of player. The closest thing we have is a resting ruckman in Darce / Minson, but Minsons ability to play FF is doubtful.
The Lockett factor was one of my few doubts on Eades record when we were chasing him.The SCG is ideally suited to a leading full forward and to have one of the best of all time playing from the goal square would have made Eades job alot easier.On the other hand when you have a guy like Lockett on your list you are pretty much forced to play him from the square.He would have been such a powerful presence down there that it may have ended up being a negative to have him down there.Kind of like Neitz at the dees now.

I reckon secretly Eade would have liked to have had a more versatile forward line given his love for the tactical side of the game.I dont think Eade will be overly concerned over our lack of a genuine leading full forward.He is astute enough to realise that we have plenty of goal kicking options if we can structure it the right way.Having said that you wouldn't be overly surprised to see us chase another tall forward who plays a different style to Rawlings,Darcy,Bandy and Bowden.I know they are all predominantly leading types but apart from Bowden they need alot of space to lead in.Rawlings gets most of his marks on long leads and Bandy gets alot of it running back towards goal after out running his opponent.Darcy should never be leading full stop.We still do lack that natural full forward who knows the craft and if we could get one cheap then it would balance out our forward line nicely allowing us to send one of our current talls down back.

stefoid

26 Aug 2004, 16:52

I find it hard to put my finger on there exact style of play.They have so many guys that go through there midfield that it makes it hard to keep track.They definetly leave plenty of room for there forwards to lead into.They moved the ball extremely quickly earlier in the year before sides worked them out a bit.Statistically they are middle of the road in every stat except for contested marks and marks inside 50 which probably indicates Riewoldt,Gehrig,Kosi and Hammill are carrying them somewhat.

The Lockett factor was one of my few doubts on Eades record when we were chasing him.The SCG is ideally suited to a leading full forward and to have one of the best of all time playing from the goal square would have made Eades job alot easier.On the other hand when you have a guy like Lockett on your list you are pretty much forced to play him from the square.He would have been such a powerful presence down there that it may have ended up being a negative to have him down there.Kind of like Neitz at the dees now.

I reckon secretly Eade would have liked to have had a more versatile forward line given his love for the tactical side of the game.I dont think Eade will be overly concerned over our lack of a genuine leading full forward.He is astute enough to realise that we have plenty of goal kicking options if we can structure it the right way.Having said that you wouldn't be overly surprised to see us chase another tall forward who plays a different style to Rawlings,Darcy,Bandy and Bowden.I know they are all predominantly leading types but apart from Bowden they need alot of space to lead in.Rawlings gets most of his marks on long leads and Bandy gets alot of it running back towards goal after out running his opponent.Darcy should never be leading full stop.We still do lack that natural full forward who knows the craft and if we could get one cheap then it would balance out our forward line nicely allowing us to send one of our current talls down back.

I wonder why they dont try Bowdo at FF? I suppose he might be a bit on the slight side still.

Dog Town

26 Aug 2004, 17:07

I wonder why they dont try Bowdo at FF? I suppose he might be a bit on the slight side still.Hard to say.We dont even know if he is suited to it because he has basically never been played there outside the odd vfl game.You would think his natural sort of footy instincts would help him to get the ball at full forward given a bit of space.He times his leads very well at CHF.K-Mac not been played at FF at either level also makes me think that it probably hasn't really been seen as a problem for us.

I reckon one of our forwards will find himself out of the equation next year.Eade said an area he wants to fix is the ease with which the opposition takes it away from our forward line.All our talls are pretty ineffective at ground level.Wouldn't be suprised to see one of them traded or thrown down back and replaced with someone with a bit more defensive presence.Cant see that player coming from our list though.

Gilbo_Fan

27 Aug 2004, 13:16

I am so optimistic at the moment I feel that our whole squad is going to get better. There is just so much upside in our young players.

I expect that the youngish players that have played well at the end of the year will continue their improvement under Eade. In particular:

Birss - its amazing that he was not in the side when you consider how consistent he has been, against the Kangas he played perhaps his best game for the club. Whilst he isn't big I think he can be a useful centre square option.

Cooney - has got better as the season has gone on, like a good bottle of wine, we all hope he matures nicely

Cross - provided an opportunity and has taken if with both hands, his work tagging, tackling and at stoppages has been great. I think like West his presence makes his teammates run harder because they know he is constantly looking to lay it off and get his teammates involved.

Gilbee - my bigfooty user name will give it away but I am a huge fan, his skills both handball and by foot have really stood out over the last month. I believe wing/half back is his best position and I couldn't see him not thriving under Eade. He just has far too much talent not to.

IMO Bowden appears best as a roaming centre half forward, he isn't really a strong leading full forward. I see Rohan Smith as best placed in the backline, we will need some experience back there and none of the kids do it better than him. Hahn seems to have been injured all season whilst Cam Faulkner just hasn't taken the step forward we hoped he would. I think Rawlings will prove a better FF in season no.2.

Eades style to me seemed to be based on getting loose man in defence, zoning off in space, to cut off passes into the 50. I was always amazed at how many uncontested marks his defenders were able to take. And they had a hard running on ball unit (Creswell and Kelly)

Dog Town

27 Aug 2004, 13:30

I am so optimistic at the moment I feel that our whole squad is going to get better. There is just so much upside in our young players.

I expect that the youngish players that have played well at the end of the year will continue their improvement under Eade. In particular:

Birss - its amazing that he was not in the side when you consider how consistent he has been, against the Kangas he played perhaps his best game for the club. Whilst he isn't big I think he can be a useful centre square option.

)I think he would have been straight in if he wasn't injured.Averaging marginally under 20 touches a game this season.

Gilbee - my bigfooty user name will give it away but I am a huge fan, his skills both handball and by foot have really stood out over the last month. I believe wing/half back is his best position and I couldn't see him not thriving under Eade. He just has far too much talent not to.
Always been a massive fan of his aswell.I said pre season or early on that he is a prodigious talent and got talked out of it.I stand by that statement now.His body work has been good late in the season to add to his obvious foot skills and pace.

IMO Bowden appears best as a roaming centre half forward, he isn't really a strong leading full forward. I see Rohan Smith as best placed in the backline, we will need some experience back there and none of the kids do it better than him. Hahn seems to have been injured all season whilst Cam Faulkner just hasn't taken the step forward we hoped he would. I think Rawlings will prove a better FF in season no.2.

I agree that there isn't anyone who can play Smiths role aswell as him but at the same time there are guys who can do an adequate job at half back and not many who could provide the crumbing and goal sneak ability that Smith can.I am undecdied on where I reckon he should play.Watched the round 7 Essendon game this morning and Smith was sensational.His run and presence at half back is extremly important but as I said we need him up forward aswell.

BloodyRedHead!

27 Aug 2004, 13:56

It worth note that while Rodney was seeking good players it was emphasised that for the good of the opera watching public of NSW he needed headliner players to keep something of interest. Hence its always been suggested that he was pushed to get Lockett (the second time) and everyone else at Sydney (including Demetriou at AFL HQ) were pushing to get Carey when he was originally out of contract (before the issue) and when he was interviewed by Sydney and chose the Crows Rodney seemed a bit relieved.
I don't thing he would be coppping that at our club, because we would tend to want 'substance' players and not old 'name' players

Pembleton

27 Aug 2004, 14:35

Watched the round 7 Essendon game this morning and Smith was sensational.His run and presence at half back is extremly important but as I said we need him up forward aswell.

Were you taking note of his opponents goals? I know it can be hard to pick up on TV, because he often has multiple opponents within one quarter, but from my memory at the game he had 3 kicked on him in the first quarter alone.

~PC~

27 Aug 2004, 14:45

3 Goals 1 Pembleton. Rioli missed one from the the first row in the pocket.

I remember as it was the moment i realised that he wasn't the greatest defensive player we had.

Dog Town

27 Aug 2004, 19:47

Were you taking note of his opponents goals? I know it can be hard to pick up on TV, because he often has multiple opponents within one quarter, but from my memory at the game he had 3 kicked on him in the first quarter alone.Yeah I know he gives up some goals at times.In that particular game Rioli got 2 on him in the first quarter.Solomon got 2 on Darcy who was playing as a ruck rover.

The Doctor

28 Aug 2004, 07:05

the opera watching public of NSW

not that there's anything wrong with that.