Smith in 2006

[Dry Rot]

A companion thread to the Guido one.

With Monty back and Griffen possibly spending time on HBF where does this leave Smith? Training reports suggest he has been doing forward drills, but with Murphy, Robbo, Johno and perhaps Guido up there, there's not much room.

What Smith's role be in 2006?

[RWBFan]

He will play is a similar role as last yr and probably spend some time on da bench. he can play back and forward on the run he's a very good kick from outside 50.

[Dry Rot]

Mostly forward?

[murphy's twin]

smith will be in a similar situation to Grant. He will be placed in the field to were he is needed. sometimes it might be up forward, othertimes it might be in defence.

[The_Bulldogs_Bite]

smith will be in a similar situation to Grant. He will be placed in the field to were he is needed. sometimes it might be up forward, othertimes it might be in defence.

Pretty much it in a nutshell.

We'll see Smith spend time down back perhaps to give Mcmahon or Gilbee a run in the middle, time down forward when one of Guido/Johnson are in the midfield and perhaps even on a wing.

He'll probably spend some time on the bench too, but I think he's now become a very handy player. Somewhat of a "Impact" one, if you will.

[dlanor the dog]

Smithy will become our super sub this year spending time on the bench and filling the gaps

[Polly Purser]

Smithy will become our super sub this year spending time on the bench and filling the gaps

I read on one of the training reports that he has spent a bit of time up forward and he might be used there as well. With Monty injured it will probably be tempting to play him as a half back flanker.

[amnesiac]

monty can perform his role on half-back. i believe smith will play as a half-forward flanker. has the ability to kick goals from outside the 50m arc, and also is an excellent kick of the football in a passing situation.

[bulldogtragic]

Riccardi-like I think. If we need an injection of pace when the game hots up, take Bubba of the bench and insert him in. If we need faster options up forward, he can go in, a spell in the centre to relieve another player and so on. Or simply adding a presence and his experience into the game

Riccardi has been doing this for 2 years with great effect averaging 2 goals a game and enough possies and experience to settle the team or lift it when it needs it. Bubba could do this quite well for us.

[dlanor the dog]

Riccardi-like I think. If we need an injection of pace when the game hots up, take Bubba of the bench and insert him in. If we need faster options up forward, he can go in, a spell in the centre to relieve another player and so on. Or simply adding a presence and his experience into the game

Riccardi has been doing this for 2 years with great effect averaging 2 goals a game and enough possies and experience to settle the team or lift it when it needs it. Bubba could do this quite well for us.
Exactly how I think they'll handle Smith

[Year of the Dog]

Bubba still has plenty to offer. He is most productive when able to play his forward line / attacking role starting from the back half of the field (if that makes sense). He is our best exponent of this type of role.

[Aquamarinejewel]

My thoughts on Smith are very similar to Year of the Dog, he still has plenty to offer and I don't think he will be spending a lot of time sitting on the bench. He is an imposing figure on the ground and not scared to push his way around. He is very important to the team structure.

[stefoid]

hbf.

[Mofra]

If we are in trouble, loose man in defence. He has the experience to be our defence "admiral" and direct players where to go - when the situation has settled down, he'd run forward to the HFF. I think he is very effective in the link role, as almost a third wingman running and providing another middle marking option.

[footscray1973]

...loose man in defence...

Isn't that the role he always plays anyway, even when he has an opponent? I can accept Smith as a forward, loose man back, midfielder, but if we rely on him to play accountable footy in the back half, then we're effectively conceding goals based on his performances there in recent years. Personally I think he should play forward most of the time, wing occasionally and back as a last resort.

[scooter600x]

Isn't that the role he always plays anyway, even when he has an opponent? I can accept Smith as a forward, loose man back, midfielder, but if we rely on him to play accountable footy in the back half, then we're effectively conceding goals based on his performances there in recent years. Personally I think he should play forward most of the time, wing occasionally and back as a last resort.
Harsh and unfair.

Smith played that way because at the time his role was to attack which meant taking risks. Now it's Gilbees/McMahons role and they will get burnt from time to time as well, but without that run off half-back it's bloody hard to score.

Smith's days as a running half-back are behind him. Forward line impact player off the bench.

FWIW, I thought Smith was a pretty good judge of when to attack and when to defend.

[SonOfScray]

Harsh and unfair.

Smith played that way because at the time his role was to attack which meant taking risks. Now it's Gilbees/McMahons role and they will get burnt from time to time as well, but without that run off half-back it's bloody hard to score.

Smith's days as a running half-back are behind him. Forward line impact player off the bench.

FWIW, I thought Smith was a pretty good judge of when to attack and when to defend.

I thought he struggled early on last season after being taken away from this role. Came very close to being dropped IMO, his preseason form was good but sropped away badly in the season proper until he got shifted back to a HBF. Later in the year he popped up as a player capable of the pinch hit forward role (which he always has been talent wise) and gave us good value at both ends.

It will be interesting to see how he settles into his changing position in the team.

[footscray1973]

Harsh and unfair.

Smith played that way because at the time his role was to attack which meant taking risks. Now it's Gilbees/McMahons role and they will get burnt from time to time as well, but without that run off half-back it's bloody hard to score.

Smith's days as a running half-back are behind him. Forward line impact player off the bench.

FWIW, I thought Smith was a pretty good judge of when to attack and when to defend.

Harsh - maybe. Unfair - not from where I see it. In 97-99 when we were a good side playing on a small ground, with key forward targets, he could run and kick long with confidence. We would either score or at least keep the ball forward of centre, with the likes of Libba, Jose and Dimma playing in the centre, and even if it rebounded quickly, on the smaller Optus Oval, the likes of Dent, Kretiuk, Curley, etc could cover for him and block up the spaces. In 2000 we moved to TD - larger spaces, harder to cover. Turnovers still didn’t burn us much because we were still a reasonable side, and Smith (and Hunter, etc) could run and kick long. From 2001, we started sliding down the ladder, and on the large spaces of TD, turnovers from our forward line became more exposed and more prevalent. One of the main reasons was the way players like Smith, Johnson and Brown (and Hudson, etc) had been coached over the years by Wallace and Rohde - attack, attack, attack. However, others such as Grant, Murphy, West (and earlier Dent, Ellis and Cameron) who also could attack, were able to play the one-on-one defensive shutdown roles effectively. Gilbee and McMahon showed last year that they could also combine attacking run off half back with defence. Brown is gone, but the greatest deficiency with Smith and Johnson is still their inability to do the defensive things. Even last year when we were flying, and as well as he was playing, Johnson consistently ran away from team-mates with the ball to receive, rather than moving in to block/shepherd the chasing opponent and relieve pressure - it is ingrained into him, Smith is slightly better at that aspect, but also less inclined to stand right next to an opposition forward when required. As mentioned by another poster, Smith can play the loose man in defence well, as he and Grant did in a memorable victory at Geelong several years ago, but he is unable to commit to a direct opponent for extended periods (look at the Essendon game several years ago where his direct opponents kicked 4-5 goals (variously Rioli and Lovett-Murray) while he was running parallel to them 20-30 metres away. I don’t blame them entirely, but (and I know this is slightly off-topic) it still irks me that Johnson got a spot in the Team of the Century ahead of Steve Wallis. At that point in his career, Johnson was just a good player, while Wallis had retired with a career boasting the transformation from a creative mid-fielder to a close-checking defender, and pound-for-pound is still probably one of the two-three toughest and gutsiest players I’ve seen at this club over 30+ years. He’d sacrificed his game at the same time as being appointed captain for the benefit of the team, and added different attributes to his game that were previously seen as lacking.

Also, I’d like to make a comparison between Smith/Johnson and Gilbee/McMahon. Smith can kick long to a contest (or the goals), but his kicking style means the ball travels in a high arc, therefore over a long distance it is harder to pick out a lone target with precision - Gilbee can kick 50-60m in almost a classic stab-pass style to lone targets anywhere on the field. Net effect is that Gilbee can hit specific targets more consistently, and the ball will then rebound less as a result. Over short distances it is the same, Gilbee has less air in his passes (admittedly by being lower to the ground they allow for more chance of interception), but as we saw last year, his precision and effective disposal rate is phenomenal. Compare Johnson and McMahon, and the result is similar. McMahon can dispose accurately with both feet - Johnson sometimes fails to kick short passes to his team-mates’ best advantage with his preferred foot. Johnson’s short kicks also tend to float, rather than “shoot”.

Don’t get me wrong, Smith and Johnson are good players, but with their age, I think the old adage applies - you can’t teach an old Dog new tricks. Smith’s days as a free-wheeling HBF are past him. IMHO, he should only play back as a last resort. He has shown he can be a creative forward, only problem is that is Johnson’s best position as well - not sure if the two of them can play forward at the same time. Johnson’s main value is certainly as a forward. The other possie I would consider for Smith is as an attacking wingman - at least by getting the ball near the centre and running he can effectively put the ball in the goal-square or beyond, with less chance of immediate rebound, and the ball is landing further up the field from our point of view. Also he has Cross and potentially Morris at times in the midfield, defensive players who can cover for him to an extent.

Sorry, scooter, this wasn’t meant as a rebuff to your points, just wanted to get my opinions across, and apologies for getting off the subject by dragging Johnson into it so much, just feel that in their general team play style, they are peas in a pod, so to speak.