View Full Version : Axel Foley - tagged?
People do any other of you think that Axels numbers are down since when he played for victoria and tore them a new one.
is this due to
A. since then all coaches have finally had to recognise him as the most dangerous Richmond midfielder and are now tagging him thoroughly?
B. he's just tired and down a little?
I mean it's not that his posessions have been bad or he's playing badly he's still in our top 5 b and f.
Is this no 1 tag a reason why Lids is having a better season?, because you can't tag them all.
Which brings me to the point of next season with Trent Cotchin playing more midfield time then all players will benefit as thay will probably have to tag him or he will rip you to shreds.
thoughts please?;)
getthefooty
3 Jul 2008, 13:38
A....
AxelFoley#5
3 Jul 2008, 13:41
I dont recall being tagged??:confused:
CoggaRules
3 Jul 2008, 13:42
me thinks its been A for the last 2 years dudes...;)
"Break a tag he must learn... elite then he will be" Yoda
Supasta #3 Murphy
3 Jul 2008, 14:37
"Break a tag he must learn... elite then he will be" Yoda
Exactly.
Funny how Deledio's numbers have gone up at the same time Foley's have gone down
Coincidence?
Drunken Wookie
3 Jul 2008, 14:49
Have Foley's numbers really been down? Consistently I mean. Even the best mids in the business get held to below 20 a few times a year and everytime I care to check his stats he's at 30 or close to it possessions...
Supasta #3 Murphy
3 Jul 2008, 14:52
I think deledio has come of age.
he's working harder to earn his possessions and kicks a handy goal or two.
averaging close to 30 touches over the past 5 weeks i believe, He has been a star for richmond this year
Funny how Deledio's numbers have gone up at the same time Foley's have gone down
Coincidence?
Nup..It's why we ( and every other team ) *always* need to recruit more quality mids...Too many is never enough.
Faz 2000
3 Jul 2008, 14:57
Lids also picks up more cheapies on the outside as a link player (not a criticism, just an observation), hence his numbers are bigger. Awesome player, though.
Axe is a ripper. He's very lightly built, though, which makes it tough to sustain success in the middle of packs, especially if he's getting a tag. Something he can and no doubt will work on.
CoggaRules
3 Jul 2008, 14:57
Funny how Deledio's numbers have gone up at the same time Foley's have gone down
Coincidence?
yeah they have but so has our effectiveness...the opposition teams know who hurts them most at this point in time. ;)
Have Foley's numbers really been down? Consistently I mean. Even the best mids in the business get held to below 20 a few times a year and everytime I care to check his stats he's at 30 or close to it possessions..quote
I didn't mean to say he's playing bad DW, he's still one of our best just seems to be a little down since the rep game where he took on all the elite mids and smacked em, think it was a wake up call to most who rated him as good to him being v v good hence most accountable tagger on him now and getting 17-25 high quality possessions instead of 30+, will be a big learning curve for him this year, good thing though:thumbsu:
Benchwarmer77
3 Jul 2008, 15:12
good thing about the midfield starting to be come very stong is they can not tagg them all... lids will start to get the tag soon and Foley will be free again.
CoggaRules
3 Jul 2008, 15:24
good thing about the midfield starting to be come very stong is they can not tagg them all... lids will start to get the tag soon and Foley will be free again.
unfortunately for us, we are still at the point where we continue to have to have purely negative taggers in the midfield that offer nothing more than a tag. So when the opposition needs a lift, they send in their "tagged" and we cant send in anyone but Hyde and Johnson with an Axel or Lids as the other mid. i.e TW gets outcoached because he is so one dimensional when it comes to tags.
This is what kills us time and time again. We dont have an effective second string midfield that can quell their opponents and in turn have the sharpness and smarts and skill to hurt the opposition in an attacking sense. Until we do, we will tread water. ;)
AlexRance
3 Jul 2008, 15:37
I agree with CoggaRules. http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/images/icons/icon6.gif
unfortunately for us, we are still at the point where we continue to have to have purely negative taggers in the midfield that offer nothing more than a tag. So when the opposition needs a lift, they send in their "tagged" and we cant send in anyone but Hyde and Johnson with an Axel or Lids as the other mid. i.e TW gets outcoached because he is so one dimensional when it comes to tags.
This is what kills us time and time again. We dont have an effective second string midfield that can quell their opponents and in turn have the sharpness and smarts and skill to hurt the opposition in an attacking sense. Until we do, we will tread water. ;)
Couldn't agree more Cogga that's why we need a pre season on cotchin, cogs to come back and Jackson to step up, this will make it easier for guys like edwards,connors and collins to come into the side and have an impact.
spot on post our taggers are ok defensively but do not hurt you enough ala cameron ling, brett kirk etc..:p
thegrach
3 Jul 2008, 16:45
unfortunately for us, we are still at the point where we continue to have to have purely negative taggers in the midfield that offer nothing more than a tag. So when the opposition needs a lift, they send in their "tagged" and we cant send in anyone but Hyde and Johnson with an Axel or Lids as the other mid. i.e TW gets outcoached because he is so one dimensional when it comes to tags.
This is what kills us time and time again. We dont have an effective second string midfield that can quell their opponents and in turn have the sharpness and smarts and skill to hurt the opposition in an attacking sense. Until we do, we will tread water. ;)
Although I agree with you in theory Cogga, if you look at West Coast and Sydney in their premiership years, they both went in with taggers who have little positive influence at centre bounces repeatedly. It is a matter of how much your wingers and flankers get involved that makes the difference IMHO.
Just OT a bit, just wondering when we will have a player that can offer protection for Lids and Foley from taggers, as this seems to be the hallmark of most good teams.
Top_4_Tiger
3 Jul 2008, 16:49
I believe taggers have figured out the best way to tag him now.
About 2 months ago they have started following him (rather than getting goalside in fear of his pace) and actually letting him scoop up the ball first before wrapping their arms and bringing him to the ground. It happens all the time now, he looks set to explode out but his opponent is right behind him for the tackle before he can use his quick 5m acceleration.
He has proven to beat many forms of taggers over the past 18 months, now they're putting probably the last common tag on him and it is working.
If Axel can lift 5% next pre-season he'll be exceeding the class of Daniel Kerr who he is just below right now.
If Foley had Judd and Cousins in his team he'd be just below Kerr from 2 years ago IMO.
CoggaRules
3 Jul 2008, 16:51
Although I agree with you in theory Cogga, if you look at West Coast and Sydney in their premiership years, they both went in with taggers who have little positive influence at centre bounces repeatedly. It is a matter of how much your wingers and flankers get involved that makes the difference IMHO.
Just OT a bit, just wondering when we will have a player that can offer protection for Lids and Foley from taggers, as this seems to be the hallmark of most good teams.
they went in with 1 dude max and if the shit hit the fan then they might have went with 2. And invariably 1 of them would do damage of some kind in an attacking sense. I still believe TW plays a supremely negative game with our mids...i mean, what are a Tuck, Hyde and Johsnon going to produce in the middle for us apart from? well you tell me..the tags are on the incoming players because the opposition know that that trio have NFI in the sharp dept. ;)
Have Foley's numbers really been down? Consistently I mean. Even the best mids in the business get held to below 20 a few times a year and everytime I care to check his stats he's at 30 or close to it possessions...
Total Disposals
R Foley Lids
1 26 vs 13
2 15 vs 27
3 28 vs 24
4 24 vs 25
5 24 vs 22
6 26 vs 30
7 22 vs 22
ALL STAR GAME
8 17 vs 21
9 32 vs 29
10 24 vs 32
11 13 vs 30
12 16 vs 29
13 30 vs 14
14 26 vs 30
Not as profound as I thought the difference was, but it's often there especially after the all star game
Foley has definately been getting tagged but when Foley doesn't get tagged then Lids gets tagged and so on. An example would be the Port Adelaide game when they put their best tagger in Kane Cornes on lids while Foley wasnt really phased by who was on him. So it just depends on the club in my oppinion, who they think is the more dangerous player. How great was it to see Trent Cotchin rip Mark Murphy a new arsehole in that first quarter when he turned him inside out. :thumbsu:
Foley and Deledio are clearly our best creative midfielders, so one or both of them get stopping players put on them every game.
After last season, any AFL coach who didn't believe Foley was our most dangerous midfielder is stupid and/or sacked. Deledio has stepped it up a notch this year, while Foley seems to have remained at last year's very high standard. I believe both are around the same level and I reckon, as has been mentioned, each opposition coach places what they consider to be the best matchup for their team on each of them. Whether that's a stopper on one and a creator on the other or whatever, I don't think there would be any coaches who would have gone "oh wow, Foley can play" after the All Stars game any more than they did after his 2007.
RichosGuns
4 Jul 2008, 14:55
One of them gets tagged every match. Hopefully Cotchin can also develop into a player who requires a tag by the end of next year