Analysis 2015 Forward structure

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Funk said:
MM seems to be keen to give games to players he woos to the club. eg: Docherty and Everitt last season.

I suspect there are 2 reasons for this:
1. He believes they cover a "hole" in our lineup.
2. He needs to be seen to give players who come to the club every opportunity to succeed if he is to successfully woo more players to the club in the future.

There have been lots of comments from Malthouse/club about:
Kreuzer's need to learn how to play forward
Henderson will not be a swingman - he will only play FWD.

I personally think the game has changed and that Kreuzer is simply not tall enough to be #1 ruck. In fact I think he is almost a dinosaur as he has no logical position. Too short for ruck, can't take enough contested marks to be a gorilla FWD and too slow to beat DEF's on the lead.
I suspect Malthouse may try to turn him into a clone of Jarryd Roughead. i.e. he will play some time FWD, some time in the ruck and some time as a big midfielder.

FWIW and taking all this into account I think our most likely FWD set up will be:

FWD - Kreuzer Jones Menzel
HF - Tutt Henderson Thomas

Wood will be starting Ruck.

Casboult and Warnock will have to wait for injuries or play their way into the team. Unfortunately with K's injury history the wait may not take too long - in which case Casboult would be first in.

For the reasons above I think our DEF's will start as
FB - Touhy Rowe Jaksche
HB - Docherty Jamison Simpson

Yarran/Walker/Everitt will play on wings/midfield.
Click to expand...

Don't you think Doc was good enough to play? He was outstanding (averaged like 20 touches a game) with virtually no pre-season. Everitt was also very good - did some seriously good tagging jobs for us before he was injured.

Casboult is a running machine. He's in our best 22. Jones is 3rd tall not our FF. It will be interesting to see how much better he does when he has another tall target to stop the double teaming from opposition defenders.

Wood will be picked over Warnock as the latter cannot play forward.
 

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With Watson dominating the Intra-Club match today, can we now afford to return Henderson to the back-line? (Where he plays his best footy, imo.)

The club has publicly stated that Hendo will no longer be 'swingman' and focus on becoming a forward but after Watto's game today, plus 4 goals in rnd 23 after impressing at VFL level, I'm not sure we'll need Hendo to fill that role anymore. Watson is a mature body with all the right forward qualities.. reminds me a bit of pretty good FF* from a few years back.. I can see him in a couple years being a force at FF.

Don't know if Jones has the tank to play HF. Henderson is very good at leading to the right positions as is Menzel, who needs to be used more as a leading forward than a crumber.


FF Casboult Watson Menzel
HF Walker Jones Thomas
C Murphy Judd Yarran
HB Docherty Henderson Simpson
FB Tuohy Rowe Jamison
R Kruezer Gibbs Curnow
Int Everitt Carrazzo Bell Cripps
 
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Tough decision and a great one to have, always believed Watto could become a good forward, with that boot, good hands and strong frame he could do a lot of damage and with very little possession.

Just on insight and position changes, don't write off Jones becoming a very good defender, I hope someone else at Carlton sees what I see in him.

Henderson does play his best football in defence, but could be suited to a high half forward role, get him up on the wings, he's a smart player and great runner.

Casboult deep, I feel rucking and playing up is too much, get him deep, though having him up means less shots (misses on goal).

Really hard decisions.
 
Funk said:
MM seems to be keen to give games to players he woos to the club. eg: Docherty and Everitt last season.

I suspect there are 2 reasons for this:
1. He believes they cover a "hole" in our lineup.
2. He needs to be seen to give players who come to the club every opportunity to succeed if he is to successfully woo more players to the club in the future.

There have been lots of comments from Malthouse/club about:
Kreuzer's need to learn how to play forward
Henderson will not be a swingman - he will only play FWD.

I personally think the game has changed and that Kreuzer is simply not tall enough to be #1 ruck. In fact I think he is almost a dinosaur as he has no logical position. Too short for ruck, can't take enough contested marks to be a gorilla FWD and too slow to beat DEF's on the lead.
I suspect Malthouse may try to turn him into a clone of Jarryd Roughead. i.e. he will play some time FWD, some time in the ruck and some time as a big midfielder.

FWIW and taking all this into account I think our most likely FWD set up will be:

FWD - Kreuzer Jones Menzel
HF - Tutt Henderson Thomas

Wood will be starting Ruck.

Casboult and Warnock will have to wait for injuries or play their way into the team. Unfortunately with K's injury history the wait may not take too long - in which case Casboult would be first in.

For the reasons above I think our DEF's will start as
FB - Touhy Rowe Jaksche
HB - Docherty Jamison Simpson

Yarran/Walker/Everitt will play on wings/midfield.
Click to expand...
Doc and Everitt gifted games.. yeah ok
 
Hendo needs to stay forward. This could be a breakout year for him an he needs continuity of position. Watson kicking 6 is great but lets not get carried away. What it does do is put pressure on for positions and Liam Jones and him will be battling it out to be that 3rd tall forward. You have to remember injuries come easily and the best thing about this is we have developed depth. Most teams can field a bloody good starting 22, but its the depth you want that a player can come in and play their role as opposed to band-aid measures which is why we have had to "swing" Hendo in the past. We now have Jaksch as that extra defender in the back line and that is perfect because hes not ready to play a full season but he is ready to fill in when someone goes down or players need a rest and he will probably play around half a season that way.

Im also buoyed by the fact those youngsters in Cripps, Graham and also Bell (who has been around for a bit longer) seemed to have taken a step up in level which gives us that extra depth for our mids as well.

Its not about our best 6 players, its really about the quality of our bottom 6 that we want and when players are out injured we want to see a list whereby the gap between our "best 22" player and the person coming in is little to non existent. That is why competition for spots is so important as it elevates both players to play at a standard to be better than the next guy, and if there is genuine competition between them that means there also isn't much between them.
 
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I mentioned this in another thread, it's a bit out of the box but it would work.

Say we can't separate Henderson, Jones and Watson and Rowe and Jamison are playing well in defence. Casboult is the weakest forward here you may argue as his kicking isn't reliable and he's less mobile. Yes he's a great target, especially to kick long to and he's excellent for pinch hitting in the ruck but he hasn't yet proven a consistent kick/goal kicker. Anyway back to the plan. You play Jones, Henderson and Watson all up forward with Rowe and Jamison in defence. Rowe can ruck a bit, he's not as good as Casboult but he's ok. When the ruckman rests (bench or forward), Henderson goes to CHB and Rowe into the ruck. Makes full advantage of Henderson's ability to play at both ends, gives us a more mobile forwardline.

Otherwise we have to stick with Casboult forward, and one of Henderson, Jones or Watson Misses out or Rowe misses out for Henderson or Henderson plays back pocket which might work well as Henderson would be very good on resting rucks and playing off his man a bit.
 
gbatman said:
I mentioned this in another thread, it's a bit out of the box but it would work.

Say we can't separate Henderson, Jones and Watson and Rowe and Jamison are playing well in defence. Casboult is the weakest forward here you may argue as his kicking isn't reliable and he's less mobile. Yes he's a great target, especially to kick long to and he's excellent for pinch hitting in the ruck but he hasn't yet proven a consistent kick/goal kicker. Anyway back to the plan. You play Jones, Henderson and Watson all up forward with Rowe and Jamison in defence. Rowe can ruck a bit, he's not as good as Casboult but he's ok. When the ruckman rests (bench or forward), Henderson goes to CHB and Rowe into the ruck. Makes full advantage of Henderson's ability to play at both ends, gives us a more mobile forwardline.

Otherwise we have to stick with Casboult forward, and one of Henderson, Jones or Watson Misses out or Rowe misses out for Henderson or Henderson plays back pocket which might work well as Henderson would be very good on resting rucks and playing off his man a bit.
Click to expand...
Any other options??;)
 
gbatman said:
I mentioned this in another thread, it's a bit out of the box but it would work.

Say we can't separate Henderson, Jones and Watson and Rowe and Jamison are playing well in defence. Casboult is the weakest forward here you may argue as his kicking isn't reliable and he's less mobile. Yes he's a great target, especially to kick long to and he's excellent for pinch hitting in the ruck but he hasn't yet proven a consistent kick/goal kicker. Anyway back to the plan. You play Jones, Henderson and Watson all up forward with Rowe and Jamison in defence. Rowe can ruck a bit, he's not as good as Casboult but he's ok. When the ruckman rests (bench or forward), Henderson goes to CHB and Rowe into the ruck. Makes full advantage of Henderson's ability to play at both ends, gives us a more mobile forwardline.

Otherwise we have to stick with Casboult forward, and one of Henderson, Jones or Watson Misses out or Rowe misses out for Henderson or Henderson plays back pocket which might work well as Henderson would be very good on resting rucks and playing off his man a bit.
Click to expand...

Points for creative thinking but I'd like less interruption to the structure of the team - it should be a simple resting ruck/ruck swap, not moving the CHB to ruck, the CHF to CHB and the ruck going forward/off the ground, even for short periods.

Personally, I think Watson needs to make a bigger case for his forward position as it's going to require a reshuffle of the team to accommodate him. The main question this poses for me is; are we limiting the impact that Henderson could have on the team by playing him as the third tall defender to have Watson play as a forward?

The best thing about this is Mick has some really big decisions to make in every single part of the ground; never remember Ratts having this problem...
 
From what I saw of Jaksch yesterday, there is no need to put Hendo down back (for the time being). KJ definitely looks like having all the tools to be a quality KPD. Reads the play well, and is a strong mark.
 

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DaVillaBlues said:
From what I saw of Jaksch yesterday, there is no need to put Hendo down back (for the time being). KJ definitely looks like having all the tools to be a quality KPD. Reads the play well, and is a strong mark.
Click to expand...

Yes, he may well be but not just yet.

If he supports Jamison and Rowe as that third tall then terrific, but even that would be at the expense of White right now.....No rush.
 
DaVillaBlues said:
From what I saw of Jaksch yesterday, there is no need to put Hendo down back (for the time being). KJ definitely looks like having all the tools to be a quality KPD. Reads the play well, and is a strong mark.
Click to expand...


so who was playing on watson when he bagged 6 at Ikon park?
 
Obviously I did not see any of the match yesterday and for that matter until I logged on last night had no idea it was on. For me the great part about going into this season is we actually should have fierce competition for many spots on the list and this is something we have not had in years. All the good teams have ready made replacements should a top liner lose form or get injured and this is what we need. In truth Watson for example may not be the first choice but if he can keep pushing we are in a great place. It is a long season with many twists and turns and the more cattle we have that can come in and make an impact the better off we will be come September, yes I said it September!!
 
Tony Lynn 15 said:
Obviously I did not see any of the match yesterday and for that matter until I logged on last night had no idea it was on. For me the great part about going into this season is we actually should have fierce competition for many spots on the list and this is something we have not had in years. All the good teams have ready made replacements should a top liner lose form or get injured and this is what we need. In truth Watson for example may not be the first choice but if he can keep pushing we are in a great place. It is a long season with many twists and turns and the more cattle we have that can come in and make an impact the better off we will be come September, yes I said it September!!
Click to expand...
As much as I had and still have faith in Watson, I think were all getting a bit too excited about his future becoming anywhere near the likes of fev! He's got 1 year imo to do something, although signs are good I reckon we need to chill and hope he becomes consistent!
 
Talk of dropping Casboult for Watson is very premature imo.

Watson has excelled against clearly undersized opposition at his last two hit-outs. Obviously it's better that he's taken advantage of these mismatches than not but I'm still not sure he can worry genuine AFL quality KPDs.

To Watto's credit he's at least giving himself every chance to turn his career around up forward!
 
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