Analysis Are “big-bodied” midfielders out of vogue and speedy midfielders in?

[Lsta062]

Collingwood and Port Adelaide are the best two midfield teams this year. Neither teams have particularly large midfielders and both have outperformed bigger-bodied midfield teams like Carlton, Geelong, Melbourne, Gold Coast, and Western Bulldogs on average.

One thing they have over the listed teams is speed. They both just blitz from defence to the forward line without the opposition being able to set up defensively.

The question is, did midfield speed become a more important factor in the modern game than midfield size this year?

 

[Lsta062]

FYI, Bulldogs and Melbourne have a mix of both big-bodied and speedy midfielders. That’s why they’re performing pretty well.

 

[BallaratBulldog]

It sounds right to think you would want a big body on the inside at a stoppage and center bounce. I don’t think that will ever go away. But there is definitely a shift to want more speed from defence to attack.

 

[Nat Fyfe]

While the Pies and Port both lack "big bodies", they do have notable hardnuts who have no trouble winning contested ball (Mitchell and Adams for the Pies, Wines and Drew for Port). Just look at the Dogs - their best contested player is Libba who is fairly short for the modern standard of inside mids. Same with Neale at the Lions. I think the idea of having 190cm+ players is drastically overrated purely because of the recent success of elite talent like Fyfe, Bont, Dunkley, Cripps.

It's tough to stop these taller midfielders once they start to take off, but if you want to win a groundball and retain possession, you back in guys like Mitchell, Libba, Viney, Rowell to do the dirty work and surround them with outside run.

 

[aussierulesrules]

Port also have loads of speed in the middle with Rozee, Butters and JHF.

I think the game has definitely changed to more of a running game since the stand and 6-6-6 rules came in.

We for instance had most if not all of our “big-bodied mids” trim right down over the offseason. Steele lost so much weight he looked almost gaunt.

 

[Lsta062]

It sounds right to think you would want a big body on the inside at a stoppage and center bounce. I don’t think that will ever go away. But there is definitely a shift to want more speed from defence to attack.

Collingwood vs Gold Coast for example is speed vs size, and Collingwood are handing it to them. They still have players that can win contests, but they’re not 192cm midfielders that outmuscle everyone. Gold Coast just cannot contain their explosiveness right now.

 

[Lsta062]

Port also have loads of speed in the middle with Rozee, Butters and JHF.

I think the game has definitely changed to more of a running game since the stand and 6-6-6 rules came in.

We for instance had most if not all of our “big-bodied mids” trim right down over the offseason. Steele lost so much weight he looked almost gaunt.

Yeah that’s right. The rise of St Kilda, Adelaide, and Essendon this season shows the shift IMO as well. They don’t particularly have those large big-bodied midfielders compared to other sides, but they’re doing fairly well compared to more traditional midfield setups.

Richmond added size and are doing worse in the midfield IMO than when we were smaller in size last year. Our off-season changes would’ve normally led to a better midfield performance, but because the game changed to favour speed, we don’t really see that advantage. Well, at least that’s what I observe.

 

[BF Tiger]

There’s also the shift in rule interpretations. I think big-body players might be somewhat averse to bullocking through or laying harder tackles given some of the recent MRO and tribunal outcomes.

 

[Schauermann]

Probably all a matter finding the best mixture of size, speed, talent, skill, experience and form. Will differ from team to team what is the most important factor in the end. And you have to shape your gameplan based your own players strength.

 

[Godzke]

not sure what your definition of "big bodied" is (Cripps? Bont?) but both teams have enough strong bodied mids (JHF, Boak, Wines, SPP, Sidebottom, Crisp, JDG, Mitchell). Nothing out of vogue about strong mids.

 

[Magpie Since 1986]

Pendlebury - 190cm, Crisp 190cm, Lipinski - 190cm, De Geoy - 188cm and built like a tank. Mitchell may not be tall but he is a big body, he certainly aint fast. Aside from the Daicos bros, which of our midfielders are speedy rather than large bodies?

 

[Power Raid]

Pendlebury - 190cm, Crisp 190cm, Lipinski - 190cm, De Geoy - 188cm and built like a tank. Mitchell may not be tall but he is a big body, he certainly aint fast. Aside from the Daicos bros, which of our midfielders are speedy rather than large bodies?

yep, the pies have big bodies complemented by speed. Port's zippy guys are rozee, butters and JHF but the rest have good sized bodies. What is ignored when assessing bodies is the quality of disposal and especially by foot. Port's improvement has come more from better disposal than the addition of speed.

Pendlebury is probably a great example of the importance of foot skills and decision making

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Powell-Pepper, Sam

129​

25yr 5mth

8 Jan 1998

187cm​

96kg​

​

Jones, Lachlan

26​

21yr 2mth

9 Apr 2002

186cm​

90kg​

​

Houston, Dan

136​

26yr 1mth

12 May 1997

186cm​

88kg​

​

Rozee, Connor

96​

23yr 5mth

22 Jan 2000

185cm​

80kg​

Butters, Zak

83​

22yr 9mth

8 Sep 2000

181cm​

78kg​

Drew, Willem

71​

24yr 9mth

1 Oct 1998

188cm​

87kg​

Boak, Travis

339​

34yr 11mth

1 Aug 1988

183cm​

85kg​

Bergman, Miles

48​

21yr 8mth

18 Oct 2001

189cm​

84kg​

Horne-Francis, Jason

32​

20yr

21 Jun 2003

185cm​

81kg​

Farrell, Kane

62​

24yr 3mth

17 Mar 1999

182cm​

78kg​

Williams, Dylan R

13​

22yr

1 Jul 2001

186cm​

82kg​

 

[Atomboy]

What if you have neither big bodied nor young/speedy midfielders ?.

Asking for a friend.

 

[sobrave]

Sometimes guns are just guns. Rozee and Butters are just very good. Drew is a big body and does the unglamorous stuff so that those guys can do their thing.

 

[BEEG]

You need a good mix, that's speed, size and the most important elite skills.

Pies probably aren't 1st if we don't have Mitchell.

 

[nut]

Not overly speedy

 

[Lsta062]

Not overly speedy

View attachment 1726823

And Wines is struggling compared to previous years. Could be age, but could be his lack of speed too. The thing I noticed is that the big-bodied mids like Wines and Prestia are struggling to get separation from their opponents this year as midfield speed around them has increased. This makes them less effective than other years.

 

[Lsta062]

Gold Coast vs Collingwood is an example of this. Gold Coast has a lot of big-bodied midfielders and got their behinds handed to them by a relatively leaner and faster Collingwood yesterday. Their midfield isn’t bad at all, but those are the types of things I’m talking about. I’m not saying that big-bodied midfielders are completely unnecessary, but just that they’re not as effective as they used to be. Teams are better off having the midfield mix that Collingwood and Port Adelaide currently have than what teams like Carlton and Gold Coast have.

 

[Yoda_]

I’ll reserve my opinion until a cold wet Saturday night at the g when it’s stoppage after stoppage and bodies get tired quickly

Then we will know a better idea to answer this question


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