Connolly on SEN

[dockers_bengals]

Johnson definitely strikes me as the Goodes type..May even be better over head.

Is there pace concerns though? Is he as fast as Goodes?

IMO his take off speed isnt good(often got burnt by a forward) but wants he gets going he's quick.He ran davey down in the final and also ran around a umpire to run down a crows player.

 

[Ripper]

IMO his take off speed isnt good(often got burnt by a forward) but wants he gets going he's quick.He ran davey down in the final and also ran around a umpire to run down a crows player.

Fair comment. He is fast once He gets going. No doubt they will be working on his holeshot speed in the off season.

 

[anchor man]

Solomon will play as a midfielder not a backman.A hard hitting ball clearing midfielder.

 

[Ysaye]

First pick is 31.

All these stuffups and we just finished 3rd, and have one of the best lists in the AFL.

Where did we go right?

Who do you support by the way?

Johnson, Peake and Mundy were given opportunities - improved and produced great rebound from defence. Farmer was brilliant and Pav played the same as the year before.

I backed CC when we were losing and people were calling for his head halfway through the year, but I have always mantained that he stuffs around with positions way too much - just as Kevin Sheedy has his pet ideas, its one of CC's that works only 5% of the time. Woods had a future in the AFL as a HBF and CC should have left him there, not try and convert him into forward. Farmer was never a midfielder. McPharlin and Polak were always better in defence.

Pav worked in the midfield and in defence but face it, Pav is one of the top 5 players in the comp and CAN play anywhere. I reckon he picked Croads best position but thats beside the point.

Johnson should remain at CHB and Mundy on the HBF. Don't rob Peter to pay Paul.

I have doubts about Drum's endurance - he should play as a HFF with brief stints in the midfield.

Webster and Crowley should be given more of a go if they want a big bodied midfielder with good skills who can get the ball.

 

[dominguez]

Good post Ysaye.

It will be interesting to see where Drum fits in with the addition of Solomon and Tarrant.

 

[rowdy3012]

Johnson too the midfield is a good idea he struggles when he has to actually man up on a key position player(he struggled with Miller in final). So a good move.

 

[chook2734]

Johnson too the midfield is a good idea he struggles when he has to actually man up on a key position player(he struggled with Miller in final). So a good move.

I think this is a bit of a myth about Johnno - yes, he did struggle against Miller in the Melbourne game and spent a lot of the second half of the year playing either as a loose man or further up the ground, but if you go back over some of our early games he most definitely had an opponent and regularly beat them. Think back to when McPharlin was forward and we had no Grover or Thornton - Johnno had to play as a key backman and he did a pretty good job.

 

[theGav56]

Ysaye, I think you are way off the mark. Playing in your pet position is a luxury that modern football only reserves for very few players and position. CC has been trying to get the team balance right rather than work to individual players personal needs. In doing that he makes them more flexible which is a massive plus.

We know how Medhurst played his best footbal, but it didn't win us games. If you play Polak at CHB then we still have too many tall defenders and not enough tall forwards. And Farmer gearing up to play midfield makes him a better forward.

I also think players like Drum, Murphy, Mundy and Duffield should not get pigeon-holed because of where they played prior to AFL or in the WAFL. They go on a massive learning curve once recruited and the sky should be the limit for them, not a pre-conceived notion of what they are good at.