Midfield

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WCE1986

WCE1986

Senior List
Mar 10, 2013
198
73
AFL Club
West Coast
In my opinion our average Midfield is the difference in being a finals side and a premiership side. I beleive if we had a great midfield we would be in the same league as the hawks and cats.

We will not win a premiership untill we have a great midfield.

Our forward and backline are mostly young so when it comes to recruiting all we need to focus on is our midfield.
 

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you are correct, now for solutions. Generally we can expect some but limited development (first year mids aside) but mostly we need to trade and draft wisely. no woodhouseisms.

I feel bullish about the way the club is progressing in this regard. Yeo and Sheed for a minor down pick looks very encouraging for example.
 
we took nick nat at 2, masten at 3, gaff at 4, sheppard at 7, ebert at 13, shuey at 17 and scooter at 22

its not like we havent been trying to recruit a top level midfield. we have most often spent our best picks on midfielders
 
I'd like to start with having even a little bit of competent depth. Our list is full of flankers such that there is no real pressure for midfield positions.
 
zero said:
we took nick nat at 2, masten at 3, gaff at 4, sheppard at 7, ebert at 13, shuey at 17 and scooter at 22

its not like we havent been trying to recruit a top level midfield. we have most often spent our best picks on midfielders
Click to expand...

And swift at 20, Weedon at 22, Stevens at 23 and Newman at 23 ...

We've done possibly the worst job of building a midfield imaginable for a club with our resources and quantity of Top 25 picks ...
 
Underdog said:
I'd like to start with having even a little bit of competent depth. Our list is full of flankers such that there is no real pressure for midfield positions.
Click to expand...

With that in mind, how many of those flankers were drafted with midfield aspirations?

Hurn, Butler, Bennell(?), Shep, Cripps .... Yeo ...
 
Eagle87 said:
With that in mind, how many of those flankers were drafted with midfield aspirations?

Hurn, Butler, Bennell(?), Shep, Cripps .... Yeo ...
Click to expand...
How many players don't say they have midfield aspirations though. Every player sub 195 cm says that they will one day look to move into the midfield.


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Eagle87 said:
With that in mind, how many of those flankers were drafted with midfield aspirations?

Hurn, Butler, Bennell(?), Shep, Cripps .... Yeo ...
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Interesting thought.

Obviously Hurn is a ripper and Bennell and Yeo are looking good, but you could probably extend that question to wonder as to whether our flanks/pockets would be higher quality if we recruited for those positions rather than needing to take risks on midfielders and later moulding them to suit.

Our failure to draft and develop our midfield may have had further flow on effects.
 
SpaceClef said:
How many players don't say they have midfield aspirations though. Every player sub 195 cm says that they will one day look to move into the midfield.


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Click to expand...

Well yes, but when drafted those players were projected as mids ... Yeo and Shep may still get there I guess ..

TBH I feared under Woosh that if we'd drafted Fyfe he'd be playing as a flanker ....

I just reckon we could have, much like Port, done a better job of building depth in midfield by having a more versatile group that could play multiple positions at a decent level ...

We've pigeonholed players too quickly.
 

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Eagle87 said:
And swift at 20, Weedon at 22, Stevens at 23 and Newman at 23 ...

We've done possibly the worst job of building a midfield imaginable for a club with our resources and quantity of Top 25 picks ...
Click to expand...

It's ******* frustrating. Losing Ebert, Swift and Stevens for peanuts hasn't helped, although I don't think they would solve our woes either.

Kerr's premature retirement has really hurt too. We were a much better contested side with him, to the point that a couple of years ago we all thought that the solution was quick outside midfielders.
 
Underdog said:
Interesting thought.

Obviously Hurn is a ripper and Bennell and Yeo are looking good, but you could probably extend that question to wonder as to whether our flanks/pockets would be higher quality if we recruited for those positions rather than needing to take risks on midfielders and later moulding them to suit.

Our failure to draft and develop our midfield may have had further flow on effects.
Click to expand...

Maybe, but you never know.

The positions at 17 years old that you'd project for the following players were;

Woosh - midfield
Jackovich - CHF
McIntosh - CHF/FF
Hart - midfield
McKenna - midfield/HB

:)
 
TheMightyEagles said:
It's ******* frustrating. Losing Ebert, Swift and Stevens for peanuts hasn't helped, although I don't think they would solve our woes either.

Kerr's premature retirement has really hurt too. We were a much better contested side with him, to the point that a couple of years ago we all thought that the solution was quick outside midfielders.
Click to expand...

Indeed. So we played guys like Ebert, Masten & Shuey as outside/flankers ... Which likely hasn't helped their development

We tried Swift on a wing.

We also got nothing for/from Weedon and Newman is in prison....

That's 5 Top 25 mids that have done nothing for us ...
 
I've mentioned it a few times now, but we screwed our rebuild. Time to admit it, move on and actually try to develop a midfield for the future.

I'll repeat what I said on the other thread. Phase Priddis out, give Wellingham genuine midfield minutes, continue to play Colledge and Tunbridge throughout the year, give Shuey some goddamn support, look forward to Waterman, draft to our needs, trade aggressively if it warrants it, make hard decisions on players, and clear out the deadwood. I'd much, much prefer 3 more years down the bottom if it means we actually try to build a midfield for the future , then 3 more years down the bottom because we refuse to make the necessary changes and decisions. If we go into next year with Selwood, Shuey and Priddis as our main starting 3, then expect another year of mediocrity and another year that sets us back (Shuey should be there, but the combination of the other two together is flawed and far too common).
 
Trouto said:
it's all Priddis' fault...
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Priddis would do well playing in most teams as a fringe player. His shortcomings are highlighted for us because we are forced to rely on him as our superstar. Thats the fault of the team rather than the player.

Contrary to forum opinion though, he will keep getting games because we are a better team with him playing than McGinnity, Hutchings etc.
 
Eagle87 said:
Well yes, but when drafted those players were projected as mids ... Yeo and Shep may still get there I guess ..

TBH I feared under Woosh that if we'd drafted Fyfe he'd be playing as a flanker ....

I just reckon we could have, much like Port, done a better job of building depth in midfield by having a more versatile group that could play multiple positions at a decent level ...

We've pigeonholed players too quickly.
Click to expand...
Yeah totally. One of the things I was looking forward to most with Simpson was a focus on more versatility.

Port have drafted and traded amazingly well though.


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Eagle87 said:
Indeed. So we played guys like Ebert, Masten & Shuey as outside/flankers ... Which likely hasn't helped their development

We tried Swift on a wing.

We also got nothing for/from Weedon and Newman is in prison....

That's 5 Top 25 mids that have done nothing for us ...
Click to expand...

Agree with everything you've said so far although I think Masten is one guy who has benefited from being played out of position. His outside game has improved massively and he can actually play on a forward flank and impact which is something I once doubted he could ever do.
 
Yep, fair point.. But has it impacted his development as a centre square/contested mid?

I'm all for multi position players but I'm not sure Masten could hold a spot in a top side either as a forward flank type player or as a centre square midfielder ...

I might be marking him harshly but at his age this is his career prime and it's not stellar at this point
 
Eagle87 said:
And swift at 20, Weedon at 22, Stevens at 23 and Newman at 23 ...

We've done possibly the worst job of building a midfield imaginable for a club with our resources and quantity of Top 25 picks ...
Click to expand...

I am can only agree 100 % with Eagle87 on this one.

Our recruiting of mids has been nothing short of f****** abysmal.

Don't forget also taking Bedford, Oakley -Nichols, Papertowel sorry I meant Papertalk and Dick our recruiters tried to be to clever by half thinking that we could take other Clubs crap and polish it into a diamond.

Of the list that Eagle87 has provided these players taken where they were would be expected to be by now at the very worst putting pressure on our current mids and at best they should be the core of our engine room.

However one is at Uni, one is in jail, one is at the Doggies and the other is God only knows where because once the Eagles cut him he vanished.

FFS it enough to make you depressed .o_O:cool::confused:
 
I think we have the core of a great side - and I think our midfield is just lacking one genuine a grader. The problem is - that a grader isn't coming from within - so unless we headhunt someone - at best we are 4 years away from having one.

Put Pendlebury in our side and he wears the tag all day. Leaving Shuey et all to run free.

We saw last week the saints locked down on Heppell and he had zero influence. Yet the likes of Heppell, Stanton, Zaharakis get the benefit of riding on Watson's coat-tails where he does the heavy lifting.

I saw Shuey torch Kerr at a scratch match at the start of 2010 I think (maybe 2011) and I genuinely thought he was going to be it. I don't see that happening now - he may be a quality mid - but he'll never be a Cousins/Watson/Penlebury - hell even a Beams.
 
Eagle87 said:
Yep, fair point.. But has it impacted his development as a centre square/contested mid?

I'm all for multi position players but I'm not sure Masten could hold a spot in a top side either as a forward flank type player or as a centre square midfielder ...

I might be marking him harshly but at his age this is his career prime and it's not stellar at this point
Click to expand...

Nah that's a fair call. But I think the fact that he does both is what saves him. I reckon he would get a gig in most sides on that basis. But the problem is as alluded to before, that the full time centre square mids we have aren't a patch on those of the top sides.

It was ridiculous looking back on 2011-12 how much better Kerr made us look as a side.
 
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