Let me preface this post by saying I have faith in Buckley and the whole CFC. However, it is time for them to show some courage in terms of team selection and team structure. Agree/disagree - this is just my opinion.
Selection table:
I see our team as being very vulnerable as a finals contender.2 weaknesses that can be fixed at the selection table.
1. Midfield grunt: it is becoming clearer each week the season moves on that we are missing Luke ball. As good as beams is and as hard as Blair is, we don't have anyone to go against the likes of even this weeks opponents in kennedy, luke Parker and keiran jack (not to mention Bolton). My solution: it is now or never for josh Thomas. Have some courage and bring in the bloke to see if he is up for the 2012 finals series. Desired result: bring in a kid who will put their head over the ball, relievin beams and pendlebury to use their skills to maximum potential. I'd start him as a sub for the first week, if he competes he gets games for the rest of the season. If this doesn't work- we use him as a tagger and minimise the oppositions grunt. He has speed, strength and when he gets the ball he makes better decisions than young, so besides youngs bigger size (young being my second preferred tagger)- thomas is the superior player.
In: J Thomas
Out: T Young
2. Ball movement: the key to this is Johnson and didak, I think this is pretty much a given. We are falling down coming out of defensive 50 and going inside 50. Adding 2 of our best users of the ball- added to reids improvement each week and the inclusion of J Thomas to allow Beams more freedom, we should see massive improvement.
In: Didak, Johnson
Out: Seedsman, goldsack
Goldsack very stiff but he isn't offering us all that much and hasn't been the headache or opposition coaches he was in the first half in the season. This is courage and making the clutch decisions- there is no time for sentiment.
3. Goal kicking accuracy: this is contradictory to my omission of goldsack as he has been accurate by foot, but his presence in the fwd 50 is almost non existant at the moment and I feel the fwd line is far too clogged up as it is. Dawes and Cloke should be the only forwards allowed to make a lead if contested- I will talk about this in structures. What we need right now are players who are accurate in front of goal- enter didak and krakouer. Krakouer in round 22 and didak this round.
We are desperately missing smalls who can bag goals- Elliot is not performing to the standard he can in such fierce competition and fasolo is steadily improving. Krakouer although offering slightly less pressure than his younger counterparts in Elliot and Sinclair, is the best crumble in the game. He will capitalise in this game where Cloke and Dawes just aren't holding as many marks as they have- but at the same time- they never get out marked, creating opportunities which we should be capitalising on.
In: krakouer
Out: Elliot
4. Defensive accountability: N brown has had a commendable season in his comeback, but he is not the FB we need coming into finals. If Tarrant is fit he takes browns spot, no ifs or buts, brown struggles on good forwards and gives away crucial free kicks when he is out played. There is nothing else we can do in terms of improving our defending of the oppositions 50 in terms of Fwds vs backs.
In: Tarrant
Out: Brown
Desired in/out by round 22:
In: J Thomas, didak, Johnson, Tarrant, krakouer
Out: T Young, P Seedsman, N Brown, T Goldsack, J Elliot
Team round 22-
Fb- maxwell, Tarrant, obrien
Hb- shaw, Reid, Johnson
C- D Thomas, J Thomas, Wellingham
HF- didak, Cloke, beams
Ff- fasolo, Dawes, Krakouer
C- jolly, pendlebury, swan
B- sidebottom, Blair, toovey s: Sinclair
Structure: 2 weaknesses that can be fixed with structure:
1. Marks inside 50: this is not a selection based problem. We know what our players are capable of... Bar the unknown in Elliot an Sinclair. It's the crowding of the 50 that is our problem. Dawes and Cloke actually look stagnant in the fwd line because... They are! Not their fault though, with the likes of at times jolly, fasolo, goldsack, Tarrant playing as leading Fwds, it is too clogged up for Cloke and Dawes to do what they do best and use their aerobic abilities to outrun their opponent and get the opportunities.
2. Rebound 50:
With Johnson back, we use him as our main rebounder. Shaw is an amazing defender and rebounder, he needs to find a good balance between the two because his value as a defender is just as good as a rebounder. Our designated kicker needs to be Reid and whenever we can get it to him between their goal and 50m line is extremely important. Harry does what Harry does when he makes an intercept, but we need to stop using him and especially toovey as rebound options. They are poor kicks (toovey worse than Harry) and both make poor decisions at times.
We need to have the courage to find a team and a structure to win the premiership, which may be what we are doing now hence the down form of late.
Final note: we look tired right now but the biggest upside is that we won a big game on the weekend and it isn't finals yet. A week in footy is huge, 4 weeks is an eternity. Anything can happen and all I can see is upside even if we lose this weekend.
Anyway my two cents if tldr, my main points is that, given our predicament, now is the time before it is too late, to show some initiative and make the big calls.
NB- this all assuming the fitness of the players mentioned.
Selection table:
I see our team as being very vulnerable as a finals contender.2 weaknesses that can be fixed at the selection table.
1. Midfield grunt: it is becoming clearer each week the season moves on that we are missing Luke ball. As good as beams is and as hard as Blair is, we don't have anyone to go against the likes of even this weeks opponents in kennedy, luke Parker and keiran jack (not to mention Bolton). My solution: it is now or never for josh Thomas. Have some courage and bring in the bloke to see if he is up for the 2012 finals series. Desired result: bring in a kid who will put their head over the ball, relievin beams and pendlebury to use their skills to maximum potential. I'd start him as a sub for the first week, if he competes he gets games for the rest of the season. If this doesn't work- we use him as a tagger and minimise the oppositions grunt. He has speed, strength and when he gets the ball he makes better decisions than young, so besides youngs bigger size (young being my second preferred tagger)- thomas is the superior player.
In: J Thomas
Out: T Young
2. Ball movement: the key to this is Johnson and didak, I think this is pretty much a given. We are falling down coming out of defensive 50 and going inside 50. Adding 2 of our best users of the ball- added to reids improvement each week and the inclusion of J Thomas to allow Beams more freedom, we should see massive improvement.
In: Didak, Johnson
Out: Seedsman, goldsack
Goldsack very stiff but he isn't offering us all that much and hasn't been the headache or opposition coaches he was in the first half in the season. This is courage and making the clutch decisions- there is no time for sentiment.
3. Goal kicking accuracy: this is contradictory to my omission of goldsack as he has been accurate by foot, but his presence in the fwd 50 is almost non existant at the moment and I feel the fwd line is far too clogged up as it is. Dawes and Cloke should be the only forwards allowed to make a lead if contested- I will talk about this in structures. What we need right now are players who are accurate in front of goal- enter didak and krakouer. Krakouer in round 22 and didak this round.
We are desperately missing smalls who can bag goals- Elliot is not performing to the standard he can in such fierce competition and fasolo is steadily improving. Krakouer although offering slightly less pressure than his younger counterparts in Elliot and Sinclair, is the best crumble in the game. He will capitalise in this game where Cloke and Dawes just aren't holding as many marks as they have- but at the same time- they never get out marked, creating opportunities which we should be capitalising on.
In: krakouer
Out: Elliot
4. Defensive accountability: N brown has had a commendable season in his comeback, but he is not the FB we need coming into finals. If Tarrant is fit he takes browns spot, no ifs or buts, brown struggles on good forwards and gives away crucial free kicks when he is out played. There is nothing else we can do in terms of improving our defending of the oppositions 50 in terms of Fwds vs backs.
In: Tarrant
Out: Brown
Desired in/out by round 22:
In: J Thomas, didak, Johnson, Tarrant, krakouer
Out: T Young, P Seedsman, N Brown, T Goldsack, J Elliot
Team round 22-
Fb- maxwell, Tarrant, obrien
Hb- shaw, Reid, Johnson
C- D Thomas, J Thomas, Wellingham
HF- didak, Cloke, beams
Ff- fasolo, Dawes, Krakouer
C- jolly, pendlebury, swan
B- sidebottom, Blair, toovey s: Sinclair
Structure: 2 weaknesses that can be fixed with structure:
1. Marks inside 50: this is not a selection based problem. We know what our players are capable of... Bar the unknown in Elliot an Sinclair. It's the crowding of the 50 that is our problem. Dawes and Cloke actually look stagnant in the fwd line because... They are! Not their fault though, with the likes of at times jolly, fasolo, goldsack, Tarrant playing as leading Fwds, it is too clogged up for Cloke and Dawes to do what they do best and use their aerobic abilities to outrun their opponent and get the opportunities.
2. Rebound 50:
With Johnson back, we use him as our main rebounder. Shaw is an amazing defender and rebounder, he needs to find a good balance between the two because his value as a defender is just as good as a rebounder. Our designated kicker needs to be Reid and whenever we can get it to him between their goal and 50m line is extremely important. Harry does what Harry does when he makes an intercept, but we need to stop using him and especially toovey as rebound options. They are poor kicks (toovey worse than Harry) and both make poor decisions at times.
We need to have the courage to find a team and a structure to win the premiership, which may be what we are doing now hence the down form of late.
Final note: we look tired right now but the biggest upside is that we won a big game on the weekend and it isn't finals yet. A week in footy is huge, 4 weeks is an eternity. Anything can happen and all I can see is upside even if we lose this weekend.
Anyway my two cents if tldr, my main points is that, given our predicament, now is the time before it is too late, to show some initiative and make the big calls.
NB- this all assuming the fitness of the players mentioned.
