Delisted Tom Curren

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He had Cuzz before he came to the club, and it changed to TC (because there was already one there).

I've preferred Cat (people of my era can remember Top Cat, who was also known as TC). Someone asked how he played (in the early games), and I remarked he had cat-like agility.

I can't shake Nicky Winmar and Ben Cousins when using the Cuz/Cuzz.
 
Radio Interview with Tom: Interesting tidbits =

- Neve doubted that he could make it as a player. Had concerns that others doubted him, but used that as fuel to push himself even further. Love this kids attitude.
- Sees himself as a midfielder in the future
- Singled out Joey as someone who's really good to talk to and look up to. This bodes well with what Joey said about Jack Steven. Seems like he gets on really well with the younger kids. Providing an excellent example both on and off the field.
- On an unrelated note, does anyone else have extreme difficulty formatting posts when they've already posted a hyperlink? :p I can't type below the link ahha.


http://www.rsn.net.au/audioplayer/1377471224.mp3
 
I have the replay of the Saints V Gold Coast (Rd 22) game on in the background at the moment.

There's a reason we all love TC. His work rate and determination. Put simply, he is a competitor. I think that when it is so obvious that a player is giving it their absolute all, it is easier to accept their mistakes or poor form. I'm just so glad TC was finally given his opportunity. It's like tying up a dog. When you eventually let them go, they aren't going to stay lying down.

Very excited to watch him next season. Hopefully he cements himself as a comfortable best 22 midfielder. With his work rate, there is no reason that he can't.
 
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#TCEffect
 
Is anyone else concerned how off the pace and poor in disposal TC looks in the two NAB games? Wouldn't have got more than 10 disposals in either game, missed some team mates with glaring mistakes.

Looks to have fallen a long way off his standards of last year, at this very very early stage of the season.
 
Ian Dunross said:
Is anyone else concerned how off the pace and poor in disposal TC looks in the two NAB games? Wouldn't have got more than 10 disposals in either game, missed some team mates with glaring mistakes.

Looks to have fallen a long way off his standards of last year, at this very very early stage of the season.
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Yeah time for the bench press to take a back seat I think.
 
ike2112 said:
I think it's more likely they go:

Billings / Roo / Eli
Membrey / Bruce / Curren

And really just play 5 forwards (Curren mostly tagging).

Let Lee, White and McCartin earn a spot. Some weeks the game or conditions might favour playing an extra tall.
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I think Curren might play more in the midfield actually, I think last year was to educate him on the defensive side of the game, let him attack the footy in the midfield again IMO.
 

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ike2112 said:
I wish they'd do that. He just has the knack for getting the ball. I'm not convinced they'll let him loose though, it's between him and Weller to get a bit more freedom.
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I would love to see the club let Geary tag this year. That tank is being wasted in the back pocket. I would rather see Webster be the first option for the back pocket role (we need good foot skills down there) with Dempster taking the other pocket. This would allow us to free up one of Weller or Curren. Personally I would only want 1 in the side not both as I would rather see us give game time to a Ross or Acres.

Both have their limitations (neither have great disposal), but if I had to choose I would probably just give the edge to Weller. Curren might be a slightly better ball winner, but Weller is a good mark for his size and there is one thing I noticed watching Weller live last year:

He cracks in hard, I mean really hard. Sometimes the way he attacks the ball is Lenny-esque.
 
Saint4Life said:
Both Billings and Curren should be playing midfield not forward pockets (unless its for a rest/rotation) imo.
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For almost the entire year, the club named their tagger in the forward line starting lineup. We played almost every game with only a 5-man, often 4-man forward structure.
What tended to happen was that Ray was named on a wing, but played a lot of time spare at the back. Jones/Curren were named in the forward pocket but did tagging duties. The gap left on the wing was used as an outlet by the forwards to be the outlet straight from defence - by Roo, Eli, Schneider. We had no outside run/spread anyway, so it wasn't like we were naming a couple flyers like Breust and Brad Hill to run the ball 70 metres a few times a game.
So in very simplistic terms, we kind of played 7-7-4 rather than 6-6-6.

For what it's worth, in 2015 personally I would like to see Curren play midfield. And Billings play forward but get a couple of 5 minute burst through midfield each game. But I think that in reality Weller has the jump on Curren as being more well-rounded, so if someone's getting let loose it'll be Weller. And I think that whilst Billings has obvious class, he's of most use to us in the half-forward line and it'll let him stay in a positional comfort zone whilst getting to grips with AFL and growing his body. He is somewhat frail looking at times, and I'd hate to see us put him in harm's way when there's no immediate need. He will eventually play midfield plenty for us, but no rush this year.

The other thing to bear in mind is that Lenny spent a decent amount of time resting forward last year. That won't happen this year, so the young brigade will stay on the field more, so more chance of seeing Eli and Wright I think get midfield minutes whilst others take rest.
 
ike2112 said:
And I think that whilst Billings has obvious class, he's of most use to us in the half-forward line and it'll let him stay in a positional comfort zone whilst getting to grips with AFL and growing his body. He is somewhat frail looking at times, and I'd hate to see us put him in harm's way when there's no immediate need. He will eventually play midfield plenty for us, but no rush this year.
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I think that Billing's inside 50's are going to be legendary in a couple of years and opposition supporters will hold their breath if he has the ball within 50 meters of our forward line.
 
Nutsngum said:
I think that Billing's inside 50's are going to be legendary in a couple of years and opposition supporters will hold their breath if he has the ball within 50 meters of our forward line.
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Completely agree. But I also think once he's filled out a bit, we'll have him hanging around the restarts for that same reason. A punch out of the middle to space, he grabs it and kicks to a target 30m out.
This is one of the things that makes the Hawks (and their flexible players) stand out. Roughie and Rioli will take time in the middle. Roughie will bully to get the ball, and has good enough burst and distribution to then make an i50. Knock the ball to space and Rioli will beat everyone to it then nip off and get it into the forward line. Neither of them are mids but thats 2 centre-bounce options they have beyond their usual midfield setup. We could be doing similar with Billings and Lee (given how good he is at ground level and how accurate his kicking is).
 
sonnywalters said:
Is Curren in our best 22?
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This might sound stupid, but I dont think we actually have a best 22 at the moment.
I think our list is still in such an evolving transitional phase that next season is still going to see most of the list being tried at various times with quite a few players tried in various positions.
Still maybe another yr or 2 from being a 'settled' side.
Picking a best 22 at the moment is bloody hard work :)
 
ike2112 said:
For almost the entire year, the club named their tagger in the forward line starting lineup. We played almost every game with only a 5-man, often 4-man forward structure.
What tended to happen was that Ray was named on a wing, but played a lot of time spare at the back. Jones/Curren were named in the forward pocket but did tagging duties. The gap left on the wing was used as an outlet by the forwards to be the outlet straight from defence - by Roo, Eli, Schneider. We had no outside run/spread anyway, so it wasn't like we were naming a couple flyers like Breust and Brad Hill to run the ball 70 metres a few times a game.
So in very simplistic terms, we kind of played 7-7-4 rather than 6-6-6.

For what it's worth, in 2015 personally I would like to see Curren play midfield. And Billings play forward but get a couple of 5 minute burst through midfield each game. But I think that in reality Weller has the jump on Curren as being more well-rounded, so if someone's getting let loose it'll be Weller. And I think that whilst Billings has obvious class, he's of most use to us in the half-forward line and it'll let him stay in a positional comfort zone whilst getting to grips with AFL and growing his body. He is somewhat frail looking at times, and I'd hate to see us put him in harm's way when there's no immediate need. He will eventually play midfield plenty for us, but no rush this year.

The other thing to bear in mind is that Lenny spent a decent amount of time resting forward last year. That won't happen this year, so the young brigade will stay on the field more, so more chance of seeing Eli and Wright I think get midfield minutes whilst others take rest.
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Watching this set up was torturous at times! There was no better example than the Geelong game. I made the trip down as the in-laws go the Cats (painful I know). I have never been more frustrated watching a game of footy, even if we won the clearance we were screwed. You looked around the ground and Geelong just had loose men everywhere. The reason, we had 3-4 extra men around the footy, it was madness!

I am getting a bit frustrated with the "Yeah, but we won the contested ball", line that is often sprouted by coaches. When you have 3 extra men at a clearance chances are you will win the contested ball. As a stat it's importance is grossly exaggerated in modern footy as contests are less and less 1 on 1 battles. Freo rarely win the contested ball, does this mean their opponents want it more? No, they just set up differently. They will happily lose a clearance as they know they will win it at half back via 1 or even 2 loose men and then they will cut you up from there with outstanding footy skills.

It is too early to be harsh on Richo yet, but I am hoping for a much better structure this year. To pull off a 7-7-4 setup like this you need to be a massive running side and have exceptional decision makers around the contest. Otherwise you end up just bombing it forward every time you win the ball, and that is exactly what the opposition wants you to do.
 
Saint4Life said:
Both Billings and Curren should be playing midfield not forward pockets (unless its for a rest/rotation) imo.
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I disagree on billings, he will be deadly 1on1 on the half foward flank who floats through the midfield. Kind of like Steve j when they had their stacked midfield
 
saintbill said:
Watching this set up was torturous at times! There was no better example than the Geelong game. I made the trip down as the in-laws go the Cats (painful I know). I have never been more frustrated watching a game of footy, even if we won the clearance we were screwed. You looked around the ground and Geelong just had loose men everywhere. The reason, we had 3-4 extra men around the footy, it was madness!

I am getting a bit frustrated with the "Yeah, but we won the contested ball", line that is often sprouted by coaches. When you have 3 extra men at a clearance chances are you will win the contested ball. As a stat it's importance is grossly exaggerated in modern footy as contests are less and less 1 on 1 battles. Freo rarely win the contested ball, does this mean their opponents want it more? No, they just set up differently. They will happily lose a clearance as they know they will win it at half back via 1 or even 2 loose men and then they will cut you up from there with outstanding footy skills.

It is too early to be harsh on Richo yet, but I am hoping for a much better structure this year. To pull off a 7-7-4 setup like this you need to be a massive running side and have exceptional decision makers around the contest. Otherwise you end up just bombing it forward every time you win the ball, and that is exactly what the opposition wants you to do.
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I am hoping it is a damage-limitation tactic for the moment.

That said, Port also tend to play with limited number of people actually playing forward. The difference with them is that they have speed, and their midfield is mobile. So its a swift, rolling machine taking the ball downfield. We look more like a swarm of bees then the ball comes firing out.
It's become 'modern footy'.

However you've also touched on an interesting thing. I was at a coaching convention last year that covered a lot of sports (not AFL but just about every other team ball sport). Counter-attack is a thing that becomes trendy then dies again. Counter-rucking in rugby union - remember when South Africa won the rugby world cup by just giving the opponent the ball then pressuring them to make a mistake/turnover deep in their own half?
Points off turnover is the real key in AFL footy right now, I see some coaches actually setting up traps during games in order to create turnovers and break forward. I hope that is the way Richo is heading.
 
saintbill said:
Watching this set up was torturous at times! There was no better example than the Geelong game. I made the trip down as the in-laws go the Cats (painful I know). I have never been more frustrated watching a game of footy, even if we won the clearance we were screwed. You looked around the ground and Geelong just had loose men everywhere. The reason, we had 3-4 extra men around the footy, it was madness!

I am getting a bit frustrated with the "Yeah, but we won the contested ball", line that is often sprouted by coaches. When you have 3 extra men at a clearance chances are you will win the contested ball. As a stat it's importance is grossly exaggerated in modern footy as contests are less and less 1 on 1 battles. Freo rarely win the contested ball, does this mean their opponents want it more? No, they just set up differently. They will happily lose a clearance as they know they will win it at half back via 1 or even 2 loose men and then they will cut you up from there with outstanding footy skills.

It is too early to be harsh on Richo yet, but I am hoping for a much better structure this year. To pull off a 7-7-4 setup like this you need to be a massive running side and have exceptional decision makers around the contest. Otherwise you end up just bombing it forward every time you win the ball, and that is exactly what the opposition wants you to do.
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I don't think contested ball is overrated but what you do once you get it is just as important. We either bombed it like you said to a small forward line or butchered it on the way there, impossible for any forward setup to work if that's happening!
 
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