Past #6: Lachlan Hansen - pick 3 '06 - 151 NM games - NM life member - thanks Lachie

[Flawed Genius]

The next step is to get "the ziebull" to post a thread about MacMillan.

 

[Grogg]

He is definitely getting help to play the way he is, and that shouldn't be underestimated. That takes nothing away from Lachie though, he is taking full advantage and playing at a high level.

Do you think he can sustain it? It's my main worry as we've seen big swings in form in the past - hopefully that is history, especially if we keep him back where he should have been all along IMO.

It will depend on the oppositions ability to counter our contested ball winning advantage I reckon. They do that then our launchpad becomes impotent and our approach is forced primarily into focus on containment. Opposition coaches could then look at Manning Hansen up with instruction to use that player
as an avenue to goal. Changes Hansens attacking mindset and anchors him in the D50.

All hypothetical theory mind you.

 

[Winter]

His form hasn't gone unnoticed in media circles either, nice to see.

Many forget he is only 25 in August, as a key position player he is a year or two off his prime.

 

[Saintly31]

It will depend on the oppositions ability to counter our contested ball winning advantage I reckon. They do that then our launchpad becomes impotent and our approach is forced primarily into focus on containment. Opposition coaches could then look at Manning Hansen up with instruction to use that player
as an avenue to goal. Changes Hansens attacking mindset and anchors him in the D50.

All hypothetical theory mind you.

Hypothetical works for me, and I reckon you are spot on. He will no doubt get tested more as he becomes more of a "threat" in pregame plans etc as I think he has snuck up on a few teams already. As you say that will be interesting how it works out.

Without wanting to get the wrath of Hansen backers who are a touchy bunch, I think he has been a bit fragile mentally, which has explained a lot of his form issues in the past (as well as being played out of position). Once again he is older now and hopefully can deal with lows as well as highs and take that next step to maintain form at a high level.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

I'm happy for teams to man him up, because he will blow his opponent up halfway through the second quarter.

 

[The Other Dean]

Really JReacher, hadn't noticed?

Basically, I agree with you. When Hansen is playing well he deserves praise. When he plays poorly he will cop criticism. There are no 'Hansenites' on here, its just a term used by posters who never see any fault in the club or players.

Problem being that the criticism can tend to get a bit over the top at times. There are some posters who believe it is fine to highlight poor form, but unnecessary to digress into branding the player a "spud", etc.

On the second point...I am critical of the club and players and have also used the term Hansenists. So I reckon I'm either an anomaly or an idiot. My money's on the latter.

 

[The Other Dean]

THE GENERAL.

F***ing LOL.

Enjoyed hearing this 30 times on Friday night. Still enjoying it.

 

[Saintly31]

Problem being that the criticism can tend to get a bit over the top at times. There are some posters who believe it is fine to highlight poor form, but unnecessary to digress into branding the player a "spud", etc.

On the second point...I am critical of the club and players and have also used the term Hansenists. So I reckon I'm either an anomaly or an idiot. My money's on the latter.

No doubt it goes over the top, especially after a loss - terms used to explain why a player didn't reach expectations certainly vary from acceptable to very ordinary.

Well, I think Hansen supporters go a bit over the top in reverse too so who knows. I continually said we should have played and kept Pederson, so yep, my money is on the latter too in my instance.

 

[Hunters Host #3]

I think its wrong to think that A) he's always playing loose and that b) teams aren't trying to counter him. Clearly they are. But he's so ****en good at his job that they are failing.

It's a good call.

He manufactured himself as the loose when he could and/or on occasions against the Saints for instance. There were portions of the game that Riewoldt made him accountable and he was forced to play as a stopper first.

However, as TPA said with his current work-rate he'll blow up his opponent regardless. Riewoldt (an anaerobic beast we're talking about) couldn't go with Lachie at stages.

The key for Lachie is to become stronger in the contest and as consistent as possible. His last 6 weeks have been nothing short of consistent.

Doing a super job and playing his role for the team better than anyone atm.

 

[BlueandWhiteElf]

How anyone could be critical of Hansen at the moment is beyond me.

I think we're seeing the birth of him now.

If he maintains this form he is AA material no doubt.

If he is manned up he has the ability to work himself loose at times.

His aerobic capacity virtually means that you can't man up on him properly.

On playing forward v back, I think I've heard him say he likes playing forward.

Is that the reason he was played forward for so long?

Was it a means to teach him how good defenders went about it?

Well never know I suppose, but I'd like to ask b Scott.

I'm no Hansen lover either, but some of the posting above is embarrassing in the highest degree.

 

[Psicosis]

Just continues to demonstrate why he was pick 3, absolutely loving what he is producing, when he is 28 he is going to be a monster.

 

[Joshen]

Curious as to the calibre of player people are expecting coaches to man him up with. It is impossible to stop his greatest asset - contested marking...

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Curious as to the calibre of player people are expecting coaches to man him up with. It is impossible to stop his greatest asset - contested marking...

They'd need to be just as big AND have as big an engine.

 

[GarnerSmash]

He was standing Bartel in the third and Taylor in the last.

Fair quality opponents one would think.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

He was standing Bartel in the third and Taylor in the last.

Fair quality opponents one would think.

Couldn't have been him.

He is always loose. Always.

Everyone keeps saying it.

 

[Daz]

Has there been a better defender in the competition over the last 10 weeks?

 

[NiceCunnington]

I would like the people predicting his downfall when coaches "work him out" to think about it for a minute and tell us what exactly they're going to do. Please give us more than the half-baked "put a man on him". Bearing in mind that over a month ago Hardwick explicitly stated that they planned specifically for him all week and he still dominated, I hardly think he is surprising teams.

 

[GarnerSmash]

I would like the people predicting his downfall when coaches "work him out" to think about it for a minute and tell us what exactly they're going to do. Please give us more than the half-baked "put a man on him". Bearing in mind that over a month ago Hardwick explicitly stated that they planned specifically for him all week and he still dominated, I hardly think he is surprising teams.

All coaches can do is put a hard tag on him like we did with Taz on Taylor. He reads the play do well that trying to drag him away from the contest won't work. He'll just zone off. The best they can do is try play through him with their best forward but if they do that Lach will run away from goal, dragging their best forward away from dangerous spots and choose how they impact the contest. As such all they can do is try play around him by going short or play the tag. It's a conundrum for opposition coaches.

 

[Grogg]

Weird thread.

As far as I've read the only posters who've potted Hansen are FAILTOSUCCEED and Jack Reacher.

Also it's obvious that it's more than just a matter of sticking a man on Hansen and he's worked out. He's reading the play beautifully attacking at the right moments and floating in to be that elite third man up he's always looked like. Only very good players can do that at a high level consistently, which is exactly what Lachie's shown. As Btron noted, if you try to negate one of his strengths, you'll more than likely get burnt on another, so no doubt he's a huge headache for the opposition coaches at the moment. It will be interesting to see how they approach it.

No doubt there's a number of ways that opposition coaches might try to negate his influence. Controlling our midfield and forcing Scott into a defensive reaction may be one way, a traditional mismatch, how they structure up their forward line, the list is probably endless.

But much better not to touch on any of that and hopefully get some sort of interesting discussion going.
Stick with the he's shit no he's not, you're a moron and I know more than you stuff.


It's what makes this place so great.

 

[NiceCunnington]

Weird thread.

But much better not to touch on any of that and hopefully get some sort of interesting discussion going.
Stick with the he's shit no he's not, you're a moron and I know more than you stuff.

It's what makes this place so great.

I have a feeling this post was in response to mine? You have somehow misread it horribly if the italic is directed at me.

But much better not to touch on any of that and hopefully get some sort of interesting discussion going.

By asking for more detailed explanations I was clearly doing just that.

Since Hansen's turn of form (quite a long while ago now) a common theme of the thread has been posters suggesting that it's temporary due to some kind of surprise factor and coaches will "work him out." It is clear—from open statements by opposition coaches and players in the media and simply watching the games—that coaches are not surprised at all and have put significant work into him.

The explanation of this "working him out" has not really, until now maybe, gone beyond "put a man on him" etc.

It's obvious that if our midfield is holding up their end of the bargain there's not much opponents can do tactically about an in-form Hansen without weakening their own game and structures, which we would be happy with.

Controlling our midfield and forcing Scott into a defensive reaction may be one way

The number one goal of every team every week is to control the midfield. Not sure this is a specific tactic for stopping Hansen.

a traditional mismatch

If they somehow managed to force Hansen to play on a small, quick, ground level player it could be very successful if they had utter midfield dominance. If we break even in the middle this would likely be a disaster for the opposition.

how they structure up their forward line, the list is probably endless.

Can you talk in more detail about forward structures that would work to nullify Hansen better than others? A seven man forward line of any kind, for example, is very undesirable for a team. If opposition sides are changing their forward structures to counter one of our players that's a great win for us.

 

[5 GB USB]

I could not speak highly enough of Hansen right now. I understand the view that the jury is still out on Hansen by some posters, which is a fair question to ask in my books. Get on the Hanson bandwagon, I'm on it.

 

[Handsome.B.Wonderful]

It will depend on the oppositions ability to counter our contested ball winning advantage I reckon. They do that then our launchpad becomes impotent and our approach is forced primarily into focus on containment. Opposition coaches could then look at Manning Hansen up with instruction to use that player
as an avenue to goal. Changes Hansens attacking mindset and anchors him in the D50.

All hypothetical theory mind you.

Playing a defensive forward as a genuine defender rarely ever works. You are trying to defend a player who is not having the ball kicked to him in the first place, it's very hard to do.

In that scenario we would drop another player back to man up Hansen's man so playing through him wouldn't be effective either.

 

[Jack Reacher]

Great stuff Reacharound, good to have you on board!

I think that is stretching it a little

 

[bennymate]

Just continues to demonstrate why he was pick 3, absolutely loving what he is producing, when he is 28 he is going to be a monster.

I would like the people predicting his downfall when coaches "work him out" to think about it for a minute and tell us what exactly they're going to do. Please give us more than the half-baked "put a man on him". Bearing in mind that over a month ago Hardwick explicitly stated that they planned specifically for him all week and he still dominated, I hardly think he is surprising teams.

hahaha mate, i am loving your GIFS!

 

[FootySmartSimpson]

All coaches can do is put a hard tag on him like we did with Taz on Taylor. He reads the play do well that trying to drag him away from the contest won't work. He'll just zone off. The best they can do is try play through him with their best forward but if they do that Lach will run away from goal, dragging their best forward away from dangerous spots and choose how they impact the contest. As such all they can do is try play around him by going short or play the tag. It's a conundrum for opposition coaches.

It helps also having Thompson as well. If they play their best forward on Hansen to expose him, we have an equally effective 1 to 1 defender/zoner that can also play small. We are currently blessed with backline talent. It would be interesting how the 2006 draft might be rated in a fir and just world. Looking back, we missed out on a few stars, but picked up the best small forward in the comp, one of the nest rucks and one of the best CHF/HBs in the comp.