Our Midfield

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DarkSaint

DarkSaint

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Sep 22, 2015
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I've been thinking over the last couple of days about the way our mids have played over the last 2 weeks with our best mid in Steven out for both games and probably our second best mid in Armo out for one and hardly played in the other.

During this time we came up against 2 midfields (lions,pies) who on paper easily had us covered and most teams in those positions. Before the games started I was hopeful that if we broke even (big if at the time) that we would win the game. Now looking back on it, not only did we break even but as a unit we actually beat each of those 2 midfiled groups without our 2 best mids.

Now this has got me thinking, are we relying on Jack Steven too much during games and everything goes through him (yes he is a gun). It seems over the last 2 weeks we have had a even contribution with some other players stepping up in the absence of Armo/Steven.

So my question is are we too structurely focused on Jack Steven and when he has a bad game we tend to lose?

Now I am in no way shape or form saying that we should drop him or not play him as he is our best mid by far, just more so maybe use him in some other role ie wing or not to be too reliant on him.
 
I get what you're saying (similar to how if a team used to get on top of Roo, we'd struggle to score). However, late last year we purposefully played Jack Steven in roles where he played a selfless game, so others had the opportunity to take the game on. I just think the whole midfield was down the first couple weeks irregardless of Steven's form. And without him the younger midfielders knew they had to lift. With him back in this week, it will be interesting to see if Ross, Newnes, Billings etc. ensure they maintain the same effort as last week. Here's hoping! Because we need them to get over the cats!
 

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DarkSaint said:
I've been thinking over the last couple of days about the way our mids have played over the last 2 weeks with our best mid in Steven out for both games and probably our second best mid in Armo out for one and hardly played in the other.

During this time we came up against 2 midfields (lions,pies) who on paper easily had us covered and most teams in those positions. Before the games started I was hopeful that if we broke even (big if at the time) that we would win the game. Now looking back on it, not only did we break even but as a unit we actually beat each of those 2 midfiled groups without our 2 best mids.

Now this has got me thinking, are we relying on Jack Steven too much during games and everything goes through him (yes he is a gun). It seems over the last 2 weeks we have had a even contribution with some other players stepping up in the absence of Armo/Steven.

So my question is are we too structurely focused on Jack Steven and when he has a bad game we tend to lose?

Now I am in no way shape or form saying that we should drop him or not play him as he is our best mid by far, just more so maybe use him in some other role ie wing or not to be too reliant on him.
Click to expand...


Not sure if we are reliant too much but definitely worth calling out the strength of Lions and Pies in the midfield making the wins even more important.

Getting a very even contribution when we have won.
 
SpInNeR said:
Not sure if we are reliant too much but definitely worth calling out the strength of Lions and Pies in the midfield making the wins even more important.

Getting a very even contribution when we have won.
Click to expand...

You can also include the west coast midfield in there as we were all over them up until the last quarter.
 
We didn't win the midfield battle against Collingwood, we actually got smashed in clearances & lost the contested possession. All of our back 6 had great games which kept us in it. Although our midfield had great pressure on the Collingwood possession which produced the error to counter-attack. We were mainly 2nd for contested ball.
 
saint_ said:
We didn't win the midfield battle against Collingwood, we actually got smashed in clearances & lost the contested possession. All of our back 6 had great games which kept us in it. Although our midfield had great pressure on the Collingwood possession which produced the error to counter-attack. We were mainly 2nd for contested ball.
Click to expand...

Yea we did lose the clearance, but they hardly got any quality clearance due to the pressure our mids put on them which usually resulted in a turn over. I don't mind if the other team get a quick hack out of the middle and it goes directly to our player. We seems to be gettingredients cleaner ball use out of the middle then them.
 
I honestly think people underrated our midfield, Jack is really the only league wide recognized gun....Seb Ross in my mind is like a poor mans Sam Mitchell, he isn't flashy by any means but he can use both sides of his body well, accumulates a lot of possession and is always near the ball, he needs to be given more credit he matched it against West Coast and the Pies two of the better midfield's in the comp.

We have so many guys run through the guts too, collingwood have like 4 we have about 8 guys that go through there every game, different type of midfield to many others.
 

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tim_saints said:
Acres can become anything I really believe that, he just needs to be more consistent and work on his composure when kicking, often does something amazing to get into space/break tackles then kicks the ground or some s**t when he kicks. He has a heap of talent anyone can see that.
Click to expand...

There was one passage when he took the ball from deep in defence, broke a tackle dished off a handballittle, ran hard to recieve it again and then burnt off a few pies. Ended up running to the wing and when he looked up there was actually no in our front half and then he got caught as there were no option up field.

Just needs a run of games to find his touch and he will be fine. Can't keep dropping him after 1 or 2 averages games like we have in the past.
 
With the high pick this year and trade position we're in, we're about to see our mids get a lot better next year.

Just have to trust in Bainsey that he picks the right targets which I'm sure he will
 
DarkSaint said:
I've been thinking over the last couple of days about the way our mids have played over the last 2 weeks with our best mid in Steven out for both games and probably our second best mid in Armo out for one and hardly played in the other.

During this time we came up against 2 midfields (lions,pies) who on paper easily had us covered and most teams in those positions. Before the games started I was hopeful that if we broke even (big if at the time) that we would win the game. Now looking back on it, not only did we break even but as a unit we actually beat each of those 2 midfiled groups without our 2 best mids.

Now this has got me thinking, are we relying on Jack Steven too much during games and everything goes through him (yes he is a gun). It seems over the last 2 weeks we have had a even contribution with some other players stepping up in the absence of Armo/Steven.

So my question is are we too structurely focused on Jack Steven and when he has a bad game we tend to lose?

Now I am in no way shape or form saying that we should drop him or not play him as he is our best mid by far, just more so maybe use him in some other role ie wing or not to be too reliant on him.
Click to expand...
I saw someone else say something similar but we didn't win those midfield battles. There's a reason Collingwood absolutely ripped us a new one in the first quarter last weekend (or they would've if they'd kicked straight) and it's cos their midfield consistently won more of the hard ball.

Dunstan played terribly, Armo was injured and the only inside mid who played well for us wqs Ross. the reason those statd didn't mean that we lost was because we applied a lot of pressure when we didn't have the ball but that is hardly a long term fix. When we come up against good teams (Giants, Doggies) who just soak up that pressure until they can easily maintain possession we will get ruined unless we can win clearances and contested possessions.
 
7/10

But it's a lot easier to find good mids then it is to find good KPP.

We'll add more class comes years end either through draft or trading, probably a mix of both.
 
A lot of people think we have a poor midfield . I disagree , we might not have a Dangerfield or Fyfe but the effort the mids put in is terrific. Their second and third efforts are great. I've watched a lot of the other games this year and you just don't seem to see the amount of smothers our mids do. The pressure they put on the ball carrier can be enormous at times hence the quick kicks to no one out of the centre. It counts as a centre clearance to them but usually it's us leading in the chase after the wild kick.

This happened against Collingwood too , lots of their clearances were just the ball thrown on the boot because of the pressure our boys did. Was great to watch.


Sent via HAL
 
At the moment we have one of the worst midfields in the competition getting slaughtered in clearances & the ruck. Apart from Ross we haven't had anyone else consistently winning their position from centre bounces. Dunstan has been getting flogged as has Hickey. Armo has spent less time there due to injury however he's also been getting beasted.

What's keeping us in games & winning some is our backline. Robbo, Joey, Gears, Webster, Carlisle & Brown winning their positions in just about every game thus far.

Our fwd line is actually doing very well & is extremely efficient however accuracy is obviously hurting us.

Fix our midfield & we become a serious finals threat cos like I mentioned back & fwd we are probably one of the better teams. Midfield just holding us back. Steven will help as will a return to form of Hickey or rejuvenated Longer if he gets the opportunity. Stevens surely comes in, can't keep getting beasted in the middle without changes occurring.
 
Glen Buterol said:
At the moment we have one of the worst midfields in the competition getting slaughtered in clearances & the ruck. Apart from Ross we haven't had anyone else consistently winning their position from centre bounces. Dunstan has been getting flogged as has Hickey. Armo has spent less time there due to injury however he's also been getting beasted.

What's keeping us in games & winning some is our backline. Robbo, Joey, Gears, Webster, Carlisle & Brown winning their positions in just about every game thus far.

Our fwd line is actually doing very well & is extremely efficient however accuracy is obviously hurting us.

Fix our midfield & we become a serious finals threat cos like I mentioned back & fwd we are probably one of the better teams. Midfield just holding us back. Steven will help as will a return to form of Hickey or rejuvenated Longer if he gets the opportunity. Stevens surely comes in, can't keep getting beasted in the middle without changes occurring.
Click to expand...

Yep time to try the Steven & Stevens combo.
 
Glen Buterol said:
At the moment we have one of the worst midfields in the competition getting slaughtered in clearances & the ruck. Apart from Ross we haven't had anyone else consistently winning their position from centre bounces. Dunstan has been getting flogged as has Hickey. Armo has spent less time there due to injury however he's also been getting beasted.

What's keeping us in games & winning some is our backline. Robbo, Joey, Gears, Webster, Carlisle & Brown winning their positions in just about every game thus far.

Our fwd line is actually doing very well & is extremely efficient however accuracy is obviously hurting us.

Fix our midfield & we become a serious finals threat cos like I mentioned back & fwd we are probably one of the better teams. Midfield just holding us back. Steven will help as will a return to form of Hickey or rejuvenated Longer if he gets the opportunity. Stevens surely comes in, can't keep getting beasted in the middle without changes occurring.
Click to expand...
I thought Steele has been playing well , kept Pendlebury to 6
,Billings and Acres plated handy games and no we get the 2 Stevens back, so things looking good.
 
Glen Buterol said:
At the moment we have one of the worst midfields in the competition getting slaughtered in clearances & the ruck. Apart from Ross we haven't had anyone else consistently winning their position from centre bounces. Dunstan has been getting flogged as has Hickey. Armo has spent less time there due to injury however he's also been getting beasted.

What's keeping us in games & winning some is our backline. Robbo, Joey, Gears, Webster, Carlisle & Brown winning their positions in just about every game thus far.

Our fwd line is actually doing very well & is extremely efficient however accuracy is obviously hurting us.

Fix our midfield & we become a serious finals threat cos like I mentioned back & fwd we are probably one of the better teams. Midfield just holding us back. Steven will help as will a return to form of Hickey or rejuvenated Longer if he gets the opportunity. Stevens surely comes in, can't keep getting beasted in the middle without changes occurring.
Click to expand...
I thought Steele has been playing well , kept Pendlebury to 6
,Billings and Acres plated handy games and no we get the 2 Stevens back, so things looking good.
 
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