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Analysis Mihocek-Cox-Reid: Yes, No, or Maybe going forward?

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In Reids defence he has been injury free for most of the last season and a half. He just hasnt been given senior games.

In your defence, you mightn't have been to the doctor recently....

Collingwood big man Ben Reid sustained a suspected calf injury during the VFL Magpies’ two-point win over Port Melbourne on Saturday.
The match was Reid’s first after returning from knee injuries that kept him sidelined since round 10.


The duo has endured soft tissue injuries to their calf and hamstring respectively, but several weeks of recovery on the training track has them on the verge of putting their hands up for selection once more.

Both players are in a race against time to return to the field. Treloar is recovering from a serious hamstring injury suffered eight weeks ago, while Reid re-injured his calf in the VFL on the weekend after being sidelined for three months.
 
In your defence, you mightn't have been to the doctor recently....

Collingwood big man Ben Reid sustained a suspected calf injury during the VFL Magpies’ two-point win over Port Melbourne on Saturday.
The match was Reid’s first after returning from knee injuries that kept him sidelined since round 10.


The duo has endured soft tissue injuries to their calf and hamstring respectively, but several weeks of recovery on the training track has them on the verge of putting their hands up for selection once more.

Both players are in a race against time to return to the field. Treloar is recovering from a serious hamstring injury suffered eight weeks ago, while Reid re-injured his calf in the VFL on the weekend after being sidelined for three months.

So much effort that went into that post. Sad really.

Pretty sure he hasn’t missed too many games either VFL or AFL in 2018 and 2019 despite the articles you might have googled.
 
So much effort that went into that post. Sad really.

Pretty sure he hasn’t missed too many games either VFL or AFL in 2018 and 2019 despite the articles you might have googled.

not much effort....just google ben reid 2018 and select news. Then cut and paste the links and a few words from each story. About a minute. The moment the process loses its entertainment value move on. You should try it. It keeps the brain engaged...

and you're right. your memory's perfect. he played every game in the VFL last year and kicked 100 goals...
 
Cox yes ...... Mihocek yes.... Reid not so much.

Need Cox up forward and providing a chop out for Grundy. Mihocek provides that link high half forward and can kick gaols.

Reid might play a role down back with all the injuries we have to cover Langdon, Howe et al, but once we get some best 22 players back in Reid gets squeezed out.
 

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Cox yes ...... Mihocek yes.... Reid not so much.

Need Cox up forward and providing a chop out for Grundy. Mihocek provides that link high half forward and can kick gaols.

Reid might play a role down back with all the injuries we have to cover Langdon, Howe et al, but once we get some best 22 players back in Reid gets squeezed out.

As they say, never say never. But I think barring an in-game injury we've seen the last of Reid playing in defense. An anomaly like losing both Moore and Roughy going into games may change the clubs thinking on that but lose 1 and I thing Madgen would be preferred. Or even Schaz who is looking close to a senior resumption.
 
Big Cox straight into the ones after an extended lay off and not through necessity suggests he is considered automatic best 22.

But should he be? I think there was some panic after a poor game by Reid and the team the game before cox's return.

Imo Cox has some clear strengths like his reach and height and reliability at goal within 30m, but also obvious weaknesses to his game.
Struggles to mark consistently, gets out manoeuvred too often in the contest and foiled or completely nutted in wrestling situations. Gets used as a run off target and also their team set up to feed off his spills more then we advantage from it. Has nothing outside 40m when shooting at goal.

Reid needs to make sure he presenting enough not just inside 50 but up the wings as an option coming out of defence if he wants to take coxs spot, as they use Cox for all dump kicks when he is in.

I thought overall Reid looked the best of the 3 last weekend.
 
But should he be? I think there was some panic after a poor game by Reid and the team the game before cox's return.

Imo Cox has some clear strengths like his reach and height and reliability at goal within 30m, but also obvious weaknesses to his game.
Struggles to mark consistently, gets out manoeuvred too often in the contest and foiled or completely nutted in wrestling situations. Gets used as a run off target and also their team set up to feed off his spills more then we advantage from it. Has nothing outside 40m when shooting at goal.

Reid needs to make sure he presenting enough not just inside 50 but up the wings as an option coming out of defence if he wants to take coxs spot, as they use Cox for all dump kicks when he is in.

I thought overall Reid looked the best of the 3 last weekend.

Funny Cox said in the paper today the best sledge he copped is you look like a ******ed giraffe chasing a butterfly...
 
September surprise: Go Small or Go Home

Langdon Moore Scharenberg/Howe
Maynard Crisp Roughead

Grundy Pendlebury Adams
Beams Sidebottom Treloar

Brown WHE Stephenson
Elliott De Goey Thomas


Sier Mayne Phillips Mihocek
No. There are times when a long bomb is required-players under pressure, tired.....and a tall target is required to either mark it or bring it to ground. Smaller players get tired but tall players don't get shorter.
 
No. There are times when a long bomb is required-players under pressure, tired.....and a tall target is required to either mark it or bring it to ground. Smaller players get tired but tall players don't get shorter.
Yeah but the ump isn't going to pay the hold on Cox so **** it... I'm going small
 
I am not convinced about going 3 talls. 1 game not enough sample size but the Dogs certainly exited our forward half easily and scored heavily from it. Mihocek also had his quietest game in a while.
Be interesting this week, as strongly suspect they’ll run the 3 at least this week.
Mihocek will likely play better, he doesn’t usually play two quiet games in a row.

Be an interesting watch.
 
Cox yes ...... Mihocek yes.... Reid not so much.

Need Cox up forward and providing a chop out for Grundy. Mihocek provides that link high half forward and can kick gaols.

Reid might play a role down back with all the injuries we have to cover Langdon, Howe et al, but once we get some best 22 players back in Reid gets squeezed out.

Reid played ruck last week. I’d say Cox is the one under threat.
 

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More likely protecting him from re-injuring his leg.

More likely perceived benefits to the team. The prospect of Cox playing as a more permanent KPF has been discussed in the past.
 
One other option - this is speculative and I don't think it'll ever happen -- is this:

Reid goes to CHB.

Moore, Mihocek and Cox play forward -- this is a forward line with a lot more pressure and mobility than what we've seen.
 
Reid played ruck last week. I’d say Cox is the one under threat.
He did, but it was against English who can usually be pushed off the ball. It may have been felt that Reid would be just about as good as Cox given the opponent.

I got the sense we were quite happy for a repeat stoppage and a secondary bounce in the centre, because then Grundy/Reid can engage the body of the opponent which is more to our advantage.

That won’t be so easy against Goldstein.
 
I am not convinced about going 3 talls. 1 game not enough sample size but the Dogs certainly exited our forward half easily and scored heavily from it. Mihocek also had his quietest game in a while.

Any possibility of Miocheck going to the backline this week and Diacos coming in?
 

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I'm of the mind that we have effectively been playing a 3 tall forward structure all along and Reid makes it's 4.

Yes de Goey might only stand 188cm tall but his physical strength, speed and contested ability makes him one of the most dangerous one on one forwards in the game. He plays taller while his ability to play through the midfield is just the added bonus that makes him the exquisite talent he is.

As important as physical attributes are in this debate so is the presence that each forward provides and de Goey would and should command plenty of ball be directed his way. I consider him our de facto full forward.

I can certainly understand the rationale behind playing Reid last week.

With Stephenson joining Elliott on the sidelines Reid was the player most likely able to come into the 22 and make a contribution on the scoreboard.

This proved to be correct and combined with de Goey, Cox and Mihocek they produced 8 goals. Reid contributed the most with 3.

You could also make the argument that playing Reid was a worthy tactical move in looking to expose an undersized Bulldogs defence.

On the other hand the Bulldogs are one of if not the best transition side in the AFL so it came with risks attached and some of them seemed to be exposed in the lack of inside f50 tackles for us (4 to 14), inside 50's for them (59 to 44) while both sides finished with 12 marks inside f50.

Combined de Goey, Cox, Mihocek and Reid only provided 4 tackles.

I'm convinced that with a full list available we wouldn't view the forward structure of last week as our preferred setup but like everyone else (including the coach) don't have enough evidence at hand to know whether or not this our best structure for THE NOW from those currently available but it certainly warrants further exploration this round.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) last weeks game in someways left us in more of a pickle as the player considered by many as the 3rd wheel in Reid was the best performed and couldn't be dropped whilst the player I see us being the most productive consistently of the "3" talls in Mihocek had a quiet game but shouldn't be dropped on the back of it.

Outside the main consideration of how much playing the extra tall impacts our ability to provide ground level pressure inside our forward half the other one that will dictate if this proves to be a short or medium term experiment is how the forwards perform within each others presence as there is only so much pie to go around.

Like stated earlier such is the ability of de Goey I'm sure his teammates look for him and we try to manufacture the situation where he finds himself in a position out against an opponent, Cox with his 7ft height is naturally going to attract a lot of ball and the long kick deep inside 50 (though he continues to struggle in a marking contest when his opponent maintains body contact) while Reid is going to get to a lot of good spaces to provide an option because of his experience and football nous.

That left Mihocek to be the one to miss out last week to a degree and while one game tells us nothing it's not a trend I'd like to really see continue tonight as I see him complementing a Cox or Reid better than Cox and Reid coupled together.

Ultimately the success or failure of this tall forward line experiment will come down to the offensive output of the group measured in comparison to their defensive shortcomings each game and deciding whether the team would be better served by continuing with this structure or omitting the weakest individual performer that week (or across rounds) for a different type.

Basically it's like it's always been and the coach will pick what he feels is the best side from those available.

Whether we agree or not though is an entirely other question.;)
 

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Analysis Mihocek-Cox-Reid: Yes, No, or Maybe going forward?

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