The loss to Melbourne, and our form over the past 5 weeks, has obviously been very poor. To be honest, the result against Melbourne was probably not a surprise given the consecutive 4-5 day turnarounds, in 3 different states...and also factor in we have lost multiple players in games, which means lower rotations and more loading on players.
We now have an opportunity to take 9 days to reset and have a re-think about things. The loss in itself is not the reason for my frustration.
I've been a vocal critic of our selection for some time now. It's not multiple changes that frustrates me, its the multiple structures we throw out each week. It is not surprising that our form fluctuates when you have a different set-up each week, which in turn means a different system. If you play 1 key tall, you are asking your mids to lower the eyes and hit up targets. When you play 4 talls, you are telling them to bomb it in long to get a contest.
The benchmark is obviously Richmond. The thing they do well is replace one player with a like for like, so the system does not change. Sometimes, that means being a bit creative (ie they have thrown Bolton into the midfield to replace Edwardes, or bring in Eggmolesse- Smith to fill the shoes of Houli....or Balta to come in for Astbury.
We on the other hand chop and change our structure each week. Here is the example.
We start round 1 with Cox + Mihocek (2 talls) + De Goey (who I'll call a pseudo-tall) and our defence had 4 talls in Roughead, Moore, Howe and Magden. That structure seemed to work well, and we played our best footy of the season.
Now let's fast forward to Round 6 vs Hawthorn - 3 talls. We had Cox + Kelly + Mihocek (no de goey). The system again worked pretty well.
Round 7 vs Geelong - 1 tall (Mihocek) + De Goey. Interestringly, down back we only had 2 key talls (dropping Scharenberg). Again, system worked ok, but it took De Goey to kick 5 of our 8 goals.
Round 8 - West Coast - 2 talls, Cameron and Mihocek, and in defence 3 talls (adding Scharenberg in).
Round 9 v Fremantle - Again the same 2 talls, with Magden coming in to replace Scharenberg. I don't consider them like for like and Magden is more a shut down defender, and Scharenberg an intercept marker.
Round 10 v Sydney - 3 talls, with Reid and Ruscoe coming in at the expense of Cameron.
Round 11 v Adelaide - 3 talls, but this time Cameron in for Reid.
Round 12 v Melbourne - 4 talls - Reid, Cameron, Mihocek and Ruscoe.
What we are seeing is far too much mucking around with our structure, with different personnel up there every week.
I don't mind making 5 changes, but i do mind if the structure is altered every week.
Personally, i think the best system is Mihocek + Cox/Cameron + De Goey as the pseudo-tall. With De Goey out, I think we should be turning to Stephenson to replicate the role, but we have moved him away from this role and mucked with his form.
Also, I think it is a big mistake to be playing Magden + Dunn/Roughead. These guys are full backs with little offensive power. For me, you need to bring in one of Scharenberg, Murphy or Keane as they act as intercept markers. Langdon probably resolves this problem when available. For now, I'd give Murphy a crack.
I think this week we should make as many changes as need be to get our best and preferred structure. That's the challenge for the selection committee. They need to decide what our best system is, and pick the best 22 to meet that system. After that, lock it in and make changes which accommodate the system.
If Buckley has not worked out his best structure after 9 years at the helm, then that is a huge problem. He should have some sort of idea of that by now.
A lot will ride on Mihocek's availability. If he is unavailable, the only other player on the list I can see who could do a similar role is Lynden Dunn. He has played as a forward before, is a similar height and build, and can aggressively attack packs. I sincerely hope we don't consider a forward line with Cox + Cameron. That again would be an entirely different system to what we have had to date. I'd also be putting Elliott forward again with the instruction to play as a small. We can't keep playing JT + Brown if they don't score.
I would be saying we go back to:
In: Cox, Murphy, Roughead, Rantall, Stephenson
Out: Cameron, Magden, Dunn, C. Brown, Reid.
We now have an opportunity to take 9 days to reset and have a re-think about things. The loss in itself is not the reason for my frustration.
I've been a vocal critic of our selection for some time now. It's not multiple changes that frustrates me, its the multiple structures we throw out each week. It is not surprising that our form fluctuates when you have a different set-up each week, which in turn means a different system. If you play 1 key tall, you are asking your mids to lower the eyes and hit up targets. When you play 4 talls, you are telling them to bomb it in long to get a contest.
The benchmark is obviously Richmond. The thing they do well is replace one player with a like for like, so the system does not change. Sometimes, that means being a bit creative (ie they have thrown Bolton into the midfield to replace Edwardes, or bring in Eggmolesse- Smith to fill the shoes of Houli....or Balta to come in for Astbury.
We on the other hand chop and change our structure each week. Here is the example.
We start round 1 with Cox + Mihocek (2 talls) + De Goey (who I'll call a pseudo-tall) and our defence had 4 talls in Roughead, Moore, Howe and Magden. That structure seemed to work well, and we played our best footy of the season.
Now let's fast forward to Round 6 vs Hawthorn - 3 talls. We had Cox + Kelly + Mihocek (no de goey). The system again worked pretty well.
Round 7 vs Geelong - 1 tall (Mihocek) + De Goey. Interestringly, down back we only had 2 key talls (dropping Scharenberg). Again, system worked ok, but it took De Goey to kick 5 of our 8 goals.
Round 8 - West Coast - 2 talls, Cameron and Mihocek, and in defence 3 talls (adding Scharenberg in).
Round 9 v Fremantle - Again the same 2 talls, with Magden coming in to replace Scharenberg. I don't consider them like for like and Magden is more a shut down defender, and Scharenberg an intercept marker.
Round 10 v Sydney - 3 talls, with Reid and Ruscoe coming in at the expense of Cameron.
Round 11 v Adelaide - 3 talls, but this time Cameron in for Reid.
Round 12 v Melbourne - 4 talls - Reid, Cameron, Mihocek and Ruscoe.
What we are seeing is far too much mucking around with our structure, with different personnel up there every week.
I don't mind making 5 changes, but i do mind if the structure is altered every week.
Personally, i think the best system is Mihocek + Cox/Cameron + De Goey as the pseudo-tall. With De Goey out, I think we should be turning to Stephenson to replicate the role, but we have moved him away from this role and mucked with his form.
Also, I think it is a big mistake to be playing Magden + Dunn/Roughead. These guys are full backs with little offensive power. For me, you need to bring in one of Scharenberg, Murphy or Keane as they act as intercept markers. Langdon probably resolves this problem when available. For now, I'd give Murphy a crack.
I think this week we should make as many changes as need be to get our best and preferred structure. That's the challenge for the selection committee. They need to decide what our best system is, and pick the best 22 to meet that system. After that, lock it in and make changes which accommodate the system.
If Buckley has not worked out his best structure after 9 years at the helm, then that is a huge problem. He should have some sort of idea of that by now.
A lot will ride on Mihocek's availability. If he is unavailable, the only other player on the list I can see who could do a similar role is Lynden Dunn. He has played as a forward before, is a similar height and build, and can aggressively attack packs. I sincerely hope we don't consider a forward line with Cox + Cameron. That again would be an entirely different system to what we have had to date. I'd also be putting Elliott forward again with the instruction to play as a small. We can't keep playing JT + Brown if they don't score.
I would be saying we go back to:
In: Cox, Murphy, Roughead, Rantall, Stephenson
Out: Cameron, Magden, Dunn, C. Brown, Reid.
