Strategy Midfield Crows Woes

mattymac

Why no midfield crowz?
10k Posts
Jul 9, 2009
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So, we all saw last year. Our midfield was gash.

You don't really finish bottom unless your midfield is the worst in the league.

A semi-decent midfield can hide a lot of sins ahead of and behind the ball.

And our first outing this preseason against an oppo that wasn't us revealed the same problem.

This is largely why I was a Hollands fan at the draft. But Thilly looks a good prospect.

The question now is: WTF do we do about our midfield?

Galluci and Poholke were busts. Jones and McHenry looking likewise (damn that super draft).

Schoenberg looks solid. You can also see potential in Pedlar and Berry (small sample size, granted).

The big question is, option 1 or option 2:

Option 1: do we wait 4 or 5 years until these lads mature (plus whoever we add with pick 1 or 2 this year who hopefully won't be yet another tall),

Option 2: Do we go the Brisbane Lachie Neale route and throw the bank at an established youngish mid with high potential that the lads can orbit around and accelerate their development?

Heaven knows Sloane is way past midfield duties, Laird was never really meant to be a midfielder, and Matt Crouch is just a useful extractor.

There is no quality midfield arising without strategic decisions being made.

Discuss.
 
Aug 9, 2019
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This discussion would be better served mid season where we get a clearer view of our new recruits and our players under the almost totally revamped coaching panel....One trial match is a hardly a fair assessment of season 2021.
 

mattymac

Why no midfield crowz?
10k Posts
Jul 9, 2009
18,167
32,188
Yes
AFL Club
Adelaide
Other Teams
No
This discussion would be better served mid season where we get a clearer view of our new recruits and our players under the almost totally revamped coaching panel....One trial match is a hardly a fair assessment of season 2021.
So all of last year has no relevance?

Do you think it's more a coaching issue than a talent issue?
 
Jun 7, 2011
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So, we all saw last year. Our midfield was gash.

You don't really finish bottom unless your midfield is the worst in the league.

A semi-decent midfield can hide a lot of sins ahead of and behind the ball.

And our first outing this preseason against an oppo that wasn't us revealed the same problem.

This is largely why I was a Hollands fan at the draft. But Thilly looks a good prospect.

The question now is: WTF do we do about our midfield?

Galluci and Poholke were busts. Jones and McHenry looking likewise (damn that super draft).

Schoenberg looks solid. You can also see potential in Pedlar and Berry (small sample size, granted).

The big question is, option 1 or option 2:

Option 1: do we wait 4 or 5 years until these lads mature (plus whoever we add with pick 1 or 2 this year who hopefully won't be yet another tall),

Option 2: Do we go the Brisbane Lachie Neale route and throw the bank at an established youngish mid with high potential that the lads can orbit around and accelerate their development?

Heaven knows Sloane is way past midfield duties, Laird was never really meant to be a midfielder, and Matt Crouch is just a useful extractor.

There is no quality midfield arising without strategic decisions being made.

Discuss.

That Seedsman kid shows promise in there. Looks like we're going with the give heaps of time to the kids in the middle.
 
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Aug 21, 2008
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I don't know why we're bringing butters and duursma into the conversation. Neither of these players are (or have shown to this point) pure mids that would have helped us with our midfield woes.

Butters is handy to have around the ball but is more of a half forward play maker. Duursma is good at finding space and being in the right place at the right time. Not sure what his long term position is.

Great picks though.
 
Jul 6, 2017
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So, we all saw last year. Our midfield was gash.

You don't really finish bottom unless your midfield is the worst in the league.

A semi-decent midfield can hide a lot of sins ahead of and behind the ball.

And our first outing this preseason against an oppo that wasn't us revealed the same problem.

This is largely why I was a Hollands fan at the draft. But Thilly looks a good prospect.

The question now is: WTF do we do about our midfield?

Galluci and Poholke were busts. Jones and McHenry looking likewise (damn that super draft).

Schoenberg looks solid. You can also see potential in Pedlar and Berry (small sample size, granted).

The big question is, option 1 or option 2:

Option 1: do we wait 4 or 5 years until these lads mature (plus whoever we add with pick 1 or 2 this year who hopefully won't be yet another tall),

Option 2: Do we go the Brisbane Lachie Neale route and throw the bank at an established youngish mid with high potential that the lads can orbit around and accelerate their development?

Heaven knows Sloane is way past midfield duties, Laird was never really meant to be a midfielder, and Matt Crouch is just a useful extractor.

There is no quality midfield arising without strategic decisions being made.

Discuss.
Option 3..we are very likely to be a bottom 4 club this year and are a real chance to secure a jason horne or if not one of the very highly rated vic mids in the draft and that will help.

Also getting another good block of games into the young mids we have already is going to help. Then maybe go really hard the year after for rankine who may also be ready for a midfield role
 
May 10, 2009
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Let's not forget that port were the #1 clearance team in the comp last year. A bit of perspective
Yep, I’m not sure what else anyone was expecting. It will take time for VB to implement his philosophies, especially with a largely very young group. Hardly an indicator against a developed midfield during pre season as to how things will look during the main thing, of course we aren’t at the level of top 4 sides yet. Port’s midfield was a rabble 3 years ago and this board used to take the piss out of Voss as their mids coach.
 
Aug 17, 2004
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So all of last year has no relevance?

Do you think it's more a coaching issue than a talent issue?
Of course last year has no relevance. That squad is done, and the remnants are largely marking time as the list gets turned over. I'm not sure even Matt Crouch and Laird are in our next contending team.

We seem to have nailed last year's draft and will have more currency this year. No point in assessing the midfield today. Wait 18 months.
 
May 24, 2006
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One thing that has (will?) stifle the development of our midfield is that Crouch, Crouch, Sloane appear not to be able to play anywhere other than the centre square.

Sloane seemingly has the tools to do so but the results have been poor anytime he's played elsewhere.

One third of that triumvirate has moved on so one spot opens up at least. Will we have the balls to open up a second? Or a third at times? Force Crouch and Sloane to spend at least some time elsewhere.

If it's too difficult for our best midfielders to succeed as a high half forward then why do we expect our youngest, most inexperienced midfielders to do so?
 
Jul 6, 2017
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One thing that has (will?) stifle the development of our midfield is that Crouch, Crouch, Sloane appear not to be able to play anywhere other than the centre square.

Sloane seemingly has the tools to do so but the results have been poor anytime he's played elsewhere.

One third of that triumvirate has moved on so one spot opens up at least. Will we have the balls to open up a second? Or a third at times? Force Crouch and Sloane to spend at least some time elsewhere.

If it's too difficult for our best midfielders to succeed as a high half forward then why do we expect our youngest, most inexperienced midfielders to do so?
Play Sloane in a forward pocket. he knows how to kick a goal, he can take contested marks and he still has the energy to be a pressure forward in the front half of the ground.

I think a front 6 as below could be quite exciting - a good mix of contested marking, goal sense and high pressure

Rowe Fogarty Sloane
McAdam Thilthorpe McHenry
 
So, we all saw last year. Our midfield was gash.

You don't really finish bottom unless your midfield is the worst in the league.

A semi-decent midfield can hide a lot of sins ahead of and behind the ball.

And our first outing this preseason against an oppo that wasn't us revealed the same problem.

This is largely why I was a Hollands fan at the draft. But Thilly looks a good prospect.

The question now is: WTF do we do about our midfield?

Galluci and Poholke were busts. Jones and McHenry looking likewise (damn that super draft).

Schoenberg looks solid. You can also see potential in Pedlar and Berry (small sample size, granted).

The big question is, option 1 or option 2:

Option 1: do we wait 4 or 5 years until these lads mature (plus whoever we add with pick 1 or 2 this year who hopefully won't be yet another tall),

Option 2: Do we go the Brisbane Lachie Neale route and throw the bank at an established youngish mid with high potential that the lads can orbit around and accelerate their development?

Heaven knows Sloane is way past midfield duties, Laird was never really meant to be a midfielder, and Matt Crouch is just a useful extractor.

There is no quality midfield arising without strategic decisions being made.

Discuss.

The Neales of this world aren't coming to us until we show we're moving upwards. It took Brisbane a year or two of pain before they were able to make that splash.

Hately, Pedlar, Berry and Schoenberg is a good start to this process. All talented kids who could make parts of a rather solid midfield cake (on top of other players around the traps who might start to click). I'm also not willing to write off Pedlar being more then that, once he had 4-5 years in the bigs. This needs to be a midfield draft though (with maybe 1-2 trades for kids who have been stymied), and unfortunately Ogilive track record is not hot when looking at midfielders who are more then mere inside brutes.

That said, the strategy needs to be in the middle of those two. Go hard at the draft next year (and maybe 2022), then start to use our position/salary cap position to bring in better players.
 
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maxlilly

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We just don't have the right balance of midfielders in the team. Too many in and under types.
I think these days your midfield needs to have speed, cover plenty of ground and have damaging disposal.
We really don't have anyone that comes close to that, apart from Milera. And that is why it was so devastating for him to get another season ending injury on the weekend.
I also feel you need a few 6'2/6'3 tall midfielders in your rotation, lets hope Hately can fill that void but he needs a fair bit of improvement on his pre-season so far.
It's going to be interesting to see what the club do with Crouch and Laird at the end of the season (along with Tex and Lynch), if we retain both, I cant see our midfield improving for a while.
I would love to see Doodee become that bigger midfielder for us but I wont hold my breath, we seem to pigeon hole players right from the start.
 

Doctor B

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The CBA's from last weekend.

Adelaide 31 - Reilly O'Brien 24, Rory Laird 23, Rory Sloane 19, Ben Keays 15, Jackson Hately 12, Harry Schoenberg 8, Paul Seedsman 8, Billy Frampton 7, Wayne Milera 5 & Chayce Jones 3

If we want to fast track kids this year we need to increase their CBA's.
Short term pain.
 
The CBA's from last weekend.

Adelaide 31 - Reilly O'Brien 24, Rory Laird 23, Rory Sloane 19, Ben Keays 15, Jackson Hately 12, Harry Schoenberg 8, Paul Seedsman 8, Billy Frampton 7, Wayne Milera 5 & Chayce Jones 3

If we want to fast track kids this year we need to increase their CBA's.
Short term pain.

Seedsman getting 8 CBAs really does my head in. Under what point has he ever seemed like an in/out midfielder? Seems like an older guy being set up to fail.
 

maxlilly

Premiership Player
Aug 15, 2009
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The CBA's from last weekend.

Adelaide 31 - Reilly O'Brien 24, Rory Laird 23, Rory Sloane 19, Ben Keays 15, Jackson Hately 12, Harry Schoenberg 8, Paul Seedsman 8, Billy Frampton 7, Wayne Milera 5 & Chayce Jones 3

If we want to fast track kids this year we need to increase their CBA's.
Short term pain.

It would be nice to see who actually got clearances from those CBA's
 
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