2004 Squad Preview

[MarkT]

FIGJAM,
I would MUCH rather play Tarrant and Lonie on the wings and Woewodin is a fair bit ahead of Cole as winger at present. I don't have as much confidence in Cole as you do but by Christ I hope you are right. A tough hard hitting small would be a good addition to the side.

jabso,
Rocca is dumb. Have you ever spoken to him? Just listen to him on tv/radio. He is now able to talk in the footballer cliches but that's a result of recent training. Neither of the brothers have much upstairs. Ant has learnt how to play footy. I wouldn't say he has a footy brain but he has learnt to play the game and use his body. It took a fair while though. he didn;t even know where to run for a quite a few years and he'd run himself ragged in the first Q by chasing the ball and following it when it was 100m away.

 

[Lockyer24]

Continued improvement across the board (which I think will happen) won't get us much further than where we are at as a side currently.

We need some fairly big jumps from a few younger players to give us a bit more 'star' factor in the team.

My prime candidates are:

Tarrant - kick more goals and capable of entering Lloyds class

Didak - whether it be a goalkicking, classy middie in the style of a Brad Johnson or kick 50 goals as a stationary forward

Fraser - I secretly think he will win our BnF next year and star

and to a lesser degree

Johnno - he's ugly, but boy is he effective on his day. Play a whole season the way he finished off the year and he will be a star.

I also think Rocca is perhaps capable of at least one, superstar-like year at CHF to earn him All Australian honours.
Rocca firing = Collingwood unstoppable

 

[FIGJAM]

Originally posted by MarkT
FIGJAM,
I would MUCH rather play Tarrant and Lonie on the wings and Woewodin is a fair bit ahead of Cole as winger at present. I don't have as much confidence in Cole as you do but by Christ I hope you are right. A tough hard hitting small would be a good addition to the side.

I think sometimes we are all get a bit artistic when it comes to team set ups.

Fact is, we'd all love to experimant with ideas such as Tarrant up the ground, or Fraser as a rangey 202cm winger, but the fact remains, we have no one to fill their current positions. Davidson or Morrison would need to come through very quickly and we are then relying on Richards or Cam in the ruck possie. As yet, that's just speculation.

Not only that, we're presuming that they're capable of doing so. To quote HJS "In theory comunism works...in theory!". I'll believe Tarrant's (or Fraser's) worth as a winger when I see it.

I want Cole to play an old-school 'Millane-esque" role on the wings. That will work. Woewodin, Lonie and Didak will surely be rotated accross the wings, but so should Cole.

I suppose all I am getting at is that Richie is continually being played out of position. He's realised that he needs to be accountable and now he needs to be allowed to exhibit his natural creative flair, whilst assuring opposition midfielders cutting through the centre are keeping an eye out for him.

 

[MarkT]

Tarrant looks for all the world like a Tom Hafey quick, tall, marking wingman who could murder sides. As a forward he gets by on talent and pace. His marking is so so when he doesn't get a clean fly. I don't think he is that hard to replace up forward - certainly not close to how irreplaceable Rocca is as a forward.

2003 was far and away his best season and most of his good work was on a wing anyway. I hope one of Davidson, C or J Cloke, Morrison or someone else can be a marking forward so Tarrant can play on the wing. I doubt it is possible in 2004 and I doubt it will be done beyond that anyway, but Rocca, Fraser and another tall with a quick medium and a small would be ideal for me. For all the theories on what we need IMO we need only a strong ruckman and the rest is pretty well taken care of IF one tall stands up as a forward and one as a key defender.

Hall as ruckman with Richards could be a good combo and one of Cloke, Davidson and Morrison at each end and we are looking bloody good to me. Throw in Travis Cloke eventually if he is half as good as some reports suggest. We'd have difficult matchups all over the ground and plenty of versatility. We could always stack the forwards by moving Tarrant back there. As it is he has 2 opponents quite often. One who runs to the 50m line and contests in the air as a defender and one who runs up the ground with him when he ventures far enough from FF. As a wingman he can only be a one man match up and a damn tough one at that.

Hawthorn for instance would sacrifice Smith and Brisbane probably someone like Lappin to match up on Tarrant. I'd like to see him one on one on a wing against them. They would struggle in the air far more than a defender who can punch the ball to another defender when it comes into a stationary forward target. The only problem I see with Tarrant on a wing is his ability to be as defensive as would sometimes be required.

Cole I see as a player played before he was ready. I have seen little evidence of poise which is a worry but it could come. I have no problem with Cole on a wing but I have a preference for Lonie and Tarrant with Woewodin and Lockyer as rotation players through the wings. I just can;t see where Cole fits in ahead of these guys. I agree about needing players to play forward in place of Tarrant though. If Morrison can have an impact in 2005 then not getting Stevens will be the greatest non trade we've done.

 

[trippedonaBindi]

As I have said before

Davidson will be a G....U.....N

for you people who can't spell

that is GUN!

he can kick 75 metres

and while not as quick as Chrissy T is a better mark

for any of you who know anything about football, what this will mean is that Davidson will play a traditional forward role

and Chrissy T will just roam around the gorund even more than he does

and with his pace and marking ability look for his to take 250 marks next year...that is only 12 a game, 3 a quarter, not hard as he will play a roaming wingman

 

[FIGJAM]

Originally posted by trippedonaBindi
As I have said before

Davidson will be a G....U.....N

for you people who can't spell

that is GUN!

As I've said before, I hope you're on the money!

 

[Lockyer24]

I hope so too.

Us boys at LSD are sponsoring him this year!

 

[raskolnikov]

Originally posted by Asgardian
Scott Burns:- This guy can't even spell fear

not many Collingwood people can.