2008 forward line?

[acker]

The point I am making is that successful finals teams have big bodied power forwards to take contested marks or provide spillages.

IMO, one of the big differences in Geelong from last year to this year was the restructure of the forward line where Mooney played permanently there and went up a level, Ottens was fit, and N Ablett provided a target. Compare that to the previous year with Playfair and Kingsley as the sole forwards.

Under the pressure of finals or against high intensity pressure teams such as Sydney, we do not have the luxury of playing free flowing football and pin pointing passes to leading players. This is where we have been vulnerable in recent years.

Which is why I posted this

And if we really pin our ears back and have a red blooded go at it maybe.

HF...Higgins..........Harris......Murphy
F.....Akermanis......Welsh.....Johnson

 

[Dogs Rule]

You said a spine

Whats Tredrea ..a one vertebrae spine...may as well call that one a bone
Geelong ...Mooney somewhere up forward, Ablett somewhere else up forward...that looks more like a pelvis.
Brisbane.. Brown and Lynch at least resembles half of what you describe as a spine
Sydney..Goodes ruck / ruck rover at best....Baz well I identified him as a player in the saints 1997 loss where he was about their only swinging d9ck.
But again not a spine. And I don't think leaping 184 cm Leo can be considered as a tall spinal key position player.

Drop McDougall from your radar

Our forward line next year will more likely be

HF....Akermanis....Murphy...Johnson
F......Higgins........Welsh.....Tiller

And if we really pin our ears back and have a red blooded go at it maybe.

HF...Higgins..........Harris......Murphy
F.....Akermanis......Welsh.....Johnson

Surely Harris in the forward line is robbing Peter to pay Paul?

Who would we play at full back?

 

[acker]

Surely Harris in the forward line is robbing Peter to pay Paul?

Who would we play at full back?

McDougall or Williams

Not to sure if we will be robbing much considering the average score kicked against us last year was 16.16.112

Geelongs was 10.12.72

Surely we cannot say conceding that type score, that our backline is working and does not require change ?

 

[scooter600x]

How can you say Tiller is overrated when he cameinto the side when we were getting beaten every game by 50+ points but yet still managed to lead well, take marks and kick ome goals. he will be a player. you'll see.

Tiller is massively over-rated.

How can you pencil him in when he averages 7 possesions and 1 goal a game so far. He has never taken a contested mark in the AFL.

In a couple of years time he might be a decent contributor. So far he's done little.

 

[The Boy From Brasil]

McDougall or Williams

Not to sure if we will be robbing much considering the average score kicked against us last year was 16.16.112

Geelongs was 10.12.72

Surely we cannot say conceding that type score, that our backline is working and does not require change ?

Actually, I am surprised it is only 16.16.112. Honestly I wouldn't have been surprised if it was up near 20 goals. We were getting cricket scores kicked up against us in many games last year.


Not sure if it is our lack of height in the backline, our lack of accountability in the midfield, or just an overall lack of defensive pressure with our free running game. Could be a combination of all 3. I hope this statistic gets reduced during next season.

I don't think we should go to the other extreme with massive flooding and continual temp football such as the crows do, and kick 10 goals a game. That would be throwign the baby out with the bathwater. Just a happy compromise, and a game plan that allows for attacking run, combined with accountability and defence if we turn it over and the opposition gets hold of the ball.

 

[acker]

Frightening thing is it has been high since Wallace left as coach, worst under Rohde's but still not much improvement with Eade.

I think from memory the highest defensive average from a premiership team over the past 8-9 years is about 12.12.84 per match.

I dont think our defensive average has been under 100 points per game since 2001 or possibly earlier.

Sure our midfeild has a lot to answer for, but so do our defenders.

 

[The Boy From Brasil]

Frightening thing is it has been high since Wallace left as coach, worst under Rohde's but still not much improvement with Eade.

I think from memory the highest defensive average from a premiership team over the past 8-9 years is about 12.12.84 per match.

I dont think our defensive average has been under 100 points per game since 2001 or possibly earlier.

Sure our midfeild has a lot to answer for, but so do our defenders.

The problem seems to be that when the opposing side gets on a roll, we can't seem to stem the flow. We have the ability to kick a high amount of goals in a short period of time, but we also have the ability to concede them as well.

Maybe they practise some tempo strategies and when to implement them. The Crows are the master of this IMO. Personally I think the crows overdo it and limit their scoring chances by their overuse of it, but you never see them getting cricket scores kicked against them like we do.

The other reason is that the opposition teams are used to us using runners out of the backline and play marking options on them, so our small running defenders get constantly outmarked in the opposition 50. The Carlton debarcle was an example of this.

I still think our defence holds up okay though. It is no geelong backline, but it is not the worst in the league either.

 

[Pigdog]

Sure our midfield has a lot to answer for, but so do our defenders.

So how do we improve it then??

I certainly agree that there is fault with the defenders. We have to many in this group who can't beat there opponents man on man, but our midfield and forwards need to improve there defensive games.

Any ideas??

 

[The Boy From Brasil]

So how do we improve it then??

I certainly agree that there is fault with the defenders. We have to many in this group who can't beat there opponents man on man, but our midfield and forwards need to improve there defensive games.

Any ideas??

While many of the players do need some education in what to do when we don't have the ball, a lot of it is a confidence thing also. Confidence to hit targets. If we hit our targets when we are rebounding out of defence, there wouldn't be turnovers and our defenders being caught out. We are often classed as downhill skiers but the top sides play like that, they run forward in anticipation of their teammates winning the ball and delivering the ball efficiently.

We are a skilled side(a very skilled one) so it is obviously a confidence problem from time to time. When things are not going well, we go into our shell and become scared of making mistakes. When that happens to your pysche, you make mistakes. A lot of it is a self belief thing as well.

 

[#1 Dogs Fan]

So how do we improve it then??

I certainly agree that there is fault with the defenders. We have to many in this group who can't beat there opponents man on man, but our midfield and forwards need to improve there defensive games.

Any ideas??

You have just answered your own question. One of our main problems this year and for a while now is our forward line pressure. Johnson is great offensively but his defensive game could improve as could others.