Review 2011: What needs reviewing/improving/changing

[POBT]

One of a couple of threads to review the season. I'll try and keep the next post up to date so that we can get a collective view on the season. The other thread is "What went well"

Can we put our responses under 3 headings:


1. On Field

2. Footy Dept

3. Off Field

 

[POBT]

This post combines the responses below.

1. On Field

* Contested footy remains our achilles heel.

* If contested footy is our achilles heel, foot skill is our dickie knee.

* No real depth, particularly in tall defenders.

* Rich's fitness has not noticeably improved since his first season and I can understand why he slid down to pick 7 now. After 2 seasons of playing every game and a pre-season, where apparently most of our players were doing personal bests, I expected to really see him take a big step this year. Rockliff and Redden have an incredible work rate and I'd like to see him close the gap on them a bit next year.

* Polkinghorne sounds like one of Voss' favourites and I am still yet to see it. Can kick 50 metres off both feet and all year showed glimpses of how good he can be at clearances but puts one good quarter together before he disappears for the rest of the game.

* Patfull had a great year in 09 and was then shifted to a negating/tagging role last year and this looks like it has killed his confidence. He is undersized for a KPP and that never used to be a problem but for some reason it was this year. Hoping he can get his mojo back and hold down a key position in defence next year with the confidence he used to have.

* The fade out in every game.

* Too often our attack on the ball is slow and poor and positioning around stoppages is completely wrong.

* Our decision making coming out of defense is awful too, a little more composure would go a long way

* We seem to tackle well, but that is because quite frequently we don't get to the ball first.

* We have problems getting enough numbers to the ball, then spreading to create options if we do eventually win the contest.

* Players forward of the ball aren't doing enough to create separation, and players behind aren't running enough in support.

* Our worst season and no rising star nominations. The disaster of 2010 continues to corrode the list rather than build on it ( loss of midfielders / forwards ) which makes Henderson's comfort at CHB all the more galling.

* Turnovers.... they are killing us.

* Foot skills and those that are never going to have great foot skills must develop long, flat and quick hand balls. If that is not possible well then…

* Defensive pressure in the forward fifty.

* Keeping a forward press formation then to be able to change quickly by switching to the fat side whilst positioning our selves into an attacking formation. This is developing the midfield to work their guts outs. They are just not working hard enough to keep the formation then run and spread when the opportunity arises.

* Relationship between our rucks and midfielders. We have a very good ruckman developing on our hands. Surely our midfielders can all develop a sense of what the hell is happening.

* Tackling – no finger nails tackles please…put your bloody shoulder into it and drive them into the ground. It does actually hurt when you get driven into the ground.

* Reaction times at the stoppage – can you get the ball if yes do it if not shut the stoppage down by tackling (see above). Reading the play at the stoppage – has your team mate got a good chance of the getting the ball – if yes start to position yourself to receive. A bit of trust and knowledge of your team required here...do we have that yet?

* Every midfielder should be having at least one shot on goal each game so it becomes natural.

* Kicking into the forward fifty. Lets try and kick it to the advantage of the forward. Make the forward run to the right spots.

* Do not kick it to a contest where there is a 3 on 1 in the oppositions favour.

* Stand up in tackles for that second longer if possible and off load at all costs. If two tacklers have come in for the tackle it means their formation is broken somewhere. Being able to off load or break tackles is very important.

* We need to replace Hawksley-Stiller-Collier- Austin with a Davis/Yarran styled runners from half back. A medium that can contest in the air and runner who can mind a small. Whilst we have Hanley and Drummond that can run and/or deliver by foot, we need more run and better decision making from half back.

* We need to be able to go short to Karnezis/Cornelius, Ash Mcrath/Banfield from the centre so we can create space for our mids and key forwards to run into. Against Adelaide, Geelong, Gold Coast and even against the Ferrals we were able to do this with great effect.

* I think our biggest issue is depth, it has been mentioned already but for me this is our biggest problem we rely on a very small group of players. What is good is that that small group grew this year and a lot of guys stepped up to the next the next level this year and others took a step in the right direction.


2. Footy Dept

* The plague of injuries continues, despite new personnel and apparently a new approach to preparation.

* Not taking a tall last year with our final draft pick is starting to look like a risky call, at least in terms of risk structure. Still early days for the promising Green though.

* The rise of impact injuries. While there's been a significant improvement in the number and severity of soft tissue injuries, it was disturbing to see so many players in moon boots throughout the year.

* Size. Much of the team needs to get stronger.

* I would have preferred that we signed Power for one more season, while we he wasn't overly influential I worry that this may be a premature decision. Melbourne chose to move on McDonald and Bruce at the end of last year which has proved to be costly. I think our young midfield brigade would have benefited from just one more season alongside side Power and I hope that this won't come back to haunt us next year.

3. Off Field

* The jersey/logo design remains a sore point for far too many fans.

* Dwindling crowd and membership numbers.

* Plenty of room for improvement in the membership department. Lots of little errors and oversights reported on here throughout the year. Given the benefit of the doubt, many of these may be related to growth and staff turn-over issues so hopefully they'll settle down with another off-season to implement improved systems and processes. Worth noting that everyone I deal with there has been friendly and helpful.

 

[Gibbo_88]

On Field:

Three players that I think have been disappointing this year. Not including Clark as it doesn't sound like he will be a lion next year.

Rich's fitness has not noticeably improved since his first season and I can understand why he slid down to pick 7 now. After 2 seasons of playing every game and a pre-season, where apparently most of our players were doing personal bests, I expected to really see him take a big step this year. Rockliff and Redden have an incredible work rate and I'd like to see him close the gap on them a bit next year.

Polkinghorne sounds like one of Voss' favourites and I am still yet to see it. Can kick 50 metres off both feet and all year showed glimpses of how good he can be at clearances but puts one good quarter together before he disappears for the rest of the game.

Patfull had a great year in 09 and was then shifted to a negating/tagging role last year and this looks like it has killed his confidence. He is undersized for a KPP and that never used to be a problem but for some reason it was this year. Hoping he can get his mojo back and hold down a key position in defence next year with the confidence he used to have.

 

[whatboutbob]

Again, agree with all of the above plus:

2) Footy Dept

- The rise of impact injuries. While there's been a significant improvement in the number and severity of soft tissue injuries, it was disturbing to see so many players in moon boots throughout the year.

- Size. Much of the team needs to get stronger.

3) Off field

- Plenty of room for improvement in the membership department. Lots of little errors and oversights reported on here throughout the year. Given the benefit of the doubt, many of these may be related to growth and staff turn-over issues so hopefully they'll settle down with another off-season to implement improved systems and processes. Worth noting that everyone I deal with there has been friendly and helpful.

 

[Milk Steak]

On field:
The fade out in every game. Too often our attack on the ball is slow and poor and positioning around stoppages is completely wrong.
Our decision making coming out of defense is awful too, a little more composure would go a long way

 

[Caiphus]

On field: We seem to tackle well, but that is because quite frequently we don't get to the ball first.
We have problems getting enough numbers to the ball, then spreading to create options if we do eventually win the contest.
Players forward of the ball aren't doing enough to create seperation, and players behind aren't running enough in support.

 

[The Flying Belgian]

Somewhere between on-field & footy dept: Use of interchange - Would love to see the numbers but I don't think we could use it as well other teams.

 

[borrat]

still slower than a wet week i.m.o and agree with pobts points as well

 

[OldLion]

On Field.

Our worst season and no rising star nominations. The disaster of 2010 continues to corrode the list rather than build on it ( loss of midfielders / forwards ) which makes Henderson's comfort at CHB all the more galling. It's a credit to the team leaders that we haven't been absolutely smashed ( a la Demons, North ) because our talent pool is the shallowest and our key forwards the softest. Would any of our players make a top 4 starting 22 ?

Off Field

Some people are going to have to perform miracles to get anywhere near the finals in the next 3 years ( aka the Brown period ) cause after that, we're another Richmond destined to talk rather that walk the talk.

 

[The Teacher]

On field....

Turnovers.... they are killing us.


Dicko

 

[Dylan12]

The disaster of 2010 continues to corrode the list rather than build on it ( loss of midfielders / forwards ) which makes Henderson's comfort at CHB all the more galling.

It absolutely pains me everytime I see Carlton play that we simply let Henderson go knowing how much we need that exact type of player.

 

[Nuggo]

On Field

Foot skills and those that are never going to have great foot skills must develop long, flat and quick hand balls. If that is not possible well then…

Defensive pressure in the forward fifty.

Keeping a forward press formation then to be able to change quickly by switching to the fat side whilst positioning our selves into an attacking formation. This is developing the midfield to work their guts outs. They are just not working hard enough to keep the formation then run and spread when the opportunity arises.

Relationship between our rucks and midfielders. We have a very good ruckman developing on our hands. Surely our midfielders can all develop a sense of what the hell is happening.

Tackling – no finger nails tackles please…put your bloody shoulder into it and drive them into the ground. It does actually hurt when you get driven into the ground.

Reaction times at the stoppage – can you get the ball if yes do it if not shut the stoppage down by tackling (see above). Reading the play at the stoppage – has your team mate got a good chance of the getting the ball – if yes start to position yourself to receive. A bit of trust and knowledge of your team required here...do we have that yet?

Every midfielder should be having at least one shot on goal each game so it becomes natural.

Kicking into the forward fifty. Lets try and kick it to the advantage of the forward. Make the forward run to the right spots.

Do not kick it to a contest where there is a 3 on 1 in the oppositions favour.

Stand up in tackles for that second longer if possible and off load at all costs. If two tacklers have come in for the tackle it means their formation is broken somewhere. Being able to off load or break tackles is very important.

 

[blackpowerlappin]

It absolutely pains me everytime I see Carlton play that we simply let Henderson go knowing how much we need that exact type of player.

Me TOO!

 

[Milk Steak]

Oh Nuggo, will you marry me mate? I agree with everything you said guy. How often do you see the ball on the deck near a pack and all the lions miss stand there and wait for someone to get dirty and get the bloody thing. Also, there's too many times we're handballing to a guy who's about to get crunched. And my biggest gripe,drum roll please....... Players getting the ball and trying to run straight through a pack of bloody opposing players and getting pinger for holding the ball. Looking at you patfull and rich

 

[blackpowerlappin]

We need to replace Hawksley-Stiller-Collier- Austin with a Davis/Yarran styled runners from half back. A medium that can contest in the air and runner who can mind a small. Whilst we have Hanley and Drummond that can run and/or deliver by foot, we need more run and better decision making from half back.

We need consistent goals from the midfield.

We need to be able to go short to Karnezis/Cornelius, Ash Mcrath/Banfield from the centre so we can create space for our mids and key forwards to run into. Against Adelaide, Geelong, Gold Coast and even against the Ferrals we were able to do this with great effect.

Agree with everything Nuggo's post- in particular- we just have to stand up in tackles more consistently, we do cough it up to easily in my view.

 

[counterparts24]

Nuggo dead on, in particular our forward delivery was very poor amongst the worst in the AFL we would move the ball well up until it had to go forward.

I think our biggest issue is depth, it has been mentioned already but for me this is our biggest problem we rely on a very small group of players. What is good is that that small group grew this year and a lot of guys stepped up to the next the next level this year and others took a step in the right direction.

I would have preferred that we signed Power for one more season, while we he wasn't overly influential I worry that this may be a premature decision. Melbourne chose to move on McDonald and Bruce at the end of last year which has proved to be costly. I think our young midfield brigade would have benefited from just one more season alongside side Power and I hope that this won't come back to haunt us next year.

 

[POBT]

Post #2 has been updated to incorporate everyone's responses. I've tried to avoid duplication.

 

[Fatcat08]

On Field

Our kick ins still need considerable work. We need to take a good look at what other teams are doing out there to combat the forward press from a kickout and take bits of the best and manipulate them or invent new ideas that suits our players skill sets. Important not just our primary kickers skill set, but what suits a variety of backline players whose responsibility this may become in the event of injuries.

on Field/Footy Dept

Not sure if covered yet but our handling in slippery conditions has been poor at best this year especially at the gabba. The surface gets pretty slick at night so its not like its a once off. Some specific night time training may be called for. Water on balls during the day only goes so far and doesn't give you quite the same affect as training at night with a dew on the ground, different feeling/ level of slipperiness.

 

[Nuggo]

3. Off Field

1. Players diets and eating habits. I am not sure whether this is being considered as much as it should be. Having the correct eating habits can make a massive difference in your output. I bring this up because when listening to the Grill with Andrew Raines, he mentioned that his new eating routine was being ridiculed by the other players. This would suggest that the other players are not on a tailored diet. If you are gluten intolerant (like Andrew) and don’t know it, it could be seriously affecting your output at the highest level. Novak Djokovic is another really good example of what a change in diet can do.

If this is not happening then all young players (first three years) should be submitting Food Diaries to their dietitian for assessment and advice.