Analysis 2019 List, Game Plan and Best 22?

[RUNVS]

Geelong must be stupid for persisting with a player who consistently kicks goals. There’s more to footy... how simplistic can you possibly get

Sometimes the simplistic assertions are the best ones. If you break it down AFL can be an easy game to understand. If you are only scoring 70 points a match you will lose more than you win. If you are scoring 90 points a match you will win more than you lose. Ultimately scoring goals is the purpose of the game, and the Swans need to find an additional 3 goals a match.

 

[connolly]

Essendon have been playing attractive football for the past 3 seasons and are still s**t. West coast won the GF with a horrid looking brand.

What good is entertainment if it means s**t all results. Give me a 2005 game plan that wins the grand final rather than exciting footy that gets us 9th any day

I have imposed a vow of silence on myself until Round 2 next year regarding our beloved coach. However, the trick of good coaching is to have a team playing both attractive (attacking) and winning football. With the list we have I dare to dream that such a thing may one day be possible before I drop off my perch.

 

[RUNVS]

Also here is all the teams in 2018 and how many goals they averaged. The teams that finished in the top 8 are in bold.

1. Melbourne - 14.8
2. Richmond - 14.8
3. West Coast - 13.4
4. Collingwood - 13.3
5. Geelong - 13.2
6. Hawthorn - 12.9
7. North Melbourne - 12.9
8. Adelaide - 12.7
9. Essendon - 12.7
10. Brisbane - 12.1
11. GWS - 12.0
12. Port Adelaide 11.8
13. Sydney - 11.8
14. Western Bulldogs - 10.2
15. Fremantle - 10.2
16. St Kilda - 10.2
17. Carlton - 8.7
18. Gold Coast - 8.2

So we were the lowest scoring team inside the top 8 in 2018, and realistically 3 goals off the pace.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Its this kind of wildly reckless thinking that can have us plummeting towards playing attractive football.

I know it’s revolutionary I tell you!

 

[TheMase]

Our forward for most of last year based off 2018 (age/games):
Franklin (31/271) - injured all year
Ronke (20/0)
Papley (21/40)
Hayward (20/17)
McCartin (18/0)
Average 22 / 65.6

A likely forward line (if fit) in 2019.
(I left out Papley to retain 5).
Franklin (32/290)
Ronke (21/18)
Hayward (20/40)
Reid (27/121)
Menzel (27/73)
Average 25.4 / 108.4

A much better balance of youth and experience.

We do need to improve our forward half pressure too. We were one of the worst teams this year for generating forward half turnovers (which generate inside 50s). Our forward line had issues in part for having young and inexperienced (yet to fully develop) forwards making up a big portion of the forward line, in part because Buddy was injured, Reid and Naismith unavailable forcing Sinclair to ruck, in part because we didn’t have strong contested markers in the forward line (or any spare in reserve really) and in part because the midfield delivery was regularly poor.

After watching the Menzel interview, I am more confident he will improve that side of his game to a level that is satisfactory.

Hopefully they can all stay fit...

 

[zyzzbruh]

Sometimes the simplistic assertions are the best ones. If you break it down AFL can be an easy game to understand. If you are only scoring 70 points a match you will lose more than you win. If you are scoring 90 points a match you will win more than you lose. Ultimately scoring goals is the purpose of the game, and the Swans need to find an additional 3 goals a match.

100% we need to score more.. without conceding more

 

[RUNVS]

100% we need to score more.. without conceding more

Best way to do that is to have the ball in our hands in our forward half, rather than the ball living in our defensive 50.

 

[zyzzbruh]

Best way to do that is to have the ball in our hands in our forward half, rather than the ball living in our defensive 50.

You also need to beable to get the ball back once you lose it in order to have the ball in your half most the time, thus every player must have a defensive aspect to their game. It’s a chicken and egg situation, can’t have one without the other.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Best way to do that is to have the ball in our hands in our forward half, rather than the ball living in our defensive 50.

Yep and stop chipping the ball around for minutes on end!

 

[Mick Oxlong]

You also need to beable to get the ball back once you lose it in order to have the ball in your half most the time, thus every player must have a defensive aspect to their game. It’s a chicken and egg situation, can’t have one without the other.

You’ve got to get the ball back after you kick a goal too. It shows the midfield is the problem, loud and clear!

 

[scaryness]

100% we need to score more.. without conceding more

Menzel is not going to be the difference between our opposition scoring 60 vs scoring 80 or even 100.

Menzel is not our designated tackler inside 50, he is just one piece of a six-piece puzzle (in theory).

Menzel v McCartin or Towers or even Rohan it is a marginal difference in regards to pressure.

 

[Grand Uncle Horace]

Menzel is not going to be the difference between our opposition scoring 60 vs scoring 80 or even 100.

Menzel is not our designated tackler inside 50, he is just one piece of a six-piece puzzle (in theory).

Menzel v McCartin or Towers or even Rohan it is a marginal difference in regards to pressure.

What the famous patented Grohan Inferred pressure.

 

[RobbieK]

Menzel is not going to be the difference between our opposition scoring 60 vs scoring 80 or even 100.

Menzel is not our designated tackler inside 50, he is just one piece of a six-piece puzzle (in theory).

Menzel v McCartin or Towers or even Rohan it is a marginal difference in regards to pressure.

I don't know how you can really quantify the impact of any single player when it comes to how many more points we score or concede because of them, but so much of the game these days is about team structures rather than man-on-man contests. Those team structures are often only as strong as their weakest link - one player failing to cover the space they need to opens up an outlet for the opposition to make a clearing disposal out of their defence or creates space for an opposition forward to lead into.

I'm not saying that Menzel is necessarily a liability when it comes to putting these team structures in to place. He is, as you say, just one part of a six-piece puzzle, and in a number of ways is a better player than those he is most likely replacing in the 22. But I don't think you should downplay the fact that all six pieces of that puzzle need to come together to make plans work and that one piece of that puzzle failing to play their role often totally undermines the overall effectiveness of the strategy, particularly when you are looking at zonal defences of attempts to engage in a "full court press" style of defense in a forward line. All it takes is one outlet or one area not to be covered and those defensive structures can be penetrated.

 

[CD__]

Yep his glaring deficiency is he kicks goals. Consistently. Better to have a defensive forward who cant kick beyond 35 metres like Jack. No wonder we struggle to kick more than 12 goals a match. Way to go.

Okay so if Menzel is so good why are we basically the only club that showed even a slight amount of interest in the last two off-seasons? It’s pretty impressive that you know better than 100’s of professional recruitment staff and list managers.

 

[Grand Uncle Horace]

Okay so if Menzel is so good why are we basically the only club that showed even a slight amount of interest in the last two off-seasons? It’s pretty impressive that you know better than 100’s of professional recruitment staff and list managers.

Agree with Connolly. I'd happily have him ahead of Grohan or Jack. Besides he is on a one year deal and probably not on big dollars. Worth a punt.

 

[caesar88]

Essendon have been playing attractive football for the past 3 seasons and are still s**t. West coast won the GF with a horrid looking brand.

What good is entertainment if it means s**t all results. Give me a 2005 game plan that wins the grand final rather than exciting footy that gets us 9th any day

It’s not about playing attractive footy, it’s about playing in a way that suits our personnel. The unattractive stoppage-based game of 2012-2016 was fine with me because we had the perfect group of players for it. But we have players currently who are best when they’re running, taking the game on, using the space and capitalising on their pace and/or athleticism. The club deliberately sought out these types over the past four or five drafts, so now the game plan has to follow accordingly. Otherwise we will continue to languish as this inconsistent side that can slowly grind out wins on pure doggedness rather than talent or design. There’s a reason Hawthorn’s last flag looked very different to Richmond’s flag, which looked very different to West Coast’s flag. None followed a formula on how the game should be played, but they instead moulded the game around their own players. Not only is it the best way to maximise the talent at your disposal, it’s also a good way of achieving a club-wide buy-in from the entire playing group.

 

[CD__]

Agree with Connolly. I'd happily have him ahead of Grohan or Jack. Besides he is on a one year deal and probably not on big dollars. Worth a punt.

I’m not saying it’s not worth the punt, just trying to temper expectations a little bit.

 

[Grand Uncle Horace]

I’m not saying it’s not worth the punt, just trying to temper expectations a little bit.

Fair enough

 

[zyzzbruh]

It’s not about playing attractive footy, it’s about playing in a way that suits our personnel. The unattractive stoppage-based game of 2012-2016 was fine with me because we had the perfect group of players for it. But we have players currently who are best when they’re running, taking the game on, using the space and capitalising on their pace and/or athleticism. The club deliberately sought out these types over the past four or five drafts, so now the game plan has to follow accordingly. Otherwise we will continue to languish as this inconsistent side that can slowly grind out wins on pure doggedness rather than talent or design. There’s a reason Hawthorn’s last flag looked very different to Richmond’s flag, which looked very different to West Coast’s flag. None followed a formula on how the game should be played, but they instead moulded the game around their own players. Not only is it the best way to maximise the talent at your disposal, it’s also a good way of achieving a club-wide buy-in from the entire playing group.

I disagree re your view of our 2012-2016 game plan being stoppage based. We had amazing ball movement through the middle and lighting hands getting the ball out of tight situations to open the game up. And we were putting up massive scores.

Our issue now is that we don’t seem capable of getting the ball out of defence and flowing forward. I don’t think that is our game plan. I feel like our players just can’t. I think that it can change though because I have trust in a few of our emerging youngsters and it’s a matter of if our new look midfield can dominate and get the game on our terms.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

I’m not saying it’s not worth the punt, just trying to temper expectations a little bit.

I'd rather him in the side than Jack. I know they play slightly different positions but Jack was so ordinary in 2018.

 

[6yearsold]

I have imposed a vow of silence on myself until Round 2 next year regarding our beloved coach. However, the trick of good coaching is to have a team playing both attractive (attacking) and winning football. With the list we have I dare to dream that such a thing may one day be possible before I drop off my perch.

I stopped reading after vow of silence.

 

[Grand Uncle Horace]

I stopped reading after vow of silence.

Droll.

 

[caesar88]

I disagree re your view of our 2012-2016 game plan being stoppage based. We had amazing ball movement through the middle and lighting hands getting the ball out of tight situations to open the game up. And we were putting up massive scores.

Our issue now is that we don’t seem capable of getting the ball out of defence and flowing forward. I don’t think that is our game plan. I feel like our players just can’t. I think that it can change though because I have trust in a few of our emerging youngsters and it’s a matter of if our new look midfield can dominate and get the game on our terms.

It wasn’t amazing ball movement, it was just good. Our quick hands were the result of us being so dominant in stoppages that we always got first hands to the ball. We’d intentionally create stoppage situations cause it allowed our slower contested beasts like JPK, Hanners, Parker etc to use their quick hands instead of running and using the space. But we now have players that actually are quick and can break out into the space if we moved it on quickly. Unfortunately we seem to want to slow the game down all the time, which does our fleet footed players no favours.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

It wasn’t amazing ball movement, it was just good. Our quick hands were the result of us being so dominant in stoppages that we always got first hands to the ball. We’d intentionally create stoppage situations cause it allowed our slower contested beasts like JPK, Hanners, Parker etc to use their quick hands instead of running and using the space. But we now have players that actually are quick and can break out into the space if we moved it on quickly. Unfortunately we seem to want to slow the game down all the time, which does our fleet footed players no favours.

Bingo. It's not as if we don't have players who have speed. Give them the ball, stop clogging it up and going backwards.

 

[caesar88]

Bingo. It's not as if we don't have players who have speed. Give them the ball, stop clogging it up and going backwards.

Indeed. Our boys aren’t that far off it. Crazy to think that if Buddy and Parker weren’t absent in round 23, we may have made a preliminary final. But we’ll only ever have “maybe” scenarios as long as we continue not to play to the strengths of our players.