Team Mgmt. 2024 Midfield

[owen87]

but we still need someone strong in the middle that can take control

I'm hoping Hobbs can show signs that he'll be like that, maybe not a Petracca, Martin or Dangerfield level, but a Liberatore or Selwood that just knows nothing other than putting his head over a hardball until he wills it out. I think he's got the build and mindset to be that guy.

 

[Nifft]

I'm hoping Hobbs can show signs that he'll be like that, maybe not a Petracca, Martin or Dangerfield level, but a Liberatore or Selwood that just knows nothing other than putting his head over a hardball until he wills it out. I think he's got the build and mindset to be that guy.

Agree with Hobbs... I'd just like him to stop a bit of the playing for the free kick. He needs to get on with the game and if the free kick's there then hopefully he'll get it, but he should dial back on the looking for the umpire.

 

[Vindicater]

Draper, Parish, Hobbs and Tsatas with Merrett coming in off a wing.

 

[Yoda_]

Goldstein, Merrett, Parish, Setterfield

 

[citizen-erased]

Very puzzled on how we put this together

Merrett and Parish are selections 1 and 2. But both are short. Only merrett is an elite kick. Parish stronger runner. Both decent tacklers.
Neither kick goals from great distance, so even with a midfield clearance, its still a question of what next

Setterfield compliments them in that he'll stay defensive, has size and can block.
But isnt a clearance breakaway player
Disposal is limited as well.

Shiel at his fittest brings good drive away from the contest. Kicking improved last year. But not a fan of he and parish in the same rotation.

Support cast;
Caldwell. I still like him as a hf/mid as he's strong, has some good goalsense and is a better mark than our other midfield options

Tsatas whilst developing his inside mid game i think can be used as a flanker too. Def or fwd. Get afl mins into his legs.

Durham. Wrecking ball with great running capacity. Still prefer him on a wing.

Duursma - wing/flank

Martin - wing/HF

Hobbs - in time takes up merretts mantle i reckon. Tough leader around stoppages but he's never gonna break a game open (not a knock, just not an expectation i have on him)

None of this is helped by draper being more of a run fwd ruck than an additional mid/defensive minded player.

So how do we make that hard to play against?

 

[jdstorm]

Very puzzled on how we put this together

Merrett and Parish are selections 1 and 2. But both are short. Only merrett is an elite kick. Parish stronger runner. Both decent tacklers.
Neither kick goals from great distance, so even with a midfield clearance, its still a question of what next

Setterfield compliments them in that he'll stay defensive, has size and can block.
But isnt a clearance breakaway player
Disposal is limited as well.

Shiel at his fittest brings good drive away from the contest. Kicking improved last year. But not a fan of he and parish in the same rotation.

Support cast;
Caldwell. I still like him as a hf/mid as he's strong, has some good goalsense and is a better mark than our other midfield options

Tsatas whilst developing his inside mid game i think can be used as a flanker too. Def or fwd. Get afl mins into his legs.

Durham. Wrecking ball with great running capacity. Still prefer him on a wing.

Duursma - wing/flank

Martin - wing/HF

Hobbs - in time takes up merretts mantle i reckon. Tough leader around stoppages but he's never gonna break a game open (not a knock, just not an expectation i have on him)

None of this is helped by draper being more of a run fwd ruck than an additional mid/defensive minded player.

So how do we make that hard to play against?

Plug Caldwell in at HB and it starts to make sense. He’s a really good outside mid and looked great running it in space this game.

Defence McKay Reid Ridley Redman Caldwell, McGrath. D7 Laverde vs Cox

Wings: Martin, Durham, Dursma (Kelly depth)

Inside Mids: Merrett Parish Stringer, Hobbs M5 Setterfield vs Tsatas

Rucks: Draper, Goldy

KPF1 Wright
KPF2 (Ruck 2)
3rd Tall Langford
SFs Gresham + 2 of Sheil, Perkins Menzie

 

[Fayab99]

Plug Caldwell in at HB and it starts to make sense. He’s a really good outside mid and looked great running it in space this game.

Defence McKay Reid Ridley Redman Caldwell, McGrath. D7 Laverde vs Cox

Wings: Martin, Durham, Dursma (Kelly depth)

Inside Mids: Merrett Parish Stringer, Hobbs M5 Setterfield vs Tsatas

Rucks: Draper, Goldy

KPF1 Wright
KPF2 (Ruck 2)
3rd Tall Langford
SFs Gresham + 2 of Sheil, Perkins Menzie

I would like to see Caldwell have an extended crack at being an inside mid, he looked really good last year whilst Parish was injured (e.g. the carlton game)

But can we have merett, parish, hobbs, caldwell all playing on the inside? Setterfield as well?

hmm, we have depth but not sure what the optimal combination is.

 

[Happyskeret]

I heard our midfield wasn’t to bad in the praccy? Correct me if I’m wrong.

 

[citizen-erased]

I would like to see Caldwell have an extended crack at being an inside mid, he looked really good last year whilst Parish was injured (e.g. the carlton game)

But can we have merett, parish, hobbs, caldwell all playing on the inside? Setterfield as well?

hmm, we have depth but not sure what the optimal combination is.

I think im on this wagon too.

Draper - caldwell - parish
Merrett - setterfield* - wing 2

Wing 2 can be flank rotations of martin, duursma and durham.
*setterfield until tsatas is ready

Hobbs on bench
All 4 of our wingers could rotate through

He'd cost a bit in cash, but id love an FA gambit at english. He's got more footy nous and supports the dogs midfield better than anything we have.
Also gives us the chip of trading either of bryan or draper.
Max holmes too. Big, powerful, fast. Sound like a need?

 

[citizen-erased]

I heard our midfield wasn’t to bad in the praccy? Correct me if I’m wrong.

Clearances good
Defending bad

 

[Happyskeret]

Clearances good
Defending bad

Well it sounds to me the problem is in our forward line. We had a certain forward who did not play today who we all know is a focal point. Love to see how he goes with Caddy if Harry can’t pull his head out of his ass. My worry is injuries more than anything. If we can field our best team then trust me we will be a handful for anyone.

 

[rumply]

Well it sounds to me the problem is in our forward line. We didn’t have a certain forward who played today who we all know is a focal point. Love to see how he goes with Caddy if Harry can’t pull his head out of his ass. My worry is injuries more than anything. If we can field our best team then trust me we will be a handful for anyone.

I read that post in an English accent, nice work

 

[citizen-erased]

Well it sounds to me the problem is in our forward line. We didn’t have a certain forward who played today who we all know is a focal point. Love to see how he goes with Caddy if Harry can’t pull his head out of his ass. My worry is injuries more than anything. If we can field our best team then trust me we will be a handful for anyone.

Some same issues that we've long seen.

Our midfield cant control games and wilts under pressure. Skills get particularly deplorable.

We get sucked into the contest and leave spares for the opposition too often, then don't impact the ball to prevent it getting to said spare

No marking targets due to lack of height, thus our ability to get from d50 to f50 is to run it. Oppositions defend this too easily. And it robs the corridor from us.

Our midfield has gone from shallow and bottom 4 in the comp to deep and bottom 4 in the comp.

 

[Happyskeret]

I read that post in an English accent, nice work

If you ever heard my voice it’s very in the Victorian accent but it’s far from English!

 

[Happyskeret]

By the way I was perplexed as anyone with the wing selection. I’m at the state where we just put Robert’s in there if you want to trial natural ability on the wing.

 

[rumply]

If you ever heard my voice it’s very in the Victorian accent but it’s far from English!

I'm still going with the jordie inflection

 

[ant555]

I heard our midfield wasn’t to bad in the praccy? Correct me if I’m wrong.

They where good. We just got nothing inside 50 from their good work.

Clearances good
Defending bad

Do not agree. Hard to for the midfield to defend overlap run from half back . The issue was not actually the midfield defending. It was more Cox and Tsatas on the wings that got burnt. Not saying our midfield has 100% turned the corner as far as defending goes but they where not bad . The Saints back and wings set up most of the rebound.

 

[Mikevk123]

Merrett, Parish, Setterfield, Caldwell, Hobbs, Tsatsas, Martin, Duursma, Durham.

 

[Old Campaigner]

Very puzzled on how we put this together

Merrett and Parish are selections 1 and 2. But both are short. Only merrett is an elite kick. Parish stronger runner. Both decent tacklers.
Neither kick goals from great distance, so even with a midfield clearance, its still a question of what next

Setterfield compliments them in that he'll stay defensive, has size and can block.
But isnt a clearance breakaway player
Disposal is limited as well.

Shiel at his fittest brings good drive away from the contest. Kicking improved last year. But not a fan of he and parish in the same rotation.

Support cast;
Caldwell. I still like him as a hf/mid as he's strong, has some good goalsense and is a better mark than our other midfield options

Tsatas whilst developing his inside mid game i think can be used as a flanker too. Def or fwd. Get afl mins into his legs.

Durham. Wrecking ball with great running capacity. Still prefer him on a wing.

Duursma - wing/flank

Martin - wing/HF

Hobbs - in time takes up merretts mantle i reckon. Tough leader around stoppages but he's never gonna break a game open (not a knock, just not an expectation i have on him)

None of this is helped by draper being more of a run fwd ruck than an additional mid/defensive minded player.

So how do we make that hard to play against?

I like the idea of Merrett predominantly on the HFF with stints through the midfield. His kicking inside 50 is sorely needed. Play Hobbs or Caldwell through the midfield more instead.

 

[jdstorm]

I would like to see Caldwell have an extended crack at being an inside mid, he looked really good last year whilst Parish was injured (e.g. the carlton game)

But can we have merett, parish, hobbs, caldwell all playing on the inside? Setterfield as well?

hmm, we have depth but not sure what the optimal combination is.

He’s a pretty good inside mid, but Essendon have a team full of good small mids. They can’t all play together. So at some point it’s about finding the best 5 who can play there and then seeing where other players can fit.

I like the idea of Merrett predominantly on the HFF with stints through the midfield. His kicking inside 50 is sorely needed. Play Hobbs or Caldwell through the midfield more instead.

Problem is main the issue is HB turnovers and stacking all your best users in the front half (especially if they aren’t notable goal scorers) means that you won’t ever be playing in the front half, you will have no run because your forward players have to flood back and there will be no one to kick to in transition and obviously a lack of scoreboard pressure.

 

[citizen-erased]

They where good. We just got nothing inside 50 from their good work.

Do not agree. Hard to for the midfield to defend overlap run from half back . The issue was not actually the midfield defending. It was more Cox and Tsatas on the wings that got burnt. Not saying our midfield has 100% turned the corner as far as defending goes but they where not bad . The Saints back and wings set up most of the rebound.

Should say I include the wings in the midfield. And you're right.
Neither player belongs on a wing.
I'd start tsatas off HF like we did with parish and Hobbs. Let me roll through but also make him work on fundamentals of defending I50.

Cox, well....maybe one day we'll stop putting him between the arcs.

 

[Yoda_]

what changes cause tonight seemed slow and cumbersome ?

 

[citizen-erased]

what changes cause tonight seemed slow and cumbersome ?

Another year and pre-season of running into the legs.
Lot of promising signs, esp from Duz. Thought he was excellent

keen to see how we roll Parish into the mix.

 

[brutus76]

Marto needs to play on a wing

Shiel 100% fit would be the other wing IMO

We're winning clearances but our skills and poor rebounding from defence are killing us.

Would consider Duursma on the HBF as better overhead and 1 v 1 than Hepp and Marto

Hobbs just needs a good block of games like Perks got in his first couple of years

Hind, Hepp and Kelly should be only in case of emergency

Draper Parish Merrett
Shiel Setters Marto

Hobbs Caldwell Durham Perks Tsatas rotation through midfield, HFF/INT

 

[jdstorm]

what changes cause tonight seemed slow and cumbersome ?

Heeney said he was cramping in the 3rd so I’d say it was mostly the intensity at the start was just extreme.

More experienced sides can switch to a slow down mode to conserve energy to maintain intensity a whole game