Strategy 3 tall forwards vs 2 tall forwards

[The Nostradamus]

If 2 of the 3 tall forwards were Comben and Darling then our forward pressure would actually increase as would our marking ability.

Agree but for now we need chom back intercepting and don’t want him rucking

Teakle or Finnbar are more than capable to play the second ruck role and then drift forward to be a marking target taking a key defender away from larkey and darling

 

[Event Horizon]

I think 3 talls may work, especially at Marvel and the G. In some ways it would have been good to trial it during preseason, but the Arden St and Bunbury are hardly the best grounds for it

 

[The Nostradamus]

I think 3 talls may work, especially at Marvel and the G. In some ways it would have been good to trial it during preseason, but the Arden St and Bunbury are hardly the best grounds for it

We know it works
Most of the comp do it
And we played better in the second half of the year with the 3

We are now going against the grain and proven evidence of the last 12 months by only having the 2

And then we will all stupidly wonder why we aren’t taking many contested marks without it

 

[Event Horizon]

We know it works
Most of the comp do it
And we played better in the second half of the year with the 3

We are now going against the grain and proven evidence of the last 12 months by only having the 2

Who were the three last year? Larkey, Teakle and?

 

[The Nostradamus]

Who were the three last year? Larkey, Teakle and?

Larkey teakle and pink in the second half of the year

Darling has come in and should replace pink

 

[The Nostradamus]

Your club's best 22 in 2025: New roles, bolters and fresh faces

Our reporters have their say on who makes the cut for your team's best line-up for the 2025 season

www.afl.com.au

crows: 3 talls Fog, tex, thilthorpe and their ruck
lions: 3 talls hipwood, smith, morris and their ruck
blues: 2 talls but Mckay and curnow being elite probably allows that and their ruck tdk, plus pitto injured sometimes would play second ruck if fit
pies: 3 talls Mcstay, mihocek, membrey and their ruck
essendon: 3 talls langford, caddy, bryan and their ruck draper
freo: 3 talls jackson, amiss, treacy and their ruck
cats: 2 talls cameron, neale and their ruck
gc 3 talls walter, king, read and their ruck
gws 3 talls cadman, hogan, riccardi/stringer and their ruck
hawks: 3 talls chol, dear, sicily/gunston and their ruck
dees: 2 talls turner and JVR and their ruck however they also have mcdonald if played on the bench as thier 3rd
port: 3 talls georgiades, luko, lord and their ruck
tigers: 3 talls, lynch, bauer, armstrong and their ruck
saints: 2 talls sharman, king and their ruck
swans: 3 talls amartey, mccartin, mcdonald and their ruck
eagles: 3 talls allan, waterman, williams and their ruck
dogs: 3 talls, Darcy, naughton JUH/croft and their ruck

so of all 18 teams looking at just blues (although pitto injured as second ruck might change that later), cats (although they have blicavs as a roaming extra kpp), saints as shorter teams with us with 2 talls and a ruck and even saints might play boyd as a second ruck
and maybe dees depending on if mcdonald is actually selected

lets see how these 4 teams go this year with that structure early

 

[Sticksphat]

If anyone was wondering what Nostra's next fixation was going to be.........

 

[Sticksphat]

Your club's best 22 in 2025: New roles, bolters and fresh faces

Our reporters have their say on who makes the cut for your team's best line-up for the 2025 season

www.afl.com.au

crows: 3 talls Fog, tex, thilthorpe and their ruck
lions: 3 talls hipwood, smith, morris and their ruck
blues: 2 talls but Mckay and curnow being elite probably allows that and their ruck tdk, plus pitto injured sometimes would play second ruck if fit
pies: 3 talls Mcstay, mihocek, membrey and their ruck
essendon: 3 talls langford, caddy, bryan and their ruck draper
freo: 3 talls jackson, amiss, treacy and their ruck
cats: 2 talls cameron, neale and their ruck
gc 3 talls walter, king, read and their ruck
gws 3 talls cadman, hogan, riccardi/stringer and their ruck
hawks: 3 talls chol, dear, sicily/gunston and their ruck
dees: 2 talls turner and JVR and their ruck however they also have mcdonald if played on the bench as thier 3rd
port: 3 talls georgiades, luko, lord and their ruck
tigers: 3 talls, lynch, bauer, armstrong and their ruck
saints: 2 talls sharman, king and their ruck
swans: 3 talls amartey, mccartin, mcdonald and their ruck
eagles: 3 talls allan, waterman, williams and their ruck
dogs: 3 talls, Darcy, naughton JUH/croft and their ruck

so of all 18 teams looking at just blues (although pitto injured as second ruck might change that later), cats (although they have blicavs as a roaming extra kpp), saints as shorter teams with us with 2 talls and a ruck and even saints might play boyd as a second ruck
and maybe dees depending on if mcdonald is actually selected

lets see how these 4 teams go this year with that structure early

Of all the teams you mentioned, half will be below average this year.

 

[The Nostradamus]

Of all the teams you mentioned, half will be below average this year.

Lol that’s your takeaway from that

The takeaway is pretty much every single team bar us and maybe 2-3 others are going with 3 talls and a ruck

And we have used 3 talls and a ruck to better effect last year but somehow over summer have reverted to a structure that is not as beneficial

 

[Sticksphat]

Lol that’s your takeaway from that

The takeaway is pretty much every single team bar us and maybe 2-3 others are going with 3 talls and a ruck

And we have used 3 talls and a ruck to better effect last year but somehow over summer have reverted to a structure that is not as beneficial

No, I'm taking the piss out of you for continuing to do what you do. Repeating yourself over and over as if repetition means your opinion is more correct or more valid than anyone else's opinion (outside of the coaching group).

 

[The Nostradamus]

No, I'm taking the piss out of you for continuing to do what you do. Repeating yourself over and over as if repetition means your opinion is more correct or more valid than anyone else's opinion (outside of the coaching group).

no what I’ve listed there is not just opinion

It’s how many talls each team is using

And how we played better with the 3 talls last year

I’ll give you an opinion tho - you are a simpleton

 

[Sticksphat]

no what I’ve listed there is not just opinion

It’s how many talls each team is using

And how we played better with the 3 talls last year

I’ll give you an opinion tho - you are a simpleton

Oh, I may just be a simple man, but I can hold two similar ideas in my head and differentiate between them. i.e. would we be better with three talls in our forward set up rather than only two, and would we be better if teakle was the third tall in our forward line.

You just don't do nuance well do you.

Ps a quick review of the fist half a dozen clubs clubs/players you listed show seven of the players listed were only 191-193 cm. Hardly key talls in 2025, and all only 1-3 cm taller than Bull. So do we play 3 talls by that metric or doesn't that suit your OPINION?

 

[The Nostradamus]

Oh, I may just be a simple man,

could’ve stopped there

 

[The Nostradamus]

How many weeks til we realise 2 talls is worse for us?

Despite having half a year of evidence already that we play much better with the extra tall to straighten us up

 

[FootySmartSimpson]

How many weeks til we realise 2 talls is worse for us?

Despite having half a year of evidence already that we play much better with the extra tall to straighten us up

Just play Teakle or someone who can kick 1 goal a game, grab 2-3 contested marks a game a pinch hit in the ruck.

Larkey really shouldn’t be considered a KPF, especially if we are only playing two tall forwards.

 

[shinboner magic]

Ball use is the biggest factor not talls v smalls

 

[kool kangas]

I think 3 talls may work, especially at Marvel and the G. In some ways it would have been good to trial it during preseason, but the Arden St and Bunbury are hardly the best grounds for it

The Arden st ground in now the same dimensions as Marvel..

 

[The Nostradamus]

Round 1 loss: 2 talls

Round 2 does teakle/Finnbar come in for a small?

 

[tommy_uman]

Round 1 loss: 2 talls

Round 2 does teakle/Finnbar come in for a small?

All I will say is Darling was working very hard up the field last game as an option. Not sure if it is sustainable. He did well, but wonder whether coaching staff would rather isolate him further down the field.

 

[FootySmartSimpson]

Round 1 loss: 2 talls

Round 2 does teakle/Finnbar come in for a small?

I don’t think we should be touching Rob & Kon considering we actually had decent forward pressure against the dogs.

Darling was a major contributor to this, but for the first time since Matty Campbell and Lindsay, we had players hunting the defenders.

That is too important.

 

[The Nostradamus]

All I will say is Darling was working very hard up the field last game as an option. Not sure if it is sustainable. He did well, but wonder whether coaching staff would rather isolate him further down the field.

Yeah I don’t see it being sustainable

Xerri and darling will burnout early

Bring in the extra tall allow darling to stay forward and conserve his energy to attack the contests there

Straightens us up immediately and considering we like to bomb it in long at least gives another tall to bring it to ground if not mark it

 

[tommy_uman]

Yeah I don’t see it being sustainable

Xerri and darling will burnout early

Bring in the extra tall allow darling to stay forward and conserve his energy to attack the contests there

Straightens us up immediately and considering we like to bomb it in long at least gives another tall to bring it to ground if not mark it

Agree. We looked most dangerous on the weekend when the tall's brought it to ground and has Curtis/Hansen Jnr/Simpkin/Sheezel around the contest. Only thing is we 3 talls there is no excuse to be out-marked. Felt as if it happened too much against the dogs

 

[perplexed]

I think this one has been settled for the time being. The forward line hasn't functioned better than it did yesterday for years.

 

[The Nostradamus]

I think this one has been settled for the time being. The forward line hasn't functioned better than it did yesterday for years.

we looked good but this is ongoing debate

having the one less tall currently puts more workload on darling, larkey and X, hopefully they don't burn out

you only need to see our opponents this week spread the work load and get up the ground in Fog, Tex, thilthorpe plus their ruck obrien, they keep fresh and the crows constantly have key marking targets all over

 

[roospur]

The days of needing multiple tall forwards is well and truly gone. This thread is a load of bollox, especially just to put one in for the sake of it. They need to be quality otherwise what's the point? The only team that's playing 3 genuine talls atm is Adelaide, I'd argue the half a dozen midfielders they have with a absolute killer foot skills is the reason they're white hot. Nothing to do with the height of the players.