Ball taking over from O'Bree

[TradeDraft]

With getting Ball I think that O'Bree will be Fazed out of the side this year. I think they will start with both O'Bree and Ball in RD 1 but during the Year that will Rest O'Bree during the year and Give Sidebottom and Beams a go in that Spot.

Remember O'Bree is 32 and this could be his last season of AFL

 

[pie time]

i dont think there is any could be's in it.
shane is 32 and will be slowing down a bit and this will be his last season. a good servant to the club but i dont believe he will be a required player after this year.

 

[knightwheelrqr]

With getting Ball I think that O'Bree will be Fazed out of the side this year. I think they will start with both O'Bree and Ball in RD 1 but during the Year that will Rest O'Bree during the year and Give Sidebottom and Beams a go in that Spot.

Remember O'Bree is 32 and this could be his last season of AFL

I'm not so sure about that. O'Bree still has great value and is still a different type of midfielder. O'Bree is a shark, Ball is a bull. Neither of them have much speed, but as inside mids they probably don't need all that much. And you still you have players like Pendlebury (deceptively fast), Swan (power running *endurance really*), Thomas (FAST), Davis (FAST), Didak (not slow either), Sidebottom (endurance, but still not slow), Beams (not bad). So I would not have a probablem at all with playing both in the midfield rotation as they are different types of players who I think would be quite complimentry.

Just moving out of the side would be: Wellingham. Then Johnson moves into defence and Lockyer also moves into defence and as a possible forward option depending on rotations.

So O'Bree is safe for atleast another year I would think.

 

[mattys123]

O'Bree is a shark, Ball is a bull. Neither of them have much speed, but as inside mids they probably don't need all that much. And you still you have players like Pendlebury (deceptively fast), Swan (power running *endurance really*), Thomas (FAST), Davis (FAST), Didak (not slow either), Sidebottom (endurance, but still not slow), Beams (not bad). So I would not have a probablem at all with playing both in the midfield rotation as they are different types of players who I think would be quite complimentry.

I think this sums up how O'Bree and Ball can "co exist" in our midfield.

At just about any other club, or maybe under any other coaches game plan, both Ball and O'Bree wouldn't last 22-25 games (a season) in the same team.

But under MM's midfield rotation game plan, both Ball and O'Bree can play virtually the same role, just that they will rarely be on the ground together.

We need both of them though, as shown in the finals last year, when we lacked the ability to gain clearances once Pendles went down.

I actually don't think Ball will take over from O'Bree until at least 2011, in fact I think the pair can be quite complementary to both each other and our midfield rotation.

You have to remember what Luke Ball is at Collingwood, he isn't a "standout", he isn't a "saviour", he is just another "cog" in our midfield rotation.

 

[TradeDraft]

You have to remember what Luke Ball is at Collingwood, he isn't a "standout", he isn't a "saviour", he is just another "cog" in our midfield rotation.

He is not a Stand-Out but I think he be better then a Cog in the Team

 

[King Woodie]

People on these forums love canning OBree because he is old and slow and unfashionable, but the coaching staff and the players continue to talk up his contribution inside the packs in terms of general leadership, tackling, and hard ball gets, so I am inclined to believe them.

Ball and O'Bree will form part of the midfield rotations along with Swan, Pendles, Beams, Davis, and Didak.

 

[trevorbyers]

People on these forums love canning OBree because he is old and slow and unfashionable, but the coaching staff and the players continue to talk up his contribution inside the packs in terms of general leadership, tackling, and hard ball gets, so I am inclined to believe them.

Ball and O'Bree will form part of the midfield rotations along with Swan, Pendles, Beams, Davis, and Didak.

well said mate! your dead right. O'Bree has really stood the test of time and will be very useful again in 2010.

 

[KissStephanie]

Remember O'Bree is 32 and this could be his last season of AFL

No he isn't 32. In fact he is still 30! He was 10th in last years Copeland Trophy, which was good, and I'm sure that the club are expecting him to be a part of the team for the entire season unless his performances fall away.

 

[Frankie23]

Pace is so F-ing overrated, O'Bree is a key player and the inclusion of Ball will only help him, he will have another solid year in 2010.

 

[Lockyer24]

I think he will play plenty of games but he will be tag teaming with Ball off the bench as I don't think we can have both of them in the middle at the same time too much, too much alike. They are our best tacklers though so if we are getting cut up they may be our defensive midfield team.

 

[Prince_Rhodesia]

No need to listen to the coaching staff or fellow players' opinions regarding O'Bree. If you watch our games you can clearly see that he is an important part of the team. Hopefully he has a great season this year. 2010 is gonna be a great year for us.

 

[FIGJAM]

Ball should be used as our primary ball winner; O'Bree secondary, with a view to foiling the opposition's primary ball winner.

 

[Kirby]

Ball should be used as our primary ball winner; O'Bree secondary, with a view to foiling the opposition's primary ball winner.

Yep, tend to agree.

 

[3066]

People on these forums love canning OBree because he is old and slow and unfashionable, but the coaching staff and the players continue to talk up his contribution inside the packs in terms of general leadership, tackling, and hard ball gets, so I am inclined to believe them.

Ball and O'Bree will form part of the midfield rotations along with Swan, Pendles, Beams, Davis, and Didak.

Yep pretty much bang on. And to add to that O'bree has proven to stand up and run injury free for an incredibily long time whereas Ball's body has really only recently (as in last year) stayed pretty good.

However IMO there's some points to be made about O'bree to be reminded of. O'bree's role is predictable. You know what he will do and where he will be played. If the team is up and running he provides the hardness every team desires with on field experience to the young guns BUT as a player he doesn't hurt the opposition all that much. His kicking is poor and lacks any penetration depth ideally you want for anyone in the midfield. Shots on goal are a toss of the coin. Ball's kicking has been questioned too but you'd still give him the nod in this department. So all up in the coming years I'd expect Ball to provide everything that O'bree does but with better kicking and also IMO better release for in and unders. O'bree is great for holding the ball in when required but we've missed what Licca used to do and that was either hold the ball in when needed and also get the ball out when needed which hopefully Ball can provide back to us.

Rotations are on the cards for sure but getting rid of Cheesy just like that .... it just won't happen.

 

[Mental Magpie]

Would love to see them operating in tandem all year, feeding it out to the likes of Pendles, Swan, Didak, Davis, Beams, Sidebottom, Thomas etc

 

[daics_35]

There is room for both of them.

 

[TradeDraft]

Article about O'Bree:

http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/newsfeatures/news/newsarticle/tabid/5586/newsid/88718/default.aspx

 

[Quicky]

With getting Ball I think that O'Bree will be Fazed out of the side this year. I think they will start with both O'Bree and Ball in RD 1 but during the Year that will Rest O'Bree during the year and Give Sidebottom and Beams a go in that Spot.

Remember O'Bree is 32 and this could be his last season of AFL

No doubt one of the reasons Ball was recruited was a medium term view of O'Brees retirement but that doesn't mean that they can't play together in the mean time.

I don't buy this "they can't play in the same side" nonsense.

We brought in Ball to help out in the clearances because the better sides hurt us in this area - getting rid of O'Bree won't help the problem.

I think FIGJAM is on the money. I can see Ball as our primary in and under player while O'Bree does a more negating job at the clearances (through blocks/tackles etc) on the oppos best clearance winner.

I can see times when for match up reasons one or the other may need to dropped but i'd expect both to play the majority of the year.

 

[Optimax]

Ball should be used as our primary ball winner; O'Bree secondary, with a view to foiling the opposition's primary ball winner.

perfect assesment

 

[Old Spice]

Not enough versatility in other positions. I think OBree will be phased out and I think it would be a mistake to play them together too often. I'd rather give opportunities to J-Mac, Beams, Sidebottom, La Cafe etc, form permitting. All these guys have shown ability around other parts of the ground which gives us more flexibility.

 

[tuos]

I think a lot of people under estimate the value of O'Bree in the side. He adds a lot of grunt in the middle and is the sides best tackler.

 

[larrikan]

Ball replaces no one...if anything he prolongs O'brees football future with one gun replacing the other...MM must have wet dreams over this rotation...what we picked up was a player who arguably was BOG in the first half of last years GF against the Cats - who hurt the Cats in our final?..he is a damaging in and under WHO IS going to require a tag when playing his best...our rotations kill St Kildas..our midfield will be the best in the comp....Ball AND O Bree will excel this year barring injury.

 

[Grumpy Bum]

You have to laugh at the assesments of O'Bree.

If he was in any other side than Collingwood he would be hounded endlessly for his inadequacies, which are his one sided game, his lack of pace and shocking disposal at times. Put him in a Collingwood jumper and he is lauded as a gun and a 'vital cog'. he has some value, but he is indicative of malthouse's philosophy on the game, slow methodical plodders over flair and brilliance.

The Cousins, Judds and Abletts of this world are guns, O'Bree is a plodder, dont mistake the two types of players

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

You have to laugh at the assesments of O'Bree.

If he was in any other side than Collingwood he would be hounded endlessly for his inadequacies, which are his one sided game, his lack of pace and shocking disposal at times. Put him in a Collingwood jumper and he is lauded as a gun and a 'vital cog'. he has some value, but he is indicative of malthouse's philosophy on the game, slow methodical plodders over flair and brilliance.

The Cousins, Judds and Abletts of this world are guns, O'Bree is a plodder, dont mistake the two types of players

He is lauded because he the leader or among the top 3 for 1%s in the club. Not everyone can be flashy like Didak and Davis. O'Bree tackles, shepherds, win clearances and when Brad Scott left the club, he became 'an interim' midfield coach last season. He is also very consistent and has had several consecutive top 10 Copeland finishes.

 

[shawthing09]

I think they both can and probably will be used together, I don't think it's ideal but it's not a long term thing. I think this year Jolly and Ball we will probably look to playing a more lock down suffocating high stoppage type game at times so having the extra stoppage specialists is going to be handy.

Obviously we have some fairly talanted youngsters coming through and they will be putting pressure to break into the side, when and if they are good enough to break in they will and we will more then likely be better for it. That said having such reliance on younger players to be the key ball winners isn't ideal for anyone and so having the extra hard body is a plus. This year at key times we where a mature hard bodied mid short and so we add one we don't ditch another, in that case we haven't moved foward in that regard at all.

Still having 2 mids with a lack of pace and hurt factor in disposal is not ideal.