Best Midfield in the AFL?

[The Rusty Trombone]

Just saw an interview with Scott Watters saying that Richmond have one of the, if not best midfields in the AFL. Dimma played it down, but seeing our last 5 games, our midfield has dominated in every one of those matches. And those teams don't have bad midfields either. I think everyone has accepted the fact that Richmond do have a midfield that is close to one of the best, but are we the best in the AFL?

Oldest trick in the book ' the ol loopdy loo reverse pressure game

Cotchin , Martin , Deledio , Tuck , Griggs , Foley , Jackson

Goddard , Hayes , Montanga , Delsanto , Armitage , Steven

They also have the best midfield in the comp.

Compared to them though we have the best ruckman in the comp which should help our midfield but they will be setting up knowing Maric will beat Blake .

 

[DerpWerls]

Joking aside you could actually put Griggs in the ruck against Blake.

 

[RichoLedio]

Joking aside you could actually put Griggs in the ruck against Blake.

Ssshhh that's our secret matchwinning move

 

[Bazzar]

Did you miss Stanton (equal 2nd) and Watson (equal fourth)??

or having tunnel vision??

Temporary case of tunnel vision. But is was cute Deledio grabbed 9 to Stantons 7 in the Dreamtime match

Dont get me wrong guys, think you guys are really getting ahead of yourself, maybe, as "roar passion' said, 'good midfielders step up in finals' lets wait and see how you go this year guys

Well it must be correct then. I shall now go of and self flagellate. Happy?

 

[The Rusty Trombone]

Joking aside you could actually put Griggs in the ruck against Blake.

Finally they are going to play him where they recruited him for , it's only taken 18months.

 

[Madison]

I think Maric, Cotch, Lids, Martin, Tuck, Foley and Grigg are on par with just about anyone in the comp. We still need more depth though. But that is where Ellis, Conca,, Helbig, Arnott and Batch/Dea/Morris/ will develop and hopefully overtake Jackson, Edwards, Nahas.

But I think we aren't as consistent as Collingwood plus Pendles and Swan are better than our best (for now).

WC is pretty bloody good too, Cox, Nic Nat, Kerr, Priddis, Shuey, Gaff, Selwood, Rosa plus I know there are some i'm forgetting.

I have no doubt Watters is trying to help our boys get ahead of themselves though.

 

[stfan]

Joking aside you could actually put Griggs in the ruck against Blake.

Blake 819 career Hit Outs vs Griggs 27.

I would go for The Blake.

Not at all saying he is in Ivan's league, but Blake has actually played a lot of football in the ruck including some excellent games there.

Thrashed Sandlilands in Tassie and kicked 2 goals to boot.

One thing he does do is provide a contest and is then very good as an extra mid at the contest.

 

[delediofan3]

I thought a win loss record only told you how the whole team was performing. That includes forwards, backs and mids. Our forwards until last week have been pathetic. We've won our other games on the back of our mids.

So I cannot agree with your logic!

...
Midfields do most of the work and they see most of the ball. Lets put it like this if there was no midfield there'd be no supply. If we had the best midfield and just kept drilling it in to the forward 50, regardless of who plays up forward it'd give us a chance to kick something. Forwards, mids (deledio, martin, cotchin) maybe even backmen with Rance, Batchelor, Houli, Newman.

According to this nobody has the best midfield.. Hahaha

But yes I agree with your next two points. Watters is just trying to make our players get ahead of themselves and slacken off. And while not the best(yet) our midfield is very very good.

Well maybe not exactly like that but like a Baby Bomber team from the 2000s when they only lost 1 game or something or Geelong when they had their run of wins and only lost 1 or 2 games.

 

[Kamikaze]

Joking aside you could actually put Griggs in the ruck against Blake.

He's averaging 1.4 hit out per game, which is 1.2 hopg more than last season. He'll come in handy for sure.

 

[tigs2010]

Blake 819 career Hit Outs vs Griggs 27.

I would go for The Blake.

Not at all saying he is in Ivan's league, but Blake has actually played a lot of football in the ruck including some excellent games there.

Thrashed Sandlilands in Tassie and kicked 2 goals to boot.

One thing he does do is provide a contest and is then very good as an extra mid at the contest.

Inside joke. Don't stress.

 

[johnno77]

WC is pretty bloody good too, Cox, Nic Nat, Kerr, Priddis, Shuey, Gaff, Selwood, Rosa plus I know there are some i'm forgetting.

Probably a notable one would be Andrew Embley, a Norm Smith Medalist who will be back by finals.

Back to the OP, this is typical coaching 101. Blowing smoke up the a$$ of the opposition prior to a big game. Even getting the boys just 1-2% off focus would be a win for Watters.

Remember the centenary game when Ratten announced the night before the game that Judd wouldn't be playing? Rather than wait till the next day, he thought he'd let the Tiger boys sleep on taking on a Carlton team minus Judd. We duly lost despite being more than a warm favourite even with Judd in the team.

Coaching genius from Ratten. I was filthy (and more than a little wobbly after drinking far too many cans at the Punt Road pre-game celebrations)

 

[Ancient Tiger]

...
Midfields do most of the work and they see most of the ball. Lets put it like this if there was no midfield there'd be no supply. If we had the best midfield and just kept drilling it in to the forward 50, regardless of who plays up forward it'd give us a chance to kick something. Forwards, mids (deledio, martin, cotchin) maybe even backmen with Rance, Batchelor,

Still disagree. Our midfield had 18 more inside fifties against Essendon and still lost. Teams as a whole win games, not 4-6 individuals. Ask any coach in the league!

 

["The Roar Is Back"]

http://m.theaustralian.com.au/sport...ch-scott-watters/story-e6frg7mf-1226376740195

RICHMOND's midfield is the best in the AFL, according to St Kilda coach Scott Watters.

 

[Dave Stevens]

Go watch the first ten minutes of the 3rd Qtr in our game v Collingwood, and see if you still think we are the best.

If people are saying "on form", surely we don't mean based on last weekend?
We're smarter than that (I hope).
In two years he might be right, but it's simply not correct right now.

Reverse troll from Watters.
Is he using Big Footy as a manual on playing mind games?

 

[jihg]

Right now we have a midfield that is one of the better midfields in the game. In a couple of years we should have the best midfield around.

 

[Morro]

Go watch the first ten minutes of the 3rd Qtr in our game v Collingwood, and see if you still think we are the best.

If people are saying "on form", surely we don't mean based on last weekend?
We're smarter than that (I hope).
In two years he might be right, but it's simply not correct right now.

Reverse troll from Watters.
Is he using Big Footy as a manual on playing mind games?

Haha thats awesome.

On potential he is spot on IMO.

In patches he is spot on also.

Over the course of the season, we are behind a few but our balance right now is amazing and on its day can beat anyone IMO.

Its also worth noting, the so called best mid groups in PIes, cats and WC have all performed a few gears below their best this season so the gap isnt as big as some suggest.

 

[Darth_Tiger]

Notice also how he talks up Mark Blake and discounts Maric. He's worried about the ruck advantage. So often what they say is the opposite of what they think.

 

[richolovesgoal]

He's just playing mind games.

Remember last year when Ross Lyon said Daisy was the best player in the AFL before they played Collingwood.

 

[Bazzar]

Superfooty has a poll "Which team has the strongest midfield" results so far from 2290 votes

Richmond 38.76% 864 votes
Collingwood 30.87% 688 votes
Carlton 9.87% 147 votes
Saints 5.88% 131 votes
Crows 5.2% 116 votes
Cats 2.84 % 63 votes
Essendon 0% 0 votes - Sorry Yoga, no one rates the Bombers.

This poll is conducted in Melb, Perth, Adelaide, Syd and Bris so its unbiased but but no doubt weighted to Melbourne.



http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport...-best-in-the-afl/story-e6freck3-1226376219073 Poll to the side.

 

[Slattery_20]

Our midfield's crap according to HS readers. I can accept this.
It happened to smash half of those sides.
But it's still crap.
It's all done with smoke and mirrors, you see.

 

[RichoLedio]

Superfooty has a poll "Which team has the strongest midfield" results so far from 2290 votes

Richmond 38.76% 864 votes
Collingwood 30.87% 688 votes
Carlton 9.87% 147 votes
Saints 5.88% 131 votes
Crows 5.2% 116 votes
Cats 2.84 % 63 votes
Essendon 0% 0 votes - Sorry Yoga, no one rates the Bombers.

This poll is conducted in Melb, Perth, Adelaide, Syd and Bris so its unbiased but but no doubt weighted to Melbourne.



http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport...-best-in-the-afl/story-e6freck3-1226376219073 Poll to the side.

I saw a poll on The Age website which had us in front to win the premiership this year, I don't really put much faith in them

 

[Bazzar]

I saw a poll on The Age website which had us in front to win the premiership this year, I don't really put much faith in them

You have a link?

 

[Ancient Tiger]

Notice also how he talks up Mark Blake and discounts Maric. He's worried about the ruck advantage. So often what they say is the opposite of what they think.

Wow!

When did they recruit him? Must be their secret weapon!

 

[RichoLedio]

You have a link?

I think this is it. We've dropped back to equal third since I last looked which is still ridiculous IMO


http://www.theage.com.au/polls/afl/the-fluctuating-flag-favourite-20120528-1ze0y.html#poll

 

[richmond_14]

Essendon doesnt have a great midfield..not compared to others. Their strength is their depths and especially their strong forwards and defenders. Their midfield is probably slightly above average.