Analysis Best positions

[Samsquanch]

So, we have a rumour started by the Age of something like that, which postulates the possibility that Jy or his manager proposed a potential trage because he's not being played in his preferred position.

Or something like that.

We have seen ample discussion in the past few years in various player and game day threads about this player or that being played out of position or having to adapt to a less preferred position because others are better in their spot. We have KPFs playing as intercept backmen, small forwards who can't hot the scoreboard, full forwards who seem to prefer the Joe the Goose option as opposed to taking contested marks, key defenders who can't defend... I could go on.

Out of the blokes who have been regularly getting games over the past couple of seasons, apart from Curtis and Xerri, who is actually being played in the position that is most suited to their physical attributes and skills?

Has anyone gone over the list and assessed player by player, where each is best suited without any regard to where they line up for North on match days?

I know a lot of people believe we have a bunch of midfielders, we have a few nominal defenders, some small blokes who are labelled as small forwards etc. but from our list, can we actually make a team that puts players in their best positions without having to resort to dumping the last few of the selected team into whatever spots that are left because we don't have a better option?


Please discuss...

 

[Devil Fish]

Jy's big issue is he can't kick. Accurate disposal by foot has become critical in the modern game. He has been left behind. Compounded by the fact he's a pretty small mid & so really doesn't offer much against the big bodied mids of the comp & is borderline useless overhead. And his leg speed I would say is average for an AFL mid.
His current contract is way overs for what he delivers. Another Rawlings & co. special.
Poor advice from his management to seek interest elsewhere because I'd be amazed if any club wanted to take him & his current contract on. We'll be stuck paying some portion of it, IF an oppo club desired Jy.

Interesting month ahead for Jy. And the club.

 

[kanga kanga kanga]

fos, hb (for now)
sheezel, midfield
corr, key defender
caleb daniel

5

Caleb Daniel

Age

29

Ht

171cm

Wt

72kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

21.3

5star

K

11.5

4star

HB

9.8

5star

M

3.5

4star

T

2.9

4star

CL

1.4

4star

D

19.5

4star

K

11.1

4star

HB

8.4

4star

M

3.6

4star

T

2.0

3star

CL

1.0

3star

D

16.4

4star

K

7.2

3star

HB

9.2

5star

M

3.4

4star

T

2.6

4star

CL

0.2

2star

, forward pocket
george wardlaw, midfielder
zane, wing/hf
scott, wing
ldu, midfielder
colby, midfielder
lmac, general defender
simpkin, hf
tucker, hb
luke, midfielder
disco, wing
fisher, fp
hardemen, hb
dawson, fb
log, fb
larkey, ff
ccj, ruck
goad, ruck
payne, hf
powell, wing/hf
pc, fp
parker, hf
darling, chf
will phill, midfielder
comben, chb
goat, hb
pink, fb
george, hf
jacko, back pocket( lockdown defender)
whitlock, chf
river, fp
cooper, fp
xerri, ruck
finbar, ff
jk, fp
zuurhaar, fp/midfield
banch, hf
rhj, wing
trembath, ff

 

[Moti]

All teams play some players out of position. When you plan your list, you map out expected finishes and if you exceed or fall short, it means either your draft hand is better or worse or your players are. That means your depth chart changes and you redistribute your assets.

Jy and Sheez are remarkably similar, both star HF in juniors that are better suited around the ball as they lack speed and size to impact regularly forward. However, only one can use the ball with consistent impact and footy has evolved to ramp up the athletic profile over standard contest players. So can't have too many one paced players.

Jy moves to a wing, then he is compared to the skillset there. His ball use, funnily enough is an issue here, even more so because he is expected to have more time and space to make better decisions.

And that is just the case for Jy.

 

[Samsquanch]

All teams play some players out of position.

I totally understand that. There's always a degree of doubling up and there's always holes to be filled. As you say, the assets a team has have to be distributed as best they can be.

I guess I was looking at the list holes and the double ups that we have at North with a view to assessing if a team could be put on the field with as many players as possible in their best positions.

It seems like most weeks over many years we have had more than a few in spots that don't really give them the opportunity to be their best (but some, like Harry still seem to have done alright).

 

[Samsquanch]

Jy's big issue is he can't kick.

Neither can most of us but with good coaching and lots of practice, plus input from biomechanics and training staff, you would expect to see some degree of improvement over time I reckon.

 

[Moti]

Neither can most of us but with good coaching and lots of practice, plus input from biomechanics and training staff, you would expect to see some degree of improvement over time I reckon.

Like George, it isn't a small issue. George scuffs his foot and extends long, which means his kicks usually start low unless he chips them high. Jy doesn't have the technical problem but moves the ball a lot and is balanced when kicking. Again, hard to change. That is why Irish players can be great kickers because they learn from scratch and avoid bad habits.

 

[Arthur Cloke]

Neither can most of us but with good coaching and lots of practice, plus input from biomechanics and training staff, you would expect to see some degree of improvement over time I reckon.

So why is Jy’s kicking as bad now, as it was when he first joined the club?

 

[Samsquanch]

So why is Jy’s kicking as bad now, as it was when he first joined the club?

His kicking hasn't improved but you'd have to agree he's done a lot with his hair over the past couple of seasons.

 

[BrownPaperBag]

Partial to a bit of doggy

 

[The Dingrel]

Well if you read this board often enough you'd be convinced half the side's best position is on the pine, and being played out of position starting on the ground.

 

[koshari]

Partial to a bit of doggy

 

[ToxicMegaPunts]

 

[Tas]

Here is my thesis.

I don't mind if we take a player like Comben who was recruited to be a forward and is not much chop at it then trying to turn him into a defender, that isn't playing him out of position, that is salvaging the pick and hopefully he has a good career.

Issues down back were complicated due to only getting 3 games out of Archer, 0 from Bergman, 0 from Goater. On the plus side we got 17 games into Hardeman. Guys we brought in like Fisher and Tucker didn't play much footy either at AFL level.

It will be interesting to see who plays in the back six if we have full bill of health at the start of next season. I think our current best back six available is as follows but they will play McDonald, he has one year left and I have doubts he gets another year, that being the case i think Goater and Hardeman are priorities if they are available. They usually have one smaller defender and one smaller forward on the bench with two mids so I would put McDonald on the pine to start with. We also have one more year of Corr.

FB: Daniels Pink Comben
HB: Goater Logue Hardeman

Longer terms we have Dawson and Whitlock for KPP options.
If we get rid of Tucker and Fisher along with everyone else that has been given the flick then I think we will need some more developing half-back options. This is probably the intention with Budarick to turn him into a lock down small defender but I think when you trade in players they expect to play and we have Daniels until 2028. I mean it is a safe bet to assume Goater wont be around for an entire season but if he is I wouldn't want to hold back him or Hardeman.

We only gave Pink a one year deal so with that amount of optimism we are probably hoping Dawson can step up sooner rather than later. I think Whitlock is physically good to go but he can probably still learn the basics at VFL level. Logue is still quite young at 27, could realistically play for 5 or so more years, he is contracted to 2027. His ACL messed him up physically, with the lack of continuity, but I still think he could still be a good player for us. One of the few NM players that I think needs to trim down a bit.

Midfield:

I know we have shown interest, recently, at larger bodied inside mid. Whether we get one during the trade period is an unknown so far. Parker has filled this role but he can't run out a game in the middle playing inside. I think longer-term Urqhuart could play this role if he bulks up, a lot. A huge issue is all the mids we recruit are on the skinny side and we are slow to get them up to speed.

We have a lot of midfield talent. LDU, Wardlaw, Sheezle(mid/fwd), Powell, McKercher, FOS

In his junior days LDU was considered an inside mid with good kicking skills, he is very good at getting his own ball because of that background. I think he became more outside because Cunners was 26 or so at the time and he was a one-man inside band at the club. LDU dropped weight and spent the early part of his career working on his endurance and speed but he doesn't have the natural instincts of an outside mid like McKercher who looks to short pass to make space so he can run and carry with his intention to get within goal scoring range and score. LDU has a lot of class but he was altered to fit a hole we had rather than developed to his strengths. When things click for him he is amazing but he doesn't have the natural instincts of an outside mid and I think it is what makes him sporadic.

I think his best games of footy this year were when he took it on himself to do the more inside things, to tackle, to pressure, get the ball out to someone in space. He isn't damaging enough to be outside. Given where he is atm, I think it would be trivial to get him up to 90kg+ and to adjust his game so he plays more inside. It wouldn't be a massive change to his game, just a change of focus. Then we have a 188cm 90kg+ inside mid who isn't a mug when he gets the ball on the outside. I think that would have the potential to push him into an AA quality mid.

That would free us up to use some of the lighter bodied players in more outside roles. McKercher, FOS, Sheezel. Wardlaw is also an inside mid, but he is a very aggressive runner. It would be a good tandem between him and LDU. Wardlaw needs at least 6kg to play inside properly, we do not want him to keep getting injured as frequently as he has. We need to get the flotsam out of the midfield and utilise the star power we have recruited. We have to find a way to make it work or else we just have flushed years of ending on the bottom for nothing if we can't develop elite talent out of it.

Forward Line:

FF: Curtis Larkey Duursma
HF: Parker Trembath Zurhaar

The Parker position includes players like Sheezel and other mids that rotate forward. I think Zurhaar plays far too deep and has no/negligible impact in too many games. He should be more a half-forward that comes a long way of the forward 50 to act as a quasi midfielder, like Boomer used to do. After a 6/6/6 stoppage he should be charging into the square so if they spill the ball defensive side he should be hitting them with pressure and any side that has many big bodied mids have to deal with him with momentum coming at them. He should be scoring the majority of his goals running towards goals than from leading to the ball. It will also free up some space in the forward line for players like Larkey, Trembath and Duursma to lead into.

When Parker retires we can bring in another elite small forward. Hopefully by this stage Wardlaw is up to speed.

I think we need to forget about trying to turn Duursma into a wingman, he is a very talented forward, lets just focus on making him a dangerous forward.

I thought Darling was okay this year, but Trembath should be a priority if he can play like he did late this year.
Similarly, i didn't mind Konstanty, his pressure was good but I think we need forwards to hit the scoreboard more.

If we do consider trading out Duursma, it really has to be for another elite forward, we can't cough him for mediocre depth players. If Essendon keep sniffing then say Caddy or gtfo. We should be offering crazy money at Caddy regardless to bail next year and leave the sinking ship. It plants the seed for when they push for the Duursma trade be it this year or next year.