Blue and Silver
Brownlow Medallist
This thread is designed to go beyond the concept of "Best 22" and hypothetically discuss potential gameday strategies that could be employed to win against a variety of different team stratergies that will be deployed against us. I would like to do one for each round but know that probably isn't realistic, hopefully some other people can help out.
For this exercise to work I will name what I see as our starting 22 for each round:
B:Joseph/Armfield Jamison Thornton
HB:Russell Bower Scotland
C: Simpson Mclean Walker
HF:Murphy Henderson Robinson
F: Betts O'Halpin Yarran
R: Kreuzer Gibbs Carrazzo
I/C: Warnock, Waite, Houlihan, Joseph/Grigg
The Backline
B:Armfield/Joseph Jamison Thornton
F:Nahas Polak Morton
HB: Russell Bower Scotland
HF: Cousins Riedwoldt Tambling
This is how I would speculate our Defense would line up in Round 1 against the Tigers on paper.
However what I think we will be looking at is the following match-ups:
Joseph/Armfield (it depends if Army gets over whatever niggle has kept him out of the NAB Challenge) on Nahas. This match-up will be a battle of speedsters and I'd want to see Nahas being constantly watched given his goalsneak capabilities.
Bower on Polak. Bower lays a good spoil which will be essential against the strong-marking ability of Polak. This match-up should also be key to our rebound as Bower will be able to run the socks off of Polak in order to take on the game and drive out of defense.
Thornton on Morton. Morton can certainly play a good game when he turns it on, but he aint got the marking ability to go in the air with Thornton and plays fairly unaccountable which should allow T-Bird to drop off and effect the contests around him.
Russell on Tambling. This position is probably in name alone as Tambling will be playing high attempting to use his speed to burn out his direct opponent. JR should keep an eye on Tambling but he doesn't have a whole lot of hurt factor with his disposal so as long as he isn't playing well this will give Russell some freedom to leave his man and take on the game.
Jamison on Riedwoldt. Richmonds Riedwoldt has had some alright pre-season form so he gets our best lead-up defender. Jamo has played fairly solidly throughout the pre-season and excels on the fast leading forwards so he should be fine to win this match-up.
Walker on Cousins. Unlike Tambling, Cousins has a whole lot of class and capability so he will need to be minded. Walker comes off the wing to mind Cousins who should play high like Tambling anyway and this will allow the fitter Walker to run off Cousins who will struggle to keep up.
Scotland to play loose. This is to give our players an option to pass to and get out of defense effectivly. His good skills and improved fitness over the pre-season should see Scotland play effectivly in the sweeper role (injury withstanding).
I reckon the Tigers will try to clear the forward line to allow their tall targets to make a contest so that a) Polak or Riedwoldt can take the mark b) Morton or Nahas can rove the drop. However by playing close on their high HFF and midfielders they will be forced to pass to players with poor disposal (the Tigers still have a few in their best 22) in order to create Inside 50's allowing our defenders to mop up.
The Midfield
C:Simpson Mclean Walker
C:Martin Deledio White
R:Kreuzer Gibbs Carrazzo
R:Simmonds Cotchin Jackson
Carrazzo on Deledio. Yes I know Carrots can play a good role in the midfield as a receiver and gatherer but he will be needed to follow Lids closely in order to stifle the good ball going into the Tigers 50. Should Deledio be unaccountable than Carrots will get plenty of the pill going the other way too, but minimising Lids' influence should be top priority.
Jackson on Gibbs. Richmond will send their top tagger to our only fully fit top-line midfielder. Hardwick should attempt to stifle Gibbs' influence by playing a close tag and hoping our clean ball going into the forward 50 dries right up. To prevent this Mclean and Joseph/Grigg will be used to block and create for Gibbs and to a lesser extent Carrazzo and Simpson.
Robinson on Martin. Dustin Martin has a lot of potential, so does Mitch Robinson, unlike Martin however Robinson has a natural tendency to chase, tackle and win the hard ball back from opposition posession, a skill Martin has to work on at the highest level. Should be an interesting watch if these two go at it.
Simpson to play loose on the wing. Richmond tend to not tag Simmo and he took full advantage of that in Round 1 last year, but played a more quiet game in the re-match. I'd want to see a more fired up Simpson give a repeat of last years opener.
White to play loose on the wing. Richmonds own speedster should be let loose as his disposal isn't great. If he plays on a man my bet would be Simpson, and under Hardwick he might, however I would say that the seasoned Simmo won't have too much trouble breaking loose from time to time.
Kreuzer/Warnock to ruck against Simmonds/Graham. I think this match-up will be critical to our plans. Matching our more mobile ruckmen against Richmonds ageing undersized Simmonds and their inexperianced Graham should be runs on the board for the Blues.
Trent Cotchin to be let loose. At first it sounds a little daft but Cotchin will probably be dispensed to get the hard ball and these are the sorts of players you don't bother tagging unless they do it exceptionally well (Kerr, Corey). If he does get a lot early then I'd move Robinson off Martin or Russell off Tambling and onto him.
You'll have noticed at this point that I am intent on tagging a lot of the opposition players. This coincides with Ratts strategy of minimizing key opponents in order to free up our excellent attacking mids in Murphy, Judd and Gibbs. Unfortunatly Judd is out for the first three, but Murphy should be fine to play forward and if Gibbs gets away from Jackson will be very dangerous.
The Forward Line
HF: Murphy Henderson Robinson
HB: Newman McGuane Edwards
F:Betts O'Halpin Yarran
B: Moore Thursfield Rance
Henderson on McGuane. Richmond will struggle to match Carlton's height up forward in the opening clash but will hope the more experianced body of McGuane should beat Henderson one-on-one. Personally I think Henderson should be fine and will play high out of the 50 metre arc making a contest than running back towards the goals to provide a second marking option
Newman on Betts. Richmond will seek to avoid a repeat of last year and try to close down Betts with the Captain. Eddie can suffer against quality defenders but Newman is trying to fill a hole here and usually plays loose as a zoning and rebounding defender.
Thursfield on O'Halpin. Thursfield gives a LOT of height away to the Big Irishman but Richmond will be strapped for alternatives. Carlton will be focusing on Setanta as a hard-hitting marking FF, and against such undersized opponents he should do well, although Thursfield does make a fairly good contest body-on body.
Rance on Yarran. Rance has done some jobs on medium sized forwards (despite being one of Richmonds tallest defenders
) and will probably be put on Yazz. Yarran gets the job as we will be looking to stretch Richmonds small defender brigade thin. He can be very creative but will need to work on calming down and finishing.
Edwards on Murphy. Or at least I would want to try and force this match-up. Murphy may get the usual tag but given Richmonds lack of depth in this department will probably be loose, should mean he will play high up and see a lot of the ball while delivering it forward. Edwards plays fairly unaccountable and tries to run off a lot, given our plethora of hard tackling forwards (Betts, Robinson, O'Halpin, Henderson) will find this hard to do.
Moore loose. Due to Scotland being played similarly down back Moore will find himself without a direct opponent. This will mean he will play third man up at a lot of contests that will result in the ball spilling to ground a fair bit. Here I would hope Betts and Yarran find it.
Houlihan and Waite to rotate through. When they do Houlihan will most likely be pushing up high into the midfield (his work-rate and contested possession count were noticeably higher towards the end of last season and his recent out of club training should have him raring to go). Waite will be the swingman but I think he'll have it easy first up. He will stretch the Richmond defense nicely up forwards and should provide some nice rebound down back. Mostly though he will be on in bursts and will probably be used to cause match-up head-aches for Hardwick.
Overall my forward set-up focuses on stretching the Tigers backmen beyond their comfort-zones. Most are mismatched for height/speed and should be exposed for these reasons.
I am not sure if I will be able to look this in depth into every match and I'm sure this will change when the sides are announced but I hope it is a good read and gets some other peoples minds ticking on how we will play against all of our opponents this year.
For this exercise to work I will name what I see as our starting 22 for each round:
B:Joseph/Armfield Jamison Thornton
HB:Russell Bower Scotland
C: Simpson Mclean Walker
HF:Murphy Henderson Robinson
F: Betts O'Halpin Yarran
R: Kreuzer Gibbs Carrazzo
I/C: Warnock, Waite, Houlihan, Joseph/Grigg
The Backline
B:Armfield/Joseph Jamison Thornton
F:Nahas Polak Morton
HB: Russell Bower Scotland
HF: Cousins Riedwoldt Tambling
This is how I would speculate our Defense would line up in Round 1 against the Tigers on paper.
However what I think we will be looking at is the following match-ups:
Joseph/Armfield (it depends if Army gets over whatever niggle has kept him out of the NAB Challenge) on Nahas. This match-up will be a battle of speedsters and I'd want to see Nahas being constantly watched given his goalsneak capabilities.
Bower on Polak. Bower lays a good spoil which will be essential against the strong-marking ability of Polak. This match-up should also be key to our rebound as Bower will be able to run the socks off of Polak in order to take on the game and drive out of defense.
Thornton on Morton. Morton can certainly play a good game when he turns it on, but he aint got the marking ability to go in the air with Thornton and plays fairly unaccountable which should allow T-Bird to drop off and effect the contests around him.
Russell on Tambling. This position is probably in name alone as Tambling will be playing high attempting to use his speed to burn out his direct opponent. JR should keep an eye on Tambling but he doesn't have a whole lot of hurt factor with his disposal so as long as he isn't playing well this will give Russell some freedom to leave his man and take on the game.
Jamison on Riedwoldt. Richmonds Riedwoldt has had some alright pre-season form so he gets our best lead-up defender. Jamo has played fairly solidly throughout the pre-season and excels on the fast leading forwards so he should be fine to win this match-up.
Walker on Cousins. Unlike Tambling, Cousins has a whole lot of class and capability so he will need to be minded. Walker comes off the wing to mind Cousins who should play high like Tambling anyway and this will allow the fitter Walker to run off Cousins who will struggle to keep up.
Scotland to play loose. This is to give our players an option to pass to and get out of defense effectivly. His good skills and improved fitness over the pre-season should see Scotland play effectivly in the sweeper role (injury withstanding).
I reckon the Tigers will try to clear the forward line to allow their tall targets to make a contest so that a) Polak or Riedwoldt can take the mark b) Morton or Nahas can rove the drop. However by playing close on their high HFF and midfielders they will be forced to pass to players with poor disposal (the Tigers still have a few in their best 22) in order to create Inside 50's allowing our defenders to mop up.
The Midfield
C:Simpson Mclean Walker
C:Martin Deledio White
R:Kreuzer Gibbs Carrazzo
R:Simmonds Cotchin Jackson
Carrazzo on Deledio. Yes I know Carrots can play a good role in the midfield as a receiver and gatherer but he will be needed to follow Lids closely in order to stifle the good ball going into the Tigers 50. Should Deledio be unaccountable than Carrots will get plenty of the pill going the other way too, but minimising Lids' influence should be top priority.
Jackson on Gibbs. Richmond will send their top tagger to our only fully fit top-line midfielder. Hardwick should attempt to stifle Gibbs' influence by playing a close tag and hoping our clean ball going into the forward 50 dries right up. To prevent this Mclean and Joseph/Grigg will be used to block and create for Gibbs and to a lesser extent Carrazzo and Simpson.
Robinson on Martin. Dustin Martin has a lot of potential, so does Mitch Robinson, unlike Martin however Robinson has a natural tendency to chase, tackle and win the hard ball back from opposition posession, a skill Martin has to work on at the highest level. Should be an interesting watch if these two go at it.
Simpson to play loose on the wing. Richmond tend to not tag Simmo and he took full advantage of that in Round 1 last year, but played a more quiet game in the re-match. I'd want to see a more fired up Simpson give a repeat of last years opener.
White to play loose on the wing. Richmonds own speedster should be let loose as his disposal isn't great. If he plays on a man my bet would be Simpson, and under Hardwick he might, however I would say that the seasoned Simmo won't have too much trouble breaking loose from time to time.
Kreuzer/Warnock to ruck against Simmonds/Graham. I think this match-up will be critical to our plans. Matching our more mobile ruckmen against Richmonds ageing undersized Simmonds and their inexperianced Graham should be runs on the board for the Blues.
Trent Cotchin to be let loose. At first it sounds a little daft but Cotchin will probably be dispensed to get the hard ball and these are the sorts of players you don't bother tagging unless they do it exceptionally well (Kerr, Corey). If he does get a lot early then I'd move Robinson off Martin or Russell off Tambling and onto him.
You'll have noticed at this point that I am intent on tagging a lot of the opposition players. This coincides with Ratts strategy of minimizing key opponents in order to free up our excellent attacking mids in Murphy, Judd and Gibbs. Unfortunatly Judd is out for the first three, but Murphy should be fine to play forward and if Gibbs gets away from Jackson will be very dangerous.
The Forward Line
HF: Murphy Henderson Robinson
HB: Newman McGuane Edwards
F:Betts O'Halpin Yarran
B: Moore Thursfield Rance
Henderson on McGuane. Richmond will struggle to match Carlton's height up forward in the opening clash but will hope the more experianced body of McGuane should beat Henderson one-on-one. Personally I think Henderson should be fine and will play high out of the 50 metre arc making a contest than running back towards the goals to provide a second marking option
Newman on Betts. Richmond will seek to avoid a repeat of last year and try to close down Betts with the Captain. Eddie can suffer against quality defenders but Newman is trying to fill a hole here and usually plays loose as a zoning and rebounding defender.
Thursfield on O'Halpin. Thursfield gives a LOT of height away to the Big Irishman but Richmond will be strapped for alternatives. Carlton will be focusing on Setanta as a hard-hitting marking FF, and against such undersized opponents he should do well, although Thursfield does make a fairly good contest body-on body.
Rance on Yarran. Rance has done some jobs on medium sized forwards (despite being one of Richmonds tallest defenders
) and will probably be put on Yazz. Yarran gets the job as we will be looking to stretch Richmonds small defender brigade thin. He can be very creative but will need to work on calming down and finishing.Edwards on Murphy. Or at least I would want to try and force this match-up. Murphy may get the usual tag but given Richmonds lack of depth in this department will probably be loose, should mean he will play high up and see a lot of the ball while delivering it forward. Edwards plays fairly unaccountable and tries to run off a lot, given our plethora of hard tackling forwards (Betts, Robinson, O'Halpin, Henderson) will find this hard to do.
Moore loose. Due to Scotland being played similarly down back Moore will find himself without a direct opponent. This will mean he will play third man up at a lot of contests that will result in the ball spilling to ground a fair bit. Here I would hope Betts and Yarran find it.
Houlihan and Waite to rotate through. When they do Houlihan will most likely be pushing up high into the midfield (his work-rate and contested possession count were noticeably higher towards the end of last season and his recent out of club training should have him raring to go). Waite will be the swingman but I think he'll have it easy first up. He will stretch the Richmond defense nicely up forwards and should provide some nice rebound down back. Mostly though he will be on in bursts and will probably be used to cause match-up head-aches for Hardwick.
Overall my forward set-up focuses on stretching the Tigers backmen beyond their comfort-zones. Most are mismatched for height/speed and should be exposed for these reasons.
I am not sure if I will be able to look this in depth into every match and I'm sure this will change when the sides are announced but I hope it is a good read and gets some other peoples minds ticking on how we will play against all of our opponents this year.
