CC: The centre clearances thread.

[handy point]

In the words of Principal Seymour Skinner 'kaloo-kalayy, oh MDC, you've made me the happiest poster on BF'

That might have been C. Montgomery Burns.

 

[TheGreatGrundy]

Good thread MDC. The untidy clearances and those responsible for them stand out. Didak and Davis looked out of place in the centre. I look forward to seeing whether Stanley can offer something, including some well directed handballs to players in the clear. Fraser really appears undersized against the big boys.

 

[Frankie23]

Great thread, the centre clearances were an interesting watch...

Ive noticed a few things whilst watching;
1. We aren't that bad!! As simple as it sounds i think our ability to get the ball foward and win the clearances is underrated
2. Most clearances are a massive boot foward besides Pendlebury who actually looks for a target
3. We have a nice blend of inside players (O'Bree, Swan, Maxwell) and outside (Thomas, Pendlebury, Davis)

Watching this strengthens the fact that we need to play Dayne Beams! At stages we lacked a but of class when handling the ball and there were many fumbles, from what ive seen and heard Beams has some of the best hands going round.

I also believe that we need to handball a bit more, but as silly as it sounds i don't think our handballing skills are up to scratch. When a Swan/O'Bree gets the ball, all they do is boot it foward, which most times favours the defenders...
We need to link up more handballs in the middle ala Hawthorn to get the ball out to the wings were the Didaks, Davis' and Thomas' can do their thing and hit a target.

 

[Optimax]

That might have been C. Montgomery Burns.

Yeah it was Monty Burns

 

[DoubleO7]

3. We have a nice blend of inside players (O'Bree, Swan, Maxwell) and outside (Thomas, Pendlebury, Davis)

Yet he still managed to end the game as the highest clearance winner. The same could be said Davis who spent half the game up forward and the other half back in defence (equal fourth in clearances).

Q. Why is Davis so underrated as 'clearance' player?

 

[Ickirus]

Clearances still remain a massive issue for us, while we do win the number of clearances a few times against teams without outstanding midfields, we get smashed by teams with better midfields. Also many of our clearances are just banging it on the boot rather than a clean take away from the centre.

Another issue is when the other team wins the clearance against us, the vast majority of time they get a clean passage of play and get it to their runners far too easily. We aren't tight enough on the opposition around the middle.

 

[hellfire]

When Pendles gets the ball things happen don't they?

Bingo.

When he's attacking and actually kicks forwards (rather than sideways), things always happen. But more importantly, the time and space he has with the ball and his unbelievable vision with the handball make him create opportunities out of nothing. Pendlebury is our A-grader... what a star.

Secondly, Thomas needs to become our pack "burster". Our Foley, our Judd, our Kerr, our Ablett... I know he's not as inside as those guys, but he has the pace and skills to break the packs open and run the ball out of the stoppage area. He just needs Swan and Pendlebury to feed it to him, or read it off the tap.

Thirdly, we too often just put the ball on the boot from the clearance. Times have changed, this isn't the thing to do anymore. You draw a player, create space, move the ball through hands to someone who is in a better attacking position and hit a forward on the chest. Obree is a great extractor, but too often he puts the ball to boot and hopes. Swan is sort of the same.

 

[well left]

Thirdly, we too often just put the ball on the boot from the clearance. Times have changed, this isn't the thing to do anymore. You draw a player, create space, move the ball through hands to someone who is in a better attacking position and hit a forward on the chest. Obree is a great extractor, but too often he puts the ball to boot and hopes. Swan is sort of the same.

Looking at the clips Didak is probably the worst of the lot IMO. Maybe it was an off game for him but for someone that usually has time, space and great awareness he seemed to just throw the ball on the boot a bit on the weekend.

 

[Quicky]

Looking at the clips Didak is probably the worst of the lot IMO. Maybe it was an off game for him but for someone that usually has time, space and great awareness he seemed to just throw the ball on the boot a bit on the weekend.

Didak has been out of sorts all preseason. Theres something wrong with that boy atm. I hope he sorts it out soon coz he's just about our only genuine star.