Center Clearances.

[sarah.13]

Stats show we are one of the worst sides in getting the ball away from the center and I have a theory to put up for discussion .
From my observation our Ruckman seem to get their hands to the ball as much as the opposition but they seem to clear it more often
1. We rotate up to 8-9 players into the center bounces during a game.
2. Some of these players simply cannot extract the ball cleanly i.e. Kelly,Enright ,Byrnes and Ling.
3. Our best clearance players are Bartel, Chappy Ablett and sometimes Corey.
4.It's alright to rotate the midfield in general play but it's become such a problem that I believe we need to put our best extracters in there All the time thereby achieving more cohesion, understanding between players and pressure on the opposition.

 

[azyboy]

Yep...Got smashed in that department yesterday and have been for some time. Realistically, we only have two midfielders contesting centre bounces as Lings attention is focused on stopping his man (no problem with that)... However, echoing some of your earlier sentiment re Mooney, I would consider putting him in the guts for the bounce and then having him drift forward. His aggression and size would be handy.
Also, some thought should be given to Stokes..I believe his tenacity would win a fair bit of the ball

 

[sarah.13]

Yep...Got smashed in that department yesterday and have been for some time. Realistically, we only have two midfielders contesting centre bounces as Lings attention is focused on stopping his man (no problem with that)... However, echoing some of your earlier sentiment re Mooney, I would consider putting him in the guts for the bounce and then having him drift forward. His aggression and size would be handy.
Also, some thought should be given to Stokes..I believe his tenacity would win a fair bit of the ball

Agree with you about Stokes,am a big wrap for him and Mooney should be used as a shock weapon from time to time.

 

[geelong_boy]

Yep...Got smashed in that department yesterday and have been for some time. Realistically, we only have two midfielders contesting centre bounces as Lings attention is focused on stopping his man (no problem with that)... However, echoing some of your earlier sentiment re Mooney, I would consider putting him in the guts for the bounce and then having him drift forward. His aggression and size would be handy.
Also, some thought should be given to Stokes..I believe his tenacity would win a fair bit of the ball

I've already written about this in another thread but we didn't get smashed in the clearances yesterday, they went Hawthorn's way 34-30 (according to ChampionData). Ling was able to keep clearance-king Mitchell to just 3 clearances, but Jordan Lewis ran rampant, clocking up an outstanding 10 clearances. Watching the game yesterday I couldn't believe how many times he was able to shoot out a quick handball under pressure to a teammate.

 

[catempire]

Hawthorn only won the clearances 34-30 yesterday.

Bartel was our best with 8 while Corey and Blake had 5 each.

Hawthorn only had Lewis (with 10) get over 5.

 

[catempire]

Stole my thunder geelong_boy!

The issue about Ling-Mitchell is that we have a choice - either lock down the oppositions most dangerous clearance player (in this case Mitchell) or put someone else in there in Ling's place who can win more clearances himself. It's a fine balance but we probably made the right call yesterday.

Corey really must spend more time in the guts though. He is great at clearances.

 

[CF]

I agree our clearances werent as bad as it appeared. But I think we do lack a Mitchell like player.

 

[geelong_boy]

I agree our clearances werent as bad as it appeared. But I think we do lack a Mitchell like player.

Selwood? Still too early though to be expecting him to be like that.

Still, as long as we can at worst break even in the clearances we should be okay, but hopefully we can continue to improve in that area.

 

[catempire]

I agree our clearances werent as bad as it appeared. But I think we do lack a Mitchell like player.

That would be Bartel. The new and improved version of Mitchell.

 

[geelong_boy]

Anyone got the clearance stats from rounds 1 and 2?

 

[catempire]

Anyone got the clearance stats from rounds 1 and 2?

Round 1

40 Geelong (Enright 7, Corey 5) v 33 Western Bulldogs

Round 2

30 Geelong (Corey 5) v 35 Carlton

Round 3

22 Geelong (no player > 5) v 33 Melbourne

 

[GeeCat]

Generally speaking, I think it's true that our current midfield crop aren't the best stoppage group going around, but even with the lack of natural talent (a few aside), and given the scope and capability for improvement through drilling etc, it's disappointing to see we haven't improved on it over the (many) years.

Reading the ball off the tap aside, our positioning and blocking around packs/stoppages is still pretty darn average.

I haven't been down to training for awhile, but it would be interesting to see how much work really goes into the set pieces.

 

[geelong_boy]

Round 1

40 Geelong (Enright 7, Corey 5) v 33 Western Bulldogs

Round 2

30 Geelong (Corey 5) v 35 Carlton

Round 3

22 Geelong (no player > 5) v 33 Melbourne

Thanks for that catempire. Where did you get them from? Interesting that the above numbers don't necessarily equate with Geelong's win-loss record, although the actual quality of each clearance is more important you'd think.

 

[catswhiskers]

Not all clearances are the same. Yesterday a lot of our clearances were tumbled kicks under pressure. The hawks got a lot more clean, one, two or three handball to a clear player. Our poor clearance = turnover.

Also we seem to set with no mid at the feet of the ruckmen. Odds suggest thats where the ball will fall first bexause a lot of ruck contests are not clearly won. Thats where West (bullies), Mitchell and oyher top clearance players park themselves .

I like your thinking Sarah. Get the best clearance players into the middle.

Sellwood for example has spent all his Junior years as a clearance player. Thats his go along with the hard running needed to get to each contest. Playing him on a wing or in a pocket makes no sense (see doggies game!).

 

[darren forssman]

Sellwood for example has spent all his Junior years as a clearance player. Thats his go along with the hard running needed to get to each contest. Playing him on a wing or in a pocket makes no sense (see doggies game!).

probably not wanting to chuck him in the fray without a developed body.

 

[catswhiskers]

That would probably be the reason Das. I look at Murphy who is no giant. He played in the middle for long periods last year and kept out of trouble.

The good peripheral vision a clearance player must have keeps them out of trouble. Others get crunched harder because they are out in general play and moving faster and don't see it coming.
Its a big enough problem for us to get the kid inside.

 

[catempire]

Thanks for that catempire. Where did you get them from? Interesting that the above numbers don't necessarily equate with Geelong's win-loss record, although the actual quality of each clearance is more important you'd think.

Just the Herald Sun.

No doubt clearance quality is an issue. There's a big difference between

Ruck tap -> hurried kick forward

and

Ruck tap -> handball to a player in space -> kick to a target

 

[darren forssman]

That would probably be the reason Das. I look at Murphy who is no giant. He played in the middle for long periods last year and kept out of trouble.

The good peripheral vision a clearance player must have keeps them out of trouble. Others get crunched harder because they are out in general play and moving faster and don't see it coming.
Its a big enough problem for us to get the kid inside.

fair enough, but in yesterdays game selwood would have been crunched, it was a very hot potato in those packs.

 

[sarah.13]

I raised this point specifically for Center Bounces which is the only time during a game that you can determine which players compete.
Whilst we are lucky in that we have many players that can be rotated through the midfield this mainly applies to general play.
At the center bounce numbers are equal and clearances far more important,that is why we should have our best clearance players there all the time.

 

[nananana catman]

Round 1

40 Geelong (Enright 7, Corey 5) v 33 Western Bulldogs

Round 2

30 Geelong (Corey 5) v 35 Carlton

Round 3

22 Geelong (no player > 5) v 33 Melbourne

It would seem they aren't that important looking at those stats...

Not many clearences are perfect, and hardly any result in a goal.

 

[darren forssman]

I raised this point specifically for Center Bounces which is the only time during a game that you can determine which players compete.
Whilst we are lucky in that we have many players that can be rotated through the midfield this mainly applies to general play.
At the center bounce numbers are equal and clearances far more important,that is why we should have our best clearance players there all the time.

i agree, ling should run in off a flank or wing and then pick up the guy he is going to wrestle/hold for the rest of the arvo/night. let the real midfielders try to win clearances.

the success of clearances may become more obvious against better teams.

 

[sarah.13]

It would seem they aren't that important looking at those stats...

Not many clearences are perfect, and hardly any result in a goal.

Only need two or three of them to result in goals for them to be very important.
Stats as we all know can mean nothing or can mean everything, I'm talking about center clearances. In general play the defensive side will usually get the clearances due to weight of numbers.As we have large forward 50 entries a lot of the stats against us by the weaker sides are clearances from defensive 50.
It's the quality and area's of the ground that is important,none more so than the center bounces.

 

[geelong_boy]

catempire, do you have Brent Prismall's clearance stats from the games this year?

Does anyone know how much game time he has had as an actuall on-baller?

 

[catempire]

catempire, do you have Brent Prismall's clearance stats from the games this year?

Does anyone know how much game time he has had as an actuall on-baller?

See below.

 

[catempire]

catempire, do you have Brent Prismall's clearance stats from the games this year?

Does anyone know how much game time he has had as an actuall on-baller?

geelong_boy,

Prismall's clearance stats:

v Bulldogs - 3
v Carlton - 3
v Melbourne - 0
v Hawthorn - 1

Not outstanding by any stretch, but bear in mind he often plays off the edge of the square and has limited time at centre bounces.