Analysis Clarko in 2019 “We’re a middle of the road team”

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Gibbo was not an elite penetrating kick like the others, but a very safe one. We can only dream that our current lot will come close to that back line - no doubt there is some potential to get excited about. We’ll need shaggy to come good and then find the next Lake.
Gibbo was a magnificent kick
 
I have to wonder why, in the position we are currently in, is Burgers still getting games.

He is my absolute favourite current player and I understand the appeal of getting him to 400 games.
He has played the 5th most games in history - amazing.
And in 9 more games, he will still have played the 5th most games in history.

But 9 senior games of development this year for one of the youngsters could be better for the club for next year and beyond.

It confuses me a bit...
 
I have to wonder why, in the position we are currently in, is Burgers still getting games.

He is my absolute favourite current player and I understand the appeal of getting him to 400 games.
He has played the 5th most games in history - amazing.
And in 9 more games, he will still have played the 5th most games in history.

But 9 senior games of development this year for one of the youngsters could be better for the club for next year and beyond.

It confuses me a bit...
If you read my post a few pages back about the system and requirements that players need to adhere to in order to be successful in their role, you’ll understand I think.

Burger leads by example, he also directs and problem solves during the game.

While he may not be the player that he once was, he is now being used in the function of an onfield coach more and more.
 

burner1

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Think Silk as off-field coach makes sense if we have a heap of rookie players in side (ie some teams are rolling out 12 players will less then 50 games) - but at present haven’t got the balance right.

Separately, Is interesting to see that under the rule tweaks some key defenders who rely on intercepts are struggling a bit as being forced into a lot more one on ones. Interesting to see how Sicily goes as has never been a great one one one defender.

While Sicily and DGB should add to our backline still need to find a big bodied defender to replace Hartley.
 
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Think Silk as off-field coach makes sense if we have a heap of rookie players in side (ie some teams are rolling out 12 players will less then 50 games) - but at present haven’t got the balance right.

Separately, Is interesting to see that under the rule tweaks some key defenders who rely on intercepts are struggling a bit as being forced into a lot more one on ones. Interesting to see how Sicily goes as has never been a great one one one defender.

While Sicily and DGB should add to our backline still need to find a big bodied defender to replace Hartley.

The only inexperienced player we have in the backline currently is CJ. Scrimshaw has had a few years now to come to grips with our system.

Hartigan is obviously a recent arrival, but he is an experienced KPD and he has a fairly simple role in the side.

It's not as if we have Downie, DGB, Greaves and CJ all playing at once back there.
 
If you read my post a few pages back about the system and requirements that players need to adhere to in order to be successful in their role, you’ll understand I think.

Burger leads by example, he also directs and problem solves during the game.

While he may not be the player that he once was, he is now being used in the function of an onfield coach more and more.

I understand that, I just don't think we present as that young down back.
If we lack leadership, then that is another issue and would justify him playing on.
 

Mrzohs

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It's 1 month into the season and we have played 16 quarters of football. 4 quarters we have been blown out of the water and our leadership on field has been missed.
The good is the other 12 quarters we have won, drawn level or at worse lost buy a kick. Such is today's football there is nothing in it. Clarko optimism that it can still turn around quicky has me keeping the faith.

The next month Is massive not only for us as a side but the direction and the coaches moving forward if we drop to 1-7 I can't see things continuing on. If we turn things around and contain the damage in these poor quarters things will progress.
We can all start to see a clear picture of our defensive weapons moving fwd.. Day,Cj,Impey,Scrim,Sicily and still to see Dgb. The question is how long is it going to take for the rest of our game to show such promise! How many tools short in the Shed are we from competing (2mid,1fwd or more) can we develop this within? Can we acquire it in the f.a with our extra cap space. Or do we face a longer rebuild to be a force. A huge month ahead!
 
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I understand that, I just don't think we present as that young down back.
If we lack leadership, then that is another issue and would justify him playing on.
Its a total package . Its the younger guys seeing and learning from an absolute pro on and off field . I think its invaluable for us .

I never like Boomer Harvey but I never got why North pushed him out. Was playing decent and they just gave away all that knowledge.

He may not be the player he was but its a great move by us as a club .
Every game we get from him probably adds 5 in knowledge to the young guys that get to run out with him .
It will fast track development and leadership within the side and club .
 
If you read my post a few pages back about the system and requirements that players need to adhere to in order to be successful in their role, you’ll understand I think.

Burger leads by example, he also directs and problem solves during the game.

While he may not be the player that he once was, he is now being used in the function of an onfield coach more and more.
I reckon Gunners can't come back fast enough to do the same in the forward line.
 

Zack

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Ridiculous

Very happy with our developing stocks down back. But that comment is ridiculous
I was going to like but you are right that is beyond ridiculous this year.

Apparently Hodge, Gibbo, Lake et al couldn't get a game at Hawthorn in defence this year we are so good.

That is rating up there well beyond the dumbest things I've said in my life and by god I've said some dumb things.

The difference between 1st 3 years in a row and 17th is perhaps greater than you think.
 
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I was going to like but you are right that is beyond ridiculous this year.

Apparently Hodge, Gibbo, Lake et al couldn't get a game at Hawthorn in defence this year we are so good.

That is rating up there well beyond the dumbest things I've said in my life and by god I've said some dumb things.

The difference between 1st 3 years in a row and 17th is perhaps greater than you think.

You?

Never
 
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The only thing the our current backline has over 11-14 is that it's younger lol.

Our Backline is currently way better than our current midfield and forward line though.
 

Hawk_francais

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The only thing the our current backline has over 11-14 is that it's younger lol.

Our Backline is currently way better than our current midfield and forward line though.
Something tells me that once we take care of what’s happening in the middle of the ground, the forward line will take care of itself. Kosi, Lewis and Jeka just waiting to kick bags, with Moore, Wingard and Brockman all seeming capable. Added to that Nash, O’Brien, Morris and Hanrahan... we have good options.
 

Milkshaker

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Something tells me that once we take care of what’s happening in the middle of the ground, the forward line will take care of itself. Kosi, Lewis and Jeka just waiting to kick bags, with Moore, Wingard and Brockman all seeming capable. Added to that Nash, O’Brien, Morris and Hanrahan... we have good options.

Its an interesting mix for sure but still an unknown quantity. Take O'Brien and Chad out and the rest (8 players) have not even played 100 games combined.

88 to be exact and Lewis and Nash have 45 of those together. It makes it really hard to predict where we are at or be uber-confident about our forward line moving forward. I think its going to be suck it and see all season. Gunston coming back might show Clarkos preferred hand up front maybe?
 

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New players have to learn all 3 facets of the game.

With only juniors in the team they learn very little just chasing tail all day.

A mix of seniors and juniors is the way to go with a particular focus on not wasting BH games too - hence Sam Mitchell is vital.

Anyone who has really looked at Silk over the last 24 months shouldn’t fail to notice he is teaching the kids and it’s no accident that some of them are really coming on.

Sure we’ll finish bottom 4, but the way out of it isn’t to lose by 100 pts every week so that a few extra teenagers can one-day tell their future grandkids they once ran through the players race at the MCG.
 
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Something tells me that once we take care of what’s happening in the middle of the ground, the forward line will take care of itself. Kosi, Lewis and Jeka just waiting to kick bags, with Moore, Wingard and Brockman all seeming capable. Added to that Nash, O’Brien, Morris and Hanrahan... we have good options.

yeah the problems are a lot of young guys still trying to figure out the gameplan combined with poor ball use (feeds into the game plan issues) and a lack of spread in the mids

getting a top 5 pick this year will go a long way to helping as the top 5 are meant to be elite mids. even top 10 will probably find us a very highly-rated mid
 

Hawk_francais

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yeah the problems are a lot of young guys still trying to figure out the gameplan combined with poor ball use (feeds into the game plan issues) and a lack of spread in the mids

getting a top 5 pick this year will go a long way to helping as the top 5 are meant to be elite mids. even top 10 will probably find us a very highly-rated mid
I’m not a fan of looking towards the draft as an in-season strategy...

This game-plan question is a knotty one. How come for 3 years we’ve been unable to consistently execute it? Seems to me a game-plan has little value without the right players to carry it out. As Leigh Matthews used to say “boys, it’s not rocket science”.

Listened to Clarko say in his most recent interview that our poor first halves were a bit of an anomaly... first time he’s ever said something where I’ve thought “erm, what?”. It’s like he just won’t accept last years results. Over the past twelve months we’ve allowed opposition to pile on 4/5/6/7/8 goals inside 15 minutes in basically every game we’ve played. This time last year we were talking about correcting our ‘poor second halves’. Doesn’t make the slightest difference which half it is, it’s the same problem. Only in about 3-4 games last year did we manage to get through 4 quarters without going to pieces at some point (a couple of them were actually losses eg. Sydney and Port).
 
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I’m not a fan of looking towards the draft as an in-season strategy...

This game-plan question is a knotty one. How come for 3 years we’ve been unable to consistently execute it? Seems to me a game-plan has little value without the right players to carry it out. As Leigh Matthews used to say “boys, it’s not rocket science”.

Listened to Clarko say in his most recent interview that our poor first halves were a bit of an anomaly... first time he’s ever said something where I’ve thought “erm, what?”. It’s like he just won’t accept last years results. Over the past twelve months we’ve allowed opposition to pile on 4/5/6/7/8 goals inside 15 minutes in basically every game we’ve played. This time last year we were talking about correcting our ‘poor second halves’. Doesn’t make the slightest difference which half it is, it’s the same problem. Only in about 3-4 games last year did we manage to get through 4 quarters without going to pieces at some point (a couple of them were actually losses eg. Sydney and Port).
The end result might be the same but the cause is likely different.
 

Hawk_francais

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Can’t help feeling this season is doomed to inconsistent gritty performances punctuated by a few blowouts until the coaches finally cave about round 15 and bring in Jeka, Reeves, Downie, Maginness and DGB all at once. Just a shame we have to go through this charade of ‘needing our leaders out there’ while we get pole-axed.

We can’t have Burgoyne and Shiels and Ceglar and Breust and McEvoy and Hartigan and have Gunston slip back into the side at the expense of a younger player who is finding their way. We can probably afford to keep 3-4 of them in the team.

We remind me of the Bulldogs during 2014, convinced it will be Higgins, Griffin and Cooney that have the answers. Of course it was Bontempelli, Stringer, Dahlhaus, Libba, Macrea, Hunter and Johannisen who drove the next charge, all under 22 that year. The only players over 22 from that season who ended up with a medal two years later were Picken, Dickson, Wood, Morris and Boyd. They could’ve easily kept going with quality players like Higgins, Griffin, Minson, and Cooney (Griff wanting to leave is another story, but not irrelevant), but they just weren’t getting job done, and they got the requisite games into a young group who became their premiership players.
 
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TylerDurden

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Can’t help feeling this season is doomed to inconsistent gritty performances punctuated by a few blowouts until the coaches finally cave about round 15 and bring in Jeka, Reeves, Downie, Maginness and DGB all at once. Just a shame we have to go through this charade of ‘needing our leaders out there’ while we get pole-axed.

We can’t have Burgoyne and Shiels and Ceglar and Breust and McEvoy and Hartigan and have Gunston slip back into the side at the expense of a younger player who is finding their way. We can probably afford to keep 3-4 of them in the team.

We remind me of the Bulldogs during 2014, convinced it will be Higgins, Griffin and Cooney that have the answers. Of course it was Bontempelli, Stringer, Dahlhaus, Libba, Macrea, Hunter and Johannisen who drove the next charge, all under 22 that year. The only players over 22 from that season who ended up with a medal two years later were Picken, Dickson, Wood, Morris and Boyd. They could’ve easily kept going with quality players like Higgins, Griffin, Manson, and Cooney (Griff wanting to leave is another story, but not irrelevant), but they just weren’t getting job done, and they got the requisite games into a young group who became their premiership players.
Great post. Articulated exactly how I feel.
 
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