Core midfield going forward.

[Good_Old]

N. Brown, L. Keffe, B. Reid, T. Cloke best midfield group IMHO.

 

[Soul_Pie]

Our depth in the midfield has really fallen away, it seems like in terms of list management we seem to have really overlooked this area or at least not properly prepared for the decline of Swan and Ball and the loss of Thomas and Wellingham. We seem to have a fleet of small-mid defenders who can't kick and a bunch of light bodied, vanilla midfielders who can't really impact a contest. We also seem to get our balance wrong most weeks, leaving too much heavy lifting for Pendlebury, Beams and Sidebottom. There also doesn't appear to be many genuine gut runners who can constantly impact the play but that might have a lot to do with our fitness levels as a whole. There's no great distributor of the ball who can hurt you big time with some classy touches. A lot of work to be done in this department.

These days you need a couple of handfuls of guys who can rotate through the midfield at various points in the game, Sydney seem to have quality mids galore and Hawks have developed their side to have amazing versatility meaning you can throw guys where you need them. You probably need about eight guys part of the rotation who are capable of getting around 20 disposals or more each game.

I think we might need to look outside the list for answers personally, I don't see enough guys putting their hand up demanding to be noticed. Freeman hasn't played a game yet, JT has stagnated and is probably a part of the problem in terms of the makeup of our midfield, Dwyer can't offer us much long term, Blair is just Blair, Marley Williams has been touted as a possible answer but he's struggling to nail the fundamentals of kicking and handballing at this point. We need genuine, bona fide midfielders, not guys who we might be able to convert sometime down the line.

 

[datwhitey]

2015 Starting Midfield Group.
C: S.Sidebottom, S.Pendlebury, T.Broomhead
R: B.Grundy, D.Beams, B.Macaffer
With T.Adams, N.Freeman, D.Swan and B.Kennedy/J.Thomas also running through the midfield rotation.

I am personally more inclined to play Macaffer on outside ball getters like A.Gaff, S.Johnson, I.Smith, S.Hill and those players when possible. I think he has been terrific since taking on the tagging role, however i want us to be more aggressive in the midfield next year.

From 2010-2012 When we were a real powerhouse, we didn't tag. I know the game has changed and our side has changed, but we still have A-Grade Midfielders who i would back to win the clearances and the ball around the ground. Adding to this point; Adams, Freeman, Kennedy and co may struggle to develop into the A-Grade Midfielders they have the potential to be because they can't get the minutes they need due to Macaffer playing in the middle a majority of the time.

I also think Swan should go back to playing on Ball more in 2015. If he remains injury free over preseason, i would love to see him get his chance back in the midfield, where he belongs. Because his explosiveness and ability to find the ball is needed in there.

I am not sure Ball will play on next year, and why would you want to put his own teammate on him?

 

[Markfs]

The thing that gets to me is that nothing is happening now...now ....now....

Have a look at some examples. People are talking about Marley Williams making the midfield but he's nowhere near it. Sure he has just turned 21 and played 40 odd games but what is he doing now to make the midfield.

The same can be said about Elliott. Much the same age and games. He cant go to the midfield at the moment. Maybe in 3 or 4 years? Stuff that! He needs to be able to do it now.

Look at Sam Dwyer. Why isnt he burning up the midfield? Sure he was overlooked in about a dozen drafts which tends to indicate that he wont anything extraordinary going for him - skills, speed etc - but why isnt he destroying games? Simple question eh.

Josh Thomas hasnt got that tired old age excuse. He's about 23 so he should be a superstar because we drafted him at a pretty high pick. I think it was something like 75 and he's hopeless with his skills. He wont get any better. Crappy short-sighted pick. We could have got a superstar for that pick in the draft.

Taylor Adams is another one. No excuses here. Sure he's only 20 and played about 40 games but he was a super high draft pick. He should be burning like Chris Judd in his first season.

Ben Sinclair in much the same boat as Thomas. Similar age and games. Some will say hasnt played enough but they're looking for excuses. He should be in the midfield but he's hopeless and we used another draft pick to get him.

THe list goes on....

Some people are going to whine that they will get better with more experience and maturity. Stuff that! They should be elite now. If they cant produce elite football now, they should be dumped now.

 

[No SPIN]

The thing that gets to me is that nothing is happening now...now ....now....

Have a look at some examples. People are talking about Marley Williams making the midfield but he's nowhere near it. Sure he has just turned 21 and played 40 odd games but what is he doing now to make the midfield.

The same can be said about Elliott. Much the same age and games. He cant go to the midfield at the moment. Maybe in 3 or 4 years? Stuff that! He needs to be able to do it now.

Look at Sam Dwyer. Why isnt he burning up the midfield? Sure he was overlooked in about a dozen drafts which tends to indicate that he wont anything extraordinary going for him - skills, speed etc - but why isnt he destroying games? Simple question eh.

Josh Thomas hasnt got that tired old age excuse. He's about 23 so he should be a superstar because we drafted him at a pretty high pick. I think it was something like 75 and he's hopeless with his skills. He wont get any better. Crappy short-sighted pick. We could have got a superstar for that pick in the draft.

Taylor Adams is another one. No excuses here. Sure he's only 20 and played about 40 games but he was a super high draft pick. He should be burning like Chris Judd in his first season.

Ben Sinclair in much the same boat as Thomas. Similar age and games. Some will say hasnt played enough but they're looking for excuses. He should be in the midfield but he's hopeless and we used another draft pick to get him.

THe list goes on....

Some people are going to whine that they will get better with more experience and maturity. Stuff that! They should be elite now. If they cant produce elite football now, they should be dumped now.

BJ and Daisy - played in the backline then became and midfield rotations, so why not Marley and Sinclair?
Chris Judd is a once in a generation player - so the comparison with TA is unfounded
Didak was a forward and then played in the midfield - why is Elliot therefore not a mid field option accordingly?
Dwyer has been carrying knee all year, but other wise is clearly a midfield pick especially with his great vision. He was a good pick and just like Langdon I'm glad other teams overlooked them.
JT - agree very disappointing year

 

[Shaneprice97]

Karnezis i hope has massive pre-season with hopes to become a midfield regular in the mould of Stevie J, a big body who can play inside and out with natural goal sense and a touch of class.

Langdon will probably have another year or 2 as a full time backman, then after that become a 40% mid 60% backman, Scharenberg the same depending on how tall he will be.

 

[Markfs]

BJ and Daisy - played in the backline then became and midfield rotations, so why not Marley and Sinclair?
Chris Judd is a once in a generation player - so the comparison with TA is unfounded
Didak was a forward and then played in the midfield - why is Elliot therefore not a mid field option accordingly?
Dwyer has been carrying knee all year, but other wise is clearly a midfield pick especially with his great vision. He was a good pick and just like Langdon I'm glad other teams overlooked them.
JT - agree very disappointing year

Well they are not doing it now. It's ok to talk about past champions and say that the new boys can do it too, but they havent been able to do it. We've given them more than enough time to show if they would be any good in the midfield and they're most still stumbling around like headless chooks. Their disposal is crap. They are needed in there now and they're giving nothing. My patience has worn out and I think most of the people in the forum feel the same way.

 

[ksardog]

I would rather Seedsman on the wing. He isn't as tall as Marsh but still pretty tall and a much better kick. Marsh might be faster but I think Seedsman takes on the game more and has better evasion skills.

Yes seedsman is a monty to be a midfielder, i was looking more outside the box with Marsh, some genuine x factor with lighting pace big body, very difficult match up if he could put it all together. At this time they are just simplifying the game for him by playing down back. He has come on in leaps and bounds this year, sux that his year is over

 

[Mateyman]

Well they are not doing it now. It's ok to talk about past champions and say that the new boys can do it too, but they havent been able to do it. We've given them more than enough time to show if they would be any good in the midfield and they're most still stumbling around like headless chooks. Their disposal is crap. They are needed in there now and they're giving nothing. My patience has worn out and I think most of the people in the forum feel the same way.

None of them has been played in the mids this year that were mentioned in that post.
Marley I think we can understand will be better next year with less distractions. Willing to let him off a bit for his poor form this year.
Sinclair=injured
Elliott=brilliant, but nowhere near the midfield

 

[MeisterBot]

I'm probably the only one who thinks Caff can still make it. I'm hoping he can model his game around Ryan O'Keefe, has many of the same attributes physically. O'Keefe turned himself into a quality ball winning mid after being introduced into the midfield as a tagger. While I don't think Caff has the same ceiling, he has the potential to be a similar player instead of a pure shut down tagger. It's really our second tier that's lacking at the moment. We have the top end talent, but no support. In 2010-2011 we had Swan, Pendlebury and Ball as our core with Thomas, Didak and Wellingham as that second tier. Now though, our second tier is Lumumba, Macaffer and Young. Big difference in talent and balance.

We have the players on the list though, so it should be a case of development and hoping the injury gods are kind to us.

Core: Pendlebury, Beams, Adams
Second stringers: Broomhead (Didak), Freeman (Daisy), Karnezis (Wellingham), Macaffer, Seedsman
Rotations: Kennedy, Langdon, Scharenberg, Sidebottom, etc

I do think we need one strong, big bodied mid with pace (#getDangerfield) but the potential is there if we can develop it.

 

[No SPIN]

Well they are not doing it now. It's ok to talk about past champions and say that the new boys can do it too, but they havent been able to do it. We've given them more than enough time to show if they would be any good in the midfield and they're most still stumbling around like headless chooks. Their disposal is crap. They are needed in there now and they're giving nothing. My patience has worn out and I think most of the people in the forum feel the same way.

BJ had crap disposal and eventually became a legend, as his skills improved and he got experience.
Players take time to develop, you cant judge them with to early.

Bagging them to justify an anti-Buckley bias is very transparent.

 

[Markfs]

None of them has been played in the mids this year that were mentioned in that post.
Marley I think we can understand will be better next year with less distractions. Willing to let him off a bit for his poor form this year.
Sinclair=injured
Elliott=brilliant, but nowhere near the midfield

Hasn't Marley had more than enough time to get his game together? Obviously, you're a more patient man than I am. I think that you can normally see if a guy is going to make it within a few games. I grant you that a player might be nervous for a few quarters before they settle down but I cant see why I'm being asked to wait years for a guy to learn to kick or make the right decisions...

 

[Markfs]

BJ had crap disposal and eventually became a legend, as his skills improved and he got experience.
Players take time to develop, you cant judge them with to early.

Bagging them to justify an anti-Buckley bias is very transparent.

I dont need to bag players to justify bagging Buckley. He's been pretty ordinary from the start, without any help from the players...... and we all know that the players wouldnt really care if he was under pressure because he just cant get them to play for him. It's something that 3000 games isnt going to change. They just wont play for him. He can turnover the whole list 3 times and try to hypnotise them to play for him and it is just not going to happen.

As for Johnson, his disposal did improve a little over the journey. However, I think most people could see that was going to happen in his early days. The current crop of players are just hopeless on the disposal front. They will never change. I'm not even sure that they want to. The coach isnt motivating them to improve their disposal, even if they could. I just think that we've waited long enough and it's time to do something.

 

[No SPIN]

I dont need to bag players to justify bagging Buckley. He's been pretty ordinary from the start, without any help from the players...... and we all know that the players wouldnt really care if he was under pressure because he just cant get them to play for him. It's something that 3000 games isnt going to change. They just wont play for him. He can turnover the whole list 3 times and try to hypnotise them to play for him and it is just not going to happen.

As for Johnson, his disposal did improve a little over the journey. However, I think most people could see that was going to happen in his early days. The current crop of players are just hopeless on the disposal front. They will never change. I'm not even sure that they want to. The coach isnt motivating them to improve their disposal, even if they could. I just think that we've waited long enough and it's time to do something.

Now you're emotional and unable to sustain a logical argument.

I'll stop here before you blow a gasket - its very clear I have made my point.

 

[Mateyman]

Hasn't Marley had more than enough time to get his game together? Obviously, you're a more patient man than I am. I think that you can normally see if a guy is going to make it within a few games. I grant you that a player might be nervous for a few quarters before they settle down but I cant see why I'm being asked to wait years for a guy to learn to kick or make the right decisions...

Because he could clearly do it last year. That makes me wonder what has changed. My guess is the court case. Ergo I think he will improve next year.

 

[Mateyman]

I dont need to bag players to justify bagging Buckley. He's been pretty ordinary from the start, without any help from the players...... and we all know that the players wouldnt really care if he was under pressure because he just cant get them to play for him. It's something that 3000 games isnt going to change. They just wont play for him. He can turnover the whole list 3 times and try to hypnotise them to play for him and it is just not going to happen.

As for Johnson, his disposal did improve a little over the journey. However, I think most people could see that was going to happen in his early days. The current crop of players are just hopeless on the disposal front. They will never change. I'm not even sure that they want to. The coach isnt motivating them to improve their disposal, even if they could. I just think that we've waited long enough and it's time to do something.

xYou would have absolutely 0 idea whether the players are trying in general and also specifically on their disposal. Pretty sure as professional athletes they would be trying to improve their game without the coach needing too spoon feed them everything.

 

[MeisterBot]

Why do people always take Markfs seriously when he posts like that? I mean it's hilarious but also frustrating. No one else notices the dripping sarcasm? Maybe it's just me and I'm imagining things and he's completely serious...

 

[Markfs]

Why do people always take Markfs seriously when he posts like that? I mean it's hilarious but also frustrating. No one else notices the dripping sarcasm? Maybe it's just me and I'm imagining things and he's completely serious...

The question that you have to ask yourself is, does he believe the stupid things that he types or is he posting stupid things for some other reason. Now I would prefer you to believe that I'm 100% committed to these stupid ideas...

Then again, I mightnt believe that the things that I'm typing are stupid...

 

[Mateyman]

Why do people always take Markfs seriously when he posts like that? I mean it's hilarious but also frustrating. No one else notices the dripping sarcasm? Maybe it's just me and I'm imagining things and he's completely serious...

See the sarcasm the second time. I usually note it, but I think I may have missed it here

 

[Markfs]

xYou would have absolutely 0 idea whether the players are trying in general and also specifically on their disposal. Pretty sure as professional athletes they would be trying to improve their game without the coach needing too spoon feed them everything.

Matey, you have a choice. Either the players are practicing and are failing miserably.....so you should sack em
or they are not practicing and are not listening to the coach......so you should sack em...... and the coach

 

[Markfs]

See the sarcasm the second time. I usually note it, but I think I may have missed it here

People are so worried about being made a fool of....I find that surprising when I read some of the stuff in the forum. I always think that a smart post can win against any sarcastic comment.

 

[THATSGOLD]

Jury is out on Josh Thomas. Needs to finish off 2014 strong.

Blair hasn't come on.

Ball should retire.

Swan plays anywhere now. Not a mid anymore.

We are struggling big time in the middle.

Kennedy. Buckley won't play him. Still think he'll make a better forward pocket.