Cox

[ONE EYE]

Awesome. RThats what I think of his pre season. He consistently beat White in the ruck and at throwins with jumping and strong use of body. He just has to palm it down to his running players. Last night too many times the Demons sharked the ruck tap.

But Coxy is looking very fit and strong.

Who ever suggested we trade him?

GO EAGLES!

 

[DanielKerr4]

Originally posted by ONE EYE

Who ever suggested we trade him?

Me!

 

[jod23]

The people that thought Seaby was ready said trade him....Seaby is years away. Cox would be first ruck at most clubs, only reason he isnt at ours is because we are blessed with the talents of Michael Gardiner.

 

[Voice of Reason]

...and those of us with less faith in our younger (particularly defensive) KPPs than Woosha who felt we might be able to remedy it with a trade for an experienced backman.

It depends how you want to play the game. I would rather have a tight defence than rely on a dominant ruckman tapping to a dominant midfield. But Woosha clearly believes that he can play enough games where we win the shoot-out to make it work.

It is a very interesting contrast. Here is a coach who was one of the best defenders, built his game around physical intimidation, was in the tightest defence around, under Malthouse's coaching style of "defence, defence, defence, kick it to the fat FF" - and his style is so completely opposite.

I'm enjoying the ride - it's marvellous attacking football. I'm just praying Woosha's got it right and it can actually win us a flag.

 

[vicki]

Originally posted by Voice of Reason
..

It is a very interesting contrast. Here is a coach who was one of the best defenders, built his game around physical intimidation, was in the tightest defence around, under Malthouse's coaching style of "defence, defence, defence, kick it to the fat FF" - and his style is so completely opposite.

"kick it to the fat FF " - how dare you !! I hope you are not talking of the greatest FF this club will ever see in Peter Sumich

 

[Frodo]

Naaa.....surely the Pieman was the fat FF

I agrre with VOR on the principle of building a team based on a sound foundation in defence. It is a wel known philosophy in Soccer too.

The question is, though, who was available to be traded to us and at what cost. I doubt we could have done a lot at the trading circus.
I think our younger guys will toughen up as they age. Hunter already showed a bit, Glass too and I think Lynch is no wuss. Water will be a regular probably next season and is tough as. Humm is ferocious and Nikoski is hard for his age. Green is hard and will get harder. Collica can lay one when needs be and Banners is tough. Even Carroll is tough, albeit lacking much skill.

 

[Mead]

Originally posted by Voice of Reason
It is a very interesting contrast. Here is a coach who was one of the best defenders, built his game around physical intimidation, was in the tightest defence around, under Malthouse's coaching style of "defence, defence, defence, kick it to the fat FF" - and his style is so completely opposite.

I'm enjoying the ride - it's marvellous attacking football. I'm just praying Woosha's got it right and it can actually win us a flag.

A lot of people have commented on that. Personally, I think that when Woosh was stuck on that dour HBF terrorising forwards for all those years, he was daydreaming of running and gunning it down the wing and kicking huge scores.

Actually, I think partly the reason we started playing like this is because it is the fastest way to get results with the team Woosh took over a few years ago. You don't need forwards, you don't need a defence, if you've got a decent ruckman and some blokes who can run fast, you can win games that way. Given what we had at the start of 2002 (namely, a decent ruckman and some blokes who could run fast), it wasn't surprising that was the way Woosh chose to go.

I think we're entering the phase where this team matures, and starts to build a decent structure to go with that basic gameplan.
On the basis of what we've seen, there's a fair chance that the Glass/Lynch/<classy midfielder>/McDougall/Johnson spine will be the basis of our team for a long time. As it develops, I think we'll see a more conventional backup plan for when the running and gunning isn't functioning well.