Player Watch Dan Houston

[sr36]

That’s a given because clubs always evolve, but I do think our greatest strength, in our predictability to each other, also became our greatest weakness late season. The likes of Andrews, Barrass and all the Geelong defenders eat that up*. Yes we’re a defense first team and it’s obvious we go long down the line more than anyone and shift angles less than anyone in order to protect that defensive group, but there does come a time where you need to leverage this guy by getting the ball in his hands more or bite the bullet and move on because there’s far too much tied up in him to be getting it 12 times in a PF.

We do it with Nick in the middle, we do it with Jaicos behind the ball and we do it with Elliott out of the square. The Cats invest in Smith and make him the man they then look completely different in the middle. This guy is on par with them and whilst I’m not advocating for a Zorko/ Houston at Port designated kicker role I do think a great starting point is kick ins.

*I think our best brand of footy under Fly has been against Geelong because we understand helter skelter is the best way to get them. The problem has been that Geelong have also been damn good.

I think the real issue thing that we're protecting is too many slowies through the midfield. When the game opens up, they get exposed.

 

[TakingThePies]

We saw Shooter take a bit of time to get into and this year he was immense.

Houston has too be the guy off half back next year, Josh into full time mid.

 

[Vankri]

I think the real issue thing that we're protecting is too many slowies through the midfield. When the game opens up, they get exposed.

For sure and Houston on a wing compounds the issue especially when we can’t give Hill his minutes there like we’ve been doing.

Lipinski - Sidey - Houston as wing rotations is asking for trouble from fast running teams.

Josh and R Steele taking time there is an improvement in that regard.

 

[Scodog10]

I think the real issue thing that we're protecting is too many slowies through the midfield. When the game opens up, they get exposed.

That’s a good shout and I think that can be rectified with some tweaks, but I don’t think predictability is going to take us as far in 2026. Bringing in May likely provides some flexibility down back to release Jaicos and Perryman as a start.

 

[Dtennent94]

Next year, would love to see a core midfield group of:

Naicos, Jaicos, McCreery, Crisp, Perryman, Long.

Sidey and DeGoey forward more. Pendles and Houston back more. Pendles maybe not in the team every week tbh or at least playing a more peripheral role off the bench, like a Steele, Allan, etc did this year. HH and Hill forward would mean McCreery wouldn’t be missed up there.

 

[Vankri]

Next year, would love to see a core midfield group of:

Naicos, Jaicos, McCreery, Crisp, Perryman, Long.

Sidey and DeGoey forward more. Pendles and Houston back more. Pendles maybe not in the team every week tbh or at least playing a more peripheral role off the bench, like a Steele, Allan, etc did this year. HH and Hill forward would mean McCreery wouldn’t be missed up there.

I’m all for Josh on a wing and Pez in the middle. Sidey may struggle to find a spot if he doesn’t get wing time so it might be a mix.

The outlier to me on that list is Crisp. I hope I’m being too pessimistic but there’s a real chance to me that his streak comes to an end by omission.

 

[Scodog10]

I’m all for Josh on a wing and Pez in the middle. Sidey may struggle to find a spot if he doesn’t get wing time so it might be a mix.

The outlier to me on that list is Crisp. I hope I’m being too pessimistic but there’s a real chance to me that his streak comes to an end by omission.

I’m not a fan of this one. I think the reason Jaicos to the back flank was a winner is because it got the ball in his hands more. The wing is a highly technical role and if you’re averaging 20ppg that’s elite. IMO, we need to bite the bullet and get him in the contest more.

He has the agility to get inside to outside and you just know if his brother gets first hands he’ll find him. Clubs started sitting on him on the outside and if you’ve got him through the middle alongside Nick that’s much tougher. Not to mention it adds more speed.

 

[Jelly Bean]

I’m not a fan of this one. I think the reason Jaicos to the back flank was a winner is because it got the ball in his hands more. The wing is a highly technical role and if you’re averaging 20ppg that’s elite. IMO, we need to bite the bullet and get him in the contest more.

He has the agility to get inside to outside and you just know if his brother gets first hands he’ll find him. Clubs started sitting on him on the outside and if you’ve got him through the middle alongside Nick that’s much tougher. Not to mention it adds more speed.

I agree on the hesitation of just saying 'Josh on the wing because he was AA there'. He was AA there in '23. He was below average there in '24, and then we moved him to HB late when he excelled. If we decide to move Josh off HB in '26 to uplift Houston, we need to be ready for the resulting 'downlift' of Josh being taken out of that position.

I am also interested in seeing what he can do as a centre square mid, but so far he only has one exceptional quarter of history there.

 

[Vankri]

If it helps I was a big advocate of Josh to HB end of 2024 because he had lost his spark on a wing. But I think on team balance and with the Houston conundrum it doesn’t make sense anymore. Otherwise trade Houston. Even if Josh has become an A+ HB playmaker and an A winger I’d take the latter.

I am not as keen on Josh inside mid as most here. I think there’s a big element of getting swayed by his Q4 vs GC which hasn’t been replicated whatsoever (he has had chances on the inside and centre bounces). In another team yes, but in ours we do not need another small agile mid to take Nick’s role unless Nick himself is getting tagged and we want to gain a bit of that back. If Nick gets his hands on the ball he usually can drive it forward himself (via 1-2 handballs or using his speed). He doesn’t need someone to give it to, he needs someone to play defensive mid to cover his offensive runs (Pez to be our Dunkey) and someone like Long to take the hits on the hottest balls so he doesn’t have to go for every single ball and we end up becoming the Nick Football Club.

Wing + some minutes on the inside to mix it up is my preference. He would have learnt quite a bit from play making in the past year and he was the best or second best winger in the comp in 2023. Of course if we start that way and he kills it when he goes in the middle then you can switch but so far that’s been the case for a quarter and a bit on a strange night.

 

[gouki88]

I agree on the hesitation of just saying 'Josh on the wing because he was AA there'. He was AA there in '23. He was below average there in '24, and then we moved him to HB late when he excelled. If we decide to move Josh off HB in '26 to uplift Houston, we need to be ready for the resulting 'downlift' of Josh being taken out of that position.

I am also interested in seeing what he can do as a centre square mid, but so far he only has one exceptional quarter of history there.

I would like to see him get more midfield time. His centre clearance rate this season was astronomical in relatively limited opportunity, but that GC game was pretty tantalising.

He’s also a pretty good ball magnet wherever he lines up. Prefer his skills in the middle or front half

 

[sr36]

If it helps I was a big advocate of Josh to HB end of 2024 because he had lost his spark on a wing. But I think on team balance and with the Houston conundrum it doesn’t make sense anymore. Otherwise trade Houston. Even if Josh has become an A+ HB playmaker and an A winger I’d take the latter.

I am not as keen on Josh inside mid as most here. I think there’s a big element of getting swayed by his Q4 vs GC which hasn’t been replicated whatsoever (he has had chances on the inside and centre bounces). In another team yes, but in ours we do not need another small agile mid to take Nick’s role unless Nick himself is getting tagged and we want to gain a bit of that back. If Nick gets his hands on the ball he usually can drive it forward himself (via 1-2 handballs or using his speed). He doesn’t need someone to give it to, he needs someone to play defensive mid to cover his offensive runs (Pez to be our Dunkey) and someone like Long to take the hits on the hottest balls so he doesn’t have to go for every single ball and we end up becoming the Nick Football Club.

Wing + some minutes on the inside to mix it up is my preference. He would have learnt quite a bit from play making in the past year and he was the best or second best winger in the comp in 2023. Of course if we start that way and he kills it when he goes in the middle then you can switch but so far that’s been the case for a quarter and a bit on a strange night.

I think Josh could play any third of the ground. I think we could have a look at him in a high half forward role - with some midfield rotations when Nick is not in the midfield.

 

[Vankri]

I think Josh could play any third of the ground. I think we could have a look at him in a high half forward role - with some midfield rotations when Nick is not in the midfield.

He certainly can, just depends where you think he’s most needed for team balance and to counter opposition midfields. The HHF works for me too and sorts out the Houston role at least, and means Lipinski and Sidey stay on the wing (ideally we see more of R Steele there). Maybe allows Beau to spend more time in the middle too. It’s a competitive area of the ground for us though with Jordy, Bobby, Elliott, Lip, Sidey, HH.

Agree if Josh goes in it’s probably switching him and his bro.

 

[sr36]

He certainly can, just depends where you think he’s most needed for team balance and to counter opposition midfields. The HHF works for me too and sorts out the Houston role at least, and means Lipinski and Sidey stay on the wing (ideally we see more of R Steele there). Maybe allows Beau to spend more time in the middle too. It’s a competitive area of the ground for us though with Jordy, Bobby, Elliott, Lip, Sidey, HH.

Agree if Josh goes in it’s probably switching him and his bro.

I think it comes down to our game plan and the changes we make to it. In the current game plan, I think Josh is needed where he is.

 

[Bogsey]

I am really hoping that Dan is suffering from the 1st season, just like Schultz did. And next season he takes off again like Lachie did as well!

 

[TradeDraft]

 

[jimmy35]

He’ll be much more comfortable next year, big year coming up for Dan. Josh then into the middle will boost our quality on ball.

 

[Pendles!]

We have to find a way to get this guy firing. So much upside there that we can’t leave on the table.

 

[jmac70]

We have to find a way to get this guy firing. So much upside there that we can’t leave on the table.

A rocket up his arse should do the trick.

 

[FromTheBoundaryLine]

At this stage I’d like Dan to find his feet in the backline. I’d love to see us go with just four permanent forwards e.g Bobby and Jamie as the permanent smalls and just the two genuine talls.

We’ve got a lot of players who could share midfield/ forward/ wing duties and be damaging and also improve our much talked about connection Josh being just one of them.

Less predictablility, more scoring power and flexibility during the game but a little more difficult system wise possibly.

 

[Drought Break]

The Copeland. Does that just list top 10? As expected Dan wasn’t in it and would struggle to be in the next lot of 10. That’s very poor return for a dual AA. This was our big chance this season and to have him misfiring badly hurt us.

 

[jmac70]

So glad this has been said for the millionth time.

 

[gouki88]

So glad this has been said for the millionth time.

What do you expect people to talk about in mid-October?

 

[WalterBlaknWhte]

What do you expect people to talk about in mid-October?

Well, in your case Gouks

I expect you to be on the phone to JB1975 deciding the start time of the revolution

 

[gouki88]

Well, in your case Gouks

I expect you to be on the phone to JB1975 deciding the start time of the revolution

We’ll win you over with our dazzling good looks (and blindingly white trousers)

 

[jathanas]

The Copeland. Does that just list top 10? As expected Dan wasn’t in it and would struggle to be in the next lot of 10. That’s very poor return for a dual AA. This was our big chance this season and to have him misfiring badly hurt us.

Focus on the upside. The club will try for the big dance in '26 and there is enormous unrealised potential in Dan.