Do our forwards make dumb leads?

[rgauci]

Everyone blames the midfield. But surely our kicking skills aren't that much lower than other teams. Other teams miss targets. But i got to thinking is it completely the midfield's fault.

I think our forwards suffer from premature leading.

The perfect play was when McPharlin (i think) was outside 50m, he gestured which way he wanted Headland to lead then put the ball out in front.

Headland who obviously had eye contact with McPharlin followed the instructions and was on the end of the ball in a flash. I wouldn't rate McPharlin a pin point kicker. In fact his kicking action is atrocious (but effective) and wouldn't rate in our top dozen kickers.

But somehow he managed to hit a forward inside 50 without too much pressure.

The problem with our forward line is that they are dictating where they want the midfielder to pass the ball. Often leading before the midfielder has assessed the situation. We whinge that our midfielders are kicking to Pav in a 3 on 1 situation. Why is the guy leading at 2 other players? I'd understand if our midfield were bombing it on his head in 3 on 1 situations. But often HBFers would cut off the pass. Surely some blame must be laid on the forwards.

I know its blasphemy to criticise our super star forward line. But at the moment they are more dysfunctional than those down the road.

Headland and McPharlin seem to make the smartest leads inside our forward 50. I think its because both players rate their pace and ability to keep front position. Its also got to do with reading the fall of the ball. Pavlich and Tarrant will lead all day, and keep front position by being fitter than their opponent. But when push comes to shove when the ball isn't being delivered perfectly, both have a tendency to give up front position.

More simply, during a Pavlich/Tarrant lead, they will continue leading in their nominated direction despite the ball not falling in that direction. It makes the midfield look bad. I think Headland and McPharlin adjust quicker to the fall of the ball and fight depsite being outpositioned.

 

[The Night Shift]

It's never a bad thing to be introspective after a loss, but there is such a thing as reading too much into a loss, especially to one particular match.
Against Collingwood - we lost Heath Black early, failed to capitilse on attacks and allowed the pies to kick goals late in the quarter. Rocca torn us a new one, and we just seemed to run out of puff.
As far as bad leads I cannot honestly see our forward line being any worse than some of the other decent forward lines going around. We still seem Pav centred when going forward [this simply has to change]. Yesterday, the kicks kept going over our fowards heads. To me thats not bad leading by forwards.

 

[Frigate]

It's never a bad thing to be introspective after a loss, but there is such a thing as reading too much into a loss, in regards especially one particular match.

Well said.

On the post, the answer is no. Get the stats on inside 50's compare it to shots on goals. Cross that with the Pies, and that is the main reason we lost the match. I would rather see a shot from 55m than kicking to Pavlich every time. Seriously if you are going to go to Pav every time atleast have someone front and center.

 

[Sman-21]

Thats another thing that bothers me everyone knows the ball is going to pavlich more often than not.
So where are the midfielders and crumbers running towards that position to pick up crumbs??
So often u will see the ball hit the ground then taken out of our forward line with little pressure.

I understand players have to leave space for pav to lead into but theres no excuse for them not to be running hard to that area getting ready for crumbs.