Opinion Do we really have 'too many' inside midfielders?

[huludicidal]

While I was in the process of compiling my team for Round 1 2014 over on that other thread, in addition to listing the names of the blokes who likely won't make the team in Round 1, I was quite surprised that, IMO, we don't appear to have the overabundance of 'inside mids' that many seem to believe we do.

For me, this makes the selection of Matt Crouch in the draft an even better selection that I originally thought.

To illustrate my point, I thought I'd list all of the guys on our senior list who aren't KPPs or ruckmen, and what I think their role will be moving forward:

S.Thompson - true inside mid, but only has 1-2 years left in him
P.Dangerfield - inside mid, but can also use his devastating speed on the outside, and play forward at times
R.Sloane - just won a club champion award playing predominantly an outside role / wing - this won't change
R.Douglas - was unlucky to miss out on his 2nd club champion award, playing a pretty balanced mixture of inside / outside roles - great 2 way runner who uses it well after receiving handballs
B.Crouch - inside mid, but can also run and I don't think we've seen jus how explosive he can be at this stage
N.van Berlo - tagger - every team has to have at least one of these, and he's our only one really
S.Kerridge - see him battling it out with M.Wright for a small/medium defensive forward role - this is becoming an increasingly important role in AFL football
M.Wright - see Kerridge
B.Smith - outside role to utilise his pace and booming right foot - either a wing or half back flank
M.Grigg - can play inside or outside, but I think most would prefer him receiving handballs on the outside to utilise his elite left foot skills
J.Lyons - true inside mid
M.Crouch - true inside mid
R.Knight - outside mid with pace who supposedly creates goal opportunities and uses it well
B.Reilly - small / medium defender / loose man in defence
L.Brown - small / medium defender at this stage
R.Laird - small defender
J.Petrenko - not good enough to be an AFL mid - small defensive forward
R.Henderson - loose man in defence / wing / can go forward at times
A.Otten - Third tall in defence / can go forward
T.Lynch - third tall in attack / can drift up the ground
E.Betts - genuine small forward
J.Porplyzia - small/medium forward who can play in the midfield in short bursts
D.Mackay - outside mid - please never play him in defensive 50 again!
B.Martin - outside mid - SANFL awaits
M.Jaensch - outside mid - see DMac
C.Ellis-Yolmen - half back flank / outside player
S.Shaw - third tall in defence / loose man / can go forward
R.Atkins - haven't seen much of him, but don't think he could possibly be classed as an inside mid


So as far as players who can actually play 'on the inside', we have:
Scott Thompson - I'm sure we all realise has 1-2 years left in him maximum
Dangerfield - superstar but can also play on the outside and up forward to maximise his strengths
Sloane - will be used mainly on the outside to continue his yellow jacket form
Douglas - inside / outside swingman
B.Crouch - elite inside mid who certainly isn't slow and quite frankly could end up the best player the club has ever had
Lyons - inside depth player who can fight it out with M.Crouch to replace Thommo when he retires
Kerridge - defensive forward role, or possibly a tagging role if NVB drifts out of favour
Wright - battling it out with Kerridge (can't see both making the starting 21 very often, if at all)
M.Crouch - see Lyons - probably has more upside than Lyons though. Won't see AFL time until 2015 you'd think
Grigg - outside role to utilise left foot
Smith - see Grigg but uses the other foot
NVB - tagger


I think the mix is just about perfect to be honest (which I wasn't really expecting before dissecting the list). We probably do lack a bit of linebreaking speed, but does anyone really think we should have taken a potentially flakey prospect like Impey or Hartung over Crouch now that you've had time to digest it all? I certainly don't.

I understand not everyone will agree with my assessments of each player's roles in the team, but it's all just opinion really. Feel free to rip it to shreds.

 

[whitey_1975]

Agreed. Look at Geelongs premiership teams and they look pretty similar in ratios.

 

[Bicks]

Agreed. Look at Geelongs premiership teams and they look pretty similar in ratios.

On the money,

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

I also would NOT rule out Smith playing inside & outside.

Most importantly most of our midfielders can play as both inside/outside mids & most can also play as a forward &/or defender, so we are building some flexibility into our side - which effectively gives us deeper rotations (handy for the cap on bench/interchange rotations).

 

[Tucks]

problem is the outside mids we do have are not of a high standard if you look at round 1 reserves team i think we will have atleast 2 quality insiders who can push into the team when needed not so for outsiders but i do like that the players we have and are drafting are tough at it and can win there own ball on the inside of our outside

 

[Archie87]

A true dashing wingman in the Dale Thomas mould would be great but I think we'll be ok. B.Crouch/Sloane/Dangerfield are no slouches on the outside. Brodie Smith can play both inside and outside effectively once he transitions to the midfield.

Here's one from outside the box: Luke Brown. He has a bit of pace and decent skills. If we could find another bloke to play his role down back I could see him being used on a wing at some stage too.

 

[bigtexan]

I think the key is to have blokes who can play multiple roles... The only one i can see so far that cant is thommo... Little crouch might in a similar mould but without seeing much of him apart from highlights from tac cup its too early to say.

Come wet weather and finals time there is nothing better then having a midfield group with blokes not afraid to go and get the tough footy

 

[whitey_1975]

Matt Crouch kicks a few goals too. He can play forward kind of in a Chris Knights type role.

 

[bigtexan]

Good to know... Looked pretty one dimesional from the highlights i saw. His tac cup team were apparently pretty bad so they would have wanted him where the action was

 

[hippyhippy]

What about battersby... He's already had 1 full season in the sanfl.. I'm sure he is ready for afl.. Or even Cameron, anyone think he can play a role like jetta?

 

[StonesThrow]

Just because you have a bunch of guys who love to win the hard ball, doesn't mean that is all they can be used for at any given contest.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

It's never looked as though we have an overabundance of inside mids when we are in need of a clearance at a crucial stage of a game

 

[cmndstab]

I've never understood the concept that we have "too many" inside mids. We have deficiencies in other areas of the ground, but simply having a good starting engine room is not even close to enough.

 

[adelaidecrows]

I've never understood the concept that we have "too many" inside mids. We have deficiencies in other areas of the ground, but simply having a good starting engine room is not even close to enough.

I actually think our only deficiency now is ruck depth but to be fair to graham we have never seen him play at AFL level for the crows to know whether he would be adequate. The reserves will probably give us a much better idea on our ruck stocks. Our forward line is in massive over abundance of talent and our defence is shaping up nicely. I am pretty happy with the list.

 

[little graham]

Once upon a time we had to many KPP's and they started taking bribes to play elsewhere.

Gunston
Davis
Tippet
Maric
Bock

now we have SFA

 

[WaynesWorld19]

I actually think our only deficiency now is ruck depth but to be fair to graham we have never seen him play at AFL level for the crows to know whether he would be adequate. The reserves will probably give us a much better idea on our ruck stocks. Our forward line is in massive over abundance of talent and our defence is shaping up nicely. I am pretty happy with the list.

Everyone discounts Osbourne ......id he's a keeper then we don't have any ruck issues

If Osbourne bombs then you're correct we are thin for rucks ........I am hoping we see some really positive signs from Osbourne next season

 

[Golumless]

Once upon a time we had to many KPP's and they started taking bribes to play elsewhere.

Gunston
Davis
Tippet
Maric
Bock

now we have SFA

The thing is, Davis, Bock and Talia are all fighting for the same position, now right now, Talia is the best of the bunch there. Maric would of been delisted had he stayed on our list, just couldn't put it together on our list, hence we were happy to let him go.

Gunston isn't a KPF, more a third forward, jury is out whether Lynch can replace him with a similar or better output.

Tippett is the only at the moment, we haven't replaced.

 

[little graham]

The thing is, Davis, Bock and Talia are all fighting for the same position, now right now, Talia is the best of the bunch there. Maric would of been delisted had he stayed on our list, just couldn't put it together on our list, hence we were happy to let him go.

Gunston isn't a KPF, more a third forward, jury is out whether Lynch can replace him with a similar or better output.

Tippett is the only at the moment, we haven't replaced.

I don't disagree. Just be prepared we might lose one inside mid to another club because a lack of opportunities or we might trade for a Key defender and Ruckman.

However there is also another aspect to this.AFL want to slow the game down, that brings inside mids into there zone.Possibly we're still drafting very intelligently (A Niel Craig legacy)