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TheBrownDog
- Dec 23, 2002
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It is pretty funny because I said that I thought Turner had the temperament to play a tagging role or a lockdown defender on a smaller forward at the time he was playing forward. I do think you need the forward flanker who plays on an aggressive rebounder to be more accountable, but at the end of the day you ultimately need small forwards to create goals and kick goals and rove at the feet of packs. We can't have the scenario where as soon as the ball hits the deck the opposition take it out easily and score on the rebound and that was largely happening because our smaller forwards were never front and square of contests.
My desire to see Turner out of the forward line was more so he would find a role that had longevity, because getting players like Thomas, Scott, Simpkin, etc was going to make it difficult on players who held fringe smaller forward or midfield roles, if they were pigeonholed as just that then I think they would eventually be forced out of the side. This was more 2019/20 than this year though, I was pretty happy when last pre-season he was being tried for different roles. I felt he has been really good this year in some challenging roles.
My only real concern with Mahony was when he was playing mostly midfield time, because he was getting destroyed physically and I had flashbacks to how Adams left the game prematurely. I suggested he be used forward, I think he has the forward smarts, some of his creative work yesterday was fantastic. Simpkin played forward for a while and was eased into a more midfield role. Mahony is only 70kg and I think if you are a lightweight in the middle you need to have amazing agility and an unhanny awareness, that kind of 360 degree awareness like Boomer and what is more common with indigenous players. You can't have these kids leave the field horizontally.
My desire to see Turner out of the forward line was more so he would find a role that had longevity, because getting players like Thomas, Scott, Simpkin, etc was going to make it difficult on players who held fringe smaller forward or midfield roles, if they were pigeonholed as just that then I think they would eventually be forced out of the side. This was more 2019/20 than this year though, I was pretty happy when last pre-season he was being tried for different roles. I felt he has been really good this year in some challenging roles.
My only real concern with Mahony was when he was playing mostly midfield time, because he was getting destroyed physically and I had flashbacks to how Adams left the game prematurely. I suggested he be used forward, I think he has the forward smarts, some of his creative work yesterday was fantastic. Simpkin played forward for a while and was eased into a more midfield role. Mahony is only 70kg and I think if you are a lightweight in the middle you need to have amazing agility and an unhanny awareness, that kind of 360 degree awareness like Boomer and what is more common with indigenous players. You can't have these kids leave the field horizontally.