Being a ‘mid’ these only really counts for centre bounces. General play there could be 8 or more ‘mids around the ball. JPK and co will rotate for sure for centre bounces. Not particularly worried about the % of ‘mid’ time.
Preview Finally - Sydney v Essendon (79 day wait is over)
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Yes, but the difference now is the list profile. We have a lot more leg speed in the midfield and on the flanks than in previous seasons.
I would be shocked if Horse did not recognise this and adapt his gameplan to suit our strengths. The style of play against the Crows has me feeling optimistic that he will.
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That goal JPK kicked in R1 was the type only a handful of players with ultra quick reflexes usually pull off. I had to have another look to check it was actually him. It felt like JPK was playing with more freedom than he has for the past couple of years. Throw in the support he's now getting from Rowbottom, Florent etc and I think he's in for a massive year.
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Apart from Kennedy, I think the inside midfield we have now is what we will have for the next few years. (So Parker, Hewett, Florent and Rowbottom.) I can't see who else will come in.
Hopefully Warner will develop as an inside bull but he does not seem like a running player. Stephens will be probably be an outside player for a long time. (It has taken Florent a while to become comfortable as a inside mid.) Mcinerney, L. Taylor, Ling and Foot seem more like Wingers. I think Bell and Clarke are OK depth but they are not rated on here.
This year we will probably draft Campbell and Gulden who are more wing or half forwards. And we have not been looking to trade in a big name inside mid. So I think what we have now is what will be our midfield.
People have been quick to jump on the Parker / Kennedy / Hewett midfield as being slow and 1-dimensional.. People are demanding more speed and better quality clearances... ie Florent etc to play more inside
The stats from round one tell a story.
- Clearences: Parker 12, Kennedy 10, Florent 6, Naismith 5 - (everyone else 2 or less)
- Tackles: Parker 6, Kennedy, 7, Florent 2, Naismith 4 - (Ronke 6, Heeney & Taylor 4, everyone else 3 or less)
In rd 1, Parker and Kennedy did the majority of the inside work. Unlike last year, they were able to feed the ball to our quick outside/inside mids like Florent (who managed 514m gained when the next best was Parker with 357m gained - a massive difference), Im thinking JPK and Parker will enjoy the extra help from Hewett.
Watching that game and now reading the stats Im pretty confident that JPK, Parker and Hewett (with the help of the developing Rowbottom, Warner) will play mostly inside. There is a long list of players that they will be feeding the ball to - Florent, McInerney, Stephens, Grey, Paps, etc etc who will all play some inside minutes but mostly their other role. As the young guys (Florent, McInerney, Stephens etc) add experience, muscle, hardness and a few tricks to their games over the coming years, Im sure Horse will play them inside a lot more
The midfield is developing. JPK (and Parker) have a massive role in that development, through leadership, teaching tricks of the trade and protecting the younger bodies
The big difference in rd 1 was Naismith, He comfortably beat his opponent in hit outs, hit outs to advantage, tackles and clearances. He gave Parker and JPK the time and opportunity to feed the ball out.
The stats from round one tell a story.
- Clearences: Parker 12, Kennedy 10, Florent 6, Naismith 5 - (everyone else 2 or less)
- Tackles: Parker 6, Kennedy, 7, Florent 2, Naismith 4 - (Ronke 6, Heeney & Taylor 4, everyone else 3 or less)
In rd 1, Parker and Kennedy did the majority of the inside work. Unlike last year, they were able to feed the ball to our quick outside/inside mids like Florent (who managed 514m gained when the next best was Parker with 357m gained - a massive difference), Im thinking JPK and Parker will enjoy the extra help from Hewett.
Watching that game and now reading the stats Im pretty confident that JPK, Parker and Hewett (with the help of the developing Rowbottom, Warner) will play mostly inside. There is a long list of players that they will be feeding the ball to - Florent, McInerney, Stephens, Grey, Paps, etc etc who will all play some inside minutes but mostly their other role. As the young guys (Florent, McInerney, Stephens etc) add experience, muscle, hardness and a few tricks to their games over the coming years, Im sure Horse will play them inside a lot more
The midfield is developing. JPK (and Parker) have a massive role in that development, through leadership, teaching tricks of the trade and protecting the younger bodies
The big difference in rd 1 was Naismith, He comfortably beat his opponent in hit outs, hit outs to advantage, tackles and clearances. He gave Parker and JPK the time and opportunity to feed the ball out.
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round 1 feels so long ago, rewatching it, we looked so tired late
taylor was awful , he needs to improve
naismith was outstanding
taylor was awful , he needs to improve
naismith was outstanding
caesar88
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In fairness I don't think many people at all have a problem with Parker/Kennedy/Hewett. Reckon I'm pretty clearly in a minority on this one, which suggests I may well be wrong. But I can only call it as I see it as everyone does.
You point out the stats from round one, but they don't tell the whole story. We were beaten quite comfortably in the first and fourth quarters. It was really only in the middle quarters where we were actually able to put in a good showing from the centre. If you take the second quarter, easily our best quarter of the day and the one that got us on top, a quick look at possession maps shows Kennedy & Parker had 4 possessions in the centre square combined, while Florent had 4 alone. So clearly it was Florent, not JPK & Parker, who was the driving force behind our best footy that day. No point looking at overall numbers because of course JPK & Parker are going to always rack up huge stats when they are the most frequent and most experienced faces in our midfield. They were routinely our stat-leaders in games last year when we were getting flogged.
But stats don't reflect what they do with it. JPK & Parker might've got a lot of it but our midfield was clearly functioning best in the quarter where they barely touched it from a centre bounce. Not a coincidence IMO.
Might also help to look at the opponent too.
caesar88
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I agree, but we can realistically expect the likes of Florent, Rowbottom and co, even Hewett, to get better and improve, so I don't put too much stock into their round one performances other than taking away the encouraging signs they showed. I think it's fair to hold the two stalwarts to a different standard than those around them.
The midfielders we seemed to have drafted suggest it's going to be a very different-looking midfield group in the future. We haven't really had guys of the Florent and Stephens mould running through our centre bounces in yonks. Haven't had a hard-running wingman in McInerney since Jetta. Haven't had an inside mid whose actually explosive from congestion like Rowbottom in over a decade. Even Hewett who is perhaps the most limited of the lot is still a lot more polished and less scrappy than our past inside mids. There's also a chance that Blakey who is super talented will run through there at various points. If they can all make it as players, then it will be an unrecognisable midfield collective for us Swans fans.
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And it showed. I really hope a lot of our guys did the extra yards to stay/get fitter during the lockdown so we can go that little bit longer than everyone
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Yeah watched the game myself yesterday, might watch it one more time, first half was good, we started to tire in 2nd half and would have lost if Tex kicked the goal which he was even money to do so.
Forward line crisis: Swans, Dons sweating on injury concerns
Sydney and Essendon are both dealing with injury headaches in their forward lines
www.afl.com.au
McDonald-Tipungwuti sustained an ankle injury over the weekend, seems to be in doubt to play now which is excellent for us. They'll also be without Daniher, Fantasia and possibly Stringer who also hurt himself over the weekend. That'd be a massive help for us.
Florent and the midfield would be lost without JPK and Parker!
caesar88
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Maybe so but where are we going with them?
We lose the same way against the same teams and it's been the same story for half a dozen years now.
Our midfield loaded with warriors and All Australians and club champions etc gets shown up, again and again, against midfields with pace and efficiency.
Hawthorn since 2012. Bulldogs and GWS. Richmond in recent years.
They give us repeated head-aches in the middle because their run and spread is so much better than ours, and the quality of their possession out of the centre is so much better than ours.
So the question is how do we get better in there? I don't know. The consensus seems to be that the midfield hasn't been good the last few years, but then when it comes time to name names, everyone's a superstar who deserves more respect, and they're still in form, and they're champions of the club.
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100% agree.
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Have to agree. So coaching, or talent? I suspect in the middle its coaching. On the outside its guts, talent AND coaching.
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Bulldogs and GWS are the literal two best midfields in the comp who rarely get beaten at all and Hawthorn were a dynasty that our midfield regularly matched up well enough with in plenty of home and away games. Those are extreme examples for a team that didn't make finals to compare to.
Florent isnt going to carry the midfield for a few years yet, even in that round 1 game it was just 1 quarter out of 4 that he was great, not sighted much in the other 3. Our two gun academy midfielders arent midfielders at all and we let the young gun mids we had walk. Heaping on Parker and Kennedy regularly is unnecessary, they are two of the best servants the club has ever had and were the two best mids for 4 quarters in Round 1. Parker in particular thrived with an actual ruckman in the team which we havent had for 3 years.
Bad luck, arguably poor development, and poor list management is why the midfield sucks, not Parker and Kennedy.
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i can see your view longer term and broadly speaking
but i dont think those broader issues change no matter who we play there currently
jpk is stil, the best bet, maybe sadly (more no one has passed him), but generally you are right
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this season will be open imo, just whoever handles all the crap will win above talent, even an ordinary list like ours
ive had a long time to sound off to essendon fans, so i kind of need this 1 win
ive had a long time to sound off to essendon fans, so i kind of need this 1 win
where are we going with them??
Going to the draft and developing FFS! Doesn't happen overnight
we lose the same way ..... half a dozen years...
- finals 5 of those 6 years
- robbed of a grand final 2016
- 6 points off top 4 in 2017 after losing the first 6 games
What a terrible record over the last 6 years!!!
Wow... Who would want a midfield loaded with warriors, All Australians and Club champions... a disaster waiting to happen
repeated head aches??
Yep there are other teams in this national competition that are also f***ing fantastic. Its the way the AFL structures things, they want to allow all clubs a chance to win
So how do we get better?? - you're right... you don't know!
firstly.. Trust in the club that has been one of the most successful this century
second.. yes JPK is a superstar!, and,, has an extremely important role to teach the young crew. Parker is also a great leader. Maybe we should sack JPK and Parker (that wouldn't hurt culture?? get rid of the old guys) and trade in Martin, Fyfe and Dangerfield. Oh forgot.. theres a salary cap.. and they have loyalty to their clubs..
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absolutely
Kennedy Parker
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Think the more pressing issue with our midfield particularly last year is our decline in contested possessions and clearances. Last year we were literally dead last in contested possessions and 2nd last in clearances (on differentials).
We have to develop speedier mids and better kicks, but they're not much help if you don't have the ball.
We were right up there in both areas in 16.
When Mitchell left we couldn't find a replacement.
Then Hanners broke down and we couldn't find a replacement.
Then Jack burnt out and we couldn't find a replacement.
Now our midfield is Parker, an ageing JPK, occasionally Heeney, Hewett or Florent could chip in a starring game but that's pretty much it.
Gonna take years build up the generation.
We have to develop speedier mids and better kicks, but they're not much help if you don't have the ball.
We were right up there in both areas in 16.
When Mitchell left we couldn't find a replacement.
Then Hanners broke down and we couldn't find a replacement.
Then Jack burnt out and we couldn't find a replacement.
Now our midfield is Parker, an ageing JPK, occasionally Heeney, Hewett or Florent could chip in a starring game but that's pretty much it.
Gonna take years build up the generation.
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carro saying crowds back queensland this week , small though
melbourne next week
not sure sydney
melbourne next week
not sure sydney
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end of 16 Sydney probably thought by 2020 it would be parker, kennedy as he is roughly but hanners still going and heeney and mills in the guts
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