Forward mix

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heavho

heavho

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Dec 22, 2005
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This is something that has been a big issue for the club since day dot. We have brought in guys through trades that have failed and we have never had the right mix of talls,mediums and smalls. It’s something that we have to get right next year to give us a chance of kicking a score that will give us a chance of winning more consistently.

You can’t have all of tabener,treacy,lobb all in the one forward line. It becomes too tall. We have only one small in Shultz that can hit the scoreboard. Walters is all but done and maybe it’s time we moved on from him as tough as that might be for some as he has been a loyal servant to the club.
Who are the mediums that we have that we can use as our higher half forward flank? There is sturt but apart from that we have nobody. Possibly federick ?

These are issues that probably should be higher on the agenda than looking for that key tall forward to solve the problem. Let’s say we do get that key tall in the draft. If we indeed still have lobb are we going to have one of treacy,lobb,tabener out of the team in peel?

forward mix should be

medium. Tall. Medium

Small. Tall. Small

This is the right mix from my perspective
 
heavho said:
This is something that has been a big issue for the club since day dot. We have brought in guys through trades that have failed and we have never had the right mix of talls,mediums and smalls. It’s something that we have to get right next year to give us a chance of kicking a score that will give us a chance of winning more consistently.

You can’t have all of tabener,treacy,lobb all in the one forward line. It becomes too tall. We have only one small in Shultz that can hit the scoreboard. Walters is all but done and maybe it’s time we moved on from him as tough as that might be for some as he has been a loyal servant to the club.
Who are the mediums that we have that we can use as our higher half forward flank? There is sturt but apart from that we have nobody. Possibly federick ?

These are issues that probably should be higher on the agenda than looking for that key tall forward to solve the problem. Let’s say we do get that key tall in the draft. If we indeed still have lobb are we going to have one of treacy,lobb,tabener out of the team in peel?

forward mix should be

medium. Tall. Medium

Small. Tall. Small

This is the right mix from my perspective
Click to expand...

I don't think the issue is three talls; after all, Melbourne just won the grand final with Brown (200cm), Jackson (199cm) and McDonald (194cm). The problem (if there is one) with our talls (Taberner and Lobb) is that they lack speed and don't get out on good leads, whereas Brown and Jackson are relatively fast, and Brown gets out on good leads and McDonald whilst not having an advantage in height or speed is generally a smart player who can capitalize when he does get his turn. For mine this is why draft prospects like Amiss and Andrew has an advantage over the other talls; they have speed in spades and can get out on damaging leads.

In terms of mediums for mine there is Sturt, Frederick, also Henry and Banfield as a backups. And I know people don't want to acknowledge it but we have three small options in Shultz, Switowski and Colyer. I think they quality is there with Sturt and Henry, but Sturt has not been able to get on the field much in the last two years, and was being played out of position before that. I don't think it was a surprise that Frederick was there for a purple patch of wins earlier but then went down around the time when we started to slump in form a bit. Keeping these guys on the field is a critical part of the process.

Delivery into the forward is also an issue for us, and will be more of an issue with Cerra going, and Mundy close to retiring, but bear in mind that Langdon and Brayshaw are not exactly the best kicks going around.
 
heavho said:
This is something that has been a big issue for the club since day dot. We have brought in guys through trades that have failed and we have never had the right mix of talls,mediums and smalls. It’s something that we have to get right next year to give us a chance of kicking a score that will give us a chance of winning more consistently.

You can’t have all of tabener,treacy,lobb all in the one forward line. It becomes too tall. We have only one small in Shultz that can hit the scoreboard. Walters is all but done and maybe it’s time we moved on from him as tough as that might be for some as he has been a loyal servant to the club.
Who are the mediums that we have that we can use as our higher half forward flank? There is sturt but apart from that we have nobody. Possibly federick ?

These are issues that probably should be higher on the agenda than looking for that key tall forward to solve the problem. Let’s say we do get that key tall in the draft. If we indeed still have lobb are we going to have one of treacy,lobb,tabener out of the team in peel?

forward mix should be

medium. Tall. Medium

Small. Tall. Small

This is the right mix from my perspective
Click to expand...
The forward structure is a little more complicated than that.

If you are restricted to two talls, one of those is almost certain to play as a ruck, and that forces your #1 ruck to rest forward. It means you need two awesome players to do that and not wreck your structure.

I prefer smalls and mediums to be part of potential midfield rotations. It provides mismatch opportunities and should enhance the goal kicking potential of the midfield.

I'm keen on us to pick up one KPF early in this draft, then Benning later. I'm not seeing the quality to justify more.

Other picks should be justified by improving us forward of centre, but not necessarily forwards.

At this stage I think Treacy is playing as one of our mediums, and I like that, but if we could pair him with Sturt things become interesting.
 

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Agree with a lot of things you both have said. We do need medium forwards that can go through the midfield rotations. That is something a lot of the teams in the top 8 have. Especially the two grand final teams.

switkowski is def a small forward but he looks to be more damaging in the middle with his chase down tackles and speed to bring it inside 50. Doesn’t get enough goals to be a permanent small. Ditto colyer
 
With our current FWDs listed and if we draft Erasmus with our first rounder. This is our best set-up imo.

CHF: Erasmus Lobb Freddy
FF: Shultz Tabs Sturt

Treacy just misses out.

One of Colyer/Switta listed on the bench.

Henry can easily knock Freddy out, but needs to develop a defensive game.

Besides Shultz everyone is above 6ft, so there's aerial presence..but we don't look overly tall at the same time.
 
if you looked at our small forwards who would cause an opposition coach to have a pause for thought?

Schultz might give him 30 seconds of concern…
that’s it.
there’s no pace, very little marking power and on the way back out the opposition has a party.
Sturt MUST be available.
he is quick on the lead, can mark, is a great kick and can play pressure.

if Lobb doesn’t get traded, then Lobb, Treacy and Tabs is the bets mix of current talls we have.
Sturt, Switta and Schultz

Add Rachele

I’d be looking at Freddy and Henry on the wings
 
Lach72 said:
if you looked at our small forwards who would cause an opposition coach to have a pause for thought?

Schultz might give him 30 seconds of concern…
that’s it.
there’s no pace, very little marking power and on the way back out the opposition has a party.
Sturt MUST be available.
he is quick on the lead, can mark, is a great kick and can play pressure.

if Lobb doesn’t get traded, then Lobb, Treacy and Tabs is the bets mix of current talls we have.
Sturt, Switta and Schultz

Add Rachele

I’d be looking at Freddy and Henry on the wings
Click to expand...

If we get Clark and Erasmus is gone at 6, he would be my next pick. We definitely need a quality small forward.
 
If our starting forwards could stay on the park? This is a major issue with most of our attack out injured for large chuncks of the season.
At least Treacy is available, but we have no depth and resort to bandaid measures.
This includes using mids to play HF, ie Banfield, Crowden.
Then look at Peel and how many forwards are developing?
So injury, no options and no wonder most on here want to add
Forwards.
We need Forward/mids and that is a rare combination.
Tabs, Lobb haven’t proved to be durable yet, developing players
at Peel must be a priority.
 
heavho said:
You can’t have all of tabener,treacy,lobb all in the one forward line.
Click to expand...

Disagree. 2 key forwards and a resting ruckman has been the standard for 70 years for a reason.

Treacy is way above average at ground level for a key forward as well.

Our key forwards have not been an issue this season except for the fact that we have zero depth in this area: If any of them is injured we have nobody to replace them.

Our issue has been that we've been effectively playing a man short in the forward line all of this season because we've had either Frederick/Henry/Western there and none of them can really get a touch at this level yet.
 

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Unless medium forwards are something special they tend to get monstered by tall defenders. Most teams run three tall defenders. This is the problem we had during the Pav years where the lack of a three tall (two KPF and 2nd ruck) attack led to poor scoring and a fair amount of noise here about not drafting talls.
In fact it could be argued that contested marking smalls like Ryan reduce the requirements for medium forwards.
Consequently I am for
1 resting ruck/fwd
2 KPF's
2 small forwards
last two spots (1 starting 6 and 1 bench) best available small or medium fwd or even defensive fwd.
 
Ysaye said:
I don't think the issue is three talls; after all, Melbourne just won the grand final with Brown (200cm), Jackson (199cm) and McDonald (194cm). The problem (if there is one) with our talls (Taberner and Lobb) is that they lack speed and don't get out on good leads, whereas Brown and Jackson are relatively fast, and Brown gets out on good leads and McDonald whilst not having an advantage in height or speed is generally a smart player who can capitalize when he does get his turn. For mine this is why draft prospects like Amiss and Andrew has an advantage over the other talls; they have speed in spades and can get out on damaging leads.

In terms of mediums for mine there is Sturt, Frederick, also Henry and Banfield as a backups. And I know people don't want to acknowledge it but we have three small options in Shultz, Switowski and Colyer. I think they quality is there with Sturt and Henry, but Sturt has not been able to get on the field much in the last two years, and was being played out of position before that. I don't think it was a surprise that Frederick was there for a purple patch of wins earlier but then went down around the time when we started to slump in form a bit. Keeping these guys on the field is a critical part of the process.

Delivery into the forward is also an issue for us, and will be more of an issue with Cerra going, and Mundy close to retiring, but bear in mind that Langdon and Brayshaw are not exactly the best kicks going around.
Click to expand...
Brown.. fast? Surely you’re joking. His leap at the ball is hard to defend. He’s one on one with Keath. Of course he ll look good. Problem is Lobb is an awful one on one forward. McDonald is another who’s so meh, but does his job well. Hard to defend, hard to take down and halves his contests.

Lobb/Treacy/Tabs can work, just need to have decent forward line structure. One out Tabs with his defender. Brown got Keath, even Wood in awkward positions.

Our delivery, clearances is already good enough.

The problem is small/medium forwards. We need Fredrick, Schulz, Sturt to take that next step. Stay fit. Henry is going to develop on the wing. Colyer is handy but he’s pushing 30.
 
FreoRicci said:
Brown.. fast? Surely you’re joking. His leap at the ball is hard to defend. He’s one on one with Keath. Of course he ll look good. Problem is Lobb is an awful one on one forward. McDonald is another who’s so meh, but does his job well. Hard to defend, hard to take down and halves his contests.

Lobb/Treacy/Tabs can work, just need to have decent forward line structure. One out Tabs with his defender. Brown got Keath, even Wood in awkward positions.

Our delivery, clearances is already good enough.

The problem is small/medium forwards. We need Fredrick, Schulz, Sturt to take that next step. Stay fit. Henry is going to develop on the wing. Colyer is handy but he’s pushing 30.
Click to expand...
Yeah a Taberner/ Lobb /Traecy line up could work.

It sort of worked with the crows as Freo won 12.12.84 to 11.6.72.

Tabs kicked 4 goals on the day. Lobb kicked 1 goal and 2 behinds and shoild Of kicked 2-3 goals.

It can work but sadly we only got 2-3 good years left
 
Freomaniac said:
Yeah a Taberner/ Lobb /Traecy line up could work.

It sort of worked with the crows as Freo won 12.12.84 to 11.6.72.

Tabs kicked 4 goals on the day. Lobb kicked 1 goal and 2 behinds and shoild Of kicked 2-3 goals.

It can work but sadly we only got 2-3 good years left
Click to expand...
Never have had our best forwards on the park at once for a long long time.
Lobb Tabs Treacy with Sturt, Fredrick, Schulz with Walters rotating through would be incredible.
 
Lach72 said:
Sturt MUST be available.
he is quick on the lead, can mark, is a great kick and can play pressure.
Click to expand...

just being realistic here but another serious injury for him and he is on the verge of delist.

Yes he has alot of potential but he has played 4 games in 2 years and seems to get injured by a stiff breeze.

Alot of talent means nothing when you can't get on the park. We have too much experience with blokes like him who are always injured but are retained due to some neblous talent we saw 5 years ago.
 
I'm still processing that all of Switta, Schultz and Trav finished top 10 in the Doig. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
 
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