Granny Duurs is Lovely
All Australian
- Jun 11, 2019
- 958
- 1,627
- AFL Club
- Port Adelaide
The reason we are so good in the midfield is because our team has had extra mids playing as forwards. The cost of this was/is a weaker and less efficient forward line.
We need real forwards who know forward running patterns, how to create space, how to force defenders to swap opponents and how to take contested marks in our forward line.
Forwards do need to be able to cover huge amounts of ground though, be able to push right up and all provide pressure on the defenders. This for me means we cant play a 'resting ruck' as a forward - they're just a bad tall forward in most cases (ryder was no exception).
There's also a strong focus on here for traditional KPFs. This isn't quite necessary anymore because of the way defenders play. Its rare to ever get the chance to outbody/outmuscle a defender 1v1 without a spare defender coming over the top in the modern game. In the modern game you need to be able to jump (or be as tall as mason cox) to be taking contested marks. Obviously you still need some strong forwards but they dont actually have to be hulking KPFs, someone like ebert is just as good if you can isolate them in a marking contest 1v1 - this is rare though.
In 2018 the premiers had the best contested marks for the season at both end of the ground - jeremy mcgovern and Jack Darling. 190 and 191cm. They dont need to be key position height. That's what we need though, guys who are genuine contested marks, that are good aerially - and not terrible beneath their feet. If you do this then every panic kick forward both by you and against you becomes to your advantage because you're better in the air.
Our drafting lately seems to have recognised this at least. Rozee, Bergman and Georgiades are all rated very highly for their vertical leap and will provide this ability to compete and mark in the air while still being dangerous at ground level.
We saw the benefits of this at times last year already - our second aerial target wasnt ryder, or westhoff most weeks, it was Connor Rozee. His ability to hit a pack at speed and bring the ball to ground was serious underrated, especially when he was also capable of roving off the packs so excellently when he chose not to compete. If we can have multiple players providing this aerial presence without giving up our ground game, or speed around the ball then this will go a long way to a functional forward line.
The last thing too, and most frustrating thing in my eyes, is getting the ball in the hands of the right players. When Schulz took a mark inside 40m you knew he'd slot it at least 80% of the time. We don't have that reliable kicking accuracy right now, and we need a reliable target like that. In fact according to statsinsiders shot chart, our three best shots for goal are Farrell, Gray and Butters. Not exactly aerial targets.
So with all that said I'd hope in rd 1 we play a forward line that looks something like this:
FF: Ebert - Dixon - Butters
HF: Rozee - Marshall - SPP/Motlop
One of Bergman/Georgiades on the bench and Gray to start in the midfield.
That gives 4 decent aerial targets (dixon, marshall, rozee and bergman/georgiades), 2 players who know how to outbody their opponent (Dixon and Ebert) and 3 dedicated groundball players (Gray, Butters and Motlop/SPP). On paper thats a solid forward line.
We need real forwards who know forward running patterns, how to create space, how to force defenders to swap opponents and how to take contested marks in our forward line.
Forwards do need to be able to cover huge amounts of ground though, be able to push right up and all provide pressure on the defenders. This for me means we cant play a 'resting ruck' as a forward - they're just a bad tall forward in most cases (ryder was no exception).
There's also a strong focus on here for traditional KPFs. This isn't quite necessary anymore because of the way defenders play. Its rare to ever get the chance to outbody/outmuscle a defender 1v1 without a spare defender coming over the top in the modern game. In the modern game you need to be able to jump (or be as tall as mason cox) to be taking contested marks. Obviously you still need some strong forwards but they dont actually have to be hulking KPFs, someone like ebert is just as good if you can isolate them in a marking contest 1v1 - this is rare though.
In 2018 the premiers had the best contested marks for the season at both end of the ground - jeremy mcgovern and Jack Darling. 190 and 191cm. They dont need to be key position height. That's what we need though, guys who are genuine contested marks, that are good aerially - and not terrible beneath their feet. If you do this then every panic kick forward both by you and against you becomes to your advantage because you're better in the air.
Our drafting lately seems to have recognised this at least. Rozee, Bergman and Georgiades are all rated very highly for their vertical leap and will provide this ability to compete and mark in the air while still being dangerous at ground level.
We saw the benefits of this at times last year already - our second aerial target wasnt ryder, or westhoff most weeks, it was Connor Rozee. His ability to hit a pack at speed and bring the ball to ground was serious underrated, especially when he was also capable of roving off the packs so excellently when he chose not to compete. If we can have multiple players providing this aerial presence without giving up our ground game, or speed around the ball then this will go a long way to a functional forward line.
The last thing too, and most frustrating thing in my eyes, is getting the ball in the hands of the right players. When Schulz took a mark inside 40m you knew he'd slot it at least 80% of the time. We don't have that reliable kicking accuracy right now, and we need a reliable target like that. In fact according to statsinsiders shot chart, our three best shots for goal are Farrell, Gray and Butters. Not exactly aerial targets.
So with all that said I'd hope in rd 1 we play a forward line that looks something like this:
FF: Ebert - Dixon - Butters
HF: Rozee - Marshall - SPP/Motlop
One of Bergman/Georgiades on the bench and Gray to start in the midfield.
That gives 4 decent aerial targets (dixon, marshall, rozee and bergman/georgiades), 2 players who know how to outbody their opponent (Dixon and Ebert) and 3 dedicated groundball players (Gray, Butters and Motlop/SPP). On paper thats a solid forward line.
