Opinion Fyfe the Forward?

[Ghost Pig]

Just wanted to see three Fyfe threads at the top of the board. But seriously, I'm sure he'd get less possessions, but he's dangerous on the loose ball, good overhead, can run all day and it would give less opportunity for the head over the ball, opponents bumping from all angles, shoulder dislo situation to arise. Add to this our midfield depth is its best in the last... well ever. Can we afford to let him spend his time roaming the forward half? I mean it may not win him a brownlow, but could it win us a few more games?

 

[yakka man]

It's already evident from the first three games this year that Fyfe has lost truckloads of confidence in his shoulder and his contested marking has not been on display at all this season. He will be a midfielder for the rest of his career.

 

[Bengraham]

It's already evident from the first three games this year that Fyfe has lost truckloads of confidence in his shoulder and his contested marking has not been on display at all this season. He will be a midfielder for the rest of his career.

Lol what?

 

[Ghost Pig]

It's already evident from the first three games this year that Fyfe has lost truckloads of confidence in his shoulder and his contested marking has not been on display at all this season. He will be a midfielder for the rest of his career.

Are you sure 2.3 games are enough of a sample period to justify this statement?
I do remember one mark at full stretch in the goal square in a two on one situation, in the game against geelong. Wasnt it?

 

[Clay Davis]

Are you sure 2.3 games are enough of a sample period to justify this statement?
I do remember one mark at full stretch in the goal square in a two on one situation, in the game against geelong. Wasnt it?

Yep. Completely befuddled Corey and Enright.

 

[Wharf]

Well he is a very good kick at goal and has the ability to kick some amazing ones (the left foot on the boundary in the derby last year and the one against Geelong).
I'd like him to position himself like Bartel who plays mid but drifts up forward to have an impact.

 

[BananaOnTheRun]

Yep. Completely befuddled Corey and Enright.

They looked at each other and thought 'We've just been Fyfed'.

I'd take him out of the middle and play him like Hird.

 

[Sman-21]

I would play him midfield an instead of benching him and rotating him with other mids throw him forward.

Hes a damn good forward but hes shown he could be a damn good midfielder also.
His marking is an absolute weapon so needs more time in games up forward to take advantage of it.

 

[Freo95]

They looked at each other and thought 'We've just been Fyfed'.

I'd take him out of the middle and play him like Hird.

[YOUTUBE]_L7-1qcYiuY[/YOUTUBE]

 

[yakka man]

Are you sure 2.3 games are enough of a sample period to justify this statement?
I do remember one mark at full stretch in the goal square in a two on one situation, in the game against geelong. Wasnt it?

Was uncontested and he only extended one arm to take it. By the end of last year he was in the top 10 for contested marks in the competition. He has only taken two so far this year. I certainly didn't make that statement lightly and would love for Fyfe to recapture his marking ability from last year.

 

[Clay Davis]

Was uncontested and he only extended one arm to take it. By the end of last year he was in the top 10 for contested marks in the competition. He has only taken two so far this year. I certainly didn't make that statement lightly and would love for Fyfe to recapture his marking ability from last year.

He was top 10 in contested marks because he became our go to guy for kick ins when Sandi was out.

Why would he be the contested marking target with both Sandilands and Clarke taking them?

 

[yakka man]

He was top 10 in contested marks because he became our go to guy for kick ins when Sandi was out.

Why would he be the contested marking target with both Sandilands and Clarke taking them?

Well De Boer has taken five contested marks and he has been playing forward. I'm sure you rate Fyfe's contested marking ability a lot higher then his. Although I have been impressed by De boer's marking so far this year.

 

[Ghost Pig]

Was uncontested and HE ONLY EXTENDED ONE ARM to take it. BY THE END OF LAST YEAR he was in the top 10 for contested marks in the competition. He has only taken two so far this year. I certainly didn't make that statement lightly and would love for Fyfe to recapture his marking ability from last year.

Not entering into a tit for tat, but it was clearly two arms extended and I did suggest 2.3 games was too small a sample yet you reply with statistics averaged over an entire season. You may well turn out to be right, but at this stage it would be purely coincidental.

Oh, and it was only uncontested because Fyfe is a sneaky weasel, Kep or JA would have been tangled up and neutralised.

 

[yakka man]

How else can you draw a comparison without using recent statistics. It's more the fact that he hasn't gone for any of his trademark pack marks. The positive is that he was awesome at marking last season with a bad shoulder so there is no reason why he can't do it again, but it presents more of a risk for his shoulder.

 

[Ghost Pig]

It is not outrageous to suggest that as a full time midfielder in a now heavily structured game-plan, as opposed to 2011's Harvey-style go anywhere Fyfe, he may actually be required to keep his feet and rove/pressure from contests and subsequently leave the pack crashing to the forwards, ruckmen and backs, therefore limiting his opportunity. As you say "there is no reason why he cant do it again", with this I agree, yet you give one reason in him evidently (from analysing 2.3 games) losing "truckloads" of confidence in his shoulder and allude to the idea that it is in fact contributing to his failure to put more contested marks on the stat sheets and then go on to say, somewhat damningly, that he will be a midfielder for the rest of his career.

I ask you, if it is the case that his prowess in the air is actually being under utilised in a disciplined midfield unit more reliant on replaceable adherance to structure with little need for x-factor and contested marking ability, are we in fact, in the short term, with an apparently dysfunctional forward line and with midfield depth, in a position to get more out of Nathan Fyfe playing him more forward of centre?

 

[Clay Davis]

I think that's a slam dunk there, Ghost Pig.

He'll probably struggle with his shoulder all season now after the bump and yakka man will cite that, but there was no evidence he'd lost 'truckloads' of confidence in his shoulder.

 

[Harry Reems]

I know there have only been 3 games thus far this season but I have also noticed that Fyfe's pack marks have been down.

He is usually the target on the wing for the kick-ins because of his contested marking ability. Just like with Sandi.

His form seemed much better in the pre-season, however he is certainly getting amoungst the possessions.

Given our lack of forward line structure and his comparison to Jimmy Hird, I could see him as a half forward.

 

[Clay Davis]

With both Sandilands and Clarke in the team, it's preferable that they are the contested marking targets ahead of Fyfe.

 

[Big Animal]

With both Sandilands and Clarke in the team, it's preferable that they are the contested marking targets ahead of Fyfe.

I'm finding this thread odd. Fyfe until this year usually was positioned around HF with guys like Hill and Mora on wings and Barlow/Mundy in centre. So, he was often a kick ahead of the clearances and picked a number of speckies one or one or in packs once the ball cleared.

This year he has been on ball almost exclusively so is generally receiving the ball from taps or handballing, and not kicks. So it seems kind of obvious to me that his marking is down. We saw what happened in the vid above when he pushed forward i.e. the usual awesome Fyfe pack mark. Don't know what the fuss is all about. He put his shoulder out numerous times last year and was awesome. He will probably do the same this year. Sux for the guys playing on him because they will be made to look bad, and look to be complete dheads if they try and injure him on purpose.

 

[Nickos66]

Would love to see Fyfe play more of the leading half forward, we don't have too many that can play this role to the elite standard, it's the one area of the ground we need some polish in, forward 50 entries and marks.

 

[strobe00]

Fyfe is a brilliant winner of contested ball, especially when it's bobbling around on the deck. Mundy and Barlow are the only two that come close in our team, and I think those guys still don't have Fyfe's one-touch pick-up ability.

With the dominance that Sandi has, and the influence of forward presses that has crept into the game, maintaining dominance of possession from clearances will take us a huge way to bottling the ball in our forward half for large parts of the game. That'll help win us games.

Our forward line is dysfunctional for sure. And our contested marking in the forward line is pretty terrible also. But our kicking into the forward line has been poor. And we don't have much in the way of crumbers to pick up the ones that are dropped (i.e. most of them). We definitely need to improve our forward line efficiency, but there are quite a few things that can be done besides shifting Fyfe down there.

Taking one of our best mids down to the forward line will reduce our ability to extract the ball from our midfield, and that's where the coaches say the game is won and lost.

However, having Fyfe on-ball and then drifting forward when he sees an opportunity is the best of both worlds. We get the extra possession in the midfield (hopefully he can improve his disposal efficiency a little though), and we get the marking every now and then in the forward line. Having Fyfe drift down there every now and then will play havoc with the opposition's back line if his match-up isn't a great spoiler/contested mark. With him there permanently they'd be able to structure up better to reduce his impact.

Just realised what an essay this is. Summary, Fyfe will impact games more in the midfield than in our forward line. Predominantly he should play mid. But having him forward in patches and drifting down there when he sees opportunities would be a nice use of his talents.

There's a young bloke called Crozier that could have an impact on our forward line some time this year... hopefully he'll get a shot.

Would love to see Fyfe play more of the leading half forward, we don't have too many that can play this role to the elite standard, it's the one area of the ground we need some polish in, forward 50 entries and marks.

Pav looked like he was gearing up to help with this (dropping heaps of weight), but hasn't had much of an impact this year. Hopefully he'll work his way into some form.