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Generation Next

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With Richo going out for the next 2-3 months it presents us with a perfect opportunity to have a good look at our next generation forward line. With that I am putting up a plan that I think would work if we had the balls to stick with it.

First things first I would bring Schulz back and tell him that this is it, this is the time when he has to stand up and show that he wants to be an AFL FF. With no Richo commanding the ball despite playing on the wing Schulz should get the ball directed at him more times than not. He can take a contested grab and can kick accurately once his confidence is up.

Secondly, play Jack at CHF, but not the bustling J.Brown type of CHF, more the cousin Nick type where he gets on his bike and covers as much ground as possible. Lead up to the wings provide a target for the side when they are coming out of the backline. Again without Richo around Jack should benefit from having more ball directed at him.

Thirdly, send Lids to the forward line as a permanent forward. Think of this as the opposite move to moving Richo to the wing. Here we have a player who has struggled to impact games as a midfielder but on the couple of occassions where I remember that we have used him as a forward he has dominated. Round 22 against the Dees he played out of the square for a 1/4 and kicked 3. 2007 against the Pies, played as a forward the whole match and despite carrying an injury kicked 5.2 from 10 kicks 5 marks, also laid 6 tackles that night. With Cousins & Cotchin due back soon and Coughlan already back I believe we could spare Lids from the middle and coule really cause some headaches for the opposition by playing him as a 3rd tall.

This would see us with a forward line of:

HF: Deledio Riewoldt Morton
F: Nahas Schulz Brown

What I like about this set up is the way the players compliment each other. Guys like Nahas, Deledio and Riewoldt provide pressure and will compete for any ball that comes near them. Brown, Deledio & Morton provide polish and hopefully Brown and Morton realise that they need to also put on pressure when they don't have the ball. Riewoldt, Deledio and Schulz provide the marking targets.

The other benefit we get from this type of set up is it allows us to rest our onballers on the pine instead of up forward which we have been forced to do in recent years. Imagine how good it would be to have midfielders still going as hard at the end of games as they were at the start of games because they have been able to spend a bit of time riding the pine. When Cousins and Cotchin come back into the midfield, we could have a midfield group of:

C: Jackson Coughlan Tambling
R: Graham Cotchin Foley
I: White Tuck Pattison Cousins.

Perhaps this injury to Richo is the best thing to happen to our club in a long time as it will finally let us see just what can happen when Richo isn't there to be relied upon to carry the side on his back.
 
If you send Lids into the forward line permanently prepare for the ball to butchered off half-back just like it was when he wasn't there rounds 1-4. He has much better skills and is a smarter decision maker than all of them put together.
 
If you send Lids into the forward line prepare for the ball to butchered off half-back just like it was when he wasn't there rounds 1-4. He has much better skills and is a smarter decision maker than all of them put together.
Not necessarily, we are regaining Cousins and Cotchin in the next few weeks who will dramatically improve the ball use through the midfield and coming out of the backline. Not only them to but we also have Newman, Bowden, McMahon & Raines(both shaky but when confident can hurt sides with run and carry).


If Deledios skills and decision making is so much better then why not use him in a position where he can hurt a side more than coming out of a backline. Play him acorss the HF line and let him use his kicking ability to deliver the ball inside the F50 where the right decision will end up in us having a shot on goal. Surely that has to of greater advantage to the side than him picking out the right option in the midfield.
 

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yep, with the greatest respect to the big fella his contributions to date had been modest in season 2009 and this has happened at a time when we have been crying out for a forward line makeover..this maybe just the catalyst for a number of young aspiring talls to make a name for themselves:thumbsu:
 
I agree with most of that except for the part about making lids a permanent forward...
What a massive waste of a talent it will be if he becomes nothing more then a good half forward flanker, he was drafted as the best midfielder in what was said to be one of the most talented drafts of the last decade.
Play him in the center week in week out, let him learn how to take a tag, once cotch and cousins come back into the team the pressure wont be as high on lids.
 
[EDIT - Irrelevant now with Richo's injury]

With Richo out, the decision making on the part of the midfield should improve exponentially - no more bomb it long to Richo.
 
I agree with most of that except for the part about making lids a permanent forward...
What a massive waste of a talent it will be if he becomes nothing more then a good half forward flanker, he was drafted as the best midfielder in what was said to be one of the most talented drafts of the last decade.
Play him in the center week in week out, let him learn how to take a tag, once cotch and cousins come back into the team the pressure wont be as high on lids.
Hodge was drafted as a midfielder and has made his name, essentially, as a HBF. Lids is very good overhead and has speed to burn so who do you play on him? Mid sized defender Lids goes to the square, Schulz to CHF and Jack to a flank. Play a tall on him and tell him to run.

Generation next hey? What's that? Let's put Schulz and Brown into the forward line to try some new things eh?
I would give first crack to them, play them for 2-4 weeks, if it isn't working then turn your attention to talls like Post/Gourdis/Vickery and mid sized forwards like Collins/JON/Connors.
 
I like alot of what you're saying RT, but I do agree with Barnzy in that Deledio has been very affective down back the last couple of weeks, and I think we would miss him. He is playing the Goddard type role and doing it well. I don't think Cotch helps as a part of the solution there (yet), but Cuz maybe with his ability to run deep back and then forward.

There will be situations where teams play a defensive man on Lids when he is down back, at which time it may make sense to send him forward. But at the same time, I think the purpose of this exercise is to establish something which will be permanent in at least the short-mid term.

Maybe Pattison has a role to play... or JON
 

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I would give first crack to them, play them for 2-4 weeks, if it isn't working then turn your attention to talls like Post/Gourdis/Vickery and mid sized forwards like Collins/JON/Connors.


May aswell put Stephen Jurica in for 2-4 weeks and see how he goes.

Pointless putting Sarge in there. Bring Vickery in now and leave him there!
 
May aswell put Stephen Jurica in for 2-4 weeks and see how he goes.

Pointless putting Sarge in there. Bring Vickery in now and leave him there!

I like the sarcasm there big Rayo, maybe Ray Hall could be the answer to the CHF problems too.
I agree tho whats the point in wating time with guys that have had plenty off chances but have done nothing with them, forget sarge its time for Post, Vickery and Cleve to get a chance and stay with them.:thumbsu:
 
I like alot of what you're saying RT, but I do agree with Barnzy in that Deledio has been very affective down back the last couple of weeks, and I think we would miss him. He is playing the Goddard type role and doing it well. I don't think Cotch helps as a part of the solution there (yet), but Cuz maybe with his ability to run deep back and then forward.

There will be situations where teams play a defensive man on Lids when he is down back, at which time it may make sense to send him forward. But at the same time, I think the purpose of this exercise is to establish something which will be permanent in at least the short-mid term.

Maybe Pattison has a role to play...
I also have a plan where Patto plays CHF but it means bringing Simmonds back in and I'm a little opposed to doing that because it will mean that Graham goes back to being back up ruck as Wallace will play Simmonds as first choice. Another option would be to re-elevate Browne and play him and Graham as rucks. Either way I think we're going to see a gradual shift towards more youth.

Pfft then why call the thread generation next? It should be called generation was/is.
I called it Generation Next, because I'm hoping we'll actually get to see the next generation of forwards sometime during Richos absence. Probably should have added that to the OP somewhere but got distracted by a phone call and lost my train of thought.

If you like I'll change the name to What I Think Will Happen.:p
 
JON to full forward.
Shulz can stay at Coburg for the rest of his career for all i care.

If Schulz had of done more at Coburg I'd agree. Watched him last week and he got worse as the game grew longer. I floated JON at FF last week as he has good hands, is quick and seems to kick pretty straight although thats not really been too tested yet but did well at a key time last week to slot one. Vickery was very average last week to say the least and I hope like hell they don't use Simmonds in a key forward role. Maybe Gus with Simmo rucking would also work but too much of a risk if the ball hits the deck. What we could really use is a fully fit Polak at CHF but shit happens. I can't see why we wouldnt try JON, nothing to lose and precious few other options.
 

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May aswell put Stephen Jurica in for 2-4 weeks and see how he goes.

Pointless putting Sarge in there. Bring Vickery in now and leave him there!
Lets do that and when he gets injured because he isn't physically ready to play FF/CHF then what? We can then complain about how our coaching staff have stuffed up yet another kid. :rolleyes:
 
Just on all the anti-Schulz posting, saying he has had his chance and has blown it. When has Schulz had run of 10-12 weeks without Richo in the side? He never has, even when Richo was moved to the wing he was still there floating down into the forward line when we were in need of a lift. Schulz now has the opportunity to play FF without Richo around at all. Perhaps now is when we'll finally get to see what Schulz can do when he is the main focus of the forward line.

Afterall, what have we got to lose? We're already 15th with a 1-5 record.
 
It's true he never has. I wanna see The Goooooooooooooooo.
 
If you send Lids into the forward line permanently prepare for the ball to butchered off half-back just like it was when he wasn't there rounds 1-4. He has much better skills and is a smarter decision maker than all of them put together.

agree 100% leave lids at half back, especially untill we can draft some good half backs.
 
As I recall, our best chemistry up forward was when Hughes, Riewoldt and Morton were left in the forward line together last year. Add the crumbing of Nahas now and you have a handy goal kicking attack. Then you have our midfielders floating down and and also contributing and at least on paper we can kick a winning score.....
They just need to raise their level of intensity and commitment (do you hear me Cleve?).
I feel that Deledio's best position is like Hodge's - setting up attacks off half back flank. He becomes a 100m player there - runs forty and kicks sixty. In this way he becomes extremely damaging. Mcleod does the same for Adelaide. Heath Shaw for the pies. It is almost the most important position on the ground in this day and age. A guy who can use the ball can create goals from there. He can use his tremendous speed through the middle of the ground.
 
Look Schulz has had so many chance i agree JON to FF before him. Cleve Hughes should be there though, if his fitness is there i dont care if we bring him into the seniors straight from 3rds why do we have to do things right?? Lets do something different gives this guy a go which imo he has never really recieved. The beauty of Cleve he takes 3 marks I50 and he kicks 3 goals.

We arent going to get better output from anyone else on our list imo.

So ultimately i'd say for this week Out: Richo In: Cousins and if Cotch is ready then unfortunately i think we will drop JON.
 

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