Analysis Have we really fixed our main weakness this year ?

[Livonski]

IMO Batchelour will play every game this year.
His intercept marking is just as good as Joel Bowdens. His kicking is good, he needs to improve his decision making though.

Another leftie with no right side? Creates your own problem when you can only escape out one side. And crucial in defence to be able to extract out of tricky situations.

 

[Tiger71]

Just to make it simple I dont think it was much to do with our back six I think we missed to hard body mids, Tuck and Jacko. As Miles became better we won more, we still need another hard body mid or Thomas to pick up his game.

Spot on.

People underestimate the huge gap having jackson not play many games last year. Left a huge hole. IMO we are addressing it though. We have a few hardnuts that can do the grunt work, like Miles, vlaustin when he is given his shot. I love the new size to lennon, imo another full season and I would expect he gets rotated there too.

 

[sante]

Matty Arnot can be that other inside mid. I want Vlas in there but seems we like him in defence.

Still not sure Miles will be as good as we think he might be. He's really slow and to be honest he gets a lot of cheap ball, Grigg style

 

[Juke]

Matty Arnot can be that other inside mid. I want Vlas in there but seems we like him in defence.

Still not sure Miles will be as good as we think he might be. He's really slow and to be honest he gets a lot of cheap ball, Grigg style

What are you smoking? Miles is under every bloody pack at every stoppage, getting his head taken off or his back jumped on. He's almost the polar opposite to Grigg.

 

[sante]

What are you smoking? Miles is under every bloody pack at every stoppage, getting his head taken off or his back jumped on. He's almost the polar opposite to Grigg.

Yeah but then he gets all the cheap possessions around the ground which give us nothing. He gets a lot of uncontested marks around D50 etc and then chips it 15m side ways or forwards

 

[CoggaRules]

This post on the Bach thread got me thinking. So figured ill air my thoughts and get your input



Anyone else ? IMO what killed us, was our run. Shut down Houli who creates and we struggle, we need to correct it and have we done enough work to do so ?

I think we need to play Sonata No. 2 in A minor - Transcribed for harpsichord if we want to improve

 

[theflea]

Yeah but then he gets all the cheap possessions around the ground which give us nothing. He gets a lot of uncontested marks around D50 etc and then chips it 15m side ways or forwards

Seriously disagree with the idea of Miles getting 'cheap' possessions, and in fact don't like the premise anyway. If your good enough to get the pill in the clear, like ALL players, then that is a skill in its own right.

 

[sante]

Seriously disagree with the idea of Miles getting 'cheap' possessions, and in fact don't like the premise anyway. If your good enough to get the pill in the clear, like ALL players, then that is a skill in its own right.

Why does Grigg get crucified for it but not Miles? I'm just trying to look at it from another point of view because too many posters look at everything biased.

Miles is a good player. But he's not a creative, attacking player. We don't need/want him getting the ball around the D50 and setting us up

 

[theflea]

I don't criticise Grigg for getting free(others do, but he was a lot better in previous years at it), however I do criticise him because that is the only thing he does and doesn't get involved else where. If all you do is outside ball, then you have to be good by foot. I should have clarified this. I would also add Miles is a lot better kick than him and decision maker, which unfortunately doesn't say much for Grigg. Miles does need to get fitter, by his own reference, but to say he isn't creative/attacking isn't a fair assessment imo. Could he be better yes, does he give zero in this dept, no.

 

[Infamy]

Yeah but then he gets all the cheap possessions around the ground which give us nothing. He gets a lot of uncontested marks around D50 etc and then chips it 15m side ways or forwards

I think you're on your own on this one

 

[sante]

I think you're on your own on this one

We will revisit later this year if he doesn't improve on 2014. I think we've seen his best, which is pretty good but the knockers will be out in force when his output is equal to 2014 and suddenly he doesn't seem as good as he is/was.

 

[Infamy]

We will revisit later this year if he doesn't improve on 2014. I think we've seen his best, which is pretty good but the knockers will be out in force when his output is equal to 2014 and suddenly he doesn't seem as good as he is/was.

His standard for the 2nd half of the year was elite, so I have no problem if he maintains that level over an entire season.

 

[Football Tragic]

Not sure about the Miles criticism. Miles earns every possession he gets. He would be the last player in the team I would be saying gets 'cheap possessions'. If your argument is to say that when he gets it he isn't as damaging as some of our better ball users then that's another argument completely but he is a born inside mid and we are dam lucky to find him last year.

 

[Football Tragic]

In terms of our greatest weakness, I agree with the comments a few have made about our forward defensive pressure. Kingy was a presence in the forward fifty when he was there. He had a nice balance between defense and offense too. Foley tried to fill his shoes but was too defensive and created little to no goals or pressure on his opposition as a result. I'm certain this is why they have moved Morris into the role this year to try and recreate the same pressure that Kingy did in the past.

I think with Knights now in the mix it will give us more scoring capability and link play when he and Lids push up the wings when we are transitioning from half back. Houli is a linchpin of the side and extremely under-rated by many supporters. We do need to find another rebounding HB defender which is why we keep transitioning our more promising young midfielders through the role. I think Flossy will be a great inclusion and someone such as Lennon, McIntosh or Dea would also compliment the mix. The backline is looking strong with plenty of depth next year imo

 

[TJTIGER]

Matty Arnot can be that other inside mid. I want Vlas in there but seems we like him in defence.

Still not sure Miles will be as good as we think he might be. He's really slow and to be honest he gets a lot of cheap ball, Grigg style

Could you elaborate on that please ? As Miles is not only often at the bottom of a pack but has someone sitting on his head....

 

[Juke]

We will revisit later this year if he doesn't improve on 2014. I think we've seen his best, which is pretty good but the knockers will be out in force when his output is equal to 2014 and suddenly he doesn't seem as good as he is/was.

Yeah, I'll really be spewing when he maintains his 25 touches (15 contested) average. [emoji6]

 

[CoggaRules]

Not sure about the Miles criticism. Miles earns every possession he gets. He would be the last player in the team I would be saying gets 'cheap possessions'. If your argument is to say that when he gets it he isn't as damaging as some of our better ball users then that's another argument completely but he is a born inside mid and we are dam lucky to find him last year.

the used to say the same about Coggs when we had a team of hacks and were saying he wasnt damaging, when the hacks
were damaging us.

 

[richoatthedisco]

Our backline is a strength. Our defence in midfield has been a weakness. As has been our delivery inside 50.

We need a stronger presence around the ball. Hopefully a fit Conca and Hunt will address this.

A fit Knights will greatly benefit the forward line, as will fast ball movement. An open forward line will make Jack, TV, Lids, in particular, very dangerous.

 

[Tango67]

backline is all about balance and versatility, you need 3 talls of which we have Rance, Astbury and at the moment Chappy all as locks.

You need 1 lock down small/mid, last year it was morris this year it should be grimes.

that leaves 2 spots for attacking running flankers, houli is a lock but if he gets tagged we need the 2nd, that's why I think Lennon is an option, tall, strong can run and kick, Batch may beat him for the gig early but lennon has so much more upside than batch IMO

morris into the fwd line is risky but what he will do is create havoc, a human wrecking ball that may create some panic and cause turn overs or rushed kicks out of the opponents backline, he wont create goals through his creative fwd work but may just create them through his presence

what we really need is a system where the wingers and HFF and CHF do the hard running to present as quick release options out of our own backline, this is where lids, knights, ellis and griffo need to step up so our backmen have plenty of options to move the ball quickly and into our fwd 50, an extra tall running winger would really help out here and a Mcbean or Macintosh could add some value if the had the running power?

 

[SpudsLoveChild]

This post on the Bach thread got me thinking. So figured ill air my thoughts and get your input

IMO we have done a stack of work and went through a lot of pain developing the back 6 we have. One of our main weakness was simply the monster forwards used to rip us a new one. It looks like a Fit Astbury and a developing Elton, will go a long way to address it. Thats great but I believe we have a weakness thats even more damaging and that is that offensive half back that can run all day.

We have Houli and as the simple poster I quoted above noted ( which surprised me, he noticed it as he normally is nose deep into his bong) when Houli does not play, our run drys up and we more often lose. We then tried putting lids there but that again was robbing peter to pay Paul, not actually fixing this issue as we lose more then what we gain.

So I had a look at the list and have given my thoughts in maybe what our plan is to correct it.

Lennon- Different player then Houli but could be just as effective. What he lacks in pace, he can make up with ball movement. Why run 60 meters and kick it 30 when you can run 30 and kick it 60. Still a kid with a stack to learn but he has the size and ability IMO to be a really good quality defensive weapon

Hunt- He has played a tagging and mid role at the cats. Good defensive work with good speed. Could actually be a clone to Houli and may very well complement each other but does he have the tank ?

Conca - IMO, he has the talent. He is not slow, more medium paced, can at times make the odd wrong choice but even though he has not shown it often recently as a junior he was elite in getting in and out of traffic to allow him to seemingly burst from a pack to kick it lace out....my smokey.

Knights- Here is a player IMO I think could be a real weapon if he stays fit. Smart, can read the play and has a disposal that you would bet your mortgage on to hit a fellow team mate. Just knows how to create space for himself. He has limited speed but will that hinder him to much ? IMO worth a crack.

Anyone else ? IMO what killed us, was our run. Shut down Houli who creates and we struggle, we need to correct it and have we done enough work to do so ?

Grimes, Houli, Vlaustin and old man Newy relieving off the pine should provide a lot of run off half back.

But for mine our major weakness is our forward six. Our back six is close to elite.

 

[Livonski]

Our backline is a strength. Our defence in midfield has been a weakness. As has been our delivery inside 50.

We need a stronger presence around the ball. Hopefully a fit Conca and Hunt will address this.

A fit Knights will greatly benefit the forward line, as will fast ball movement. An open forward line will make Jack, TV, Lids, in particular, very dangerous.

delivery inside 50. the single most frustrating aspect of our footy.
lead at the ball carrier ffs. so much easier but we tend to run back towards goal hand in the air.
drives me nuts

 

[Cotcho]

Not really. When you look at the inclusions that Geelong have brought in with Clarke, Blease and Cockatoo tonight it is very worrying. We will obviously improve but will it be a classic case of us improving and the rest of the comp improving faster. I had Geelong pencilled to slip out of the 8 but having a look at their guys...hmmmmm.

 

[Bojangles17]

We need another couple of midfield options to emerge , whether that comes from arnot, McDonough , Knights or the draftees remains to be seen, an imperative though if we are to improve that our depth is better than 2014

 

[Tiger68]

I think you're on your own on this one

I'm happy to to stand with sante on this one, Miles has many good attributes to his game but I think he has been overrated. I have also noticed his D50 15-20m possessions, and his inability for defensive running. Its up to our coaching to stamp this out as opposition sides will allow it.

 

[sante]

Could you elaborate on that please ? As Miles is not only often at the bottom of a pack but has someone sitting on his head....

Away from a ball up/centre bounce he gets wasted touches in defence that don't help us move forward. He's always trailing his opponent to the ball too.

I still rate him as a very good player