TKiL
Cancelled
He just needs a couple of weeks in the VFL to practice his marking...
tsk tsk - "practise" here please - verb!
Otherwise you're prob right...
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He just needs a couple of weeks in the VFL to practice his marking...
He just needs a couple of weeks in the VFL to practice his marking...
I see it was a short speech in your debating team!! LOL
Thomas is an inside mid and has capabilities to turn into an elite one if he had more time in the middle. High half forward is not his go.
Gerard Healy summed it up best the other week when he simply asked of Bucks why?
Why did he feel the need to make alterations to our game plan over summer and why did he do it with the talent available on our list?
If he did it with the desire to reduce our turnover numbers then by all reports it hasn't worked.
Some people have suggested that we have tried to copy the Eagles and what we are attempting is not all to different to the system employed by other top 4 contenders in Geelong and G.W.S.
Perhaps there is some truth to this and after 4 straight losses to the eventual Premier perhaps some merit in exploring another system of play was warranted.
It could also be argued though that by looking to mimic an opponent you might well only end up becoming a poor imitation and in doing so you only limit the differences and strengths that lead you to your successes in the first place.
Further to that I would suggest that after suffering a narrow grand final defeat in a season wracked by injury not making any system changes would have been justified by the coaching panel and simply looking to improve on your own brand instead of impersonating another should have been the first option taken.
With the additions of Beams, Roughead and hopeful return to fitness of Moore and Elliott it wasn't unreasonable to assume at the start of the season that not much else besides some luck with injuries was required to see us be right in the hunt for the flag.
While I suspect Healy was referring to our overall list quality in the second question he posed of Buckley there is one major difference between us and the other 3 teams named above and why IMO this more measured style of ball movement seemingly doesn't suit our list as well.
Unlike us they all possess A grade key forward options.
I think this is important because not only are they proven players over long periods and consistent goal scorers they provide the luxury of knowing that if the opposition is doing a good job of limiting how you want to move the ball you still a reliable avenue to goal by just bombing it long to the goal face such is their quality.
It's a get out of gaol free card we don't have to play.
While Mihocek proved a revelation last season and has been solid this year he isn't your No.1 key forward.
Cox could be if he can replicate his performance in last years Preliminary final often but displays even approaching that kind of level have been few and far between for him.
They aren't rare for the likes of Kennedy, Darling, Cameron and Hawkins though and it's a massive advantage they have over us.
Right now I don't recognise this side in comparison to the one I admired last season or even our very best of earlier this year.
Worryingly I do see some of the same weaknesses that plagued us in the years prior to last.
Most notably the disconnect between our defence and forward line because we lack any cohesion with our method of transition.
At times we've started to look more vulnerable out the back to our old foe the slingshot also.
Honestly at times last week it was like our players had totally forgotten our system and were making it up as they go. We were back to the bad old days when it was hard to decipher how we exactly wanted to play and what our brand of football was.
Obviously personnel missing or opposition tactics can be playing a part in our current malaise but it's the confidence issue that is more intriguing to me.
I see it as a bit of a chicken or the egg argument in that are we playing like we are because our confidence levels are low or have our confidence levels become low because of how we are being asked to play.
I can't help but feel it's more of the latter and that the players are either being caught in between a desire to play on instinct and adhere to team instructions and it's leading to a jumbled mess of two competing mindsets or those players who went so close to living the premiership dream last year are losing faith in or not enjoying the method they've been asked to play in 2019 more and more as the season has progressed.
While our current predicament certainly doesn't fall squarely on the shoulders of Buckley as there are circumstances at play outside his control he as coach does have one important element that he absolutely can influence and that's the structures and instructions he wants our players to adhere to.
Buckley deserved his coach of the year title last season but he'll deserve it even more now if he can swallow a little pride, take the advice of every caretaker coach in history by freeing the players up and discarding any alterations made to our 2018 game plan.
Will it be the panacea for all our problems overnight?
No but it's the critical starting point that everything else can be built back up around during the remainder of the home and away season.
How we'll beat the Eagles.. the Gimp way..
Buckley to release the shackles.. play like donks for the first 5 minutes.. set the up the same way as we have been for the last 8 weeks.. play that s**t side to side safe s**t.. itll ease the Eagles mindset.. they'll know what to expect.. then bammmmmm.. play that loose aggressive style of play we saw last yr.. and catch em off guard.. they'll be in 6s and 7s and that re..
The result..
4-5 goal win for the Pies.
DEf worth giving the Sack a try-out - even though form not that great, may rise to the occasion through sheer character and adrenalin.The Maggies are currently broken.
Our lack of depth in the forward line and midfield has been exposed. Also we have a bunch of players that keep getting games who are really under-performing.
But one area we actually have an abundance of good players is in the backline. In fact with Scharenberg back, Howe due back soon, Quaynor given his chance etc, we actually have a surplus of good backs. I think we can fix the team by re-purposing some of this talent to other positions.
A thought experiment:
Howe can play forward. He played as a forward for Melbourne before coming to Collingwood.
Aish is a strong mark, he previously played as a mid for Brisbane, maybe he'd go ok on a forward Flank pushing into the midfield, or starting in the midfield?
Quaynor is fast and likes to run and has a good long kick... play him on a wing?
Goldsack has been a reliable defender for years. Bring him back.
In addition we have Noble to debut. So he can play wing or forward flank?
We still have Langdon to come back too, but he might be a while.
To my eyes players like Thomas, Cox, Brown, Daicos, Varco are all either under-performing or not AFL standard. So they can go out to make way.
YouBeauty said:
Thomas is an inside mid and has capabilities to turn into an elite one if he had more time in the middle. High half forward is not his go.
I was thinking that about Thomas jsut today. Not working as a forward, and our cupboard is so bare at teh moment that we need to try to repurpose (as another poster said yesterday). maybe the problem is Thomas just doesn't have the tank for midfield or even defence, but we def need someone at the coalface coz Sier not working right now either. Worth a try and see if he can play through pain - the pain of gut running when your body thinks it can't do it anymore, some of us know that feeling.Yes, but he's poor defensively and arguably the worst 2-way runner in the team.
NOI reckon this guy would know how to get us firing
AFL 2019: Mick Malthouse reveals he’d be open to chatting with clubs about coaching again
‘It’s in your DNA’: Mick stunningly reveals hunger to coach againwww.foxsports.com.au
After he took to 2011 with a fire extinguisher?I reckon this guy would know how to get us firing
AFL 2019: Mick Malthouse reveals he’d be open to chatting with clubs about coaching again
‘It’s in your DNA’: Mick stunningly reveals hunger to coach againwww.foxsports.com.au
"Thanks for coming in to talk about this vacancy Mr ... err... Malthouse. What was it that attracted you to this position?"I reckon this guy would know how to get us firing
AFL 2019: Mick Malthouse reveals he’d be open to chatting with clubs about coaching again
‘It’s in your DNA’: Mick stunningly reveals hunger to coach againwww.foxsports.com.au