Is our midfield making our forward line look bad?

[Jhye Clark 13]

Nope, our coach is.

The midfield are obviously instructed to have the handball first mentality otherwise it wouldn't be their first option.

Forwards can't mark handballs.

 

[Saint]

Yes. So dysfunctional going inside 50.
Just bomb it long is our MO. Bomb it long with 30 players in our forward 50.
Lower the eyes.

When they do lower the eyes, the see 6 statues among 10 opposition statues.

If all 6 move around, gaps do open up.

Caracella is not a forward coach. To win forward entries by so much yet not convert is an indictment on the forward line. At least Scott finally recognised it, put Taylor forward. Taylor led, they kicked it to him and the smaller guys crumbed the dropped marks (Caddy first). It's exactly what Hawkins should be doing but won't.

 

[Mad_Hatter]

Nope, our coach is.

The midfield are obviously instructed to have the handball first mentality otherwise it wouldn't be their first option.

Forwards can't mark handballs.

Firstly, no they aren't, watch the last quarter (or any games vs top 8 sides) and you see the style we are setup to play.
Secondly, "handball first mentality" was lauded by all and sundry when Bomber did it...
If that was our game plan then we would have seen it through out the year, yet we haven't, we've only seen it at times against lesser sides and it results in us getting beaten.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

Firstly, no they aren't, watch the last quarter (or any games vs top 8 sides) and you see the style we are setup to play.
Secondly, "handball first mentality" was lauded by all and sundry when Bomber did it...
If that was our game plan then we would have seen it through out the year, yet we haven't, we've only seen it at times against lesser sides and it results in us getting beaten.

You blokes don't get it.

 

[RegHickeyStand]

Firstly, no they aren't, watch the last quarter (or any games vs top 8 sides) and you see the style we are setup to play.
Secondly, "handball first mentality" was lauded by all and sundry when Bomber did it...
If that was our game plan then we would have seen it through out the year, yet we haven't, we've only seen it at times against lesser sides and it results in us getting beaten.

I want to see more handballs out to our outside mids with the better foot skills. Some of those mids have been starved of those passes this season. Then pillioried for not having enough possessions and not having enough impact on the game. My broken record this year is that our midfield has not yet played well enough as a cohesive unit.

 

[Cattery]

When they do lower the eyes, the see 6 statues among 10 opposition statues.

If all 6 move around, gaps do open up.

Caracella is not a forward coach. To win forward entries by so much yet not convert is an indictment on the forward line. At least Scott finally recognised it, put Taylor forward. Taylor led, they kicked it to him and the smaller guys crumbed the dropped marks (Caddy first). It's exactly what Hawkins should be doing but won't.

Couldn't agree more; if we sort out our forward line we'll take a power of stopping, not overly confident we will though.

 

[Mad_Hatter]

I want to see more handballs out to our outside mids with the better foot skills. Some of those mids have been starved of those passes this season. Then pillioried for not having enough possessions and not having enough impact on the game. My broken record this year is that our midfield has not yet played well enough as a cohesive unit.

Well enough or long enough I reckon, too many new faces thrown together.
Still I agree, our midfield lacks defined roles re: inside/outside etc and tend to just do whatever.
That's why the hawks were/are so good, everyone had a defined role and because they had all played 200 games together it was so well known it became second nature.
We need that cohesion and we need that time.

 

[RegHickeyStand]

Well enough or long enough I reckon, too many new faces thrown together.
Still I agree, our midfield lacks defined roles re: inside/outside etc and tend to just do whatever.
That's why the hawks were/are so good, everyone had a defined role and because they had all played 200 games together it was so well known it became second nature.
We need that cohesion and we need that time.

Yep, new faces is a factor. Hopefully this game will be a tipping point.

 

[catempire]

Constipated ball movement = opposition numbers in our half = no space to hit targets = bomb long to Hawkins as plans A, B and C = high # entries but low % conversion of entries into goals.

Need to take more risks with ball movement. More 45 degree kicks into corridor. More handball overlap. Give Hawkins a chance against one opponent instead of six. Give Menzel/Kersten some space in which to lead. Allow the 2nd KPF to draw defenders away from Hawkins. Give McCarthy/Cockatoo some quality spills to rove.

If we play this turgid footy into the finals we are not going to go far.

 

[iameviljez]

Constipated ball movement = opposition numbers in our half = no space to hit targets = bomb long to Hawkins as plans A, B and C = high # entries but low % conversion of entries into goals.

Need to take more risks with ball movement. More 45 degree kicks into corridor. More handball overlap. Give Hawkins a chance against one opponent instead of six. Give Menzel/Kersten some space in which to lead. Allow the 2nd KPF to draw defenders away from Hawkins. Give McCarthy/Cockatoo some quality spills to rove.

If we play this turgid footy into the finals we are not going to go far.

This. We take too long to move the ball out of the backline at the moment, and then don't switch the ball centrally off half-back any more. The service from midfield was ok yesterday, I felt - but the forwards couldn't get enough separation, and the ball just didn't go up the field fast enough.