Strategy Key Talls/Structures

[DarkSaint]

I've been thinking (never a good thing) that we are constantly play with 1 key back short and 1 key forward short last year and this year. Now i just want to mention some top teams and the way they say up with 2 genuine lock down defenders and 1 intercept marking defender.

Crows: Lock down backs Talia,Otten,Hartigan Kelly with Doedee as the intercept marking one
Dogs: Lock down backs Morris/Cordy/Roberts/ Hamling (when he was there) with Wood as the intercept marking one
GWS: Corr/Davis/Mohr/Tomlinson with Haynes as the intercept marking one
Port: Lock down Jonas/Hombsch/Clurey with one of them intercepting depending on match ups plus Howard as well
Cats: Taylor/Henderson with Stewart as the intercepting one
Tigers: Broad/Astbury/Rance with him pretty much doing both plus a Grimes intercepting
Eagles: Barrass/Schofiled with McGovern as both Intercept marking type, but they all can do it.
Dons: Ambrose/Harltley with Hurley as the intercepting one

Now when you look at our team we have Brown and Carlisle as the two lock down but usually Roberton preferred as the loose man. Now don't get me wrong Robbo is a gun at providing run and reading the play, but when you look at the other teams in this particular area, they seem so much stronger in the air than what we do. I've been saying all along that we need to have played Austin in the side along Brown and Carlisle with Carlisle being our very own McGovern intercepting everything in sight. Robbo can play on the medium forward and you have Webster that can take the medium/smalls and Geary purely for the best small forward role. Now i know people will say what about leg speed etc, but have a look at the crows defence and tell me who is faster.

FB: Kelly Tahlia Doedee
HB: Laird Otten Seedsman

And then you had hartigan on the bench which was there line up against the dogs in wet conditions last week.

Then my ideal team would be the below for the saints

FB: Geary Brown Webster
HB: Robbo Austin Carlisle

As you can see in no way are they quicker than us when it comes to speed. But what they do well is mark and balls that are coming in along with other teams.

Now onto the forward line must teams play with 2 key tall then 2 or so medium sized and then 2 smallish players. Again the below teams
Crows: Jenkins/Walker/McGovern keys and Lynch as medium plus resting mid along with Betts/Galluci
Eagles: Kennedy/Darling/Lycett with Waterman/Venebles all 188+
Dons: Daniher/Hooker witt Stewart/Stringer as the other 188+
GWS: Patton/Cameron with Ried/Himmlerberg/Lloyd 188+
Demons: Hogan/McDonald with Pederson/Hannan and even fritch who is 188cm.

The only real exception to the rule are the Tigers, But they still have JRoo 193cm Townsend same height as Membrey also Caddy 186+ in there.

If you look at the way we play we only really have 1 Key tall as Membrey is only 188cm. Yes i know he can play tall for his height but we need another 2 keys talls along side him and for him to ideally be playing the Lynch type role for the crows.

Ideally what i would like to see is:

FF: Gresham McCartin/Marshall Billings
HF: Membrey Bruce Weller/Long

Now lets use the crows as the prime example because i already used their defensive set up as an example they line up as follows

FF: Betts Jenkins McGovern
HF: Lynch Walker Milera/Galluci

Now there is no way looking at it on paper that the crows could have a quicker/more agile back line and forward line than us. What our problem is at the moment is that we keep bring in players and have to many of one kind in the side ie smallish defender at the moment Rice/Geary/Webster/Coffield/Clark/Savage. This imo 3 too many in one side. Then we have alos rotated Newnes/Acres/Ross throughout games and no wonder we like structure and directions.

I think that this side needs to be stripped back down to basics and get the skeleton of the team sorted before you try and change the game plan etc.

Now what i would like to see happen is this:

FB: Geary Brown Webster
HB: Robbo Austin Carlisle
C Sinclair Dunstan Acres
HF Long Bruce Membrey
FF Greshan Marshall Billings
RR Hickey Ross Steven

Now depending on form the players that are not highlighted are the ones that can be swapped. Don't get my wrong the players in BOLD are subject to chop and change as well but oonly for the following options for example:

Marshall/Membrey/Bruce can only be replaced with McCartin/Battle if they are not performing.
Hickey can be replaced.

Brown/Austin/Carlisle can only be replaced by Gilbert/even Roboo here Clavarino etc

Hickey obviously with Longer/Pierce and to a stretch Marshall depending on form

Sinclair/Acres with the likes of Ed Phillips/Newnes/Clark depending on vfl form

Long/Billings/Gresham with the likes of Lonie/Weller/Minch etc who actually play half forward

Geary/Webster/Robbo with players like Coffield/White/Rice/Gilbert see robbo above.

Ross/Steven/Dunstan with players like Steele/Stevens/Armo etc

Obviously i have left out 4 players that need to be on the bench and that should be taken up by 3 players that can play in the middle/half forward and the last player can be a half back flanker like a coffield/savage/white etc for better team balance.

Now there are games were we might go in too tall for the opposition, but if you look at the top sides, they dont really change their structure for any team and its continuity that drives better performance and confidence on what each player does and the role they play.

Anyways thats just my 2 bob.

 

[BrutThough]

We were playing Gilbert as a key back before he got injured.

 

[DarkSaint]

We were playing Gilbert as a key back before he got injured.

Gilbert shouldn't be played as a key back. Brown and Austin should be used for that with Carlisle and 3rd man up/intercepting. He is more in the mould of Robbo who is a much better player than him

 

[BrutThough]

Gilbert shouldn't be played as a key back. Brown and Austin should be used for that with Carlisle and 3rd man up/intercepting. He is more in the mould of Robbo who is a much better player than him

Having three giants in the backline isn't smart. We would lack a lot of run coming out of defence and be vulnerable to opposition smalls.

I don't see the point of this post?
We did play two talls as key posts (Brown and Gilbert) and then Carlisle was the intercepter. We got hit by injuries and couldn't play our ideal structure last week.

The forward line you suggested was the breakdown we had until injuries came to key players.

 

[DarkSaint]

Having three giants in the backline isn't smart. We would lack a lot of run coming out of defence and be vulnerable to opposition smalls.

I don't see the point of this post?
We did play two talls as key posts (Brown and Gilbert) and then Carlisle was the intercepter. We got hit by injuries and couldn't play our ideal structure last week.

The forward line you suggested was the breakdown we had until injuries came to key players.

Re the post above. The crows defence isnt any faster than ours with a similar set up. We had Austin in VFL which we could have played that structure last week and all year.

 

[St Kilda Death]

I feel defence is the least of our problem atm.
Defence from the back 6 this year has been decent. Until they are bombarded with i50s from the oppo. That problem lies in turnovers in the front half and failure to lock the ball in there.

 

[DarkSaint]

I feel defence is the least of our problem atm.
Defence from the back 6 this year has been decent. Until they are bombarded with i50s from the oppo. That problem lies in turnovers in the front half and failure to lock the ball in there.

I agree that the defence has been solid. But we have looked the best when we had Carlisle as the intercepting defender and not playing tight on a 1st or 2nd key forward. Front half errors have killed us that's for sure.

 

[St Kilda Death]

I agree that the defence has been solid. But we have looked the best when we had Carlisle as the intercepting defender and not playing tight on a 1st or 2nd key forward. Front half errors have killed us that's for sure.

Ideally we hope that austin clavarino and Goddard show some form.
Brown injured now and in the twilight of his career. Same with gilbo.

 

[tim_saints]

I actually think when we are good our backline will be really solid, its solid now it's just in there so ****ing often that it makes it look average.

 

[austinnn]

I feel defence is the least of our problem atm.
Defence from the back 6 this year has been decent. Until they are bombarded with i50s from the oppo. That problem lies in turnovers in the front half and failure to lock the ball in there.

Agreed. They're holding their own down there but they can only do so much.
You see it, play after play: once we get the ball, good build up play in the midfield, quick exchange, spread for less pressure, long bomb into an inside 50 contest, turnover. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Oh, one of the forwards finally marked the ball. Kick for goal. Behind. Oppo kick in. Kick to oppo player uncontested or marking easily despite contest or easily uses body or movement to eliminate Saints player from contest before marking. You know what, I think I'll stop here, it's too disheartening.