Opinion Lack of pace

[Tigerbob]

Haha I was just being an idiot. IMO its not fast players we need its fast ball movement.

No it's fast players we need also. More pressure on players all over the ground. Speed is vital. Offensively and Defensively. Fast ball movement is all well and good, certainly need it, but having players with pace creates so much.

Imagine the ball being kicked in long to our forward line, pack hits and ball spills. Suddenly you have zippy forwards with pace like Betts, Garlett, Walters etc there to swoop. Then if they don't get it, they are chasing and putting pressure. This is what we lack.

When is the last time we had a player in the forward line besides Jack who could kick a goal out of nothing? Where is that x factor for us?

 

[Mr Magic]

Was briefly speaking about this with Tigerbob in another thread and think it deserves its own.
What does everyone think about our pace in the side?

Do we lack it?

Deledio is extremely quick and probably one of the quickest in the league, but he is the only first team regular who has good pace in my opinion.

Last night it was evident that we aren't the quickest side going around.

White and Nahas both have good pace but aren't even in the best 22.

I understand that we are a very quick ball moving team, but sometimes when you can't get your hands on the pill you need that speed to chase and ultimately, tackle.

Thoughts?

I don't think that is our problem necessarily but we need a bit more outside class.

I am thinking someone like S Mayes as opposed to L Jetta but depends on whats available draft time

 

[TheProwler]

We don't lack pace, it's one thing we have plenty of. What we lack is composure and ability to make the right decision at the right moment. Ask yourselves how many times so far this season you have screamed out "kick the ball" after a string of hand passes. The string of hand pass after hand pass in an effort to get the ball clear to a player often results in a kick bombed 50mts up the ground where it becomes a 50/50 as to who gets it. The other night vs Geelong the 50/50 came back with interest as an experienced and quality team puts these away and hurts you.

The week before against Fremantle we did it also and the one that sticks in my mind still is the mark Rance took 15m out and instantly tried a clearing kick to the right back flank and nailed a freo player on the chest. He didn't need to kick it so quick, he could have stepped back assesed his options and puled the trigger. This is IMO a flaw in our game plan resulting from being to cute and too quick.

At the end of the day we can have the quickest blokes in the AFL running around for us but if they can't use it properly then it means little.

 

[theflea]

Woo hoo one player

We severely lack speed. Other thing we lack is despite our philosophy of only recruiting good kicks in the juniors we our backline seems to have a lot of a) leftovers from Wallace era and b) mature recruits who kick like complete potatoes who opposition teams are happy for them to have the ball. These guys can't pin point passes so take longer waiting for an easy option which makes our ball movement slow as well as our leg speed. Rance, Grimes, Morris, Petterd is too many ordinary kicks. Then we're left with Chappy and Houli down back and doubt opposition teams are overly concerned with Chappy's kicking leaving Houli. Stop Houli getting the ball and we're in trouble.

Imo morris is getting better and i wouldnt lump grimes in the ordinary catagory.

 

[Capitano_Cotch]

Imo morris is getting better and i wouldnt lump grimes in the ordinary catagory.

The problem is flea, is that this is hardly considered outside pace.
These are players in the back half who can shut down quickly but not exactly provide us with run and dash through the midfield and up forward

 

[Ralll]

Agree with some other posters, its the skill level/decision making as well as our workrate in spreading and working to space thats the major problem other than pace itself.

 

[tigs2010]

Imo morris is getting better and i wouldnt lump grimes in the ordinary catagory.

Grimes isn't a great kick though. And the issue with him at the moment is he has no confidence in it so he takes forever. He's a good decision maker when he takes his time and will hit the target but he often takes too long because he isn't a great kick. As a KPD it doesn't matter but it's compounded when we have smalls who can't kick at an elite level.

Morris has certainly improved but as the opposition you don't mind him getting the ball. You can get away with a couple in the backline but we seem to have too many that the opposition are happy to let have the ball so they leave them open.

The problem is flea, is that this is hardly considered outside pace.
These are players in the back half who can shut down quickly but not exactly provide us with run and dash through the midfield and up forward

Sorry, I sort of went off topic saying that you can get away with a lack of outside pace if you can move the ball quickly but our back half has too many that can't do that either which compounds our issue of lack of pace.

 

[El Tigre]

Quick strong players, with good football sense, and good disposal, just don't grow on trees.
I think our mix of player size and speed is ok. We're just not structurally well drilled enough, and we need to keep developing our players.

 

[NUFC Tiger]

Would also throw up King and Morris for pace.

I think we could use another flashy outside mid with pace and strong skills but think we have bigger issues at the moment.

 

[rideclutch]

Disagree. We have plenty of pace. Cotchin, Lids, Dusty, Houli, Morris etc. We've got a few plodders, but it's just a non-issue.

Pro-tip - the ball moves faster in the air than it does when some bloke is carrying it. Moving the ball quickly and kicking with precision will beat legspeed any day.

As mentioned in the first reply though, this year we're trying to deny the opposition the ball, and move it more methodically, but our footskills have let us down. We will beat most sides who simply want to get into a shootout with us, especially those who can't apply pressure on the ball-carrier.

 

[Harmichael]

Get Cyril! Time the Rioli name came back to where it belongs!