Melbournes Balance of inside/outside players

Topkent

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For the purpose of the exercise i have removed all rucks and KP players plus duds like bate
i just worry that our list is balanced far too heavily on outside players and its maybe why we have been accused of being 'bruise free' and downhill skiers, because when the going gets tough i dont think we have enough blokes who can go in an win the hard footy

GENUINE OUTSIDE TYPES
Brad Green
Addam Maric
Cale Morton
Johnston, Cameron
Lawrence, Kelvin
Nicholson, Daniel
Rohan Bail
Jamie Bennell
Sam Blease
Liam Jurrah
James Strauss
Aaron Davey

BOTH
Tom Scully
Colin Sylvia
Austin Wonaeamirri
Evans, Michael
Neville Jetta
Jack Grimes
Ricky Petterd
Lynden Dunn

GENUINE INSIDE TYPES

Clint Bartram
Nathan Jones
Jordan McKenzie
Brent Moloney
Luke Tapscott
Jordan Gysberts
Jack Trengove


you could easily argue to swap a couple ie scully into the inside group and sylvia, but i believe both have been used just as much 'outside'

i think our midfield group is lacking a luke ball type or two
at last count 8 genuine outside players werent in our best 22 and i think we may have over recruited in this department
 
Don't agree with the premise of the thread & wasn't going to post, when we give up it's not just because of a lack of in & under players. Moloney has gone missing in some of our big losses, Sylvia is another. I disagree with others, but I had to post the following:

Bail outside? You're kidding right, you must have memory loss from when he last played, he's regularly on the bottom of packs, 1 of our leading tacklers & 1 of the more consistent performers this years in wins or losses
 

CaptainDavey

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Rohan Bail outside? Really? I'm not trying to be condescending here but I wouldda sworn the kid is a bit of a hard nut.

I wouldn't worry about a balance. Generally you'll find that a combination of both groups playing well in tandem will result in a good performance. I know it sounds obvious but if one is lacking then the other is going to be feeling the pressure
 

Topkent

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Don't agree with the premise of the thread & wasn't going to post, when we give up it's not just because of a lack of in & under players. Moloney has gone missing in some of our big losses, Sylvia is another. I disagree with others, but I had to post the following:

Bail outside? You're kidding right, you must have memory loss from when he last played, he's regularly on the bottom of packs, 1 of our leading tacklers & 1 of the more consistent performers this years in wins or losses


im not equating outside as soft and gutless

i think that we drafted bail as an outside player and he has gone above expectations.. he can play inside but he is more effective outside, thats all im saying... we need more jordie mckenzies/gysberts and less nicholsons/strauss/blease/bennel etc
 
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Tapscott is hardly just an inside player. Sure he can win his own ball, but he also gets a fair bit of it outside.

Struass is the exact opposite. In the last month he's shown himself as not the worst in locking down and opponent but struggles to get outside and win cheap kicks which is a shame.

The key is to have every player in the 22 capable of winning the footy inside and out, but have them structured to suit their strengths. Of course the best examples we have of this at the moment are probably Trengove, Sylvia and Frawley. Bail is a good example for a player who can do both as well.
 

sledbomber

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I personally think that we have the balance pretty much spot on, :thumbsu: to the recruiting department. Remember we will be adding Viney to the mix shortly as well :).
 
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Further to my post above I think we should look towards Collingwood. The players who might not win a lot of their own footy (and their aren't many of them) get touches from work rate. Guys like Leon Davis and Didak.

But most of their outside runners like Thomas and Ben Johnson are perfectly capable of winning their own footy anyway. That's the challenge for guys like Blease, Bennell, Morton and Maric - they either need to win their share of contests or up their work rate (without sacrificing their defensive work rate).
 
For me, it's more about working as a unit to free up certain players who are heavily tagged. Eg. The critism of Davey getting easily tagged, Maloney during our losses or recently the tag applied to Scully. How much blocking and attempts are made by others around the stoppage to help free these guys up?
It seems we are a win your own footy or just out work the tag type team. Whereas a team like Carlton often have certain role players in the team to help give Judd block, do we have any players in our team that are willing to sacrifice a bit of their game?
 
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For me, it's more about working as a unit to free up certain players who are heavily tagged. Eg. The critism of Davey getting easily tagged, Maloney during our losses or recently the tag applied to Scully. How much blocking and attempts are made by others around the stoppage to help free these guys up?
It seems we are a win your own footy or just out work the tag type team. Whereas a team like Carlton often have certain role players in the team to help give Judd block, do we have any players in our team that are willing to sacrifice a bit of their game?

Good post :thumbsu:

I've been bemoaning our lack of blocking at the stoppages for a while now, and whilst it's getting better it still leaves a hell of a lot to be desired.
 

CaptainDavey

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Throw Jack Viney into the midfield and we definitely need more uotside pace and skill.

Other than Davey and Green we dont have any quality ball carrying outsiders.

The development of Blease, Evans and Nicholson will no doubt address this issue. Besides, it's not as though Pendlebury, Swan, Ball, Beams are all elite runners. Come to think of it, I don't really believe some of the more superior sides in the past few years (Collingwood, Geelong, St Kilda) had genuine pace to burn
 

Topkent

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Throw Jack Viney into the midfield and we definitely need more uotside pace and skill.

Other than Davey and Green we dont have any quality ball carrying outsiders.

thats sorta the point? most of the outside players we have drafted arent great kicks
 

Topkent

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What? I thought the point as per the OP was that we 'lack a Luke Ball type' and 'have over recruited in this area' (re outside players).


no no both, if we had 8 of the most elite outside players then i wouldnt be complaining but we have overdrafted these outside types and i believe a cpl of those picks would have been better used on inside players
 
Struass is the exact opposite. In the last month he's shown himself as not the worst in locking down and opponent but struggles to get outside and win cheap kicks which is a shame.

It's very common for young rebounding defender's to struggle with their role in their first 30 or so games, Strauss' strength as a junior was his spread, run and carry and footskills of course.

When they make the transition to AFL level they have to work extensively on their defensive game, defensive football is not promoted in the TAC Cup and National Championships.

The same thing is true of Blease, right now he doesn't have a great defensive side... but that's because he has literally never played a role where that was really required.
 
As for outside players with elite footskills, look no further than Blease.

At the moment he is struggling after his broken leg, but have a bit of faith in the kid.

He will be a weapon if he comes good.

Col Sylvia will become a more outside oriented player as the Trengove's, Gysberts' and Scully's develop IMO. He also has elite footskills.
 

Demon 16

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Our inside mids are looking Pretty damn good imo.

Mckenzie, Money, Scully, Viney, Gysberts & Trengove is the best young group going about!

I think well look for pace and footskills in the next draft.
 

Topkent

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Our inside mids are looking Pretty damn good imo.

Mckenzie, Moloney, Scully, Viney, Jones, Gysberts & Trengove is the best young group going about!

I think well look for pace and footskills in the next draft.

i guess he makes a big difference to that balance of inside mids, and you forgot jones

we have plenty of pace, nicholson, blease, bennell, lawrence, johnston, strauss, etc all have 'pace' but only strauss is currently known to be a good kick... i would sacrifice pace for in the next draft for better kicks, and then find some 100 kilo kids to stick in the goalsquare
 
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For the purpose of the exercise i have removed all rucks and KP players plus duds like bate
i just worry that our list is balanced far too heavily on outside players and its maybe why we have been accused of being 'bruise free' and downhill skiers, because when the going gets tough i dont think we have enough blokes who can go in an win the hard footy

GENUINE OUTSIDE TYPES
Brad Green
Addam Maric
Cale Morton
Johnston, Cameron
Lawrence, Kelvin
Nicholson, Daniel
Rohan Bail
Jamie Bennell
Sam Blease
Liam Jurrah
James Strauss
Aaron Davey

BOTH
Tom Scully
Colin Sylvia
Austin Wonaeamirri

Evans, Michael
Neville Jetta
Jack Grimes
Ricky Petterd
Lynden Dunn

GENUINE INSIDE TYPES

Clint Bartram
Nathan Jones

Jordan McKenzie
Brent Moloney
Luke Tapscott
Jordan Gysberts
Jack Trengove


you could easily argue to swap a couple ie scully into the inside group and sylvia, but i believe both have been used just as much 'outside'

i think our midfield group is lacking a luke ball type or two
at last count 8 genuine outside players werent in our best 22 and i think we may have over recruited in this department
I love how well this post aged.
 
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