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Prediction Michael Barlow

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1970crow said:
Yep, the trophy sits right alongside the plaque for using the least amount of players.
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I think (or hope) the point being made is that even with a so-so midfield we were able to score heavily. Our biggest area for best 22 growth is in defence which should mean we will concede less too.
 
hey shorty said:
I think (or hope) the point being made is that even with a so-so midfield we were able to score heavily. Our biggest area for best 22 growth is in defence which should mean we will concede less too.
Click to expand...

Our biggest area for improvement is our defensive midfield action. Watching the semi final showed the issue in all its glory. Opposition running the ball out of stoppages and using hands to get the ball to a player under zero pressure. Compared to us constantly under pressure having to hack the ball forward. Our defense is done no favours from our midfield and Thommo was the biggest problem we had.
 
1970crow said:
Our biggest area for improvement is our defensive midfield action. Watching the semi final showed the issue in all its glory. Opposition running the ball out of stoppages and using hands to get the ball to a player under zero pressure. Compared to us constantly under pressure having to hack the ball forward. Our defense is done no favours from our midfield and Thommo was the biggest problem we had.
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Oh for sure, but I mean in terms of the 22 that took the field against Sydney our forwards largely are as good as they'll get, our midfield can improve but defensively I just dont think they have it in them.

Our defence can still get alot better.
 

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1970crow said:
Our biggest area for improvement is our defensive midfield action. Watching the semi final showed the issue in all its glory. Opposition running the ball out of stoppages and using hands to get the ball to a player under zero pressure. Compared to us constantly under pressure having to hack the ball forward. Our defense is done no favours from our midfield and Thommo was the biggest problem we had.
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Replacing Barlow with Thommo next year will help a lot, defensively and pressure-wise.
 
1970crow said:
Our biggest area for improvement is our defensive midfield action. Watching the semi final showed the issue in all its glory. Opposition running the ball out of stoppages and using hands to get the ball to a player under zero pressure. Compared to us constantly under pressure having to hack the ball forward. Our defense is done no favours from our midfield and Thommo was the biggest problem we had.
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Agree with all of that and I really think people are too focussed on the whole outside speed thing.

Against Syd in that first quarter we simply couldn't get hands on the ball. Then when we didn't they just ran the ball away with ease.
 
FWIW someone apparently in the know on the GC board said they won't be targeting DFA's.

Reckon Hawks is the only other chance?
 
1970crow said:
Our biggest area for improvement is our defensive midfield action. Watching the semi final showed the issue in all its glory. Opposition running the ball out of stoppages and using hands to get the ball to a player under zero pressure. Compared to us constantly under pressure having to hack the ball forward. Our defense is done no favours from our midfield and Thommo was the biggest problem we had.
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Absolutely spot on, and thankyou :thumbsu:.

In my books, this is what killed us. And while a range of issues are at play here, the #1 is lack of leg speed. For this reason, we need to make quick Mids in/around the contest an absolute priority. Not slightly younger versions of Thommo.
 
hey shorty said:
our midfield can improve but defensively I just dont think they have it in them.
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Which is precisely why we need to chuck out a truckload of old hacks, and inject some more pace at the Centre Bounces and Stoppages around the ground. And quite a lot of it.
 
Rear Admiral said:
Absolutely spot on, and thankyou :thumbsu:.

In my books, this is what killed us. And while a range of issues are at play here, the #1 is lack of leg speed. For this reason, we need to make quick Mids in/around the contest an absolute priority. Not slightly younger versions of Thommo.
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Legspeed isn't an issue if you don't win the ball. Sydney didn't beat us via legspeed, they actually won the pill and moved it quickly by hand and foot.
 

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hey shorty said:
I think (or hope) the point being made is that even with a so-so midfield we were able to score heavily. Our biggest area for best 22 growth is in defence which should mean we will concede less too.
Click to expand...

Appreciate and respect the comments, but even if our Defence did improve....with the Tsunami of Inside 50's they had to try and stop, I doubt that even Jesus Christ in a Crows Guernsey in our Back Half would've been able to stem the rectal bleeding (hemorrhaging) to any significant degree.

What we need to do is get our Midfield sorted so they can slow the ridiculous speed of ball movement coming into our Defensive 50. That's the issue that's tearing us a new one.
 
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Peter J said:
Agree with all of that and I really think people are too focussed on the whole outside speed thing.

Against Syd in that first quarter we simply couldn't get hands on the ball. Then when we didn't they just ran the ball away with ease.
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Agree 100%, far too much focus on speed and not enough on ball winning. Look at all our losses this year and just look at the midfield numbers of the opposition vs ours, we got hammered in finding the ball. I suppose a lack of spreading might hurt but when watching those games it felt we were always losing from the centre clearance which is reflected in the midfielders disposals (although I haven't bothered to check clearance stats).

Speed is great but I'd rather have a slower guy that can actually find the ball over a quick outside midfielder that can't find his own balll/reliant on our midfielders feeding it to him since they're not elite at finding it themselves yet.

For myself, I feel like the 'forgotten' one is Brad Crouch. With the way he finished off last season/how he played against the top teams I've basically ignored him in my thinking of what our midfield might be able to do next year whilst obviously including him in the 22. Plenty of talent/potential who might very well help fill the void we've got a bit in the inside midfielders whilst also giving us some speed (not that there will be much in terms of amazing finishes with his foot skills) although I'm very much keeping the lid on it this time around. Viewing him as more of a bonus if he does step up and pick up from where he left off prior to the foot injury which is why I'm more of the opinion we could do with a Barlow type to beef up our midfield.
 
1970crow said:
Our biggest area for improvement is our defensive midfield action. Watching the semi final showed the issue in all its glory. Opposition running the ball out of stoppages and using hands to get the ball to a player under zero pressure. Compared to us constantly under pressure having to hack the ball forward. Our defense is done no favours from our midfield and Thommo was the biggest problem we had.
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Yes. I despair that people don't seem to recognise our lack of 'movement' of the ball out of stoppages. Under Craig we were up there with the very best in this regard, and have trailed away over the years to B grade status, qualatively, since. It's all been said before but we are seriously deficient with what we do withe stoppage ball, whether it be defence or attack.
Mr Clarkson knows what is important and it ain't out and out possession or half-baked hack clearance stat numbers.
 

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skoobydoo said:
Yes. I despair that people don't seem to recognise our lack of 'movement' of the ball out of stoppages. Under Craig we were up there with the very best in this regard, and have trailed away over the years to B grade status, qualatively, since. It's all been said before but we are seriously deficient with what we do withe stoppage ball, whether it be defence or attack.
Mr Clarkson knows what is important and it ain't out and out possession or half-baked hack clearance stat numbers.
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Absolutely. The other issue is that our midfield allows opposition to walk through the arcs under no pressure at all. If we give up possession in our forward line, then it's time for the defenders to ready themselves, because you can't guarantee there won't be any resistance until the ball gets to them. When you point this out to the need to improve in the midfield, eg what Thommo's doing, the typical apologists quote raw stoppage stats as if that's some kind of meaningful number in the conversation. Can get a bit frustrating, going around and around in circles with people who think that the midfield cease to exist after a stoppage or that there's qualitative factors involved.
 
1970crow said:
Our biggest area for improvement is our defensive midfield action. Watching the semi final showed the issue in all its glory. Opposition running the ball out of stoppages and using hands to get the ball to a player under zero pressure. Compared to us constantly under pressure having to hack the ball forward. Our defense is done no favours from our midfield and Thommo was the biggest problem we had.
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CEY only makes this worse so if he is the replacement for Lyons and Thommo keeps on we are in trbl
 
dylan123 said:
Agree 100%, far too much focus on speed and not enough on ball winning. Look at all our losses this year and just look at the midfield numbers of the opposition vs ours, we got hammered in finding the ball. I suppose a lack of spreading might hurt but when watching those games it felt we were always losing from the centre clearance which is reflected in the midfielders disposals (although I haven't bothered to check clearance stats).

Speed is great but I'd rather have a slower guy that can actually find the ball over a quick outside midfielder that can't find his own balll/reliant on our midfielders feeding it to him since they're not elite at finding it themselves yet.

For myself, I feel like the 'forgotten' one is Brad Crouch. With the way he finished off last season/how he played against the top teams I've basically ignored him in my thinking of what our midfield might be able to do next year whilst obviously including him in the 22. Plenty of talent/potential who might very well help fill the void we've got a bit in the inside midfielders whilst also giving us some speed (not that there will be much in terms of amazing finishes with his foot skills) although I'm very much keeping the lid on it this time around. Viewing him as more of a bonus if he does step up and pick up from where he left off prior to the foot injury which is why I'm more of the opinion we could do with a Barlow type to beef up our midfield.
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I don't think our setups at stoppages do us any favours with stopping the opposition, especially when it comes to the blokes on the inside sending it to the blokes on the outside. We've been murdered by the likes of Guthrie and Gaff who've been giving free reign on the outside while all we do is concentrate on winning it on the inside. The answer just can't be "throw more talent to winning the ball inside" because that's what we're already been doing under Campo and Clarke. There needs to be a complete overhaul over how the team looks to win/move/defend from these positions I think.
 


Highlights from Barlow's game vs port Adelaide.
He started out tagging Gray but after keeping Gray to 1 possession at quarter time while having 13 of his own, Barlow ended up getting tagged.
It was one of the few games he played midfield this year. He ended up with 43 possessions, 8 tackles, 2 goals.

Remember this isn't a 'best of' highlights but rather every involvement in that game.
 
lunacy said:


Highlights from Barlow's game vs port Adelaide.
He started out tagging Gray but after keeping Gray to 1 possession at quarter time while having 13 of his own, Barlow ended up getting tagged.
It was one of the few games he played midfield this year. He ended up with 43 possessions, 8 tackles, 2 goals.

Remember this isn't a 'best of' highlights but rather every involvement in that game.
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That would have to be the most uninspiring "best of" highlights I've seen, lots of handballs, a lot less kicks which mostly were all nothing kicks. We already have the Crouch boys who handball a lot.
 
Elite Crow said:
That would have to be the most uninspiring "best of" highlights I've seen, lots of handballs, a lot less kicks which mostly were all nothing kicks. We already have the Crouch boys who handball a lot.
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No I said it's NOT a best of highlights. It's purely all from 1 game, so there are going to be a few rushed kicks or ineffective possessions.
Very harsh critique. None of our midfielders (apart from Sloane), produced anything like that standard in 1 game this year.
And as a delisted FA I'm on board. It's not like he's in his 30's, and he can also do a run-with/cooler role well.
 

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