List Mgmt. Midfield 2011-2014

[ThisIsJake]

2011 Midfield
Pendles - A+
Swan - A+
Thomas - A+
Ball - A
Beams - B, Almost guaranteed progression to A
Sidebottom - B, Same as Beams
Wellingham - B-

2014 Midfield
Pendles - A+
Beams - A
Sidebottom - A-
Ball - C+, serviceable and hanging on to his spot for now
Swan - C, barely holding his spot. Sad to see .
J.Thomas, Adams, Dwyer - C-

Says it all really...

Sure we have forward line and defensive deficiencies, But we just don't go very deep in the midfield. Much of the reason is out of our control with Thomas(injuries), Swan(age), Ball(age).

A lot of the heat has gone onto our back line and forward structure over recent weeks so just made this thread to highlight that our midfield is the engine room and is without a doubt the biggest issue.

We either need to recruit some players along the lines of Nicky Dal and Goddard and/or really need to pump games into young midfielders that have potential to be elite like Kennedy(FULL GAMES PLEASE!), Adams(I still believe he will be a player), Freeman, Sharanberg(Better player management injury wise?). And the players who in my eyes don't have potential to be elite need to either be depth players(VFL) or go elsewhere like Blair, Dwyer, Thomas(many will disagree with me on him).

Any ideas on players to recruit or routes to take to increase our depth of quality in the midfield?

 

[ThisIsJake]

No? Ok.

 

[DAWESOME!!]

Hope to snag a good midfielder with our second round pick this year. Hope Kennedy, Adams, Thomas etc develop, and that Pendles, Beams and Sidey stay at their best.

 

[Seedsfan]

Bit harsh only rating Swanny C- his back half of the year has not been good but he has been better then that this year

 

[THATSGOLD]

It's a very short midfield we will be running with in the years to come under Bucks. Pendlebury the only one with size.

 

[rand corp]

With Ball in decline we need a good inside/clearance mid to really step up. Thomas, Adams, Kennedy, Freeman will all get their chance to claim a spot next season.

 

[Shaneprice97]

I think the midfield needs a make over, Pendlebury, Beams and Sidebottom are the only 3 playing to our expectations. Swan isnt as Damaging and Ball isnt finding as much of the footy.
Edit: Also add Wellingham to that 2011 B grade column, we miss how reliable he was, would take him back if he wanted to return to us.

 

[pinko77]

its a over rated midfield at times they look great but seem to run oneway most the time
most of them on the weekend had no more then 2 tackles for a midfielder lobbe for port a ruckman gets at least 6 a game and
had 12 on the weekend
we seem to lack some real hard nosed midfielders

 

[Seedsfan]

It's a very short midfield we will be running with in the years to come under Bucks. Pendlebury the only one with size.

You do not need to be tall, Hawthorn beat Fremantle in the Grand Final last year that just goes to show the that best players win you the game no matter if they are 175 or 195

 

[Wackajack]

The midfield is without doubt our biggest issue, we don't have the talent/experience in the backline to deal with quick entries from clearances. We also can't get the ball quick enough into our forward line without the opposition clogging it up.

 

[Number 10]

It's a very short midfield we will be running with in the years to come under Bucks. Pendlebury the only one with size.

So?

Hawthorn had the shortest midfield in the league last year. We had the 4th tallest. Didn't seem to help.

THIS IS THE BIGGEST MYTH IN AFL!

 

[Piestration]

No point having a good mid if our ruckman aren't developed enough to gives us some 1st use of the pill. We may need to go after a bigman that has the capacity now rather than in 2 years when Pendles is older. Atleast someone that Witts or Grundy can be in the same 22 with at times. Also we should be targeting Ling as our mids coach. Imagine the experience benefits for Freeman, Pendles, Beams, Adams, Karnezis, Sidey, Caff (especially), Kennedy, Thomas, Broomhead. Get out the Chq Book Eddie and bring in some quality with experience and success.