MIDFIELD OPTIONS

[BUBBALOUIS]

Alot has been said about our midfield and its worth, after watching the Collingwood game i reckon weve still got a lot of work to do. Rehn seemed to be getting his hands to the ball first but we still seemed to struggle winning posession and moving forward. This was despite Harford having another solid game. Is it time to bite the bullet and promote Johnston and Piciaone, and give them 6-8 weeks to work without the threat of being dropped. Or am i hitting the panic button to quickly, after all we did win on the weekend. Our defence is working overtime and doing a fantastic job, our midfielders do well in getting back in numbers to help out, but i feel we still struggle to create opportunities from the centre clearances, and hence our marking forwards are always under pressure with poor disposal and slow movement towards them. Am i being too harsh?

 

[phreeze77]

No bubba your not wrong mate...our midfield needs to find the best combination possible...we need to find a core of players who you can rely on to get the ball out when opposition get a run on...I would like to see Joel smith play in the midfield...They seem to be doing a chicky with him in that play him in the defence for most fo teh year and then discover he can play midfield...Johnson has talent but he seems to sheep dog a little too much at the moment.. i would like to see him in the team...but i think they are also doing a bowyer to him in that they are letting him ease into it...

so i would like our main group of midfielders to take a game by the scruff of the neck and really dominate...just look at the stats its always like that...we always have 1 player who is in the possesions but usually out of the top 10.

 

[RogerC]

It was interesting to hear Malthouse discussing our midfield last weekend. He was talking in relation to Collingwood's superior inside 50's, and he basically said that letting the ball enter the opposition forward line was part of our game plan. In other words, we operate out of our backline rather than our midfield. If that's true, it sounds a bit risky, and puts a lot of pressure on Hay, Rawlings, Graham et al.

With such a tall forward line, it would be to our advantage to get the pill to them as quickly as possible. To be honest, we're still a quality midfielder short at present. Assuming Smith comes through and Chick plays more in the middle, maybe it isn't as bad as all that, but it still needs addressing.

The trouble to my mind is that we just don't attack the ball fiercely enough in the centre. We don't appear to want it. Rehn isn't operating to a game plan either, in that his taps aren't directed toward a particular teammate or position. In fact our midfielders were behind the ball most of the time. But that's premature. Rehn may need a few weeks to sort that side of his game plan out.

The difference between Holland, and Brereton when he was at CHF, is that when and if the ruckman thumps the ball forward (and Rehn is capable of that), you could always count on Brereton going hard at the ball, and usually winning it, whereas Holland doesn't do that. It means a good centre tap can't be turned to advantage. Is it time to rethink Centre Half Forward, perhaps? Just a thought.

 

[BUBBALOUIS]

Roger you do have a point, Dutchy roams around alot like Richardson at Richmond, however i think John Barker quite often assumes the role of CHF, he is quite a tough nut and im sure hed make a contest if the ball was smashed in his direction.

 

[BUBBALOUIS]

Well the inclusion of Picioane in the first quarter seemed to get our midfield going, perhaps this is the first step in a change of fortunes for our midfield. Harford,Crawford,Picioane, Tim Clarke, Woodsy, Chick, doesnt seem so bad this week. Jonathan Hay also added something to our midfield, playing on Kouta was a masterstroke, showed his attacking flair as well as his defensive ability. Im getting all excited

 

[Danny Chook Fan Club]

Hey the midfield worked this week!

Hey, Cindy got 24 possessions and played most of the game on the ball!

Hey, we tagged Carlton guns with defensive players and let our offensive on-ballers run and create!

Hey, we were lucky!

Three of these things belong together
Three of things are kind of the same
But one of these things is doin' its own thing
Now it's time to play our game, it's time to play our game

(Apologies to all of you who thought they had forgotten that Sesame Street song, and now have it stuck in their heads for the remainder of the day.)