Optimal midfield setup

[QS]

^^ i would now.

NN Masten, Shuey, Scooter,

I'm almost tempted to say Gaff and Masten as a freewheeler. I also note that it seems at times our mids don't seem like they have a particular 'job'.. whereas say Sydney's mids always look disciplined in their role.

 

[Monkey Worshipper]

Priddis has to be included in our best midfield. He is our best clearance player at 141 with the next best Shooo on 108.
He has more clearances than Ablett, Murphy, Swan,Thompson or Mitchell.
He is the 6th in the whole AFL.
I would also say his Contested posessions would be up there as well.

Yes I know some will come back with the "his disposal is crap" argument but the the idea of a midfield is to get their hands on the ball first and he does this in spades. His ball use is also continuing to improve.

And has a kicking effiency of 13% or 15% last night.

And his 'great' handballs are dicky little 1-2 metre handballs that sets up very little play. No creative vision that opens up the play.

Gets a ton of stats... and so what?


Edit. Kerr needs to be tapped on the shoulder at year end and asked to retire (even though his contract finish's 2014). His body is shot. He is struggling.

 

[CoastersFlag No.5]

And has a kicking effiency of 13% or 15% last night.

And his 'great' handballs are dicky little 1-2 metre handballs that sets up very little play. No creative vision that opens up the play.

Gets a ton of stats... and so what?


Edit. Kerr needs to be tapped on the shoulder at year end and asked to retire (even though his contract finish's 2014). His body is shot. He is struggling.

Scott Thompson was at 13% de and he's hardly a crab. it was a scrappy game. Anyway Priddis won't get dropped until the rest of the young mids are elite.

 

[Lucky Luc]

I know it's not everything, but Priddis is our best midfield chance at the brownlow this year and last year he topped the votes.

As i say Brownlow isn't everything, it's a midfielders medal, but he must be doing something right, i like him in the middle.

,

Pridda's role in the team is "Extraction" from a contest, then hand ball out to feed outer runners & Hes bloody good at it, Hes not so good at clearance by foot or pin point passing, so can everyone ease up on him , he gives his best at what hes good at and that's all you can as from him.

 

[Rids]

And has a kicking effiency of 13% or 15% last night.

And his 'great' handballs are dicky little 1-2 metre handballs that sets up very little play. No creative vision that opens up the play.

Gets a ton of stats... and so what?


Edit. Kerr needs to be tapped on the shoulder at year end and asked to retire (even though his contract finish's 2014). His body is shot. He is struggling.

A few points:

1. Priddis' kicking efficiency finished well above 15% (about 30% I believe)
2. What do you think the average kicking efficiency was for inside mids in slippery wet conditions on Saturday night. In fact, what do you think was the average kicking efficiency for all kicks forward of centre - I reckon you'll find it's not much above 30%
3. Those conditions always produce low kicking efficiency because it is harder to work your way out of stoppages by hand and so there is more 'slam it on the boot' get it up the line 35 metre kind of stuff. Not an 'efficient' kick but still undoubtedly valuable to the team.
4. Your handball comment is just out and out wrong. Regularly finds players in space from congestion and his clearance numbers back that up. Scott Pendlebury rates him the best hand-baller in the league in his "Ultimate AFL player" article last year (don't know if I would go that far but it makes a mockery of your comment)
5. Harsh on Kerr. He hasn't had a great season but he is coming off no pre-season and is still giving credible service. Most importantly Kerr is a proven big game player.

In regards to the bump - I'm not sure if the original question is best centre square mids or best midfield set-up? If you are talking centre square mids then no Masten doesn't get in, he doesn't play there much as it is and seems to be doing just fine coming off the square. Our best centre square mid set-up is the current rotation of Naitanui/Priddis/Kerr/Scooter/Shuey/Wellingham (one on HFF, one on bench at any one time) with Gaff/LeCras/Masten/Hurn as change-ups and Hutchings as depth when injuries strike. The problem with it is that although every one of that current rotation would make a very good "No.2 midfielder" - none of them are superstar clear "No 1 mids" that most the top sides have. However, we don't have anything better so until a superstar comes along (and I still think Shuey might be that player) we go with what we've got.

 

[Eagle87]

My primary complaint this year with our mid setup is way too much use of Kerr & Priddis at the same time. My original comments were in 2011 and since then Kerr has become slower. Given how much footy is played from congestion into space these days, having 2 really slow guys is problematic...

Rids, on your post the primary issue I'd have is I don't reckon they all make "very good no. 2 mids" .... If we had 5 "very good number 2 mids" at the moment, midfield wouldn't be our problem. Shuey & Gaff are our most talented mids (Kerr is a fair way ahead of all our mids but the current Kerr isn't the player he was)... the others are complimentary or role players with Priddis' lack of flexibility leading to our distortion in our use of him v others (but we agree to disagree on that)...

We were brave yesterday but it was a low standard contest from a football aesthetics perspective. I reckon our lack of class was less exposed by handy weather conditions (cold, damp and a bit windy)...

 

[The Falcon Strike]

The issue isn't just

1st rotation of NN, Shuey, Kerr Selwood
2nd rotation Cox, masten, priddis, wellingham

The issue is we are relying largely on those 6 and gaff when most sides have 10+ blokes who can do it.

We have so many set forwards/defenders who dont or can't spell through the midfield meaning our mids shoulder all the work and tire late.

Waters looked like he played a bit of midfield last night. I would have liked to see darling have a crack, or perhaps get schoey up on a wing. Even if this is just for 3 or 4 minutes a quarter to give blokes a chop out.

 

[Eastern Rangers]

,

Pridda's role in the team is "Extraction" from a contest, then hand ball out to feed outer runners & Hes bloody good at it, Hes not so good at clearance by foot or pin point passing, so can everyone ease up on him , he gives his best at what hes good at and that's all you can as from him.

Having a role as narrow as extractor isn't a positive. It's a god damn liability. You need good inside midfielders, they just need weapons.

Priddis is best 22 until he isn't but id take a drop in clearance numbers if it was made up elsewhere.

 

[erbenz]

Having a role as narrow as extractor isn't a positive. It's a god damn liability. You need good inside midfielders, they just need weapons.

Priddis is best 22 until he isn't but id take a drop in clearance numbers if it was made up elsewhere.

As it was for 2 and a half quarters against Port earlier in the season.

That game was illuminating as Selwood and Shuey went to town on Port in the first half sans Priddis.

Priddis has done a lot the past two weeks, but that game, even though we lost, had a lot of positive and meaningful indicators in it, as did the Etihad Hawthorn game, for our future sans Priddis, as well as Kerr.

 

[Scotland]

The issue is we are relying largely on those 6 and gaff when most sides have 10+ blokes who can do it.

It's not just this, it's that our guys playing half forward & half back don't add enough to the side.

Let's take Sydney, they're the reigning premier and have an excellent midfield.

C: Jetta Hannebery O'Keefe
Foll: Pyke, Kennedy, Jack

+ Bird, Mitchell, Bolton, Goodes, McVeigh & Mumford go through there, or did in a former life.

They don't have all these guys sitting on some special developing market team extended bench, they have them on the field contributing in other positions. O'Keefe can go forward, McVeigh can go back, Goodes can move onto the ball etc. They have options, and on top of this have Malceski and (not currently) Shaw in defence running the ball out and racking up touches.

We have a mediocre midfield and leave all of the work to them. LeCras can go into the middle a little bit, but other than that we're pretty one dimensional. At the weekend we played Glass, Mackenzie, Schofield and Brennan in defence. None are big ball winners and only Schofield takes the game on and attacks, sometimes. Waters is kicking like a drunk again, and with Hurn out we dropped Wilson after just 2 games and haven't recalled him. We played Hill, LeCras & Cripps forward, none impacted the game to any real degree.

We need half forwards & half backs getting 20+ touches a game and setting up forays forward to go with better midfielders.

 

[Rids]

As it was for 2 and a half quarters against Port earlier in the season.

That game was illuminating as Selwood and Shuey went to town on Port in the first half sans Priddis.

Priddis has done a lot the past two weeks, but that game, even though we lost, had a lot of positive and meaningful indicators in it, as did the Etihad Hawthorn game, for our future sans Priddis, as well as Kerr.

With all due respect, that is a quite ridiculous comment re the Port game. If someone new had come into the midfield and starred then you might have a point but it was the same guys who are always in there ... who stepped up for barely a half ... and then couldn't complete the job (which incidentally is hardly surprising as Priddis is far and away the fittest of our midfielders and gets to more round the ground contests than the others). Given Priddis has had an excellent fortnight it is like me concluding that Shuey and Scooter have clearly being holding Priddis back.

The Hawthorn game was our best midfield performance of the season IMO but given Priddis had 27 disposals that night and Kerr 25 they were still very useful supporting roles to the great games Shuey and Gaff played.

 

[QS]

Waters is kicking like a drunk again

 

[Hap Hapablap]

time to throw kerr forward id say and find a midfielder that can replace his role and they can alternate between roles

 

[QS]

time to throw kerr forward id say and find a midfielder that can replace his role and they can alternate between roles

Wellingham?

 

[Hap Hapablap]

Wellingham?

(slaps head)

completely forgot about wellers.

 

[SpaceClef]

NN, Shuey, Masten, Dalziell

 

[erbenz]

With all due respect, that is a quite ridiculous comment re the Port game. If someone new had come into the midfield and starred then you might have a point but it was the same guys who are always in there ... who stepped up for barely a half ... and then couldn't complete the job (which incidentally is hardly surprising as Priddis is far and away the fittest of our midfielders and gets to more round the ground contests than the others). Given Priddis has had an excellent fortnight it is like me concluding that Shuey and Scooter have clearly being holding Priddis back.

It wasn't just the "same guys." Different personnel play different roles and my feeling was because they had to step up and cover Priddis' role, it was always going to be interesting viewing.

They couldn't complete the job because yes, Priddis is amongst our fittest, but b) By using our sub early we were always going to run out of legs. It's just the nature of the beast. It's why Adelaide flatlined badly in the final minutes on Saturday.

I don't think it is ridiculous as it seems because it was backed up to some degree by the Hawthorn game, where Priddis and Kerr still had solid games, but because they were more supportive in their work the balance of the midfield seemed closer to where it should be.

I don't have anything against Priddis because his raw effort is exceptional and he is a handy player in close, it's just as our list develops over the next few years the fast spread that the game seems to be demanding does mean his flaws are some of the problems that are magnified by our entire squad (Lack of pace/spread, skills and decision making by foot). It's hard to ignore unless we a) Draft more talent to correct those flaws, b) Get rid of Priddis (Which is obviously misguided), c) Force Priddis to play a more flexible role (Which he hasn't shown strong signs of doing yet though it is pleasing he can hit the scoreboard on occasion).

 

[The Falcon Strike]

I think the lack of pace/spread is tripe to be honest.

Wellingham, Selwood, Shuey and Gaff are all pacy. Shuey in particular

Sure we don't have Lewis Jetta, but only one side does.

I think we lack a pacy skillful defender, but not in the midfield.

What we lack in the midfield is stronger bodies who are cleaner below their knees under pressure.

I'd say we are quicker than Hawthorn's midfield as an example and they are top of the ladder.

 

[Spooky17]

I think the lack of pace/spread is tripe to be honest.

Wellingham, Selwood, Shuey and Gaff are all pacy. Shuey in particular

Sure we don't have Lewis Jetta, but only one side does.

I think we lack a pacy skillful defender, but not in the midfield.

What we lack in the midfield is stronger bodies who are cleaner below their knees under pressure.

I'd say we are quicker than Hawthorn's midfield as an example and they are top of the ladder.

I guess we've been spoilt for midfielders in the past 10 years

 

[Agent93]

I think we lack a pacy skillful defender, but not in the midfield.

Offensively I think we lack quick ball movement. The ball always moves faster the feet. Defensively, if quicker forwards are getting away from us we lack proper positioning, in that we aren't giving the players with speed enough respect.

What we lack in the midfield is stronger bodies who are cleaner below their knees under pressure.

I slightly disagree. On Saturday, as with most other rounds, we've turned the ball over a lot. Which means we're getting the ball in our hands but then giving up. One of the things that happens a lot is we kick or handball to a player that is stationary. There's 2 parts to this, the ball carrier needs to make better decisions, and the receivers need to be aware they will be a target for a pass, and keep moving.

There's a lot of opposition players our guys could take note of. They're not all media hyped superstars either, just guys who keep working off the ball to get into a better position, for example Sloane from this weekend. This is reason we get shut down on the switch of play, and conversely get killed by a quick switch from the opposition. Ball speed kills foot speed, but always because the effort to make position happens.

 

[JEagle]

NN should be in the center more often when Cox is doing the rucking instead of resting forward or back. Gives us another big bodied clean inside midfielder because he is so good at ground level and with his hands. I realise this is difficult at present given his fitness base isn't where it could be and his groin is sore, but next year with a full pre season under his belt the MC should be looking at doing this more and more, not just when our mids are are injury ravaged.

 

[JEagle]

Offensively I think we lack quick ball movement. The ball always moves faster the feet. Defensively, if quicker forwards are getting away from us we lack proper positioning, in that we aren't giving the players with speed enough respect.


I slightly disagree. On Saturday, as with most other rounds, we've turned the ball over a lot. Which means we're getting the ball in our hands but then giving up. One of the things that happens a lot is we kick or handball to a player that is stationary. There's 2 parts to this, the ball carrier needs to make better decisions, and the receivers need to be aware they will be a target for a pass, and keep moving.

There's a lot of opposition players our guys could take note of. They're not all media hyped superstars either, just guys who keep working off the ball to get into a better position, for example Sloane from this weekend. This is reason we get shut down on the switch of play, and conversely get killed by a quick switch from the opposition. Ball speed kills foot speed, but always because the effort to make position happens.

Agree on all points. Even the quickest team will look pedestrian when the ball is moved swiftly and accurately by foot.

 

[sydney eagle]

(slaps head)

completely forgot about wellers.

Easy enough to do as he hasn't actually got on the field for the eagles yet !

 

[Spooky17]

Easy enough to do as he hasn't actually got on the field for the eagles yet !

To busy getting injuries from burning up the D-floor

 

[flamingEMBERS]

I think the lack of pace/spread is tripe to be honest.
I think we lack a pacy skillful defender, but not in the midfield.

We could chase Yarran to play there instead of the forward line, he played there all season last year. Though I can't quite remember how he went overall, especially since Mick took him out of that spot.