Our clearance work

[The Passenger]

right now i think swift and kennedy for hansen and staker will be the only changes. swift will probably start forward i'm guessing which will get some more rotations coming from the forwad line.

i don't think they'll want to change the team to much but i think coming soon will also be a change in the midfield with rosa or butler coming out for a more in-form running midfielder and it sounds like houlihan is tearing it up.

i also think nicoski or brett jones will not be in the team for a lot longer due to the fact we have no midfield rotations coming from the backline either. this could be someone like scott selwood and brad ebert coming into the team to play a tagging role and see a guy like swift or houlihan running of the half back line and coming into the midfield as needed.

 

[Eagle87]

we don't have the outside players that we used to and that makes it hard.

i like priddis' clearance work although he still needs to work on his disposal.

The general method of clearance work these days is the extractor (priddis, kerr) to a reciever (selwood) to a runner - our runners at the moment seem to Butler and Rosa and whilst they've been getting a bit of the ball, both of these guys are really at the crossroads because their use of the ball is just not good enough for a running player.

on top of that kerr is struggling a bit, and although selwood has stepped in getting first hands on the ball, we're still just all round struggling a bit in the midfield.

i think it's time for a complete re appraisal of kerr's role. i know he's not the quickest guy going around, but he's quick enough. lets get him on the outside. get him in a bit of space with his tagger and see if he can tear him apart that way. most of best work so far this year has been when he's running. the problem with that, is he is instinctively a footballer that loves to get in and amongst it, but unfortunately, those players are the easiest to tag because of the extreme congestion.

we don't have as much rotation as we used to - i know we're still developing but in 2006 we would have 10 or 11 guys who could come through the middle: (2006 GF) Braun, Butler, Cousins, Fletcher, R Jones, Judd, Kerr, Selwood, Stenglein with contributions from Chick and an outside runner in Embley. Not too mention Cox was as good as a midfielder. that's serious midfield depth.

I know we don't have the top end stars we used too. That's obvious when we lose Judd, Cousins and Kerr's form is down, but what's more concerning is our lack of rotational depth - from the weekends game Cockie, Selwood, Kerr, Cox, Priddis, Rosa and Butler are doing the vast majority of midfield work. that's six players only.

maybe what we need is just to complete re-define the entire midfield and try and work with something

let's just say for this week the only changes will be swift and kennedy for staker and hansen.

extracting players - priddis, cockie
link men - selwood, masten and does anyone like the idea of a big body like mitch brown playing this role?? i do although i'd limit his time in the middle.
runners - rosa, butler, kerr, swift
tagger - a bit of a problem here with stinger on the outer and i think it's time to use selwood as a more attacking player. maybe bring scott selwood or brett ebert into the team for this role??

obviously players have to rotate through those roles as the contest dictates, but this is their general role.

throw in cox, and if we can get embley back into form then we're starting to get far more rotations. moving kerr throws those rotations a bit running heavy which could put rosa and butler under pressure given they are not performing to their best at the moment. their positions would be coming under threat from the likes of luke shuey (as an extracter or link man), tim houlihan (as a runner)

another problem is the lack of midfield rotations coming from the backline and forwardline. wirra can't go into the mid anymore, nicoski is posted in the backline and i wouldn't want to move hurn from the halfbackline as he is playing brilliantly. in the forward line lecras and mckinley are only capable of playing forward, whilst matsen's still at a point where he's time in the middle will be limited due to size but i think we'll have to start putting him in there a bit more.

But your role distinctions are artificial.

Football isn't rugby or gridiron with lots of technical positions, its much more freeform than that. When we were a developing team we always looked at the top sides as a model, if we looked at them now, I suspect we wouldnt see such clear distinctions between outside/inside extractor/runner and so on. I mean Judd was our best outside player and he is second in the AFL in clearances - what would you call Ablett? Bartel? so on....

Its true that some players are more naturally hard at the ball and some are more naturally outside but in this day and age you can't afford guys who can't kick and can't run. You also need players who attack contests when necessary - guys like Sewell at Hawthorn seem inside but then link the play and often run outside in space....

We are one dimensional because we have guys who are well below standard in one or two aspects of the game and unlike those technical sports, you cant hide guys who cant run, cant kick and so on....

Our midfield is average because its populated by some average players. I also agree that its 4 or 5 short on rotations. How many other sides have 11 or more players who only play back or only play forward? Never have a run in the middle or anywhere else?

As I said in an earlier post, our 4 starting centre square players are all in the AFL Top 7 for contested possessions ... that suggests to me they are all spending way too much time around the ball ..... no rotations ... and very predictable.

You could almost see Harvey thinking on the weekend "Hmm, Kerr tagged, Selwood tagging.... if I put someone quick who attacks on the other bloke we could run off him all day ...." - more rotations and less predictability might have avoided that.

 

[The Passenger]

But your role distinctions are artificial.

Football isn't rugby or gridiron with lots of technical positions, its much more freeform than that.

of course that's why i said each players role would change as is dictated by the contested they are at - i was more just trying to give an idea of what each players main role would be.

of course though if cockie is 15m behind play from another contest and running to the next one, if the ball is extracted before he gets there then he'll have to be one of our running options...

everyone has to be able to play each role as it comes to them.

i can see this is where your biggest critiscms of priddis is because he is very one dimensional and can't play on the outside at all. i agree with that, but at the moment priddis is our leading extractor and on that basis deserves a place in the line-up.

as i said in the other thread as we continue to improve he may no longer be a part of our strongest 22, but for the time being it would be detrimental to the team to not consider him in our best 22 because we still need to win the ball.

i'm looking forward to schuey getting fit and a pre-season into him for 2010. he's a bigger body player who gets on the inside of packs and he may the guy that takes priddis' role.

 

[The Passenger]

You could almost see Harvey thinking on the weekend "Hmm, Kerr tagged, Selwood tagging....

we have to release selwood IMO, because we look so much better when he's getting the ball. he's done his apprentice as a tagger and i think it's time to make him one of our best ball winners and users IMO.

the problem here is it creates a bit of a selection dilemma because we don't have any other tagging options in the team.

we can bring in stenglein he is fairly out of form and probably doesn't have the fitness to run with the leading midfielders any more... he might end up on the half forward line and selwood back tagging.

we could bring in ebert or young selwood and give them a tagging role, but we aren't sure whether they are upto the task. there is only one way to find out, but if they aren't, they probably aren't good enough ball winners to remain in the midfield which means they'll be forced onto the halfback/half forwad line and selwood back tagging.

i think this week we'll bring in kennedy and swift for staker and hansen.

i think eventually (by round 8 or 9 IMO) we're probably also going to bring in houlihan for jones or nicoski. houlihan can play that running role off half back like nico but he can also add to our midfield rotations. nicoski isn't necessarily playing poorly, but their is no flexibility in our backline at all.

i also think by the middle part of the year rosa or butler will be on the chopping block in the attempt to see whether selwood or ebert can play the tagging role. rosa and butler are basically useless as inside midfielders, and although they're getting enough of the ball, they don't use the ball near good enough in open space.

so that adds two players into our midfield rotations (staker, nico/jones out for two midfielders).

on top of this i think on the basis of last weeks performance i think cockie should be a fairly regular in our strongest midfield. i know it's only one game, but i think for the next 3 or 4 weeks we should throw him in and see what he's got. he's physically ready, from his minimal game time on the weekend he got a fair bit of the ball and used it very well.

this may just be me but ever since pavlich started playing midfield circa 2003 and jono brown had stints in the midfield around 2004/05ish i've loved the idea of being able to throw a guy who would normally considered a KPP into the midfield. Lynch was also used to good effect there last year. That's why i mentioned we see how Mitch Brown goes with stints in the middle. I know a lot will depend on how he's knee is holding up, but i reckon he'd be outstanding as a pinch hitting bollocking player in the middle.

We've also still got to get Masten into the as well. I know he's slight, but he was recruited as a midfielder and i think it's time we use him more in the midfield.

So that's giving us a lot more players who can go through the middle. I know Brown is a 50/50 prospect there and Masten has a way to go in his physical development, but i reckon it's the right direction for the club to be going in in terms of developing our midfield rotations.

Also worth noting Luke Shuey has big raps about him and as said could be a new improved priddis, whilst Stenglein, J-Mac and McGinnity aren't the worst depth players to have

I know we don't have that star power in that group, but you never know just how players are going to develop, and you never know who can land on our list over the next couple of draft's.

 

[Eagle87]

we have to release selwood IMO, because we look so much better when he's getting the ball. he's done his apprentice as a tagger and i think it's time to make him one of our best ball winners and users IMO.

the problem here is it creates a bit of a selection dilemma because we don't have any other tagging options in the team........

Well we already have a second attacking mid apart from Kerr - it seems we only need to release Selwood because the other one isnt good at attacking AND of course he can't tag.

A dilemma.

 

[lewigie]

FFS! Houlihan has to come in!

I want Swift in too, but Houlihan has great stats! 30 possessions and 2 goals - what else would you want from a midfielder?

And he's been in the system for a couple of years.

Priddis has to stay until we get someone better than him, then we can trade him for something.