Our Forward Line without Brown

[Last of the Roys]

This week we were a lot better in our forward structure compared to the abysmal display the week before. However, it was obvious that we still have major problems in this area while we are playing without the big fella.

Here is the forward line setup that I would like to see most of the time:

FF = Banfield Retzlaff Polkinghorne

HF = Power Clark Bewick

- Banfield and Clark really pick themselves in those positions.
- Power must play a lot of the time in and around the forward 50 IMO. He is just so smart, and still an excellent player.
- Polkinghorne - it would be great to have him playing out of full forward for at least half the time to give us some help down there. He is good on the lead and strong overhead, despite his height.
- Retzlaff - I would play him at full forward over Cornelius at this stage. I want someone who knows when to lead and when to stay at home and be a target, I also want someone who can give second efforts and chase. Sure it is probably asking too much to expect Retzlaff to do all this, but I think he is a better bet than Cornelius is.
- Bewick - he is a strong overhead mark and his limited time against Melbourne showed he could be very useful across half forward.

Of course the likes of Power, Polkinghorne, and Bewick are probably going to have to be rotated to other positions at times. Also Clark and Leuy will have to continue rotating.

I would really like to see Leuenberger playing a bit of time at full forward when Clark is in the ruck. Leuenberger showed some really good potential there for a little bit in the first quarter vs. Melbourne. Retzlaff would have to move out to Centre Half Forward when that happens.

 

[Grimreepah]

Problem with Retzlaff at full forward is that he does not have a strong body and is more suited to centre half forward (him and Clark are not really the ideal key forward combo).

However, with him kicking 4 of 8 goals in the reserves, and ACorn struggling to get near it (even though he does some nice things when he does) it may still be our best bet.

 

[Tetris]

My only fear is that if Retzlaff comes in, he will push Clark to Full Forward again. I would like to trial him and its just a matter of finding a place for him...

Mind you, Corndog wasn't terrible on the weekend, and he may (I repeat, may) benefit from a string of games in the firsts.

 

[POBT]

Mind you, Corndog wasn't terrible on the weekend, and he may (I repeat, may) benefit from a string of games in the firsts.

I don't know about a string of games but I would like to see if he can show some improvement next game. I thought he showed the minimum required to get another game. If nothing else, we saw the best game of the year from Clark with Cornelius in the side, which shouldn't be disregarded.

As I said on the match thread, I'd love another Banfield into our forward 50 mix. Doubling that deeper defensive pressure and ground level presence would make our side much more dangerous. I feel that our half forward structure is working quite well in terms of mid/smalls but another quick tackler/crumber would really help.

 

[Jorgo]

Problem with Retzlaff at full forward is that he does not have a strong body and is more suited to centre half forward (him and Clark are not really the ideal key forward combo).

From what I've seen (admittedly only 1 Ressies game) and heard of Retzy I think this is pretty accurate. Doesn't seem the contested type and seems more to like his space and leading is his strength.

Sure you can lead from FF but I think he likes the space to roam.

 

[blueiris]

Power must play FullForward while Brown is out injured as he's smart enough to beat he's oppent one on one and kicks goals and you'll have to play a midfielder on him as he can push up the ground and beat his oppent on the rebound voss must also play green as he plays a lot like Banfield

 

[Stocka]

We are not good enough with delivering the ball inside 50m to have someone like Power at FF (forward line for sure, but not as our main target).

Likewise, teams will have seen how easily we were beaten by Melbourne when they dropped a few talls back to pick off the in-coming ball on Sunday. We don't seem to be able to keep the extra opponent or two (or three) out of our forward 50m and therefore I don't think that going small is going to help.

I think Leuenberger looked very good on the lead at FF the other day and he will be hard to beat with his big body, long arms and pace on the lead if we can even to half-decent kicks to him. I also think that opponents would be likely to give away free kicks against him due to not being able to out-position his big body or beat his long arms.

 

[dos07]

Why not try playing lewie at full forward for the bulk of time and clark in the ruck. I dont think you lose anything playing clark in the ruck as this is where he has played his best footy. Retzlaff could come in and play chf.

Try it for a week or two if it works keep it till browny's back then lewie moves back to the ruck clark to chf and if nothing else lewie might add another string to his bow at ff.

 

[Mr Ripper]

Leuey could be our very own Paul Salmon. Go the Fish Burger!

 

[Last of the Roys]

Leuey could be our very own Paul Salmon. Go the Fish Burger!

That is the first thing I thought of at quarter time. He really did look good there. Unfortunately we need Clark at CHF most of the time, so Leuy will have to stay in the Ruck most of the time.


On Cornelius vs. Retzlaff - from my perspective Cornelius did not have a good game against Melbourne. He showed all the flaws we know he has and didn't give us anything extra (except the structure). Also, I think I would back Retzlaff in a body on body marking contest at the moment given the way Cornelius played yesterday - often going with one hand, being easily bumped off the ball. Cornelius's lack of fitness was also pretty telling as the game wore on.

In any case, Retzlaff has done the hard yards in the reserves on a reasonably consistent basis. Sure, most of it might have been at CHF, but I would like to see him rewarded.

 

[blynd_freddie]

Currently it does look...

[youtube]zmHhB9zV_rQ&feature=related[/youtube]

So until Browny is available... Polks, Toddy, Power, resting ruck [leuey/clarko] Lester, Bewick and rotate Green off the bench in bursts.

 

[cotter101]

i hope its somthing like this

power retzlaff banfield
polks clark redden

i think keep bewick as sub and redden at hff

 

[jackess]

You have to remember that there is a reason Cornelius was selected before Retzlaff for the Melbourne game. I'd say that is a pretty good indication from the coaching panel that at least for the moment that ACorn is better than Retzy. I know bigfooty is the place for people to voice their opinions and pretend that they know better than the coaching staff but until Retzy is selected ahead of ACorn I will believe that ACorn is better.

For me the forward line was pretty close to as good as it was going to get on the weekend until Browny comes back. I wouldn't mind seeing Drummond play forward. He's a bloke that can kick a bag unlike Polks, Banfield, Lester and others. Also I know that they are trying to work on Polecs defensive side but he definitely has the talent to kick 3 or 4.

The Lions need forwards that can kick 3 or 4 not 1 or 2.

HF: Drummond Clark Polec
FF: Banfield ACorn Power

Obviously midfielders like Rich, Redden and Rockliff will rest up forward.

Banfield doesn't kick enough goals as a permanent forward pocket so he needs to be a maniac in applying forward pressure. Plus with Drummond, Power and Polec up forward there are no excuses for not kicking it to the advantage of ACorn so he can hopefully kick a few more goals.

Also move Polks down back and release Adcock to play the quaterback role.

Just my opinion.

 

[crespo007]

I would like to see Power in the forward pocket for the majority of this year with Bandfield playing on the half forward flank.

Power is getting on in years and with the new sub rule, playing him deep forward should enable us to get a lot more out of him this year and (fingers crossed) next year. He showed he still has a nose for goals against melbourne and knows his way around a footy field well enough to probably give us a marking option by getting into sneaky spots.

Bandfield is electric deep in the forward, thats a given, but he is just as smart further up field too. Would love to see more of him bursting through the forward 50 and kicking them on the run like Sherman used to do except with arguably more pace and definately more accuracy.

As for Key forwards, Clark was awesome on the weekend but he still kicks like a donkey. Regarding Retz and aCorn, haven't seen enough of them but i think if Maguire comes back. It wouldn't hurt to see him, patful or even the rusty fist have a crack forward

Just my thoughts anyway

 

[Last of the Roys]

You have to remember that there is a reason Cornelius was selected before Retzlaff for the Melbourne game. I'd say that is a pretty good indication from the coaching panel that at least for the moment that ACorn is better than Retzy. I know bigfooty is the place for people to voice their opinions and pretend that they know better than the coaching staff but until Retzy is selected ahead of ACorn I will believe that ACorn is better.

For me the forward line was pretty close to as good as it was going to get on the weekend until Browny comes back.....

I know what you are trying to say jackess, but I have to pick on a few things:

- if we all have to agree with coaches' (Club's, AFL, umpires') decisions because they are 'experts' and therefore must be perfectly informed and make perfect decisions, then there is no real reason for Big Footy. Obviously these insiders know more than us outsiders, but that doesn't necessarily mean they make perfect decisions by any stretch.

- we are 0 and 3, and last year we were 13th. Yeah there have been some factors beyond the control of our coaching staff, but it is certainly not as if our coaching decisions are beyond reproach;

- On Retzlaff vs. Acorn - Vossy himself was very critical about Cornelius's form in the reserves last week. Obviously for whatever reason they made a judgement in Acorn's favour for the Melbourne game, however 4 possession and 3 marks in almost 3 quarters of footy was hardly a glowing endorsement of their choice - and neither was the fact that he was subbed off without an injury;

- I really hope you are wrong in relation to our forward line being as good as it will get without Brown. We only had 16 scoring shots from 53 inside 50's, and scored only 70 points. With that kind of conversion we will struggle to win period.

 

[lions2010]

You have to remember that there is a reason Cornelius was selected before Retzlaff for the Melbourne game. I'd say that is a pretty good indication from the coaching panel that at least for the moment that ACorn is better than Retzy. I know bigfooty is the place for people to voice their opinions and pretend that they know better than the coaching staff but until Retzy is selected ahead of ACorn I will believe that ACorn is better.

For me the forward line was pretty close to as good as it was going to get on the weekend until Browny comes back. I wouldn't mind seeing Drummond play forward. He's a bloke that can kick a bag unlike Polks, Banfield, Lester and others. Also I know that they are trying to work on Polecs defensive side but he definitely has the talent to kick 3 or 4.

The Lions need forwards that can kick 3 or 4 not 1 or 2.

HF: Drummond Clark Polec
FF: Banfield ACorn Power

Obviously midfielders like Rich, Redden and Rockliff will rest up forward.

Banfield doesn't kick enough goals as a permanent forward pocket so he needs to be a maniac in applying forward pressure. Plus with Drummond, Power and Polec up forward there are no excuses for not kicking it to the advantage of ACorn so he can hopefully kick a few more goals.

Also move Polks down back and release Adcock to play the quaterback role.

Just my opinion.

Lol drummond in forward line. Would be nice to see him on the park first.

 

[Stocka]

Yeah I'm not so sure that Drummond is the "type who could kick a bag" any more so than Polkinghorne or Banfield. Sure, he's got a great kick (so does Polkinghorne, mind you), but you've got to be able to find the ball either as a an effective marking target or as a crumber and I'm not sure that either of these requirements would be met by Drummond any better than some of the other names we've got up there at the moment.