Our Forward line

[jusjoshin]

Desperate is not a factor. Forget about winning games .
We have disciplines and rules that we must follow.

We shall prevail.

There is a trade-off though. We need to win a certain amount of games in the earlier part of the season, or we'll write the season off anyway. There is no point coming home with a wet sail if we are coming from 3-6. I'd say we need to win at least 2 of our next 3 to have a prayer of going anywhere in September.

 

[free at last]

When he does come in we need him fighting for his spot, we need him to know that if he has a couple of bad weeks he will be out of the squad.

I would rather get 6 or 7 top quality games from him in the last the part of the year, that to play him now. If he play 2-3 very good games in the WAFL I will be the first person calling for him to be brought in.

We are not desperate yet, we have a very soft second half of the draw so we just need to get 2 wins from the next 3 games and we will still be a big chance of finishing top 4.

Replace desperate with precarious and nervous.

 

[free at last]

Desperate is not a factor. Forget about winning matches, that is a side game.
We have disciplines and rules that we must follow.

We shall prevail.

I hope we prevail against the slime.

 

[Taylor]

There is a trade-off though. We need to win a certain amount of games in the earlier part of the season, or we'll write the season off anyway. There is no point coming home with a wet sail if we are coming from 3-6. I'd say we need to win at least 2 of our next 3 to have a prayer of going anywhere in September.

I think we could finish top 2 after putting on 14 wins in the second half.
I think Sydney lost most of their first five in the year they won their flag against the Eagles.

 

[Swan Districts Kid]

Apeness could arrive just in the knick of time.
RTB appears very upbeat about Apeness's prospects.

From what I've seen of him, he takes marks under physical pressure & in congestion - something Kepler, Zac Clarke, Taberner & Sandi can't do (The only other player in our side who can is Pav). He may be young for a KPF but he is AFL sized - I say chuck him in if he's fit & get him leading in the opposite direction to Pav. Might actually give the opposition someone to worry about, rather than the token / makeshift ruck forwards we always use.

 

[Taylor]

From what I've seen of him, he takes marks under physical pressure & in congestion - something Kepler, Zac Clarke, Taberner & Sandi can't do (The only other player in our side who can is Pav). He may be young for a KPF but he is AFL sized - I say chuck him in if he's fit & get him leading in the opposite direction to Pav. Might actually give the opposition someone to worry about, rather than the token / makeshift ruck forwards we always use.

This is what Hannath was doing in game one, then the opposition coach told his key backs to not worry about him having an impact.

So close, so close. A few contested grabs and Apeness would be a rising star, but don't pin our top 4 hopes on him.

 

[Schauermann]

Desperate is not a factor. Forget about winning matches, that is a side game.
We have disciplines and rules that we must follow.

Get your point, but somehow those rules exist only for the reason to win games...

And they can actually become a psychological problem when great effort doesn't generate success.

 

[StingBitten]

Will Gumbleton get a chance later this year?

 

[free at last]

Will Gumbleton get a chance later this year?

With a one year contract you'd think he'd have to get a crack later in the year.

 

[Simmofreo]

I think 100% of the focus this week will go into fixing the forward line. If we can get MJ and Dawson off we can bring silvagni in, and Ballas back and we have a few options to swing forward. May use Silvagni, tabs instead of Clark and Ballas will be back to crumb. Maybe a Sylvia on Half forward (worth a try I think) and there will definitely be some set plays.

We MUST beat West Coast, then we probably get Barlow back, may have Morra and Apeness looked at and may we even Keps, which makes the cattle look a bit better for Port and Geelong.

I think a lot rides on the MJ issue though

 

[Fred Ziffel]

With a one year contract you'd think he'd have to get a crack later in the year.

He is training again so it is a matter of fitness. They would certainly be hopeful he can get up.

 

[scon]

If we can get MJ and Dawson off

They need to be charged first.

 

[free at last]

He is training again so it is a matter of fitness. They would certainly be hopeful he can get up.

Well that's encouraging news!

Cheers

 

[salim malik]

Well that's encouraging news!

Cheers

If you count jogging slowly around the boundary listening to his ipod yeah he is back in training

 

[UFO Tatsu]

If you count jogging slowly around the boundary listening to his ipod yeah he is back in training

nice to know i have the same training regime as an AFL player

 

[Fred Ziffel]

If you count jogging slowly around the boundary listening to his ipod yeah he is back in training

But coming off a serious hamstring it is more encouraging than being in the gym.

 

[salim malik]

But coming off a serious hamstring it is more encouraging than being in the gym.

Encouraging but hardly back into full training

 

[Fred Ziffel]

Encouraging but hardly back into full training

Agree, however I made no mention of full training.

 

[sij1981]

I think 100% of the focus this week will go into fixing the forward line. If we can get MJ and Dawson off we can bring silvagni in, and Ballas back and we have a few options to swing forward. May use Silvagni, tabs instead of Clark and Ballas will be back to crumb. Maybe a Sylvia on Half forward (worth a try I think) and there will definitely be some set plays.

We MUST beat West Coast, then we probably get Barlow back, may have Morra and Apeness looked at and may we even Keps, which makes the cattle look a bit better for Port and Geelong.

I think a lot rides on the MJ issue though

something or only thing to look forward to. barlow and mora and bright light apeness, all we ask for is some fight mayne has dropped off

 

[manpurple]

Our forward line for the derby:

Ballantyne Pavlich Mayne
Morabito Taberner Sylvia

Fixed.

I would take Keppler over Tabs if he is fit. Otherwise I like.

Mora isnt ready for AFL yet christ, why do people keep saying this haha

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Because he got 29 possessions on the weekend of which 12 were contested

From what I've seen of him, he takes marks under physical pressure & in congestion - something Kepler, Zac Clarke, Taberner & Sandi can't do (The only other player in our side who can is Pav). He may be young for a KPF but he is AFL sized - I say chuck him in if he's fit & get him leading in the opposite direction to Pav. Might actually give the opposition someone to worry about, rather than the token / makeshift ruck forwards we always use.

Sums up my opinion nicely, but he's missed the last week with injury and may not get up this week. So of the rest Kep is in serious consideration for mine.

 

[Simmofreo]

Man if keps came in it would be an Adam Goodes situation. 1 reserves game and your in !!!

He has made it when that happens haha.

It would almost be worth the risk but I don't think it will happen. Ross will play Tabs who has the games under his belt

 

[The Pirate]

Looking purely on a stat viewpoint our handball to kick ratio for alot of our forwards is pretty high. Mayne, de Boer, Suban/Neale when forward, even Pav racking up alot of handballs. Bar Pav they've always had a bit of a handball first mentality. When the midfield is working well alot of these will accrue from quick hands to mids running by for shots on goals. I'm fine with that. And encourage forwards in that 35-60m zone looking for runners.

At the moment though with the mids not finding that next gear I would like to see forwards when they're getting the ball goaline-35 metres out instead of looking for the perfect handpass/unselfish team play having a bit of a Medhurst about them (seriously, the only time he ever handballed was to himself!) and taking the shot/kicking to a dangerous zone. It would add a level of unpredictability to our forwards and make it harder to defend against. The last two weeks it's really stood out, when our forwards got the ball and runners are cut out they didn't want to pull the trigger and instead handball on.

 

[clivenator26]

Article on my buddy, man could we use this guy, if he can get right for the second half of the year maybe we will be ok, could be a blessing in disguise he only has to play half a year! Given our relatively easy draw it gives him an opportunity to build into the season and could sneak us into the top 4.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/essendon-and-freo-missing-gumbleton-20140428-zr0rw.html

 

[Jimbos1]

Sub?

I think he wont start for a while yet and when he does start he'll be a sub or get subbed off. Although Subans form and other midfielders/halffwds are pretty sub par so anything is possible at this time.

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[willoblue]

sure we are prone to overreaction when we don't play as we should and lose games, but there is no need to throw the baby out with the bathwater (interesting story of where that phrase originated), however a lack of change will lead to a lack of change of output.
so what needs to be tweaked?
in my opinion, it is the way the forwards are structured and also the way the ball is delivered more than the personnel.
look at where the forwards are clustering?
it is usually in an area between full forward & centre half forward & the ball is directed into that region.
the opposition know this & structure up to meet the ball there.
with imprecise kicks we need to win contests.
if you outnumber the opposition you will win more contests than you lose.
if the opposition have a spare man in defense, they outnumber us as they can predict where we direct our attack.
if we want to persist with imprecise kicks into the forward line I think we need to change our targets during a game.
so here is what i would do.
one player is the signaller. he is directed by the runner (unless it is Pav), as to which zone he is to signal to the team.
the zones would be left fwd pocket full fwd, rt fwd pocket, left half forward, chf & rhf.
the signaller will put his left hand on his head between goals, facing the mids & this means rfp
2 hands on head = ff
right hand on hip = lhf
etc
sure, some of you think i'm crazy & will be laughing at this perhaps baseball signal derivation, but just imagine.
if all of our mids & forwards know that our target area is rhf, once the ball is in hand, they will all move to the target area, presumably leaving their opponents in their wake, thus creating a positive numerical imbalance & hey presto, we win the contest in the forward line.
or we can get the forwards to all lead in different directions & kick to their advantage.