Our Forward line

[eastfreo75]

I have stated before, I don't see any freo players kicking 50-60 goals in a season. We are going to have a few blokes play 20 games and kick 30 goals each.

People spend too much focus on the one big hope.

We only averaged 10.3 goals a game and to be top 4 we need to increase it to 13.5 by a minimum.

Who cares who kicks the goals.

 

[Purpellian Anchor]

Agree .....From several years back...eg 2013-4, even with Pav we seemed light on with forward options and our forward deliveries were somewhat predictable. wIth Pav's retirement and Fyfe down for a year and a half along with a an older primary midfield (teams had us well and truly worked out under Sandi's ruck play at that stage), the combination of these things are what is being addressed now big time (last two years). We have variety and new talent in forwards big and small, inside mids, and some sound variety in ruckmen.

More entries with better delivery along with the talented variety of forwards may make up that 3-4 goal increase we are looking for - EF75. Here's hoping.

 

[sherrif]

People spend too much focus on the one big hope.

We only averaged 10.3 goals a game and to be top 4 we need to increase it to 13.5 by a minimum.

Who cares who kicks the goals.

No one. The argument in this thread seems to be what is the best make-up to have a multi purpose attack.

 

[charlie34]

What's with having Taberner in front of Cox?

Cox has already far ahead of Taberner at the same age. Better mark and better decision making.

Only thing against Cox is his set shots.

Agree strongly with this. For me Cox has already shown glimpses of his immense talent and would like to see him given the opportunity first. If he struggles and needs to develop fine I can handle that. Tabs has veen given more than a few chances and shown a few glimpses but they are too few and far between. He looks like Tarzan but unfortunately plays like Jane. I haven't given up on him yet and know he has a 2 year deal but needs to show he can do more before we play him before Cox who looks the goods to provide a contest and compete. Alex Pearce not recovering well could change my outlook and would be giving Darcy good minutes to show what he can do up forward and develop.

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[Freomaniac]

People spend too much focus on the one big hope.

We only averaged 10.3 goals a game and to be top 4 we need to increase it to 13.5 by a minimum.

Who cares who kicks the goals.

2 things I will say...
1. Sometimes having 2 average talls kicking 30 goals each is better than having a 60 goal a season tall. Especially when that 60 goal a season tall does a knee.

2. Tigers won the flag averaging 90 points a game or 13 goals and 12 behinds a game. Inconsistent but dangerous. They could have a crap game and kick 5 goals one game then kick 15-20 goals the next week.

Now... I look at freos tall forward stocks, its not as bare as say... 2012-3. We have a few choices now with Tabs Apeness, Strnadica and Dixon. Only problem is experience or lack there of.

 

[blue shark]

2 things I will say...
1. Sometimes having 2 average talls kicking 30 goals each is better than having a 60 goal a season tall. Especially when that 60 goal a season tall does a knee.

2. Tigers won the flag averaging 90 points a game or 13 goals and 12 behinds a game. Inconsistent but dangerous. They could have a crap game and kick 5 goals one game then kick 15-20 goals the next week.

Now... I look at freos tall forward stocks, its not as bare as say... 2012-3. We have a few choices now with Tabs Apeness, Strnadica and Dixon. Only problem is experience or lack there of.

I don't expect our Talls to dominate, but second efforts and bringing the ball to ground, goal assists are critical
to improving our game.
More excited to be honest by our small/medium players, and if Lyon can form a winning formula with what appears
to be a clear standout.
All of Tabs, McCarthy, Kersten, need to lift in the 1 percenters, and I expect Ross thinks the same, hopefully
competition for spots will turn the heat up.

 

[Freomaniac]

I don't expect our Talls to dominate, but second efforts and bringing the ball to ground, goal assists are critical
to improving our game.
More excited to be honest by our small/medium players, and if Lyon can form a winning formula with what appears
to be a clear standout.
All of Tabs, McCarthy, Kersten, need to lift in the 1 percenters, and I expect Ross thinks the same, hopefully
competition for spots will turn the heat up.

Competition for spots will heat up regardless. We got guys like Walters, Ballantyne, Matera, Bennell and Langdon contesting for spots in te forward flanks and forward pockets.

Ideally Cam McCarthy and Shane Kersten who ar both are 190cm and 90kg could play as 2nd forward at CHF. But Freo lack that Dominant gun power forward. That spot could be filled by Tabs, Dixon, Apeness or Strnadica eventually.

Saying that... I think 2018 will be another rebuild year. If Freo average around 72 points a game and concede 96 points a game, we wont make finals. We will get between 4-8 wins.

 

[blue shark]

Competition for spots will heat up regardless. We got guys like Walters, Ballantyne, Matera, Bennell and Langdon contesting for spots in te forward flanks and forward pockets.

Ideally Cam McCarthy and Shane Kersten who ar both are 190cm and 90kg could play as 2nd forward at CHF. But Freo lack that Dominant gun power forward. That spot could be filled by Tabs, Dixon, Apeness or Strnadica eventually.

Saying that... I think 2018 will be another rebuild year. If Freo average around 72 points a game and concede 96 points a game, we wont make finals. We will get between 4-8 wins.

McCarthy, Kersten, have at least been pretty resilient, playing 19-20 AFL games with Freo, and the burden of a
forward line, midfield lacking options.
Getting the balance right between defence and attack has been missing.
Injury, age, and list holes had contributed to our woes, but at least now we appear to be able to cover for the
unexpected. Competition for spots, Peel form should make for some interesting debate.

 

[Freomaniac]

McCarthy, Kersten, have at least been pretty resilient, playing 19-20 AFL games with Freo, and the burden of a
forward line, midfield lacking options.
Getting the balance right between defence and attack has been missing.
Injury, age, and list holes had contributed to our woes, but at least now we appear to be able to cover for the
unexpected. Competition for spots, Peel form should make for some interesting debate.

Its amazing how much of a difference that one power forward can make. As I said, this is another tough year for freo in 2018. The best about freos forwards is most of them are aged 24 or under

 

[Fyfster]

Our forward line was brand new last year one more year of playing together who knows?I have a very positive vibe about this season , Not premiers or anything but gaining back respect, You know i have spent some time looking at media from 2013 to 2015 and wether we like to admit it or not during that period we were respected and feared let's get back to that .

 

[theGav56]

Bennell and Matera are experienced players who can have an immediate impact on the forward structure. It isn't all about a power forward.

 

[M_rash]

Bennell and Matera are experienced players who can have an immediate impact on the forward structure. It isn't all about a power forward.

Have you missed the 500 pages of HOGAN? Of course it’s all about a power forward!

 

[charlie34]

http://m.fremantlefc.com.au/news/2017-12-15/kicking-goals-the-focus-for-cox-

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[Majunga]

Was hoping Walters might increase his midfield time this year after showing how damaging he could be
while Fyfe was playing sore/injured.

After reading all this it seems like the consensus is you need all the goal kicking options you can get down fwd
so i guess that rules out a large increase in Walters midfield time.

Stay strong fellas, options will emerge either thru talent on list or trade ins over coming years.

 

[theGav56]

Was hoping Walters might increase his midfield time this year after showing how damaging he could be
while Fyfe was playing sore/injured.

After reading all this it seems like the consensus is you need all the goal kicking options you can get down fwd
so i guess that rules out a large increase in Walters midfield time.

Stay strong fellas, options will emerge either thru talent on list or trade ins over coming years.

I don't think they are mutually exclusive concepts. Rotating Fyfe and Walters is mismatch heaven.

 

[Joao]

Was hoping Walters might increase his midfield time this year after showing how damaging he could be
while Fyfe was playing sore/injured.

After reading all this it seems like the consensus is you need all the goal kicking options you can get down fwd
so i guess that rules out a large increase in Walters midfield time.

Stay strong fellas, options will emerge either thru talent on list or trade ins over coming years.

Walters kicked 6 playing as a midfielder this season. 60/40 Mid/Fwd IMO. Maybe 50/50 rotating with Bennell if he is fit.

I like him kicking it to our other forwards.

 

[Ysaye]

I'm not arguing for a power forward but we do need at least one good leading tall forward who can get 40-50 goals and at least 2 smalls that can do the same. Whilst on paper Bennell and Matera could potentially be the latter, they need to stay uninjured and out of trouble. Walters could be in that category and to be frank whilst his midfield play was good his value as a forward is much greater.

McCarthy might kick into that range as a sort of mix of a crumber and leading type next year but IMO he will need one of Taberner, Kersten, Cox, Apeness, Dixon to stand up as the spearhead.

 

[Joao]

I'm not arguing for a power forward but we do need at least one good leading tall forward who can get 40-50 goals and at least 2 smalls that can do the same. Whilst on paper Bennell and Matera could potentially be the latter, they need to stay uninjured and out of trouble. Walters could be in that category and to be frank whilst his midfield play was good his value as a forward is much greater.

McCarthy might kick into that range as a sort of mix of a crumber and leading type next year but IMO he will need one of Taberner, Kersten, Cox, Apeness, Dixon to stand up as the spearhead.

I 100% disagree with that statement. He was immense at times playing in the midfield this year. Someone of his ability is ok permanently forward when your team dominates the midfield and the ball is forward all the time but he is completely wasted in the F50 when the ball doesn't get there.

He should play a healthy mix of both and he has already shown he is capable of kicking bags in the midfield so why you would want to take that away is beyond me.

 

[Ysaye]

I 100% disagree with that statement. He was immense at times playing in the midfield this year. Someone of his ability is ok permanently forward when your team dominates the midfield and the ball is forward all the time but he is completely wasted in the F50 when the ball doesn't get there.

He should play a healthy mix of both and he has already shown he is capable of kicking bags in the midfield so why you would want to take that away is beyond me.

I don't think he does kick bags from the midfield; his goals output reduced by almost half last year and at a reduced game average (1.3), about a goal less than his best of 2.2. We didn't start winning more games because he was in the middle; he wasn't noticably better than Brad Hill, Neale or Fyfe, he wasn't in all Australian form as a mid, and we didn't start dominating because he was there.

Right now we have recruited midfield talent left right and centre; we could really use some more 40 goals per season from Sonny more than another player racking up 30 possessions every second game and half that number of goals.

 

[Joao]

I don't think he does kick bags from the midfield; his goals output reduced by almost half last year and at a reduced game average (1.3), about a goal less than his best of 2.2. We didn't start winning more games because he was in the middle; he wasn't noticably better than Brad Hill, Neale or Fyfe, he wasn't in all Australian form as a mid, and we didn't start dominating because he was there.

Right now we have recruited midfield talent left right and centre; we could really use some more 40 goals per season from Sonny more than another player racking up 30 possessions every second game and half that number of goals.

His goal output reduced because the ball spent **** all time in our forward line and when it came in it was rarely to Sonny's advantage. Look up his goals kicked in the first 10 games or so where he played 90% forward to see how poorly he was going there. Then check the games later in the season when he was a mid before injury where he was in the mix for AA. He was flying as a mid and still kicking goals.

Also he is a MUCH better kick than any of those 3 and delivery to our forwards is something we need to improve massively.

 

[IAMJUNGLEMUFFIN]

The improvement in delivery needs to come from defense.

Mundy, Neale, Fyfe, Hills, are all generally good users of the ball, the problem is the Spurr, Sutcliffe, Sheridan and MJ. Ruckmen aside, those guys are literally among the worst users of the ball on our list.

Yes we've gone some way to rectifying the problem with Wilson and most likely Ryan, but those other guys just can't be getting a game for us.

 

[heavho]

The improvement in delivery needs to come from defense.

Mundy, Neale, Fyfe, Hills, are all generally good users of the ball, the problem is the Spurr, Sutcliffe, Sheridan and MJ. Ruckmen aside, those guys are literally among the worst users of the ball on our list along. Yes we've gone some way to rectifying that with Wilson most likely Ryan, but those other guys just can't be getting a game for us.

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Agree 100%

 

[eastfreo75]

The improvement in delivery needs to come from defense.

Mundy, Neale, Fyfe, Hills, are all generally good users of the ball, the problem is the Spurr, Sutcliffe, Sheridan and MJ. Ruckmen aside, those guys are literally among the worst users of the ball on our list.

Yes we've gone some way to rectifying the problem with Wilson and most likely Ryan, but those other guys just can't be getting a game for us.

Spot on.

Reduce the back half turnovers and increase the marks inside 50.

We are dead last in inside 50 marks and it's due the likes of Spur, Sutcliffe and Sheridan inability to hit targets.

Freo inside marks differential is -3.9 and the top teams range from 2.0 to 4.8 (Only the Giants average 0.2). Sure we are -5.4 differential in inside 50's but due to transition from the back half. As we are 7th in Centre Clearances and 10th in Stoppage Clearances.

People talk about our forward line not kicking enough goals but I say it's our inability to hit targets.

 

[dockerfemme]

Spot on.

Reduce the back half turnovers and increase the marks inside 50.

We are dead last in inside 50 marks and it's due the likes of Spur, Sutcliffe and Sheridan inability to hit targets.

Freo inside marks differential is -3.9 and the top teams range from 2.0 to 4.8 (Only the Giants average 0.2). Sure we are -5.4 differential in inside 50's but due to transition from the back half. As we are 7th in Centre Clearances and 10th in Stoppage Clearances.

People talk about our forward line not kicking enough goals but I say it's our inability to hit targets.

I agree with you that our forward half woes are largely to do with how we play. I think the inability to hit targets is only a portion of the problem. How often do we see Ballas 1 on 2? He does not lead, I guess he is expected to bring the ball to ground. This just does not work. Our forwards don't lead, or find space or help each other to find space. It is forward coaching rather than lack of skills IMHO.

 

[Joao]

Exit from defense is just as important but we still need to fix up our forward entries. It is not very often that you transition from D to F in 1 kick so we need to work on both. Pretty confident that Wilson and Ryan will make a huge difference as would Walters and Bennell being up the ground.

eastfreo75 is right, we just need to hit more targets all over the ground. I think we have recruited with this strongly in mind in the last couple of years.