Our Forward line

[scon]

He can't jump, he has a slow turning circle and has average skills. Not AFL level.

No doubt Tabs has limitations but in the position he plays it would be quite silly to undersell his physical attributes and season by season improvement.
I'm happy to say that if Tabs had a bit of cunning or nasty arrogance we wouldn't be having the conversation about his jump,skills,turning circle or whether he was AFL standard.

 

[FreoRicci]

He can't jump, he has a slow turning circle and has average skills. Not AFL level.

Speaking of slow turning circle, McCarthy actually has poor mobility for a medium forward. Hopefully just due to fitness, but very much like Mayne in terms of trying to receive the ball below knees and turning.

 

[Johnny Dalmas]

Speaking of slow turning circle, McCarthy actually has poor mobility for a medium forward. Hopefully just due to fitness, but very much like Mayne in terms of trying to receive the ball below knees and turning.

When McCarthy was at GWS he showed good movement and agility. I reckon that will come back with another pre-season

 

[Scham]

When McCarthy was at GWS he showed good movement and agility. I reckon that will come back with another pre-season

Let's hope so. He showed it early this year but as the year went on he looked less and less mobile and energetic.

 

[meima]

Let's hope so. He showed it early this year but as the year went on he looked less and less mobile and energetic.

No more one year out of the game excuses anymore.

 

[Galvo]

This season we kicked a paltry 231 goals, what is our expectation next season?

Tabs: 33
Cam: 30
Walters: 22
Kersten: 25
Bennell: 25
Matera: 30
Fyfe: 15
Mundy: 15
S. Hill: 10
B. Hill: 10
Neale: 10

That gets us to 225 and I suppose anyone else chipping in is a bonus. Unfortunately I don’t see us significantly scoring more next season.

I'd be hoping/expecting something like the below to get us to 300 goals.

Cam: 40
Walters: 40
Bennell: 35
Matera: 35
Tabs: 30
Ballantyne: 20
Fyfe: 20
B. Hill: 10
Mundy: 10
Kersten: 10
S. Hill: 10
Neale: 10
Weller: 10
Langdon: 10
Cox: 10

I think it's dependent on our midfield and ball movement out of the back line improving though.

Fyfe and Neale back to their best
Further improvement from Blakely, Weller, Tucker and Langdon
A better mix of brute force and speed around the stoppages with Walters, Hill, Bennell, Weller and Matera rotating though

Wilson and further improvement from Ryan, Hughes and Logue out of the backline will help with quicker ball movement too

 

[Galvo]

No more one year out of the game excuses anymore.

He was carrying a groin injury this year.

 

[Scham]

He was carrying a groin injury this year.

How do you know that?

 

[Galvo]

One of the coaches said so when he was suspended ie that the rest would do him good

 

[yakamoto]

And did it? Not that I noticed anyway.

 

[Scham]

One of the coaches said so when he was suspended ie that the rest would do him good

I wonder why we kept playing him so much then. He was pretty much useless in the game he was suspended in and then when he came back. Was left out of the last game and we went ok. Sometimes I wonder about our Sports Science dept.

 

[freoextra]

He was carrying a groin injury this year.

Yep this was reported widely. Clearly it would depend on the severity but any groin injury is going to slow you down in a big way.

 

[Galvo]

I wonder why we kept playing him so much then. He was pretty much useless in the game he was suspended in and then when he came back. Was left out of the last game and we went ok. Sometimes I wonder about our Sports Science dept.

I can't work them out either. They played Langdon injured until he completely broke down. Hilly was clearly playing injured too.

Sending Blakely back out was probably the worst though. What could we have possible gained from that?

 

[meima]

I can't work them out either. They played Langdon injured until he completely broke down. Hilly was clearly playing injured too.

Sending Blakely back out was probably the worst though. What could we have possible gained from that?

Poor communication between coaches and the medical team.

 

[Belnakor]

Cox can't play forward until he fixes his kicking. he has the worst set shot in the league at the moment. missing easy shots is team killing.

 

[sabre_ac]

I'd be hoping/expecting something like the below to get us to 300 goals.

Cam: 40
Walters: 40
Bennell: 35
Matera: 35
Tabs: 30
Ballantyne: 20
Fyfe: 20
B. Hill: 10
Mundy: 10
Kersten: 10
S. Hill: 10
Neale: 10
Weller: 10
Langdon: 10
Cox: 10

I think it's dependent on our midfield and ball movement out of the back line improving though.

Fyfe and Neale back to their best
Further improvement from Blakely, Weller, Tucker and Langdon
A better mix of brute force and speed around the stoppages with Walters, Hill, Bennell, Weller and Matera rotating though

Wilson and further improvement from Ryan, Hughes and Logue out of the backline will help with quicker ball movement too

What a season that would be!

I actually don't think 40 goals from Cam and Walters is overly ambitious, 35 from Bennell perhaps is but if his body can get right you may be onto something.

I don't think we'll get 20 out of Ballantyne, I'm not confident he will get too many games and certainly not confident of getting 30 from Tabs.

It's hard not to get excited about our goal scoring potential through the middle with the likes of Fyfe, Walters, B Hill, S Hill and Bennell, I think it will take a fair bit of luck to have them all on the field together for the majority of the season though.

 

[eastfreo75]

https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/fts_team_rankings?type=TA&year=2017&sby=4
Around 13.5 per game with a great defense will get you top 4.

For us, another 3 goals per game

https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/fts_team_rankings?type=OA&year=2017&sby=4

Also, we need to reduce goals against by 4 goals.

Next year, I hope we can increase by one goal and decrease goals against by 2 goals.

 

[Scatter]

You only have to look at Richmonds forward line to see it doesn't need to be star studded.
If we can get the midfield and defence working well, our forward line will be good enough.
Plus have always felt we didn't have enough X factor, a genuine forward who can manufacture a goal out of nothing. Maybe Walters, but I think Bennell and Matera give us this.

 

[Scham]

Cox can't play forward until he fixes his kicking. he has the worst set shot in the league at the moment. missing easy shots is team killing.

AP should play this year, Cox will become second worst.

 

[Admiral Byng]

Cox can't play forward until he fixes his kicking. he has the worst set shot in the league at the moment. missing easy shots is team killing.

I think we need to employ a skills coach over summer, and give him a big stick. Shots at goal, get the players to do ten in row. Every miss the player gets a whack. They'll learn pretty quick I reckon

 

[LeftFootBanana]

Goal kicking is predominantly a mental challenge. Some of the best field kicks absolutely suck kicking at goal.

Go down to a junior footy club and watch the kids before and after training. They all want to practice kicking checksides from the pockets.

What's the modern footballer good at? Kicking checksides from the pocket. Dunstall used to practice his goal kicking from 35 out straight in front. It gives you confidence in your ability to kick the ball straight.

 

[scon]

This one from Jonathan Brown reminded me of the old Lou Richards yarn about kicking one from an angle so tight the ball got stuck between the posts.
Don't imagine Browny practised check sides too much.

 

[Scham]

I think we need to employ a skills coach over summer, and give him a big stick. Shots at goal, get the players to do ten in row. Every miss the player gets a whack. They'll learn pretty quick I reckon

I heard Neil Balme the other day and he was asked about the Tigers good goal kicking and he put it down mostly to the team being in a good positive head space going into the finals and in particular the GF. Along with the obvious skill coaching as much time is taken on the mental side of it at the club. West Coast too have said that they spend a lot of time on the mental approach to set shot kicking. We need to start taking this approach.

 

[theGav56]

One of the things I would like to see developing is some bigger bodies in our midfield and to be blunt, a bit of aggression. Blakely seems the man most likely. But we are heading rapidly towards a post-Mundy era, and already he is spending less time midfield.

I'm not saying they can do it, but Kersten and McCarthy would be incredibly valuable to us if the could take stint in the midfield. Kersten especially is at a stage where he needs to increase his game day value and impact.

I am an advocate of Darcy Fogarty if we take pick 5 to the draft for this very reason. He is aggressive, big and versatile. With a 2 talls forward line he can still be included. He can bring some unpredictability to the table. He doesn't have Mundy's smooth motor but he does have a bit more crash through about him.

Goal scoring midfielders or midfielders/forwards who can rotate forward/midfield can make our lack of an A grade KPP less critical.

 

[Admiral Byng]

Maybe they could some positive reinforcement. Some sort of set shot competition with a prize, all the other blokes hanging shit on you as you line up. Something to build up the mental pressure.

But to me the real skill we need to develop is clean and quick hands, particularly below knee level. Pick up loose ball and immediately shoot out a quick and accurate 3-5m handpass that lands right in the hands of the recipient. That's how to start the outside spread and get the ball moving. Fumble = tackle = stoppage.