Our forward set up this year, how do you see it?

[Slattery_20]

It's going to make it harder to play a 2nd ruck starting on the bench
So we come back to Gumby as 2nd ruck, or Gumby back and Paddy in the ruck

 

[fairlight_cmi]

Really hoping Nagle takes off; he looks the goods.

 

[EssendonPride]

In the short term I think H.Slattery may be making way for Mcphee but then again that makes our back line a bit top heavy Mcphee might find himself on a wing.(Slattery is safe for now)

Never going to happen. Very different players.

 

[The_Young_Gun]

Never going to happen. Very different players.

yeah, mcphee is actually good!

 

[Darealrath]

Davey as the crumber, Monfries as the tagger.

Reimers I'd like to see on the wing delivering the footy into the F50. McPhee gets squeezed out. I think he could be very good at half back or even on the wing this season.

I wouldn't lock down the tall forward positions. We have 2 stars and 2 young guns. Not many sides can matchup with that. Therefore Knights will have to be clever to exploit matchups without overcomplicating things.

Also, seeing Lloyd and Lucas are getting on a bit, and the other two have had difficulty with injury, it might be a good idea to only have three of them on the field at the same time, and have 1 rotating to freshen them up. Neagle and Gumby especially might hit the wall in the second half of the season if we expect them to play a heap of minutes in the seniors all season.

 

[DaSawx]

Slattery played pretty well the second half of last year, I won't be writing him off after 1 game on Brad Johnson.

McPhee certainly works hard for the team be he himself is still very error prone, I'm still not fussed on his decision making.

 

[Ben the Gooner]

Slattery played pretty well the second half of last year, I won't be writing him off after 1 game on Brad Johnson.

McPhee certainly works hard for the team be he himself is still very error prone, I'm still not fussed on his decision making.

Unfortunately Slats, like Laycock and to a lesser extent McPhee, will be labelled as shit for the rest of his career due to the uninformed groupthink.

 

[bomba4eva]

Unfortunately Slats, like Laycock and to a lesser extent McPhee, will be labelled as shit for the rest of his career due to the uninformed groupthink.

Do you not see Slattery as a weakness in our side? Perhaps on this occasion the collective are correct.

 

[Ben the Gooner]

I'm not going to write off an impressive second half of last season based on a single NAB Cup game.

 

[bomba4eva]

He is a decidedly average player with poor skills, limited pace and no footy brain. He makes up for it with courage and determination but unfortunately this does not cover his football weaknesses.

 

[Andre 2000]

I'm not going to write off an impressive second half of last season based on a single NAB Cup game.

Yep. Bang on.

 

[stay true]

The sooner people start accepting that Laycock, McPhee, Watson etc. are guaranteed starters, the better we'll be.

McPhee-------------------------Gumbleton
------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
------50-------------------------50-------
-----Lloyd---------Lucas------Monfries----
------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
---Davey-------------------------Jetta---
------------------Neagle-----------------

Bang on there. And the forward set up is pretty much exactly what I was thinking.

Also I can't understand why H.Slattery isn't in our best 22? He's not as bad as some seem to be making out.

 

[daffo]

He is in our best 22 but I think that has more to do with no one pushing up to get his position. Honestly, how many other teams would he get a game in?

 

[Giggidy Giggidy]

Also, seeing Lloyd and Lucas are getting on a bit, and the other two have had difficulty with injury, it might be a good idea to only have three of them on the field at the same time, and have 1 rotating to freshen them up. Neagle and Gumby especially might hit the wall in the second half of the season if we expect them to play a heap of minutes in the seniors all season.

Not sure if you were referring to rotating out of the team (or just off the bench?), but I think you're spot on there. I'd love to see all of them out there dominating together, but it would be great for the longevity of Lloyd/Lucas, and very beneficial to the injury-prone Gumby/Neagle to rotate through and each get a rest once a month, playing approx. 16 games each.

Add Monfries at HFF, 2 of Davey/Jetta/Skippy in the pockets (with Hille or Laycock occasionally resting there) and McPhee back to HBF and I'm pretty happy with that structure and our resource management.

 

[Andre 2000]

He is in our best 22 but I think that has more to do with no one pushing up to get his position. Honestly, how many other teams would he get a game in?

Most of them. He's still a young player.

I'm sure Campbell Brown would love to play alongside someone like Henry. They could butt heads in the warm up. Slatts will end up better than Guerra.

 

[Longy413]

Slattery played pretty well the second half of last year, I won't be writing him off after 1 game on Brad Johnson.

A game where he got burnt twice by his teammates when he tried to expose Johnson for a lazy cheat and a game where he gave away a stupid free in a contest that he had him beaten in.

Johnson should have only kicked one, he was lucky to kick four.




On topic - I would have thought our forward line set up will change with every center bounce.

 

[Smyth94]

A game where he got burnt twice by his teammates when he tried to expose Johnson for a lazy cheat and a game where he gave away a stupid free in a contest that he had him beaten in.

Johnson should have only kicked one, he was lucky to kick four.




On topic - I would have thought our forward line set up will change with every center bounce.

I'd also love to see Lovett and Winderlich play from the square for a few short bursts

 

[eth-dog]

McPhee-----------CENTRE SQUARE-----------Lloyd
----------------------Gumbleton-----------------------
Gus---------50--------------------------50---Reimers
-----------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------
Davey-------------------------------------------Neagle
---------------------------Lucas-------------------------

 

[Ben the Gooner]

He is a decidedly average player with poor skills, limited pace and no footy brain. He makes up for it with courage and determination but unfortunately this does not cover his football weaknesses.

I think longy made the point late last year that when he runs off his man, he tends to be involved in a goal. That implies at least one of a good footy brain, good pace or good skills.

 

[mattyboy_666]

HF: McPhee/Reimers - Lloyd - Jetta/Lovett
FF: Neagle/Gumby - Lucas - Monfries/Davey

Lucas a waste at FF when he has a 65m kick

 

[FullFathom5]

Most of them. He's still a young player.

I'm sure Campbell Brown would love to play alongside someone like Henry. They could butt heads in the warm up. Slatts will end up better than Guerra.

The thing is, Guerra's a half-decent kick. H Slattery is probably only a reasonable one.

 

[eth-dog]

Lucas a waste at FF when he has a 65m kick

60m max nowadays, and he's coming back from injury ffs, we need him at FF to release Lloydy up the ground

 

[The_Young_Gun]

60m max nowadays, and he's coming back from injury ffs, we need him at FF to release Lloydy up the ground

I'd rather Lloydy in the square.. He's much more muscular than he was a few years ago... 2006 he got totally built up... Not to mention there aren't many defenders out there experienced enough to handle Lloyd 1 on 1...

I'm just really Band waggoned about the possible concept of Lloyd owning the square this season... Now with Gumby, Lucas and McPhee injury free and able to handle the upfield job, I'd love to see Lloyd return to the square.. As for Neagle, he's got a great lead and is very strong in contests, not nesseserally do I want him to leave playing FF, but I do rather now that Lloyd would play deep up forward as a second target to Neagle making a lead...

 

[Longy413]

Lucas a waste at FF when he has a 65m kick

He's been playing FF for 3 years.

The thing is, Guerra's a half-decent kick. H Slattery is probably only a reasonable one.

What's wrong with being a reasonable kick?

The fact is, with Welsh injured and McVeigh playing in the midfield, Slatts (H) is our best stopper.

 

[daffo]

I hope Hocking can come into the team and produce some good tagging games. It might be a bit to early to be asking him to do that though.