Our forwards aren't that bad!

[flagfor05]

G'Day guys and girls,

I've always thought are forwards aren't that bad, contrary to what people think. Benny Graham has been fantastic this year. He dominated 2 times against Brisbane this year, played well against essendon twice and St Kilda in Round 18 and has played well in other games. What he does do is present and make a contest.

Kent Kingsley, much to what people don't think, has done alright. Really, the only thing that has stopped him from kicking 70 goals is his kicking.

David Haynes also has been good. He leads hard and marks well.

Ablett and Chappy have been awesome but it's been the 'key forwards' taht have been highlighted by people.

Lets face it, There aren't gonna be too many forawrds on the market. A forward would definetly be of a help but I don't think it's a do or die situation.

"Go Caterz"

 

[GeeCat]

Out of topic, but flagfor05 do you plan on changing your username after next season as well?

 

[Mr X]

Graham hardly dominated in the Prelim. Had he kicked 4 goals, or even 3.1 rather than 4 points, then he may well have been the matchwinner.
Graham had a great season, probably his most productive and consistent as a forward, but he needs to convert his opportunities to kick goals. He arguably cost us the game against Port with at least one bad miss, and again against Brisbane. The forward or kicking coach needs to work with him to develop a routine such that he kicks the ball the same way no matter how far out from goal he is. If he is anywhere from 10-35 metres out, he tends to either try and chip or guide the ball through, and more often than not misses.

Kingsley is handy, but by no means KP. He has no distance in his kicking, and stuggles from anywhere past 40. No problem with that, except that this season, he timed his leads wrong, meaning he was marking at about the 40, leaving him with shots beyond his range. He also had a tendency to lead far too wide this year. Needs to be told to start from the goalline and lead straight up the guts if he continues at FF.

The small forwards had a great year. Chapman and Ablett were great, with Johnson a productive and creative inclusion in the second half of the season. These guys need to remember though to try and be at the feet of Graham/Kingsley when long kicks come in from the midfield. This comes down to a structual/setup issue though.

Haynes showed a fair bit, and seems his best work will be done on the HFF. Has good hands, and was a good link player pushing up as a marking option onto the wings.

Gardiner seems to have the goods, but relies too much on confidence. Played some reasonable games when not expected to be the marking target, but rather act as a flanker, like most at seasons review, needs to work on his goal kicking, and bulk up a bit, tends to be pushed off the ball/out of marking contests too easily.

Mackie should come along nicely. Showed he can take a grab, knows how to get the footy, and where the goals are. Needs to bulk up.

In conclusion, should we find a strong marking forward to hold down Full Forward, we are somewhat well placed. Without this, we are always going to be hit and miss while relying on Kingsley to be the spearhead.

 

[nananana catman]

It is naive to think a key forward will get us a flag and also naive to think our forward line is good. Our backline dominated this year and to win on most occasions we only had to kick 12 goals. A wins a win an you play to your strengths I know, but what happens if Scarlett goes down next year? If we get a key forward who can kick lots of goal and contest we still may be able to kick winning scores. The Brisbane game was evidence we need a KPP who can contest. We had Haynes or Kent in the goal square and the ball would keep coming out without opposition. The defence kept them to a score that shouldnt win them the game, but it did, thats why we need another Key forward

 

[Turbocat]

G'Day guys and girls,

I've always thought our are forwards aren't that bad, contrary to what people think. Benny Graham has been fantastic this year. He dominated 2 times against Brisbane this year, played well against essendon twice and St Kilda in Round 18 and has played well in other games. What he does do is present and make a contest.

Kent Kingsley, much to what people don't think, has done alright. Really, the only thing that has stopped him from kicking 70 goals is his kicking.

David Haynes also has been good. He leads hard and marks well.

Ablett and Chappy have been awesome but it's been the 'key forwards' taht have been highlighted by people.

Lets face it, There aren't gonna be too many forawrds on the market. A forward would definetly be of a help but I don't think it's a do or die situation.

"Go Caterz"

One might also say they arnt that good either
but
The one thing that is indiputable we , as a side , dont sore enough goals.If its not the forwards,thens its the mid or the backmen but its sombodys fault.
Rating our forwards depends on your critria.How many entrys into the forward50 area per goal is one comonly used, cause theres not too many kicked from outside this area.We had 50% more entries against the Lions and lost.This indicates we are either poor at delievery or making a hash of chances.Probably a bit of both because they effect one another.

Place a quality forward that has very strong one on one ability in the 25M zone and all other forwards benift as the have a lesser oponent eg. MalMichael would not have been on KK and might have found the ball easier if he had to mind our goto forward.The ball movers can be more direct when they have a bit more confidence that it wont return over their head with interest.So therefore contested marks in the forward50 is an important rating as this will increase our goals,who is it that takes contested marks at the moment 25M out?What about efficency as in goal per shot or goal per mark.Wouldnt say we dazzle in this area either.

Look overall and there is little doubt that we need more forward talent, the players we have, have done a resonable job but reasonable also means not good enough to be the best

 

[Travs_Guru]

No your Forwards are not that bad, but.....

You don't have a KPP Forward in your team. Graham has shown he is a good player, however he has goal kicking yips, and that hurt you big time in your game against Brisbane. Kingsley isn't a champion player, at best probably a solid contributor. At the moment I would say your best forwards are Ablett Chapman and Haynes. None of these players are tall, nor are they KP.

Graham and Kinglsey aren't really ones that I would hold my breath for to be match winners. Simple fact you guys need a KP CHF or FF.

Also someone posted that it is "naive to think that you need a key forward to win a premiership". Well it might be naive but obviously it helps - Name me one team that has one a premiership without having a key forward?

 

[JUBJUB]

At the moment I would say your best forwards are Ablett Chapman and Haynes. None of these players are tall, nor are they KP.

How could you leave out Steve Johnson ?

 

[WestCat]

Read an article in The Australian a few weeks ago about Tredrea, it said that Port got the Wallabies kicking coach (i forget his name) to help him out and he went from about 50% accuracy to 70%, not to mention the fact that Burke and Flatley tend to kick pretty damn well. Maybe the Cats need to go after this guy to help all our forwards as this seems to be the main problem. If Graham, Kingsley, Haynes, McCarthy and Gardiner could all kick at 70% accuracy we would be a lot better off.

 

[nananana catman]

Also someone posted that it is "naive to think that you need a key forward to win a premiership". Well it might be naive but obviously it helps - Name me one team that has one a premiership without having a key forward?

I meant that after coming 3rd this year, by putting a key forward in the forward line doesnt mean we will win the flag. Oh and Adelaide would be the last team to win a flag without a key forward.

 

[jmain14]

I meant that after coming 3rd this year, by putting a key forward in the forward line doesnt mean we will win the flag. Oh and Adelaide would be the last team to win a flag without a key forward.

you didn't classify aaron keating as a key forward??

 

[nananana catman]

you didn't classify aaron keating as a key forward??

Oh, my mistake! I take it all back

 

[WestCat]

Oh and Adelaide would be the last team to win a flag without a key forward.

Matthew Robran wasn't a bad CHF.

 

[nananana catman]

Matthew Robran wasn't a bad CHF.

No better than Ben Graham.

 

[technicality]

Can someone please give us an assessment of Tom Lonergan and Matthew Spencer and their potential as we haven't been able to see much of them this year, are they a genuine chance to become KP players?

 

[nananana catman]

Can someone please give us an assessment of Tom Lonergan and Matthew Spencer and their potential as we haven't been able to see much of them this year, are they a genuine chance to become KP players?

Spencer is slow, but hes a huge boy and can take a great pack mark, hell be a CHB rather than a CHF however.

I think im one of the few likers of Tom Lonergan here, but when ive seen him play hes a nice kick and can take a mark. Problem with Tom is hes still slightly built and can get bumped away easily. If he bulks up over pre season I could see him getting a few games for us at FF and hopefully kicking a few goals.

 

[ZaNy]

Obviously our small foward corps (Chapman, S. Johnson, Ablett etc.) has had a great year. Good quality here.

Nothing inherently bad about Ben Graham. If he could visualise a 20m shot as if he was 80m out, then we probably would've beaten Port in rd. 10 (no comment about last Satdy).

Kent is another matter. Firstly, he is playing one position too high (ie. no.1 instead of no.2 - he should be on the flank) for a man of his talent. Secondly, his kicking is quite poor. In 22 games this season (not including finals), he has kicked two goals or more in only 13 matches. In these matches, he has only kicked at BETTER than 60% accuracy only twice (2.0 vs Saint rd. 1 and 7.0 vs Bombers rd. 9). For a full foward, you'd hope that he'd be able to take advantage of his opportunities. Probably tradeable at the end of the season, or maybe as second foward if we can (hopefully) import someone.

 

[technicality]

Spencer is slow, but hes a huge boy and can take a great pack mark, hell be a CHB rather than a CHF however.

I think im one of the few likers of Tom Lonergan here, but when ive seen him play hes a nice kick and can take a mark. Problem with Tom is hes still slightly built and can get bumped away easily. If he bulks up over pre season I could see him getting a few games for us at FF and hopefully kicking a few goals.

So should we push for Ottens or do we wait for these guys?

McCarthy showed plenty of potential last year as well. There are rumours of his possible de-listing though.
It may be a waiting game as the bigger guys do take longer to develop than the smaller ones.

 

[jmain14]

Matthew Robran wasn't a bad CHF.

would agree that matthew robran was a no better forward than ben graham, and actually as a whole you'd probably have to give the points to benny. but, you have to remember just how instrumental robran was in the 2 finals series' when they won those flags. he was very much the key forward. and that's what we are talking about here - you can't win flags without a key forward. had robran not of stood up when he did there is no question that the crows wouldn't of won either of those flags.

 

[nananana catman]

So should we push for Ottens or do we wait for these guys?

McCarthy showed plenty of potential last year as well. There are rumours of his possible de-listing though.
It may be a waiting game as the bigger guys do take longer to develop than the smaller ones.

Both. If we land Ottens we have a great target now with Graham and when Graham goes well have another to step into his shoes. Graham wont have too long to go now and despite the bashing he gets occasionaly will be a hard player to replace.

 

[Turbocat]

Both. If we land Ottens we have a great target now with Graham and when Graham goes well have another to step into his shoes. Graham wont have too long to go now and despite the bashing he gets occasionaly will be a hard player to replace.

A1 assessment Nana