Our midfield and player development

["The Roar Is Back"]

Is it me, or was the best thing to look forward to at the start of the season, the improvement of our midfield.
Well I think our midfield has sagnated significantly due to the personal in there.
I want to see King, Brown, Newman, Deledio, Foley using their evasiveness and skill to dominate sides, not sat in a back pocket or forward pocket to protect them.
The one thing TW has acheived is the development of some of our lower draft selections,ie King, Newman, Raines, Foley, Jackson, Thurstfield and Moore, in comparison to their more fancied counterparts, all who started in the side in defensive positions. This is not just a coincedence, and is another reason why White, Connors and the likes should be brought in and played down back in the positions left by King,Newman and Raines' move to the midfield.
We need one tagger, stopper in the midfield, which needs to be rotated with Tuck, Johnson and Jackson who could also rotate off a forward flank or back flank and add some defensiveness in those positions.
Lets get a better midfield our wingers have been slaughtered most weeks especially on the rebound, and we continue to struggle to gain some openess/run through the midfield, hence the congestion and lack of marks inside our forward 50.

 

[cormick]

Very valid point.
(Although I dont agree with Brown, King and Newman in the midfield), we should move some "half backs" or "half forwards" ala Deledio, into the guts.
Before the season, I thought Deledio up forward was a good idea, but three pretty un impressive games later, Im changing my view.

Add in Polo to the side and drop (although I like them) Petiffer, Polak and any other under performing mids, and add Edwards, Connors, Casserley if he ever gets back from injury, and (eventually) Cotchin and Coughlan into the side.

Although, I feel a bit for Terry...the fans are saying drop Polak and Pettifer, but we're still a chance for finals, so hes got to work between our "best 22" and our "future 22" sort of thing...its a fine line, and he (Wallace), IMO, hasnt tread it all that well.

Its a shame that 3 rounds into the season, it seems like the Hawthorn fans may well be right about Wallace and Miller .

19 games to prove yourselves, boys!!!