Our Midfield

[NZ_Tiger]

We've won 3 premierships losing the contested ground ball.

IMO, the difference is that we used to tackle. Looked like AFL9s from the Southern Stand. We could have won the game and I'd still be filthy.

We used to get holding the ball decisions. The constant unrewarded effort wears players out.

Watching across the weekend compared to a replay from only a 4 years ago the sport is almost uncontested now.

Despite what they said, players are still rewarded for recklessly driving their head into their opponents. If anyone is gathering under pressure they simply push the ball and throw their arms up and get a holding penalty, or if they actually get grabbed they just dive at the ground for an in the back.

The result is that when the ball is in dispute both sides just stand around pushing at it until it spills out one way or the other and someone runs off with a what should be a an uncontested ground ball win.


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[Spanish_Fly]

You are touching on what a lot are failing to recognise if we were bringing in a decent ready made mid we would of been giving up something decent draft pick wise and to have the money we would of been potentially sacrificing one of those guys we signed on last year Baker, Bolton

It’s no secret our cap is extremely tight right now so I would love to know who would of been on the trade table and has currency

Dunstan, Hewitt and Greenwood were all free agents or unrestricted access so would have cost ZERO trade capital, Lipinski was pick 43.

We could have got any of these guys for around $400 - $450k, we offered Coleman Jones and Chol contracts that weren't taken up, we could have used that money for one of these players.

The club decided to back in Prestia and Cotchin, and I assume play some of the younger guys, but seem to not want to stick the young guys in. In hindsight this will end up being a bad call in my opinion,.

Luckily we have 3 flags to ease the pain, so I'm not particularly stressed about it but certainly think we could have handled it better from a list management perspective

 

[Vikingnz]

Why not throw Caddy in there - would he really be worse than Aarts?

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

The game was there to be won...
Ill discipline played a part in our down fall...just need to suck it up and be professional...all pre-season to work on that!
Playing two players not fully game fit in both Soldo and Graham...just passengers...reduced our mid field power...
Prestia injured...stuffed us big time...our number one in and under mid...reduced our mid field power...
Nank covid...not fully fit...reduced our mid field power...
Aarts...passenger...
Ross...played out of position...not a winger's AO!...mid field...
Gibcus...no need to play him again Carlscum...whatshisname should have played...
I blame the MC for our loss...

 

[Rayzorwire]

Correct mostly, but somehow our midfield dominated the 2020 finals. Still don’t know where that came from

I did say "most" in the post you've quoted and it was specifically finals I was thinking of.

Your last sentence raises an interesting point...did we hold back a handful of midfield set-ups specifically to not show our hand before it really counted?

 

[Wooden Robot]

The game was there to be won...
Ill discipline played a part in our down fall...just need to suck it up and be professional...all pre-season to work on that!
Playing two players not fully game fit in both Soldo and Graham...just passengers...reduced our mid field power...
Prestia injured...stuffed us big time...our number one in and under mid...reduced our mid field power...
Nank covid...not fully fit...reduced our mid field power...
Aarts...passenger...
Ross...played out of position...not a winger's AO!...mid field...
Gibcus...no need to play him again Carlscum...whatshisname should have played...
I blame the MC for our loss...

Are you ill?

 

[Wooden Robot]

Why not throw Caddy in there - would he really be worse than Aarts?

I'll rephrase that .....
Caddy can't get past Aarts in terms of selection, so how well do you think Caddy is travelling/

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

Are you ill?

Yes of course I am...sick of losing!

 

[Football Tragic]

So...shite...we are stuffed atm. We really have no choice but to play the kids over the next few weeks against some very decent opposition midfields. It really could get ugly. And to think, only a little over a week a go I was extremely optimistic about this season.

I hope to hell that a midfield of RCD, Ross, Dow and Sonsie can play out of their skins because our old guard are almost done. Prestia is a star but completely unreliable. Cotchin only plays in spurts. Graham is too slow and lacks polish. Martin is a forward who can play in the midfield part time. Arts is a average forward and should stay away from the center. Edwards hasn't the grunt win the ball in the clinches.

If I had to pick a midfield this week it would be RCD, Ross, Pickett, Edwards, Graham, Bolton/Martin with Nank/Soldo/Balta rucking. Having McIntosh and Pickett/Ralph-smith on the wings would make a huge difference to our ball movement and defense too.

I really hope that we stop trying to use short kicks out of defense and up to half-way before we change gears to our burst game. We don't have the skills and we get exposed through turnovers. Play to our strengths and most imortantly, our midfields' strengths, and revert to our fast movement/long kicking game so we can use our speed by hand and foot. Our midfield hasn't the size to dominate contested ball but it does have the speed and hand skills to cut through opposition defenses so take a risk, absorb the odd turnover and use what works.

 

[Wooden Robot]

Yes of course I am...sick of losing!

You've made a sense recently.
Keep it up

 

[biaseddustyfan]

sometimes I gotta remind myself that we've been pretty good since 2013 and the best since 2017 so have missed out on the vast majority of top tier mid draft picks in that time. we also paid fair bit of money to a few select players that helped us get flags, so no issue there, but that may have stopped us bringing in a senior top tier mid or two. on top of that VFL was interrupted a bunch by covid, so we missed out on the ready-to-go top pick mids by being good and then the mids we did pick lower down had less development over the years, we also played them less because we were winning flags rather than being shit like carlspoon and norf. combine that with the AFL changing rules specifically to hurt us and our gameplan (the premiership winning gameplan that continued to recruit and draft for...) and it sets us back a bit. maybe we didn't foresee the AFL being such blatant biased campaigners, maybe that was the wrong decision

overall I will still melt when we lose in the middle, but I can understand why it's happened. and I guess it's time for a change, need to make sure our midfield is stocked with a couple more of our taller/stronger players, and try get someone in next year if we can. maybe the arrogant campaigner caddy should come in? maybe RCD should just be played no matter what? maybe pickett should get chucked in there. I know that if we're getting reamed in the centre we need to actually put our best mids in there unlike we did last week when we left 3 midget non-midfielders in there for repeated centre bounces...

but also, meatball got injured early replaced by a runner/winger type, soldo's first real game off a serious injury, and biased as **** umps. we woulda won that game any other day and we will still win the flag this year so **** the AFL

 

[Rioli2Rioli]

Lunch needs to be asked to take a paycut and a significant one. If he don't like it we can ship him off to West Coast. Given they offered an untried forward 10 years they should jump at lunch.

Maybe you better do some reading up on the rules regarding "Shipping him off"
you are just making yourself look silly

• He doesnt have to take a cut , He took 200k less to play for Richmond
• He doesnt have to move interstate considering he came back home

*Even if he agreed to take a pay cut his salary that was in his origional contract remains due to coming as a free agent

 

[Rioli2Rioli]

Since our guru fitness man left 3 seasons ago we have the worst injury issues in the comp so go and do your homework instead of picking out targets in a forum. Perhaps it might be you that needs a friend.

I'll give you a clap for the attempt

Only problem is we have won 2 flags out of the 3 years your talking about

 

[nineteen eighty]

Lunch needs to be asked to take a paycut and a significant one. If he don't like it we can ship him off to West Coast. Given they offered an untried forward 10 years they should jump at lunch.

Maybe you better do some reading up on the rules regarding "Shipping him off"
you are just making yourself look silly

• He doesnt have to take a cut , He took 200k less to play for Richmond
• He doesnt have to move interstate considering he came back home

*Even if he agreed to take a pay cut his salary that was in his origional contract remains due to coming as a free agent

Some of you blokes should not comment without knowing what you're talking about. Rioli is spot on.

Since our guru fitness man left 3 seasons ago we have the worst injury issues in the comp so go and do your homework instead of picking out targets in a forum. Perhaps it might be you that needs a friend.

You cannot be serious?! Again, think before typing!

I'll give you a clap for the attempt

Only problem is we have won 2 flags out of the 3 years your talking about

Exactly.

Some of you blokes are embarrassing yourselves with your comments. Either stay off BF when drinking or engage the brain when typing.

We won 3 flags in 4 years. Should have been 4 in 4 if not for a lanky American pr1ck who played one of the all time greatest finals in the history of the game (and done nothing prior or since). The rules have been designed to bring clubs back to the fold. This is exactly what is happening right now. The next few years will showcase (or not) how good a club we are.

In the meantime, I may need to stay out of the Tigers board for my own sanity.

 

[TigerTime88]

Ross was recruited as an inside mid, let him bloody play there and develop. He had 0 centre bounce attendance on Thursday, he’s not an endurance beast that can control a wing.

Bolton only had 9 centre bounce attendances, he plays his best footy there FFS, this shifting players around is 2012 sh*t.

Completely agree on Ross. I was shocked he didn’t go in to start and even more when Prestia went down.

Re Bolton I have heard he gets a bit lost in the midfield and doesn’t stick to the team structure. I understand this but at the same time he has enough X factor and star power to do whatever he likes in a Dusty like fashion.

 

[Do the Dew]

Some of you blokes should not comment without knowing what you're talking about. Rioli is spot on.




You cannot be serious?! Again, think before typing!



Exactly.

Some of you blokes are embarrassing yourselves with your comments. Either stay off BF when drinking or engage the brain when typing.

We won 3 flags in 4 years. Should have been 4 in 4 if not for a lanky American pr1ck who played one of the all time greatest finals in the history of the game (and done nothing prior or since). The rules have been designed to bring clubs back to the fold. This is exactly what is happening right now. The next few years will showcase (or not) how good a club we are.

In the meantime, I may need to stay out of the Tigers board for my own sanity.

It's just the same handful of posters who are negative af. They've been infesting the game review thread in the same manner. You'd think supporters would actually be happy about what the club has achieved, but I guess some folks are just miserable campaigners.

Only point I'd criticize you on is Cox 2018 PF. His game has been blown up by the media. Sure he played very well, but he only kicked 3 goals (for context, De Goey kicked 4 and Riewoldt kicked 5). Funnily enough they smashed us in the midfield that game too - hence why Cox was able to get consistent lace out delivery.

 

[nineteen eighty]

It's just the same handful of posters who are negative af. They've been infesting the game review thread in the same manner. You'd think supporters would actually be happy about what the club has achieved, but I guess some folks are just miserable campaigners.

Only point I'd criticize you on is Cox 2018 PF. His game has been blown up by the media. Sure he played very well, but he only kicked 3 goals (for context, De Goey kicked 4 and Riewoldt kicked 5). Funnily enough they smashed us in the midfield that game too - hence why Cox was able to get consistent lace out delivery.

Not to derail this thread but that lanky pr1ck took contested mark after contested mark. He may have only kicked the 3 but he created many more through his contests.

It's been a great ride. I'm in my 50's and have seen the worst of the club. I never thought I would experience these last few years. I also had my daughter (yeah yeah I'm an old dirty b@stard) born in '17 and I've said all along she brought the good luck with her.

As a footnote, I have another due May this year. I expect the same 3 flags from my next born!

 

[NaturalDisaster]

Our fitness staff need to be replaced and pronto. Our injury management and prevention is the worst in the league

Far from it,

Do you take notice of other clubs injuries? We are by far one of the better ones and have been for years. We had a very good run during our flag years, doesnt mean our injury management is shit now.

Its a physical game, players get injured. If you’re expecting our injury list to stay below 2 all the time, its not going to happen.

 

[Lord of the Wings]

Far from it,

Do you take notice of other clubs injuries? We are by far one of the better ones.

Its a physical game, players get injured. If you’re expecting our injury list to stay below 2 all the time, its not going to happen.

To be fair you've got no idea what your talking about.

Its the continual reoccurrence of injuries to key players due to mismanagement of their rehab that I am referring to. If you note when Rob Innes left and our performance before and after that point you'd understand my point

 

[Lord of the Wings]

Some of you blokes should not comment without knowing what you're talking about. Rioli is spot on.

Daniel Rioli is more chance of winning the Brownlow than numpty Rioli being spot on

 

[Tigerish09]

Not to derail this thread but that lanky pr1ck took contested mark after contested mark. He may have only kicked the 3 but he created many more through his contests.

It's been a great ride. I'm in my 50's and have seen the worst of the club. I never thought I would experience these last few years. I also had my daughter (yeah yeah I'm an old dirty b@stard) born in '17 and I've said all along she brought the good luck with her.

As a footnote, I have another due May this year. I expect the same 3 flags from my next born!

I know TV is pretty average at the moment but have you considered some other hobbies?

And yes those of us who are old enough to remember 1983 to 2016 should not lose sight of how far this club has come.

 

[tiger_tough]

Spot on

Most supporters wanted us to make a play for Mitchell or Wingard.

You're either going for a flag or you aint. So why get Tarrant and not top up the mids

I don't recall any posters wanting Wingard Mitchell on the other hand....

We got Tarrant as a free like for like replacement for Astbury. Pretty simple.

 

[Nebular]

Our fitness staff need to be replaced and pronto. Our injury management and prevention is the worst in the league

Ridiculous comment.

 

[Drunken Wookie]

This is meant to be a talls draft this year isn't it? Maybe we're hoping the top ten will be all talls letting us grab the creamiest midfielders in the crop.

 

[Lord of the Wings]

Ridiculous comment.

Thanks Burge good to see you online.