Our midfield

[Mighty Eagles]

Scott Selwood is on the safe list with Priddis, Kerr and Shuey.

A.Selwood, Embley, Rosa need to be more consistent, otherwise they'll be overtaken by younger, more consistent alternatives.

The ball is in the court of Ebert, Gaff, McGinnity, Stevens, Masten and Swift to not only fill the remaining spots, but to take the club forward.

 

[Patron]

If i was the club i would trade A selwood, Rosa and ebert this year if possible to free up some midfield possies.

I reckon we have a lot of more talented younger mids pushing for opportunities to develop their games who are being denied atm. This is occurring as we didnt roll over our list enough last year.

Swift, Masten, gaff, Sheppard, Stevens, Weedon all deserve opportunities through the midfield.

Seems a bit harsh saying to trade rosa given his form but he is vanilla and is denying opportunities for Gaff and Sheppard and to a lesser extent smith or Stevenson on the wings who will really deserve and be pushing for wing spots next year.
If we could trade ebert to SA hopefully for a first rounder or an upgrade on ours we may be able to snare rich with the combination. Then i'd want to push hard for omeara with whatever we have to trade left. Selwood, Rosa, Lynch, swift could be useful bargaining chips.

 

[dajesmac]

If i was the club i would trade A selwood, Rosa and ebert this year if possible to free up some midfield possies.

I reckon we have a lot of more talented younger mids pushing for opportunities to develop their games who are being denied atm. This is occurring as we didnt roll over our list enough last year.

Swift, Masten, gaff, Sheppard, Stevens, Weedon all deserve opportunities through the midfield.

Seems a bit harsh saying to trade rosa given his form but he is vanilla and is denying opportunities for Gaff and Sheppard and to a lesser extent smith or Stevenson on the wings who will really deserve and be pushing for wing spots next year.
If we could trade ebert to SA hopefully for a first rounder or an upgrade on ours we may be able to snare rich with the combination. Then i'd want to push hard for omeara with whatever we have to trade left. Selwood, Rosa, Lynch, swift could be useful bargaining chips.

What!

Why would you contemplate trading Rosa? His absence would only serve Gaff (still too skinny) and Sheppard, while Smith and Stevenson seem destined for defense. And even if they weren't that's still not a lot of depth. Rosa is currently our best performed wingman. We need to establish a system where the best performing players will earn a spot in the 22 in order to build a healthy and determined culture where everyone is working hard and there are no passengers. IMO the Swans are the perfect example of this.

In other words, have you ever seen a club really bounce back by just playing their youth straight away and not making them earn it? Seems like clubs that have done this tend to struggle. Blindingly blooding youth will not do us good. Swift and Weedon have been given time to develop their games and form in the WAFL and it has done them both a lot of good.

Anyway getting off on a tangent. Trading Ebert is a no-no from me, has been excellent this year. HOWEVER, if we are approached with a deal that is above what he's worth I'd have a look at it. A top 15 draft pick perhaps, but that's unlikely and this year we probably won't grab much talent with it. Also as you said, I would consider it in a deal for Rich.

Adam Selwood is borderline for me but seems the unlikeliest of the three. Is our best tagger at this stage and can't see us getting much for him. Would entertain offering him and a fringe player for O'Meara (as it would cost no less) but I doubt it'll happen. So I 50% agree with you, but the question is, if we lose A.Selwood, are you prepared to see McGinnity in the 22 almost every week?

 

[Masto]

Another thing about Priddis I don't like is that last year he was calling out the younger players and saying they didn't deserve a game. He doesn't strike me as much of a leader, he needs to be supportive of younger players not saying they should be dropped from the team.

 

[Obeanie1]

i think the question is why the **** we didnt pick up any flashy players over the past years.

What do you mean by 'flashy' exactly?

Like Leon Davis?

Or Leroy Jetta?

Because 'flashy outside players' don't win you premierships, you need very good hard players who win contested possesions.

Thats why we went for Shuey, Gaff, Masten, Smith, Stevens and S Selwood types. Weedon is not a skinny player either and even though Broome is we only risked a rookie spot on him.

NickNat is pretty flashy isn't he?

Le Cras?

 

[makaveli01]

Another thing about Priddis I don't like is that last year he was calling out the younger players and saying they didn't deserve a game. He doesn't strike me as much of a leader, he needs to be supportive of younger players not saying they should be dropped from the team.

When did this happen?

 

[mattyc75]

Another thing about Priddis I don't like is that last year he was calling out the younger players and saying they didn't deserve a game. He doesn't strike me as much of a leader, he needs to be supportive of younger players not saying they should be dropped from the team.

i kind of agree but then in the last few years too many players have been getting games who dont deserve them,or keeping their spot after horrible performances.If young players are getting gifted games they wont know what it takes to earn a game.Seems a bit different this year,Swift cant get a game and Strijk is struggling to get back in too.I think this has a lot to do with kerr embley and nico playing well,and gaff has come in and done his job,so those borderline players arent in the team which is good news for us

 

[hudson2006]

I think we have more pressing concerns than Matt Priddis.

That is all.

 

[NIS BOTT MK 2]

The biggest weakness I see in our midfield is the fact that none of them seem likely goal scorers.

None of them bar Shuey and Embley seem to have much of a goal sense or even hunger to kick goals and despite his great form so far you cant be banking on Embley to still be kicking around at our next tilt.
Ignoring Shuey, Rosa seems to be our most dangerous mid and not to knock the guy I just don't feel that's good enough

Ebert and Nico go alright but that's only because they've been played predominately forward, and whats worse I don't really see any of our younger mids being capable of goal scorers either.

Masten, Gaff, Ebert, Scooter, Stevens, Sheppard, Smith, Stevenson, Neates, Swift, out of all of these young guys that might plausibly get a run through the guts I don't really see any of them being able to be dangerous forward. I'm not saying they can't develop that side into their games but at the moment they just don't seem likely, and personally I think the best midfields are those that can kick goals.

Maybe Swift, Stevenson, Sheppard, Ebert and Gaff I can see doing this but with Swift theres just to many what ifs in general same with Stevenson, Sheppard has traditionally played the back flank role throughout his junior years, Ebert goes alright I guess and the verdict still out on Gaff. But I dunno, I just would like to see more mids that really have that hunger to push forward I guess.

EDIT: I know this isnt exactly on topic with the OP but its better than starting a new thread

 

[Eastern Rangers]

Strijk is potentially an elite goal kicking midfielder.

And Shuey is good for a goal a game.

 

[Fargo]

Strijk is potentially an elite goal kicking midfielder.

And Shuey is good for a goal a game.

Agreed on Strijk. I think he should eventually be a regular starting mid - spent a bit of time there late last season and was very effective.

 

[bali-dog]

all the variables aside..weve got kerr,priddis,shuey..add to that gaff and masten (who needs to kick more goals),and it should make a noticible difference right there!!

and for all the priddis pros+cons..imagine if you had an extractor maybe half as good as him, but could dodge+weave and kick reliable accurate kicks most of the time (like a pro footballer is supposed to),as well as goal!? ..most teams have these! (cousins??)
do most teams have a priddis type,hi extractor/low convertor?..but i must say his kicks are hitting up targets more this year..this argument will never die until he's superceded by someone better..who will that be.

 

[wce4premiership]

Rosa is a no go for a trade, very underrated midfielder.

As for "flashy players" ... i would have put kerr, shuey and swift in this category as far as our midfield goes

 

[wcesam]

The biggest weakness I see in our midfield is the fact that none of them seem likely goal scorers.

None of them bar Shuey and Embley seem to have much of a goal sense or even hunger to kick goals and despite his great form so far you cant be banking on Embley to still be kicking around at our next tilt.
Ignoring Shuey, Rosa seems to be our most dangerous mid and not to knock the guy I just don't feel that's good enough

Ebert and Nico go alright but that's only because they've been played predominately forward, and whats worse I don't really see any of our younger mids being capable of goal scorers either.

Masten, Gaff, Ebert, Scooter, Stevens, Sheppard, Smith, Stevenson, Neates, Swift, out of all of these young guys that might plausibly get a run through the guts I don't really see any of them being able to be dangerous forward. I'm not saying they can't develop that side into their games but at the moment they just don't seem likely, and personally I think the best midfields are those that can kick goals.

Well most of our mids are naturally inside ball winners without much outside/goal sense.

Shuey and Swift are guys who can (when in form) break free and play inside/outside well and snag a few goals, and I'd probably put Masten in that category too.

Rosa is our best outside midfielder (depending on how you categorise Embley I guess) and when he gets the opportunity he usually finishes very well.

 

[Bacchus]

Rosa is our best outside midfielder (depending on how you categorise Embley I guess) and when he gets the opportunity he usually finishes very well.

28 goals in 96 games (just under 1 every 3.5 games). Disappointing in my view. If he could (and so far he hasn't been able to), take the goal scoring opportunities that he gets and nail a few more, then he would make the step up from an average to useful player to a good player. Not there yet IMO. As a comparison Embley has 196 goals in 213 games - nearly 1 per game.

 

[Prem87]

Rosa is more of your link man set up play winger than pure line breaking goal kicking mid like Embley. Teams need both! Gaff can do both!

 

[Obeanie1]

28 goals in 96 games (just under 1 every 3.5 games). Disappointing in my view. If he could (and so far he hasn't been able to), take the goal scoring opportunities that he gets and nail a few more, then he would make the step up from an average to useful player to a good player. Not there yet IMO. As a comparison Embley has 196 goals in 213 games - nearly 1 per game.

You have to give Rosa a bit of slack comparing him to Embley. Remember Embley played alongside Judd, Cousins, Kerr and Cox in their prime and Rosa really only stated getting a regular game from 2007 > now. In that time our inside midfield was decimated and we were getting flogged, Rosa would have spent more time defending than attacking.

 

[wcesam]

Embley > Rosa. All I was saying is that when Rosa is running into kick for goal you'd back him to kick it most of the time. Can't say the same for many of our other midfielders who 1. waste their opportunities and 2. rarely end up in a goal scoring position.

 

[wce4premiership]

Rosa is a very reliable shot. Shuey the same, besides that a lot of our midfielders lack the goal sense.