Our Poor Forwards..

[Fairtex09]

I believe everyone is being far to harsh on Miller & Robertson. FFS how are you supposed to get the ball when the kicks coming towards you are atrocious? Our forwards ATM may not be the best in the business but i think if we had a half decent midfield it would give these two more of a chance. Franklin would struggle if he had the delivery that Miller and Robertson have. And people wonder why Robertson's body language is average, I would be pissed off also, if 95% of the time my midfield didn't give me a chance in hell of taking a mark. Miller is trying thats about all he can do, and people wonder why he's marking the ball to far out from goal that's because now-one acknowledges his leads, and by the time he gets it he's to far out. Anyway thats my 2 cents...

 

[J-Train]

I believe everyone is being far to harsh on Miller & Robertson. FFS how are you supposed to get the ball when the kicks coming towards you are atrocious? Our forwards ATM may not be the best in the business but i think if we had a half decent midfield it would give these two more of a chance. Franklin would struggle if he had the delivery that Miller and Robertson have. And people wonder why Robertson's body language is average, I would be pissed off also, if 95% of the time my midfield didn't give me a chance in hell of taking a mark. Miller is trying thats about all he can do, and people wonder why he's marking the ball to far out from goal that's because now-one acknowledges his leads, and by the time he gets it he's to far out. Anyway thats my 2 cents...

You should title your thread "Our poor midfield" as it sounds like you are inferring the forwards are poor, not the delivery to them.

 

[swjmfc]

I believe everyone is being far to harsh on Miller & Robertson. FFS how are you supposed to get the ball when the kicks coming towards you are atrocious? Our forwards ATM may not be the best in the business but i think if we had a half decent midfield it would give these two more of a chance. Franklin would struggle if he had the delivery that Miller and Robertson have. And people wonder why Robertson's body language is average, I would be pissed off also, if 95% of the time my midfield didn't give me a chance in hell of taking a mark. Miller is trying thats about all he can do, and people wonder why he's marking the ball to far out from goal that's because now-one acknowledges his leads, and by the time he gets it he's to far out. Anyway thats my 2 cents...

I think most people on here are more concerned about what they do with the footy, rather than why they don't get it. Newton has kicked 3.9 this season and some out on the full. Plenty of them very easy. Miller has kicked 14.17. I ask again, what is the point of having key forwards if they can't kick for goal and finish off the good work. Their kicking, particularly Newton's, shows no signs of improvement. Having said all of that, I thought they both worked hard of the ball and Miller played quite well on Sunday, but jeez, his kicking let his team mates down.

 

[Fairtex09]

You should title your thread "Our poor midfield" as it sounds like you are inferring the forwards are poor, not the delivery to them.

I was actually referring to "poor" as in (feel sorry, sympathy)

 

[Bartram_Class]

Did you watch the game on the weekend?

We know our midfield is far from first-rate, but geez, when they work hard enough to get the ball to Newton or Miller 25/30m on slight angles, you expect that to be kicked. As for Robbo, if he doesn't want to chase, he plays at Casey. Having a shit midfield is no excuse to get frustrated and stop working, in fact if anything it means you should work harder.

At the end of the day, if we don't have the skills or finesse, the least we can ask for is effort. I'd rather Newton try all day and kick 1.6, than Robbo lie on his back inside fifty and kick two junktime gimmies.

 

[Wonaeamirri33]

This is EXACTLY why I think having Dunn in a consistent role up forward might well provide a sinecure for us (although obviously I'm not the first to say it) - but I doubt it'll ever happen

 

[half back flank]

Whelan to forward for rest of year i say.... u never know he might pop up and kick a couple because he has a simple style for set shots. Take notice miller, stop dropping the ball from a height!

They should keep both Newton and Miller in for the rest of year so we have targets. And play robbo in the last round for a send off game

 

[WattsGoodForYou]

Newton = Poor mans Ben Holland
Ben Holland = Poor mans Michae lNewton

Say what?

 

[Demon Revival]

These guys are actually doing the team thing.... ensuring we get the priority pick, cut them some slack. If they suddenly kick straight then we will be all over them for costing us a pick....

Next year Miller would be good if we had a big body as the key forward option, eg Roughie ( I wanted to say Zomer, but no one else has the faith & I'd be crucified)

 

[Jeebs]

At the end of the day, if we don't have the skills or finesse, the least we can ask for is effort. I'd rather Newton try all day and kick 1.6, than Robbo lie on his back inside fifty and kick two junktime gimmies.

 

[StingaArmstrong]

i'm quite convinced Newton's goalkicking will come good, to me it looks the combination of lack of confidence and a minor technical issue, where as Miller's has an absolute stinker of a technique. Seeing Newton hit one perfectly from 50 on the boundary in the ressies indicates to me that he can do it when he's not thinking that he should have to get it.

On the actual thread topic...I could probably count on one hand the amount of times we've actually hit a leading forward on the chest in the last 10 weeks. Our ability to hit forward targets is abominable, and is the biggest thing we need to improve if we are to drag ourselves off the bottom of the ladder.

 

[givemethecure]

This is EXACTLY why I think having Dunn in a consistent role up forward might well provide a sinecure for us (although obviously I'm not the first to say it) - but I doubt it'll ever happen

You might be the first person to use the word sinecure on a footy blog though, regardless of whether it relates to Dunn.

 

[Amarula]

I believe everyone is being far to harsh on Miller & Robertson. FFS how are you supposed to get the ball when the kicks coming towards you are atrocious? Our forwards ATM may not be the best in the business but i think if we had a half decent midfield it would give these two more of a chance. Franklin would struggle if he had the delivery that Miller and Robertson have. And people wonder why Robertson's body language is average, I would be pissed off also, if 95% of the time my midfield didn't give me a chance in hell of taking a mark. Miller is trying thats about all he can do, and people wonder why he's marking the ball to far out from goal that's because now-one acknowledges his leads, and by the time he gets it he's to far out. Anyway thats my 2 cents...

First, my total surprise to find a thread sticking up for Miller & Robbo.

Second, my confusion that in sticking up for maligned forwards you don't include Newton.

Miller & Newton have continued the stream of fringe players who have been dropped back to Casey to work on weak parts of their games and have come back much better than when they were dropped. They both presented well, applied great defensive pressure, and held some good grabs, from limited opportunities and poor delivery.

And you have to say that when they work like this to get the ball or to keep the heat on opposition defenders, they are worth their place in the team. These features of their games, especially defensive pressure and especially Newton, have improved dramatically.

They just wasted their opportunities with abysmal kicking. Though it looks atrocious and must be teeth-gnashingly frustrating for those who work so hard to get it to them within range, it won't be a problem for the rest of this year, for obvious reasons. But they absolutely must get it right before Round 1 2010. In fact, their futures at Melbourne will stand or fall IMO on whether they can improve their set shots and their kicking of "gettable" goals from general play. And if one of them gets it right, we can say goodbye to the other.

THere have been plenty of examples of forwards with terrible kicking going either way - either improving or failing to improve. If they can improve other aspects of their game so well, getting the same improvement into their kicking is within their reach. There must be people around the club who can diagnose their problem and work with them to fix it, whether the problem is one of technique or is located above the shoulders.

 

[Wonaeamirri33]

You might be the first person to use the word sinecure on a footy blog though, regardless of whether it relates to Dunn.

Well that's always good to know

 

[omit]

Miller took 5 marks inside 50 on the weekend. not one of them contested and gave us a return of 1.3

 

[Goobernutty]

The thing I've noticed about Newton (in particular, against Sydney) is he can run, he can jump & he can tackle, but when it comes to kicking he just can't get it right. Even that match against Adelaide, when he was marking in the goal-square he was missing them. Either he has two left feet or maybe he's a lot more nervous than he looks (maybe the large crowd is getting to him?)

 

[AFL is Number One]

The thing I've noticed about Newton (in particular, against Sydney) is he can run, he can jump & he can tackle, but when it comes to kicking he just can't get it right. Even that match against Adelaide, when he was marking in the goal-square he was missing them. Either he has two left feet or maybe he's a lot more nervous than he looks (maybe the large crowd is getting to him?)

"Goose" Newton kicking was bad on Sunday....as bad as I have ever seen him. Not sure what has happenned there...I remember him having some amount of accuracy a couple of seasons back.

 

[Fairtex09]

"Goose" Newton kicking was bad on Sunday....as bad as I have ever seen him. Not sure what has happenned there...I remember him having some amount of accuracy a couple of seasons back.

Mate give it up.
I dont think it's catching on... go out with some dignity.. and end it now.

 

[Pipefitter]

More like our poor supporters.

 

[Bomber Man]

I don't think I've ever seen a player fall so far out of favour with the supporters of his club as Robbo has this year, especially on BF where often club supporters tend to be overly loyal.

For mine, the guy is a mid-sized forward who has played virtually his whole career as a KP for Melbourne, stuck with them through some tough years and remained a dedicated clubman, came back from an extremely severe injury so is playing 09 with no pre-season behind him, and has still been assigned one of the opposition's very best defenders every time he's played given there have been, reallistically, so few others in Melbourne's forward line to shut down.

Despite all the above he has managed to kick you an average 2 goals per game, and he was pretty influential in one of your few wins v West Coast. Yes some of his goals have been cheap and some in junk time, but who has been more reliable in Melbourne's forward line than the undersized, under-prepared veteran?

 

[Wonaeamirri33]

Well maybe with a better pre-season, he might be able to put up reasonable performances on the field for another year, that's the best I can do for Robbo at this point. We could all be proven wrong, who knows, but I don't think so...