Strategy Our post-Kane tagger/run-with player

[Doctor Feel]

Why are people suggesting an offensive player like Ah Chee become a tagger? Am I crazy or is that illogical to anyone else?

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Why do people want Ah Chee to tag?? He is an attacking pack busting type. He is more Ollie than Kane. I doubt he has the engine to be a run with tagger.

 

[FallingLiefs]

some odd suggestions....

IMO won't be Ah Chee, endurance base not there. O'Shea doesn't have the body strength. Colquhoun while looking like Cornes is 4cm shorter and just won't be able to tag the future elite midfielder with his height and lack of a strong natural core (ie an Impey). Karlos and Impey have way too much speed and game breaking ability to be used in a tagging role. K.Mitchell just doesn't have the size either.

Comes down to Moore, Jonas and Ebert for mine. Happy to go along without grooming a permanent one as all 3 i listed are already capable of playing the role.

 

[Doctor Feel]

Of all of our players, I think Clurey and Jonas are the two likely candidates. Elite midfielders are often quite tall these days.

 

[Long live PAFC]

Jonas if he has the tank could be great but do we want to play with such an effective back 6?

Clurey may be awesome - has the tank and, with his height and weight, could maybe cover those Kennedy/Fyfe types who kill us at the moment or go with the outside mids. Would hold his own up front or down back as well.

Don't think O'Shea, Mitchell, Hoon, Amon or Impey would work. Moore has struggled and Ah Chee was good against Priddis but not sure he could do it for a game.

Bit left field but what about Krak? Has the speed, agility, height and ability to cover most players. Couldn't beat inside mids but then Cornes mostly covered the outside mids anyway. May not have the tank this year but another pre season and he could be an option.

 

[Tibbs]

Kane gave a few hints:

So where to for the Power? Is there an immediate heir apparent within the ranks? Cornes thinks so, but won’t say who.
“I think they know who they are, I just spoke to the players then, you probably don’t need to be Einstein to work it out,” Cornes told a crowded Adelaide Oval media centre on Thursday morning.

http://www.portadelaidefc.com.au/news/2015-05-14/power-coy-on-kanes-heir-apparent

So it must be someone right on the brink:
Ah Chee
Amon
Mitchell
??

Moore, Hoon, and Clurey are prospects, but aren't the obvious options that Kane is hinting at

 

[rogerjames]

I think we need Einstein

 

[Long live PAFC]

Russell and DBJ are longer term options - both combative and tight checking. Not sure if they will make it but could be handy!

 

[ozph1870]

JOHN BUTCHER

he has enough trouble tagging himself each week....

 

[ozph1870]

Impey has basically only been used as a tagger/run-with/cooler in the back half. Is there any reason why he couldn't cover the whole ground? Is he too small to take on the Mitchell/Deledio types?

i think impey is too good as a skilled runner potentally offensive weapon to lay as a lock down tagger. really would like to see impey on the wing.

 

[ozph1870]

clurey is the man, has done a good job on panos and kirkwood which for sanfl level is as hard as it gets. big step up obviously to do it at af level but its pretty ominous that as soon as kane was accepted clurey has been given the tagging role at the maggies, i hope he gets a crack at it soon.

 

[Portmanteau]

Daniel Flynn to jump on the next flight.

 

[Portmanteau]

I am intrigued by the concept of Clurey as tagger.

 

[RossFC]

There might actually be something to the Clurey talk. Been playing midfield in the SANFL the past couple of weeks.

I know you are not a fan of us having taggers, but if we chose to replace Cornes with one...

Clurey has been doing a great job shutting down Panos and Kirkwood. I know they are not AFL superstars but they are the 2 best players he could possibly run with in the SANFL.

 

[Long live PAFC]

Not sure why Hoon, Amon or Impey are being mentioned. Impey is our lock down man for those small forwards who tear us apart - Ballantyne, Betts, etc - and we don't have anyone who can cover that apart from him. Amon is an outside runner in the vein of Matt White and lacks the defensive mindset. Hoon gets plenty of the ball and I would see him filling a Sam Mitchell type role rather than a tagger. Not sure he has the strength or mindset for a pure shutdown role.

Mitchell lacks the height and would be killed defensively - ie every tagged player would move into the forward fifty and out mark him. Kane struggled with this too but hurt teams on the outside, which I am not sure Mitchell could do to the same level. Certainly has the tank for it though.

You would have to think Moore and Clurey would be the options with DBJ and Russell for later. Would love to see how the Krak goes though.

 

[MALTSY]

Imagine Krak not only shutting players down but also running off his opponent and delivering the ball with pinpoint accuracy.
Probably one of Kanes weaknesses was his ability to make his possessions really hurt the opposition.
Big fan of Kane however.

 

[finbarr]

I know you are not a fan of us having taggers, but if we chose to replace Cornes with one...

Clurey has been doing a great job shutting down Panos and Kirkwood. I know they are not AFL superstars but they are the 2 best players he could possibly run with in the SANFL.

I'm not against sitting someone on an opposition gun, but I want that player to also contribute offensively. Very few "taggers" have mastered the art of running off their man and hurting the opposition the other way.

 

[Zakk Wylde]

Going by the SANFL reports, and it's a bit left field, but Sam Russell seems to have the speed, toughness and aggression to do the business in this type of role.

Now all he needs to do is be good at football and make the side.

Certainly has the traits if he makes it tho.

 

[Lawnchair Larry]

No sense in moving Jonas from a good backline.
Impey seems too attacking, so that is wasteful.
Of Moore, Hoon and Mitchell, I prefer Moore, and it will be the making or breaking of his career.
Time to find out.

 

[tribey]

No sense in moving Jonas from a good backline.
Impey seems too attacking, so that is wasteful.
Of Moore, Hoon and Mitchell, I prefer Moore, and it will be the making or breaking of his career.
Time to find out.

When roles permit, absolutely. Without an appropriate matchup in the past fortnight he's been decidedly subpar.

Why not move him up the ground to do a job on a dangerous midfielder. From memory he did a blanket job on Hodge in a game we lost by sixty-three thousand points.

 

[RossFC]

I'm not against sitting someone on an opposition gun, but I want that player to also contribute offensively. Very few "taggers" have mastered the art of running off their man and hurting the opposition the other way.

Apart from a goal Clurey kicked, I haven't seen him run off his player to do something offensively. That is one thing that is definitely lacking in his game.

 

[Coobk001]

Will be a lot of talk about this over the next few months. Do we need one? Is a temporary run-with player adequate enough depending on who we come up against? Who will get the gig?

Lots of talk previously about Colquhoun but im not sure he has the toughness to do the job.

The funny part about this is that Sam's first couple of trial games for the Power in 2013 showed a little feisty player not afraid to throw his body in there, and a kid that was actually clean (even against the big boys) in these situations. I'm not sure what has happened to that kid but I'm guessing his size and the role he is being groomed to play is steering him away from that style of play.

IMO Colquhoun is a terrific runner, disciplined player and a footy brain. He would be perfect for the role IMO and mimics exactly the type of player Kane has been.

 

[Sleezy]

I posted this in the 'what's changed in 2015' tactics thread as a follow up thought to our perceived change in defensive mindset but it is actually far more relevant here. Intrigued to hear people's thoughts:

With A Young's performances of the last couple of weeks and K Cornes's potentially imminent retirement there has been some discussion as to the role of the tagger/defensive mid in our side.

The most common theme has been that we need a defensive mid but not necessarily a tagger, and that the most important role of the defensive mid is the little blocks to allow other mids the space to create with their disposals at the stoppage.

I was wondering if anyone had ideas around our current set-up? Having a desginated 'defensive mid' actually seems a litttle inflexible.

My assumption as to center bounce set-ups is based around flexibility. No one player has a designated role but fills one of the below roles based on proximity to the contest.

Offensive-the ruck tap goes to us:
-The extractor: Pretty straight forward. The mid that has the ball tapped to them. He goes for the ball.
-The blocker: The next closest who blocks, tackles giving the extractor that half second to create with their disposal.
-The decoy: The mid furthest away from the contest. Their role is to drag their opponent away from the contest and, importantly, away from the next contest as well (so as not to get in the way of a halfback streaming past to get the handball receive).

Defensive-the ruck contest goes to them:
-The stopper: The mid whose opponent get's the ball. Ideally tackle and nullify the contest - or at least pressure and affect the disposal.
-The back-up: There for the gang tackle. Their opponent would ordinarily be trying to block them from contest.
-The interceptor: Leaves his man to get inbetween the ruck contest and the outside runner and cut off any attacking thrusts.

Contested-the ruck tap is ineffective:
-The contester: The mid who contests the ball.
The other two mids will then take a role based on their position relative to the contest and the outcome (for or against).

In all cases the ruckman's default position is as blocker/back-up. They are there to nullify the contest if it is going against us and get in the way of the opposition mids if we have the ball.

There are obviously more detail and set plays etc - but I reckon the basis would not be too dissimilar to what I have outlined.

Is this how we set up? If so - where does the dedicated defensive mid fit? All our mids should be able to fill each role at any time. Do we even need a defensive mid? Will the move away from the tagger move us closer to the attacking football we have grown to love?

 

[Coobk001]

The Clurey experiment is terrible IMO. I don't think he has anywhere near the ability to play AFL midfield and tag. He has looked absolutely lost to me and has nowhere near the agility and skill required.

We'd be better off making Jonas the tagger and bringing in O'Shea or Clurey down back.

 

[Jonts]

Haven't laughed this much in a BF thread in a while
I think we're forgetting that a tagger isn't needed every game
For a run with role - Jonas - enter someone into his defensive role
For the midfield rotations - Moore
For the general play on the wing - Ah Chee/Mitchell