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Pace & Skill

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Devil Fish

Brownlow Medallist
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These are the 2 attributes which are now critical to a successful midfield. These players don't have it & the coaching/recruiting staff MUST address the situation:

Kasey Green - Slow & non-skilled. Surely can't play regular seniors next season if we are to improve.
Adam Simpson - Slow & non-skilled. Must be used in defensive/negating roles from now on. His poor disposal, lack of pace & sloppy clearances cost us time & time again.
Eddie Sansbury - Slow & Wasteful. He actually is capable of good disposal but under pressure, it falls apart. Showed his true colours in the finals. Back-up midfielder at best next season.

The BIG issue is when Grant, Sinclair, Swallow & Harris are in the midfield, that means we have 7 SLOW-MID-PACED midfielders. Is it any surprise we get exposed for a lack of pace through the midfield against the top teams (we only had 1 win from 6 games against the other prelim finallists this season)?

PACE, PACE & MORE PACE. This must be the emphasis for next season.
 
You are way off on Sansbury who is really quick. You saw him take off in the square and create the goal for Grant.

I agree though our midfield = slowest in AFL. Thats why whoever recommended trading Hale for a quick midefielder is spot on the money. Hale is not and hasnt been a match winner for us. Some clubs are crying out for a ruckmen and we should take advantage of it. Some hard calls need to be made and those that make these calls end up on top.

All in all with the Hays debacle, Thommo.Hardin/ and Jones (finals) out we had a good season.
 

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I lost count the number of times that Burgoyne & co sprinted away from their opponants, leaving them for dead. It was cringeworthy.
 
Agree 10,000%

I mentioned something similar in an earlier post.

We have plenty of hard it, clearance type players with only 2 or 3 genuine quicks.

You rightly mentioned the midfielders who strugle, but it's not only our midfielid, it's our defence as well.

Firitto, Watt (quick, but doesn't use it) Pratt, Archer, Gibson - none have the speed or the ability to break the lines and start our attacks.

Look at Port, who have Surjan, Chaplin, Pettigrew and then throw the skills of P.Burgoyne in defence. All quick and hard runners. Watch them when a point is scored and they rush to get a short kick in, then run in numbers. They all move quick, run and support the ball carrier.

If you watch us, it's raher comical.
 
Badabing! said:
Agree 10,000%

I mentioned something similar in an earlier post.

We have plenty of hard it, clearance type players with only 2 or 3 genuine quicks.

You rightly mentioned the midfielders who strugle, but it's not only our midfielid, it's our defence as well.

Firitto, Watt (quick, but doesn't use it) Pratt, Archer, Gibson - none have the speed or the ability to break the lines and start our attacks.

Look at Port, who have Surjan, Chaplin, Pettigrew and then throw the skills of P.Burgoyne in defence. All quick and hard runners. Watch them when a point is scored and they rush to get a short kick in, then run in numbers. They all move quick, run and support the ball carrier.

If you watch us, it's raher comical.
Click to expand...

While I agree with the over-arching conclusion that our team lacks pace, I have a problem with some of the detail of your post. For mine, Gibbo always displays plenty of pace, and Spud's willingness to run hard out of defence this year saw him successfully break lines and set up Forward moves on numerous occasions.
 
Devil Fish said:
These are the 2 attributes which are now critical to a successful midfield. These players don't have it & the coaching/recruiting staff MUST address the situation:

Kasey Green - Slow & non-skilled. Surely can't play regular seniors next season if we are to improve.

PACE, PACE & MORE PACE. This must be the emphasis for next season.
Click to expand...

I must admit, to me Kasey looked incredibly slow on Saturday. In fact, even though his bodily actions appeared to be those of someone running in a forward direction, at times I could have sworn he was moving backwards. Upon reflection, I have realised that this was simply because the Earth's rotation on its axis was actually quicker than Kase, thus creating the illusion.
 
The Other Dean said:
I must admit, to me Kasey looked incredibly slow on Saturday. In fact, even though his bodily actions appeared to be those of someone running in a forward direction, at times I could have sworn he was moving backwards. Upon reflection, I have realised that this was simply because the Earth's rotation on its axis was actually quicker than Kase, thus creating the illusion.
Click to expand...
it's so simple...it must be true!
 
I also add depth to this area. You see all the best squads with over 30 blokes who could just walk into there senior squad.

With what we had in terms of depth, laidley did remarkably well in his re-schuffling of the squad but at the end of the day this is something that will have to be addressed over 2-3 drafts.
 

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Bring in Thomas and Cambell next yr + Whyman and Harding and there is lots of pace there

Thomas will become a gun

also Mchmahn must be the slowest man in the world
 
Shane Clayton said:
Mchmahn must be the slowest man in the world
Click to expand...

He may be slow, but if he picks up a couple of yards during the off season, considering what he brings to the side (great skills by hand and foot, courage, wins contested footy), all traits that Daniel Wells was lacking during the finals, he'd be more than handy next season.
 
Devil Fish said:
These are the 2 attributes which are now critical to a successful midfield. These players don't have it & the coaching/recruiting staff MUST address the situation:

Kasey Green - Slow & non-skilled. Surely can't play regular seniors next season if we are to improve.
Adam Simpson - Slow & non-skilled. Must be used in defensive/negating roles from now on. His poor disposal, lack of pace & sloppy clearances cost us time & time again.
Eddie Sansbury - Slow & Wasteful. He actually is capable of good disposal but under pressure, it falls apart. Showed his true colours in the finals. Back-up midfielder at best next season.

The BIG issue is when Grant, Sinclair, Swallow & Harris are in the midfield, that means we have 7 SLOW-MID-PACED midfielders. Is it any surprise we get exposed for a lack of pace through the midfield against the top teams (we only had 1 win from 6 games against the other prelim finallists this season)?

PACE, PACE & MORE PACE. This must be the emphasis for next season.
Click to expand...

Thats exactly what l was saying at work today :thumbsu:
 

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I cant see room in our team for all of thomas campbell harding and whyman. the 2 i would like to see in the team and who i think will have the biggest and most productive and exciting impact, something we are really lacking, are Thomas and Campbell, both only 19 and 20. I do rate whyman but he is already 24, and harding simply cant kick and he makes everyone too nervous and is getting on in years at 26. i dont think whyman and harding will survive the cull, being either traded or delisted. i think both could hold some value, and we could get a 4th rounder for either of them at least. there are alot of very fast midfielder that get overlooked in most drafts simply becasue they are not tall enough. i think we should take a crack at one of these players, and who knows we may get another brent harvey. who needs height all the time if you have pace
 

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