Training Power Open Pre-Season Training Pics (Wednesday 20th December 2017)

[simmo_bc]

I still remember Neade's efforts in that 2013 West Coast game at AAMI with his run down the wing to set up a goal and later on his quick dash into the 50 to deliver the ball to Wingard. Although that was also probably the game that tagged him as a forward as he nabbed a clever goal and applied forward pressure.

I still reckon his best game has been the 2014 Elimination Final. He finished the year in our best 22 and it is now his to lose. We have started giving him the opportunity to play as a bona fide small forward, finally.

 

[rogerjames]

One of the features of Neades game I loved was his clever, perfectly weighted chip passes to forwards which resulted in easy shots on goal. Didn't see much of that in 2017 but a firing Neade is very important for Port.

 

[Hellgood]

Is Luke the son of Lyndon Valente, played for South during the 80s (good player)? It is an uncommon surname.

There's an Australian underage junior cricketer going around, Cameron too (also from SA).

which is why we should have reconsidered having too many big bodied plodders through the midfield sooner. Wines, Boak, Westhoff and Ebert are all good players but hardly the modern midfield.

Hang on, there's a relentless plethora of moaning on here after most losses lamenting us having a midfield that apparently looks smaller than our opposition.

So what exactly is this mythical and magical modern midfield that we're missing out on seeing as we apparently only have plodders?

- Martin, Cotchin, Prestia, Grigg, Lambert & Townsend not seeing any speed demons there, just quality, tough team oriented footballers with a pinch of brilliance in Martin & Cotchin
- Dangerfield, Selwood 1, Menegola, Duncan, Selwood 2 - aside from Dangerfield no freakish pace there either just bloody good footballers who can win the hard ball and spread through their elite endurance
- Sloane, Crouch, Crouch, Mackay & Douglas - nope no elite speed here, don't lose many contests though
- Kennedy, Parker, Hannebery, Lloyd, McVeigh - oh look more of the same big arsed competitors, strong and can run all day

When it comes to footy you speak and perpetuate a lot of shallow cliches.

 

[Amarula]

Hang on, there's a relentless plethora of moaning on here after most losses lamenting us having a midfield that apparently looks smaller than our opposition.

So what exactly is this mythical and magical modern midfield that we're missing out on seeing as we apparently only have plodders?

- Martin, Cotchin, Prestia, Grigg, Lambert & Townsend not seeing any speed demons there, just quality, tough team oriented footballers with a pinch of brilliance in Martin & Cotchin
- Dangerfield, Selwood 1, Menegola, Duncan, Selwood 2 - aside from Dangerfield no freakish pace there either just bloody good footballers who can win the hard ball and spread through their elite endurance
- Sloane, Crouch, Crouch, Mackay & Douglas - nope no elite speed here, don't lose many contests though
- Kennedy, Parker, Hannebery, Lloyd, McVeigh - oh look more of the same big arsed competitors, strong and can run all day

When it comes to footy you speak and perpetuate a lot of shallow cliches.

While I agree with this, I think the critical factor is not the individuals who make up the midfield, but how they perform as a unit, as a team-within-a-team. We do OK here, but this is the scope for improvement in performance. Sometimes the addition of a star midfielder can upset the overall balance. And sometimes the addition of "good-ordinary" mids can help the midfield to function much better as a unit.

Toigs added Prestia & Caddy to their midfield in 2017, but their midfield improved far more than the individual abilities of those two players, because them taking on the contested-ball responsibilities allowed their two most damaging mids to be the breakaways and use their dangerous uncontested ball skills, instead of being stuck under the packs like they were in previous years. If the addition of Rockliff can similarly help the likes of Wingard, Wines and Gray (when fit) breaking away from congestion, it could be an exciting season.

The other aspect is the balance between contested ball skills and uncontested ball skills. As other teams have shown, it's no use having the best contested-ball midfield if its poor ball use means they can't use the uncontested ball. This is where we have a very good balance already, but the addition of Rockliff for contested-ball and Motlop et all for uncontested ball should help here too.

 

[Dave Omsby]

I still reckon his best game has been the 2014 Elimination Final. He finished the year in our best 22 and it is now his to lose. We have started giving him the opportunity to play as a bona fide small forward, finally.

Good chance in reality S.Gray , Neade , Johnson and Thomas will be going for the same spot so it'll be tough .
I think Sammy Gray does the role well with the way he gets around the ground but he's just that little bit down on skill .Johnson has the pace and the tackling but perhaps not the nous which is not what Thomas lacks but not sure of his game really , we'll have to wait and see I guess . Neade has the skills , the pace , the tackling but doesn't run to the spots like Sammy does
At least there's some genuine choices there I guess .