Scott Pendlebury: " Buckley's Balance"

[4#Didak#4]

Interesting article. As suspected they have been trying to change their style but it hasn't come together. No doubt you need to have the same bunch of players on the park week to week for any plan to start working faultlesessly and we just haven't come close to doing that. Our injuries have meant we haven't been able to find any consistency and is disjointing any plans & structures put in place.

This year I have been worried about 3 areas: forward structure, clearances & inside 50s.

We know our forward structure is broken and is a huge concern.

The quiet killer is our clearances. I think we have the best midfield, but we lose the clearances too much for this to be true - am I just plain wrong? Dominant rucks help of course, but in all the games we lose we get smashed in clearances. So to beat the Pies wn the clearances. If the opposition win the clearances, we just don't reeact well defensively or able to get the ball back - it kills our forwards as they don't get quick ball movement to their advantage. Luke Ball has been massive in this regard - he is our #1 clearance man with Swanny.

Inside 50s have dropped alarmingly. This one is linked to clearances, but other than that - with our "dominant" midfield how is this so bad?? It has me miffed & spooked. We had 29 I50s on the weekend (disasterous) yet Beams, Pendles & Swan all had big numbers - how does this happen. We used to win games via weight of numbers & opportunities - we never were a great conversion side. Take away the opportunities and we are in trouble. This is another reason I think Cloke & Dawes have been copping too much blame - along with poor delivery they are given less chances.

 

[Markfs]

I'm with this.

We are at round 22 and talent alone has kept us up near the top.

I think that a few people over-estimate the talent in the team, although I know that Paul Roos says we are the most talented....and you have to respect his thoughts. I dont think we have anywhere near the most talented forward line. Our backline is good but it relies on working as a team. Our midfield is top three but it needs Jolly to play.

 

[Travis bloke]

Ok i can still be positive.If we demolish Essendon and we should.Then add in Maxwell,Jolly,Krak,and Jackson Paine the latter 2 should help drive Cloke and Dawes running into finals.

Providing we end up 4th, we then need to win 3 games to win the flag.

If can get it that stage ,do the players have the heart and will to put together the 3 best games they can play all year cos this is what counts nothing else.

 

[DaVe86]

I honestly think we are just seeing the result of 5 really solid years at the top (The last 2 years consisted of 3 Grand Final appearances)...and the effects of a really poor pre-season.

We started pre-season late, and then a lot of players broke down.

Even guys like Reid, Tarrant, Brown, Dawes, Cloke, Wellingham, Johnson, O'Brien, Maxwell etc all had less than fantastic pre-seasons.

Then we copped the 4 knee injuries. All would be there abouts in our best 22...Ball and Krakouer are definitely best 22. I think Keefe would be as well because he would be a ruck option and a replacement for Dawes.


Honestly, I'm not overly concerned. I think we are doomed for this year. I can't see us challenging the Hawks...although I would still back up in against most other top 8 sides.

I really think we are in a great position for 2013 though. If we have a really solid pre-season and all our frontliners get really fit, we could be dominant in 2013. I think players would even benefit from an earlier finish to the year to freshen up. We have been at the top for a long time now, and it really looks like we are tired.

 

[Travis bloke]

If i was Buckley i would lock up the players before the finals and say....Can you remember the garnd final loss of last year,how did you all feel? Do you remember the premiership win 2010....How did you all feel ?

Now get there and take on all before you....if you are gonna step up then step up if your not going to step up then step down..............you cowards

 

[ipswichpies]

With our players playing at their best,committed hard football we are the equal of any side and I include Geelong and Hawthorn in that,our midfield is the best around and defence is pretty good as well,forward line I will concede has looked shabby all season but more so later in the year.

It would be interesting to see just how much football our main players have missed this season only Cloke of the main players has been a constant but he has had other things on his mind and it has shown,Maxy Shaw Reid Tarrant and Brown have all missed large parts of the season the same with our mids and Jolly.

 

[cleomenes]

Premiership sides almost always have the shortest injury list of their winning season. That is the correct perspective for our team's year. That said, we have somehow made ourselves possible top four at the end, and would like some success now that we are in the finals. There are big problems.
Inability to kick enough goals is at the heart of it. Two factors stand out here.
1. The delivery into the forward line is awful, but it has been for a long time. Our big forwards were confident, and our crumbers good, so the problem was covered up. It isn't now.
2. Over the last two years we had excellent ground level forwards with some unexpected marking power from McCaffer in 2010. For most of this year we have had defensive forwards who were covered by midfielders who did the actual crumbing. It worked for an amazingly long time. The suggestion from dave86 that we return some of the midfielders to the forward line has some merit, but leaves holes in the midfield. We can only go with what we have, and I do not see the scoring forwards on our list with the big forwards lacking in confidence. We have too many players in the 22 who are not good enough yet. Seedsman, Elliot and Sinclair stand out. They have not been around long enough to tbe the players we rely on for our scores, but that is what we are forced to do. Even next year, they will be so much better.
After all, we have been playing Mooney, a man with no experience at all with frightening frequency.
The first quarter against the Eagles seemed to include a concerted effort to deliver the ball well, and it worked. Once the midfield was dominated though, there was no time for executing any plan. We were squelched into our defensive end, and rarely able to extract the ball. We don't have the players with the kicks that Hawthorn, West Coast and North Melbourne defenders have. We can't play the game they do to get out of defence, and until we get a method to do that, we are in the tin.

 

[DaVe86]

does it leave holes in the midfield?

Ultimately our midfield is the same as it has been in the prevous 2 years...just replace Ball with Beams. Beams has more than held his own.

Wellingham needs to go back into the middle to do some defensive jobs again. He has been handy as a forward due to his marking, but isn't hitting the scoreboard.

Sidebottom and Blair are winning more of it, but are less effective as we need them front and centre.

Without Ball, we do need Sidebottom and Blair to be midfield rotations...but I don't think we need them there permanent. Ultimately with Swan, Pendlebury, Thomas and Beams...we have the potency. We probably just need some spark with Wellingham and Shaw in there as well.


Time to go back to kicking it long to a contest, holding the ball in and scrounging a goal. That is finals type football.

 

[jonbe54]

'Balance' has been precarious most of the year. Our forward line has had a reasonably injury free run but our midfield and backs have been decimated most of the year. To those that say "Oh you've been blaming injuries all year" - that is because we have had injuries all year and many of them.

It takes time for players to recover their touch and time for structures to gel with different personnel, this has been a problem all year and is starting to manifest itself strongly with an unsettled looking team. It's unsettled because our season has been.

 

[4#Didak#4]

does it leave holes in the midfield?

Ultimately our midfield is the same as it has been in the prevous 2 years...just replace Ball with Beams. Beams has more than held his own.

Wellingham needs to go back into the middle to do some defensive jobs again. He has been handy as a forward due to his marking, but isn't hitting the scoreboard.

Sidebottom and Blair are winning more of it, but are less effective as we need them front and centre.

Without Ball, we do need Sidebottom and Blair to be midfield rotations...but I don't think we need them there permanent. Ultimately with Swan, Pendlebury, Thomas and Beams...we have the potency. We probably just need some spark with Wellingham and Shaw in there as well.


Time to go back to kicking it long to a contest, holding the ball in and scrounging a goal. That is finals type football.

I would argue our midfield is better with the exception of missing Ball. We are just missing energy & ferocity at the contest. They are tired and do need a spark. We got up for the Sydney game, but I feel it sapped the life out of us.

Due to our injuries we have had no choice but to play the same guys for longer minutes than we would have planned all year. I think this accumulated work has worn them down a bit, its a long year.

I think all we can hope for is to sneak top 4 and play our grand final early against the Hawks. Sydney showed that if you can play hard & tough in close, win the midfield battles then their game can be ineffective. We are capable of closing it down & doing this, but I am not sure we can do this for 4 quarters. If we scrap out a win, get a week off to freshen and possibly play an interstate side on the 'G in a prelim then who knows.