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Small Foward

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Mackay train12

Mackay train12

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I've thought this for years in that we havent had a decent small foward in a long time. Douglas tries but he doesnt have the pace and doesnt read the ball well enough of packs. Petrenko attacks the ball feroiciously and is a good tackler but when he gets the ball in his hand he just grabs itand holds it in and gets caught holding the ball far too often/ We need a small foward with electrfying pace, who can tackle and offers that X factor that most small fowards have.

Every time the ball hits the ground in our foward line weve got people running around aimlessly. We need to have better pressure in our foward line

Over the past few years small fowards have killed us last week (Bets Yarran, Gartlett) Milne Rioli Davis Ballatyne looked too quick for our team when we played freo in Round 1.

Are there any good small fowards in next years draft? cause I really think we need one.
 
Jetta's a wingman, not a small forward.

Not sure about the options for the 2010 ND. You'd hope that the AFC would make this one of their priorities. However, it's been an obvious problem since we got rid of Bode (who fitted the bill perfectly on the few occasions he was actually fit). Bode's been gone for years and we've done diddly squat about finding a replacement. I wouldn't be holding my breath in anticipation of things changing in 2010.
 
Vader said:
Jetta's a wingman, not a small forward.

Not sure about the options for the 2010 ND. You'd hope that the AFC would make this one of their priorities. However, it's been an obvious problem since we got rid of Bode (who fitted the bill perfectly on the few occasions he was actually fit). Bode's been gone for years and we've done diddly squat about finding a replacement. I wouldn't be holding my breath in anticipation of things changing in 2010.
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I agree maybe they recruited 1 in Jacky and still waiting for him to come good maybe. Really believe that Jaensch could do a job in that area currently certainly knows where the goals are and has footy smarts .
However hope we take a chance on a couple of speedy crumbers in next draft or trade period
 

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Alot of teams have them now....even sydney and west coast. There is alot of people that believe we dont need one. Well all the sucessful teams have one. Now more so than ever you need to add defensive pressure inside the forward fifty. Who can do this for us??? Not alot of options. For those who think half forwards and crumbers are just players that failed as midfielders...give me a break. There is specialist medium forwards throughout the comp.
 
Be nice to bring in Jaench for Doughty and move Petrenko to the backlines where he is far more comfortable and give Jaench the roll of trolling around Tippett's feet.
 
Fair call. There really aren't many good crumbers in football - I think most tend to be on-ballers resting forward, like maybe Brent Harvey.

I think most small forwards inc Betts, Milne, Ballantyne, etc get most of their goals from finding space more than crumbing. Even when Ebert and Phil Matera had their big seasons they were generally goals from space or leads.

Do you think resting McLeod or the like closer to goal might be better than a specialist full time crumber?
 
What about Dangerfield? I reckon he might fit the bill. He isn't small, but I reckon he could do it alright.
 
Do you think resting McLeod or the like closer to goal might be better than a specialist full time crumber?[/quote]

Its been tried before without much success, I much prefer him running off the half back line
 
There's a few in the SANFL under 18s but I can't remember their names. I just saw the on abc's coverage of Roosters v Tigers match during the half time break. There was an Aboriginal player who had brilliant speed and a good goal sense. I also read today in the Advertiser that quite a few country Aboriginal kids are heading to Adelaide to play footy with the Roosters and get an education at Rostrevor College. So at least one of them would be the type of player we need.
 

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Sometimes when I watch us I think maybe we shouldve gone for Cyril Rioli, but Patrick Dangerfield is going to be some player

Do people think we shouldve gone for Rioli or Dangerfield
 
Mackay train12 said:
Sometimes when I watch us I think maybe we shouldve gone for Cyril Rioli, but Patrick Dangerfield is going to be some player

Do people think we shouldve gone for Rioli or Dangerfield
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Rioli tanked all of his non-Victorian club interviews because he didn't want to leave the state - shitty attitude, he would have been on a plane back there already, and I'm glad we didn't take him. It's as close to draft tampering as you can get without actually tampering.

Nobody recruits players to be small forwards.

Small forward is where young midfielders go to cut their teeth, and where old midfielders, and failed midfielders, go to die.
 
Fair enough on the Rioli call but I still reckon people recruit players to be small fowards ala Carlton Yarran and Gartlett St Kilda Milne Freo Ballantyne Brisbane Bandfield Port Hitchcock

I dont think these teams recruited those players to be midfielders because their small frames couldnt deal with playing midfield.
 
A Quality Small Forward is a must for us in this draft!! There has been a few of us on this board over the past couple of years calling for one and I'm sure Jacky was the clubs great hope. But we all know he's gone at years end so Matty Rendell this should now be one of your hightest priorities.

I think it's a must we get 2 picks in the first round this year or at very least 3 in the top 30.

For example if we finish 13th we get pick 10 & pick 30. We then need to trade away a player to get another pick between 10 & 30. I'm sure we have a few players that we would be willing to give away to get such a pick. Gold Coast have pick 26 that they may be willing to part with.

With these picks we need to get the best small forward in the draft and 2 midfielders. If we don't think this player will last to our second pick we need to take him with our first.

I can hear people saying you don't give away your first pick for a small forward but this type of player in our side is the missing piece!!

Getting to the feet on Tippett, Walker, Davis, McKernan etc over the next 10 years is a must and when teams concentrate on these players as well as Porps & Knights this new small forward explodes into space for the easy ones.

See... it's as easy as that:D
 

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Nice thinking, I wish it was that easy.

Rioli was great immediately, yes, but it took years to create Davis, Milne or Davey. Even Yarran is still a ?

Trading might be an easier way, but that is risky too. Remember Burns in Crow colours?
 
Ticktak said:
A Quality Small Forward is a must for us in this draft!! There has been a few of us on this board over the past couple of years calling for one and I'm sure Jacky was the clubs great hope. But we all know he's gone at years end so Matty Rendell this should now be one of your hightest priorities.

I think it's a must we get 2 picks in the first round this year or at very least 3 in the top 30.

For example if we finish 13th we get pick 10 & pick 30. We then need to trade away a player to get another pick between 10 & 30. I'm sure we have a few players that we would be willing to give away to get such a pick. Gold Coast have pick 26 that they may be willing to part with.
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Nobody drafts small forwards, they draft potential midfielders and, if they earn a spot in the 22 through effort or injury, play them in a forward pocket or half back flank while rotating them through the bench.

Secondly, I'm not conceding a rubbish finishing position of 13th after just 5 rounds.

Thirdly, who would you suggest we trade to the Gold Coast for pick 26? I can't see any of Griffin, Cook, Douglas, Reilly, Jacky, Petrenko, Sellar, Young, Sloane, Martin, or any of the yet to debut players, being worth that pick. For them, anyone over the age of 26 who isn't an outright superstar is a waste of a trade.

For pick 26 they're going to want Knights, Mackay, Otten, or van Berlo - in other words, not a star of the competition, but still an established and credentialed AFL ready player.
 
Macjoe said:
Nice thinking, I wish it was that easy.

Rioli was great immediately, yes, but it took years to create Davis, Milne or Davey. Even Yarran is still a ?
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Rioli and Yarran were both drafted to be midfielders, which is where Rioli is playing this very second, cutting their teeth in the forward pocket.

Davis was a slack, lazy, half hearted player who took 6 years before he finally put in enough effort to be a midfielder.

Aaron Davey is a Mr. Fixit for the Demons, being their best player by some margin, and the last time I saw him he was delivering from the half back line and moving through the midfield, hasn't played small forward since his first few seasons.

Milne is a failed midfielder. No effort most of his career, and a lack of pressure from underneath kept him in the side most of this time. Given the current strength of the Saints midfield he won't ever break in there, and will survive in the team only as long as he can keep kicking goals better than a more recent draftee.

Eddie Betts is a failed midfielder, carbon copy of the Milne story.

Brent Harvey and Jason Akermanis are very successful, but nearing their twilight midfielders who have taken their football smarts and excellent boots into the forward line where they can do serious damage against even quality defenders.
 
I would have thought Douglas was meant to be this small forward we've been looking for. Unfortunately while he's been good on occasions, he's never really dominated a game up forward.

Burton also plays a bit of that crumbing forward role. So I guess in the end it makes it hard to have Burton, Douglas and another small in the same team.
 
It's easy as supporters when the club is on the canvas to start the search for a magic formula, one piece to the puzzle that'll solve our problems and get us back on track. A small forward is not close to our most pressing concern at this stage. Would we rather one than not? Sure, but an AA-quality midfielder or CHF would get us a hell of a lot closer to what we're gunning for.
 
Being that this is supposedly going to be THE year for trading, I wonder if we'll look at bringing in a ready-made small forward? We probably don't want to spend another few years developing one.


Alternatively, we should try a few late picks/rookie picks (and given the potential retirees this year, we should have a few of them) at some mature-aged SANFL goalsneaks and see what happens. I get the feeling is Jaensch and Wright work out well this year (and all indications for now are that Jaensch will, and Wright is proven at league level already) we may go this way more often in the future.
 

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