Toast Tabs Signs Until 2021

[Monument Hills]

Cox and Dix r the future. And we have Hogan, Lobb, Grabs and McCrafty to select (plus Cox where needed) depending on who we are playing and who's available (you read some comments on here like there is an assumption that Hogan and Lobb won't miss a game). I think it's a great position to be in with 4 of them in the prime age range 24-26, all signed up, and potential junior guns in the wings. It staggers me that some can still find things to whinge about in that.

 

[PurpleEyes]

If Tabs stays fit in 2019, I have a tingly feeling he's going to have a huge year. I think people are going to understand just how damaging a quality contested marker can be and Tabs has that in spades.
And I really like him deep in the forward zone.
Let Hogan do what he is brilliant at, reading the play and making leads.

 

[Purple Jesus]

When your game plan is ‘bomb it in lads’, contested markers like Tabs have a lot of value.

 

[PurpleEyes]

When your game plan is ‘bomb it in lads’, contested markers like Tabs have a lot of value.

My favourite game plan with a strong forward line ... much better than pausing, stopping, chipping, missing your targets and the end result is a dramatic reduction in i50s for the hope of a little bit better goal efficiency. I loved the days when we just bombed it to Pav and locked it in.

People have been taught to have a negative view of the 'bomb it in lads' ... the stupid thing is, one of the most damaging things about a player like Yeo is his instinct to do just that. Watch him closely. Why do you think he has so many kicks, i50s, metres gained (and Clangers) for stats. West Coast have been bombing it in for years, but their potent forward line makes it look good. I've done some deep study of this over recent seasons and when Freo supporters think West Coast are bringing the ball in "efficiently" it is mostly a case of their forwards being so damaging and converting more often. For example, I just quickly looked at games Josh Kennedy (WC) did and did not play in 2018 and divided the goals kicked by inside 50s to get a goal scoring efficiency (slight variation on the scoring efficiency which includes behinds ... I don't care about them, goals are important). Games he did play 26.4%. Games he did not play 23.5%. I then did the same for Hogan (ME). In games he did play 24.9%. In games he did not play 23.5%.
Freo's goal per inside 50 efficiency for 2018 was 21.9%. If we can bump that up by 1.5% or more, simply by playing better forwards, and do nothing different, then our number of inside50s becomes more important. That is, given a choice of stop, look, lower eyes for less i50s vs bomb it in lads ... I'll take the latter.

And, I had this discussion about the value of i50s a couple of years ago. Somebody who was against the 'more inside50's' used the recent derby as an example. West Coast had kicked 7 goals to Freo's 1 in the first quarter. The problem was, I had studied all those goals kicked and not one was from a West Coast mid lowering the eyes and kicking to a lead. The closest thing to that happening was West Coasts third goal where LeCras quickly kicked a long ball to Kennedy in an open forward line and that transition had come from a turnover and rebound out of Freo's 50 after Langdon executed a very poor i50 kick that went over the Freo forward on a lead.
(NB: don't believe a story just because it is popular and repeated. Do some research of your own.)

 

[eastfreo75]

My favourite game plan with a strong forward line ... much better than pausing, stopping, chipping, missing your targets and the end result is a dramatic reduction in i50s for the hope of a little bit better goal efficiency. I loved the days when we just bombed it to Pav and locked it in.

People have been taught to have a negative view of the 'bomb it in lads' ... the stupid thing is, one of the most damaging things about a player like Yeo is his instinct to do just that. Watch him closely. Why do you think he has so many kicks, i50s, metres gained (and Clangers) for stats. West Coast have been bombing it in for years, but their potent forward line makes it look good. I've done some deep study of this over recent seasons and when Freo supporters think West Coast are bringing the ball in "efficiently" it is mostly a case of their forwards being so damaging and converting more often. For example, I just quickly looked at games Josh Kennedy (WC) did and did not play in 2018 and divided the goals kicked by inside 50s to get a goal scoring efficiency (slight variation on the scoring efficiency which includes behinds ... I don't care about them, goals are important). Games he did play 26.4%. Games he did not play 23.5%. I then did the same for Hogan (ME). In games he did play 24.9%. In games he did not play 23.5%.
Freo's goal per inside 50 efficiency for 2018 was 21.9%. If we can bump that up by 1.5% or more, simply by playing better forwards, and do nothing different, then our number of inside50s becomes more important. That is, given a choice of stop, look, lower eyes for less i50s vs bomb it in lads ... I'll take the latter.

And, I had this discussion about the value of i50s a couple of years ago. Somebody who was against the 'more inside50's' used the recent derby as an example. West Coast had kicked 7 goals to Freo's 1 in the first quarter. The problem was, I had studied all those goals kicked and not one was from a West Coast mid lowering the eyes and kicking to a lead. The closest thing to that happening was West Coasts third goal where LeCras quickly kicked a long ball to Kennedy in an open forward line and that transition had come from a turnover and rebound out of Freo's 50 after Langdon executed a very poor i50 kick that went over the Freo forward on a lead.
(NB: don't believe a story just because it is popular and repeated. Do some research of your own.)

Like anything bombing depends on the context.

Bombing to outnumber not a great idea. Better to run and Carry or short kicks and break up the zone.

Bombing it to tall target with equal numbers good idea.

Bombing to a mismatch ie Fyfe running forward with a small midfielder great idea.

 

[wayToGo_]

I could be wrong but I think most people would call "bombing it in" as when you kick inside 50 to a massive pack of players, and then hope one of your forwards can pluck it out of the mess - and hope that the opposition doesn't get it and then run out of there whilst everyone else is picking themselves up off the ground. The reality is with that kind of bombing the forwards are generally going to be outnumbered. I don't think that is a very effective way to deliver inside 50 and that's certainly not what I see as West Coast's strategy when watching their games including both derbies last year. In contrast I don't call kicking quickly to a 1-v-1 contest bombing it in.

West Coast are all about lead up marks, not specifically inside 50 but more so all over the ground. It's how they create space behind them for their teammates to then lead into or body up, and give them a 1-on-1 contest rather than bomb it as long and far as possible so the opposition can just sit their best interceptor as a spare at exactly that range up the line - eg what McGovern does. Attacking, the good teams try and take that interceptor out of the contest. West Coast are great at it when both Kennedy and Darling are playing because one will lead up at half forward and either create space for the other to be left with a 1-on-1 deep by drawing the spare defender, or alternatively get hit just outside 50 and then wheel around for a quick entry to one of the other forwards streaming to spots i50 before the defenders have time to reset and the opposition mids can provide support. Both Kennedy and Darling are strong contested markers so you'd back them more often than not when in a 1-on-1 contest i50 - so creating those contests is as important as the contests themselves.

Hogan and Lobb will make a huge difference because you'd also back them winning 1-on-1 contests more often than not... but even more importantly all our forwards will need to work in unison to create space for each other, create mismatches (especially for Lobb) and try and make the spare (or rolling off) intercepting defender ineffective (something we have been terrible at - the intercepting defender is generally close to BOG in every game against us). Bombing it long and deep i50 is fine so long as you don't have massive outnumbers. I don't remember West Coast's forwards taking too many pack marks from memory? Meanwhile we seem to play thinking that a 192/3cm McCarthy is capable of launching over 3 defenders and beating them all And then look surprised when it bounces back like a flash the other way against our scrambling mids and defenders.

 

[FreoMonocle]

Put the ball in his hand inside 50 for a shot at goal and he has a damned good boot on him. That plus a huge tank and a capability to contest the mark. Sure, he has his downsides, decision making in particular, but there are few fully rounded footballers out there - even our brownlow captain isn't one of them.

The dude has worked hard to improve himself and his body, a shame that 2018 was stalled by injury when he seemed poised to have that breakout year. It will be interesting to see how he (and Cam) go with the addition of Lobb and Hogan, I think it will make it both easier (less pressure from the weight of the whole club) and correspondingly harder (Hogan in full flight will dwarf their profile) for the both of them.

Onya Tabs, glad to have you for the extra 2 years

 

[Purple Jesus]

My favourite game plan with a strong forward line ... much better than pausing, stopping, chipping, missing your targets and the end result is a dramatic reduction in i50s for the hope of a little bit better goal efficiency. I loved the days when we just bombed it to Pav and locked it in.

People have been taught to have a negative view of the 'bomb it in lads' ... the stupid thing is, one of the most damaging things about a player like Yeo is his instinct to do just that. Watch him closely. Why do you think he has so many kicks, i50s, metres gained (and Clangers) for stats. West Coast have been bombing it in for years, but their potent forward line makes it look good. I've done some deep study of this over recent seasons and when Freo supporters think West Coast are bringing the ball in "efficiently" it is mostly a case of their forwards being so damaging and converting more often. For example, I just quickly looked at games Josh Kennedy (WC) did and did not play in 2018 and divided the goals kicked by inside 50s to get a goal scoring efficiency (slight variation on the scoring efficiency which includes behinds ... I don't care about them, goals are important). Games he did play 26.4%. Games he did not play 23.5%. I then did the same for Hogan (ME). In games he did play 24.9%. In games he did not play 23.5%.
Freo's goal per inside 50 efficiency for 2018 was 21.9%. If we can bump that up by 1.5% or more, simply by playing better forwards, and do nothing different, then our number of inside50s becomes more important. That is, given a choice of stop, look, lower eyes for less i50s vs bomb it in lads ... I'll take the latter.

And, I had this discussion about the value of i50s a couple of years ago. Somebody who was against the 'more inside50's' used the recent derby as an example. West Coast had kicked 7 goals to Freo's 1 in the first quarter. The problem was, I had studied all those goals kicked and not one was from a West Coast mid lowering the eyes and kicking to a lead. The closest thing to that happening was West Coasts third goal where LeCras quickly kicked a long ball to Kennedy in an open forward line and that transition had come from a turnover and rebound out of Freo's 50 after Langdon executed a very poor i50 kick that went over the Freo forward on a lead.
(NB: don't believe a story just because it is popular and repeated. Do some research of your own.)

Where's the 'tongue in cheek' emoji when you need it?

 

[Dockernut]

Always found him a bit meh, but towards the end of last year he was holding more of his marks and getting to more contests, so I feel like he’s building. Happy enough with this news.

 

[PurpleEyes]

Interestingly, in terms of Contested Marking power, we now have Taberner, Lobb, Cox, Fyfe, Sandilands & Hogan (6 of the top60 average contested markers per game for 2018).
(NB: West Coast have; McGovern, Darling, Barrass, Kennedy ... plus not much outside the top60, Nic Nait, Vardy, L.Ryan, Yeo, Hurn, Lycett. West Coast averaged more Contested Marks per game than any other AFL team for 2018, Freo was 15th).

 

[bushchook]

Unless there were rumblings about wanting to move for more opportunity, I just don't see the need to lock him in now. For 2 years. I would be waiting until the end of the year to gauge how a) Hogan's foot has progressed, b) how Lobb performed as a true KPP rather than a ruck/forward, c)Cox & Dixon's development, and d) how McCarthy went about his 2019.

Not unhappy about it, just curious. By June/July he could equally be our star FF, or depth at best.

If he's our star FF in June then his price skyrockets at the end of the year. It's basically betting on him improving further and signing him up for cheap while we can.

 

[theGav56]

Interestingly, in terms of Contested Marking power, we now have Taberner, Lobb, Cox, Fyfe, Sandilands & Hogan (6 of the top60 average contested markers per game for 2018).
(NB: West Coast have; McGovern, Darling, Barrass, Kennedy ... plus not much outside the top60, Nic Nait, Vardy, L.Ryan, Yeo, Hurn, Lycett. West Coast averaged more Contested Marks per game than any other AFL team for 2018, Freo was 15th).

Not really sure what that quite means, but the key difference for me is WC have 2 forwards and 2 backs. While Cox could be a defender, he could miss the 22 at this stage along with Sandlilands.

Would like to see Logue's name in there in the future, or another defender.

 

[Schauermann]

Not sure about this one. Tabs could find himself at Peel for a lot of the year if things don't go well, and a 3 year deal for a WAFL player in his mid to late 20s is not good list management.

But if things go well he could a a bargain.

 

[theGav56]

But if things go well he could a a bargain.

If we get ourselves into a serious contending position it will be great to not be dependent on a "kick it to Pav/Hogan" type plan. That is what Taberner brings.

 

[freodog]

3 Tall forwards seems like a lot but having a lead up forward to take a mark, turn around and still have 2 quality marking options in the forward 50 to kick to would be bliss

 

[Joao]

3 Tall forwards seems like a lot but having a lead up forward to take a mark, turn around and still have 2 quality marking options in the forward 50 to kick to would be bliss

I suspect Tabs' decision making will look better this year as he there should be someone half decent ahead of him. Cox is a good mark in a contest but not super quick on the lead and Cam doesn't take contested marks.

 

[theGav56]

Previously some posters on here have advocated that we need another tall defender in the next draft. With the long term signing of Taberner, I think that is now redundant. Cox's focus will surely lean more strongly to defence, and Watson is a project player back there, albeit not KPP, but tallish. Duman rounds it out as a player who could play tall in emergency. Pearce, Hamling, Logue and Cox , plus Watson and Duman is a full-house to me.

Forward, McCarthy becomes an alternative third tall forward depending on form and match-ups, and/or pressed to develop his medium forward ability with a significant upgrade on his fitness and pressure required. Dixon in development. Hogan, Lobb, Taberner and McCarthy, plus Dixon is another full-house.

 

[theGav56]

I suspect Tabs' decision making will look better this year as he there should be someone half decent ahead of him. Cox is a good mark in a contest but not super quick on the lead and Cam doesn't take contested marks.

Yeah, I think with Hogan and Lobb all that he will really need to do is get it in their vicinity. Nothing too clever. Look for Hogan on the lead or put it on Lobb's head. Mostly that should be to their strength, but one on one those players will at worst halve the contest.

 

[malpaso]

Tabs is still severely underrated on this board I see. I said it after this year's trade period that we will play Tabs, Hogan and Lobb in the first 22, it will and should happen. Tabs was on course for a bumper year in 2018 until injury and will only be better with the added firepower to our side.

 

[eastfreo75]

Tabs is still severely underrated on this board I see. I said it after this year's trade period that we will play Tabs, Hogan and Lobb in the first 22, it will and should happen. Tabs was on course for a bumper year in 2018 until injury and will only be better with the added firepower to our side.

If you take out the Essendon game, Taberner kicked 6 goals in 8 games. If you add the Essendon game it’s 10 goals from 9 games.

The guy kicks 1 goal on average and even less median wise with the worst pressure acts in the AFL last year.

 

[Taylor]

He was 7th last year for contested marks per game, 1st in 2017. But only 17 games over both seasons.

That's his value to us, he is most likely on our side to turn a long bomb forward into at least another 40m kick down the line if not a shot on goal.

 

[im_a_lazy_sod]

He was 7th last year for contested marks per game, 1st in 2017. But only 17 games over both seasons.

That's his value to us, he is most likely on our side to turn a long bomb forward into at least another 40m kick down the line if not a shot on goal.

This is the massive upside - in 2017 and 2018 he was the targetman and main avenue to goal (most of the time), now he can take those grabs and have the option of someone like Hogan or Lobb - as opposed to doing it himself

 

[malpaso]

If you take out the Essendon game, Taberner kicked 6 goals in 8 games. If you add the Essendon game it’s 10 goals from 9 games.

The guy kicks 1 goal on average and even less median wise with the worst pressure acts in the AFL last year.

If you want your full forward to be in the top 20 for pressure acts then I can't help you..

 

[yoong]

He was 7th last year for contested marks per game, 1st in 2017. But only 17 games over both seasons.

That's his value to us, he is most likely on our side to turn a long bomb forward into at least another 40m kick down the line if not a shot on goal.

For the last 2 seasons, we also seem to play better when Tabs is on the ground (and active).
He provide an option when we cannot find an open man and is in danger of turning the ball over. He have been good in taking marks which as you mentioned, changing a potential turnover into another forward 50 kick (or exit from defensive 50).

My only problem is that his forward 50 tends to be to a poor marking target (Ballas/Sonson/McCarthy). Expecting that to improve now that we have better marking options available.

 

[Moo]

If you take out the Essendon game, Taberner kicked 6 goals in 8 games. If you add the Essendon game it’s 10 goals from 9 games.

The guy kicks 1 goal on average and even less median wise with the worst pressure acts in the AFL last year.

If you take out the games where he didn't ruck in 2018 he's averaging 1.5 goals.

It's not beyond a reasonable expectation to expect that he will not have to ruck at all in 2019, combined with every #1 ranked key defender in the league will start every game by standing next to Hogan - I'm guessing a kick up in that output.

Worst case scenario, you've got a lovely trade chip.

I also think the new rule of starting off with a set forward line comprising Hogan, Lobb, Tabs, Mundy, SF1 & SF2 is going to generate some serious scores if we can recover some element of clearance work (where Neale will be missed).