Tex

[Elite Crow]

You've got to watch how every other key forward plays.

They all push up the ground and work back.

The difference is that the good teams have multiple options so if Franklin pushes up the ground there is still a Hale and/or Roughead playing a little deeper.

At the moment we need Tex to push way up the ground to give us a contest when we come out of defence. We also need to play through him at CHF and across the centre. And we also need him to stay at home in the F50 to kick our goals.

He's on a hiding to nothing.

If Tex was only moving up to the centre and providing an option for the defenders to kick it to fair enough, but he's also pushing into defence. So when the defenders get the ball free he's not there to clear it to.

Perhaps Hendo for CHF then. Decent mark, speed and could provide an option for the defenders.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

If Tex was only moving up to the centre and providing an option for the defenders to kick it to fair enough, but he's also pushing into defence. So when the defenders get the ball free he's not there to clear it to.

Perhaps Hendo for CHF then. Decent mark, speed and could provide an option for the defenders.

Would love to see Hendo do more. The thing is he is playing that role now and given us donuts in this regard. Tex can never stay at home safe in the knowledge that Hendo will do the heavy lifting upfield.

Tex doesn't have a crystal ball either.

When the ball gets stuck in our D50 and we're hemmed in desperately in need of long options to kick to so that we can force a stoppage and a restart he will push way up the ground. If by some miracle one of our defenders hits a target in the corridor and we're away on the attack... well then Tex is nowhere.

If he doesn't push up the ground... sometimes the ball will find him. Other times we'll lose the contest he's absent from and concede a turnover goal.

This is why the two/three pronged attack is so important. One pushes high up the ground. If they don't get used and we get a fast break there are still players sitting in behind to provide options. What we're finding is that a one-pronged attack doesn't work.

Sure it might have once or twice last season where we were in absolutely blistering form, dominating contested ball and clearances. But we can't expect teams to just roll over and allow us to dominate these key areas forever.

 

[Slippery Pete]

Perhaps Hendo for CHF then. Decent mark, speed and could provide an option for the defenders.

This is exactly right. It's about creating other options.

I remember Mark Taylor once saying it was tempting to use Shane Warne as a containing bowler, because he was so hard to score runs off, but as captain, he felt it was his responsibility to ensure he used him only as a strike bowler - for a two reasons 1- to not burn him out and 2 - to not diminish his effect as a strike bowler.

Am I drawing a long bow? Perhaps. I just like telling Shane Warne stories.

 

[Slippery Pete]

Tex also missed five games with suspension last year. What did we do then?

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Tex also missed five games with suspension last year. What did we do then?

I don't know about anyone else but I didn't watch those games

 

[King Elvis]

You've got to watch how every other key forward plays.

They all push up the ground and work back.

The difference is that the good teams have multiple options so if Franklin pushes up the ground there is still a Hale and/or Roughead playing a little deeper.

At the moment we need Tex to push way up the ground to give us a contest when we come out of defence. We also need to play through him at CHF and across the centre. And we also need him to stay at home in the F50 to kick our goals.

He's on a hiding to nothing.

Loving your work this year.

You're spot on, and it's exactly why LJ (or SMcK, if he's playing alright - which he apparently isn't) needs to come in.

At the moment, what's our forward line?

Tex
JJ

Porps
Petrenko
Johncock
Douglas/Vince

So we've got;

1) Gun forward.
2) Behemoth who is learning the game - but is required to spend time in the ruck (leaving Tex by himself).

3) Out of form midsize/small player.
4) Specialist tackler midget who isn't a good mark, isn't a clean ball handler and has no left foot.
5) Out of form defender midget being playing forward.
6) Decent HFF busting his arse, but he's a borderline midget / Talented player who doesn't work hard enough and now squibs contests.


Our forward structure is completely up shit creek.

Should be something like;

Tex
JJ
LJ
Hendo (or swap for Petrenko)

Douglas
Lyons or Petrenko

Gives you one huge unit in JJ, two mobile forwards with good size, a fast running machine with a huge leap in Hendo, and then a couple of mid-sized players working around them.

Hendo is 50/50 for me - would depend on the ground and the conditions, but I'd probably play another small a lot of the time.

3 dangerous marking targets (and JJ and Tex aren't bad on the ground); allows one or two of them to push up to the flanks/wings if required, and still leaves someone in the F50 to hold the structure together.

 

[King Elvis]

And I still think that a lot of these issues stem from our completely inability to move the ball out of defence with any speed and fluidity.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

And I still think that a lot of these issues stem from our completely inability to move the ball out of defence with any speed and fluidity.

More Smith.

We need at least 2-3 quality ball-using options coming out of defence, to set-up play.

At the moment, Reilly is getting dragged out of the play, Mackay is not doing enough & Jaensch is learning his defensive trade.

Smith will restore some balance to the backline.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Loving your work this year.

You're spot on, and it's exactly why LJ (or SMcK, if he's playing alright - which he apparently isn't) needs to come in.

At the moment, what's our forward line?

Tex
JJ

Porps
Petrenko
Johncock
Douglas/Vince

So we've got;

1) Gun forward.
2) Behemoth who is learning the game - but is required to spend time in the ruck (leaving Tex by himself).

3) Out of form midsize/small player.
4) Specialist tackler midget who isn't a good mark, isn't a clean ball handler and has no left foot.
5) Out of form defender midget being playing forward.
6) Decent HFF busting his arse, but he's a borderline midget / Talented player who doesn't work hard enough and now squibs contests.


Our forward structure is completely up shit creek.

Should be something like;

Tex
JJ
LJ
Hendo (or swap for Petrenko)

Douglas
Lyons or Petrenko

Gives you one huge unit in JJ, two mobile forwards with good size, a fast running machine with a huge leap in Hendo, and then a couple of mid-sized players working around them.

Hendo is 50/50 for me - would depend on the ground and the conditions, but I'd probably play another small a lot of the time.

3 dangerous marking targets (and JJ and Tex aren't bad on the ground); allows one or two of them to push up to the flanks/wings if required, and still leaves someone in the F50 to hold the structure together.

The problem with our forward line isn't so much structure, but most of our smalls/mids are out of form.

Porps & Stiffy when in form fo provide a good marking option - but at the moment they are giving buggar-all. Hence LJ needs to come in & some pacier types to offset the 3rd tall.

 

[King Elvis]

More Smith.

We need at least 2-3 quality ball-using options coming out of defence, to set-up play.

At the moment, Reilly is getting dragged out of the play, Mackay is not doing enough & Jaensch is learning his defensive trade.

Smith will restore some balance to the backline.

Agree re Smith, but Reilly doesn't run with the footy - he's the master of the 20-30m kick from a standing start.

And I don't think Mackay is a defender, or will ever be one - and I'd say the same about Jaensch.

But you're spot on about needing quality users of the footy coming out of defence - at present, I'd say we have zero.

 

[Tex Support]

But you're spot on about needing quality users of the footy coming out of defence - at present, I'd say we have zero.

Porps uses the footy well. Any takers on him sliding to half back? He looked comfy floating around there against Brisbane, took some grabs, kept a cool head, helped us ice the game...

 

[King Elvis]

Uses it well, but would he run with it?

Not fast enough to be a line-breaker, and I'd have concerns over him defensively.

 

[1990crow]

We need Jacobs to start dominating the ruck again like he did last year. If he can do that then our midfield will get back on top meaning Walker can stay in the F50 majority of the time. He'll dominate if Jacobs can improve by 20-30%. Our ruckman is currently our most important player.

 

[Tex Support]

Uses it well, but would he run with it?

Not fast enough to be a line-breaker, and I'd have concerns over him defensively.

Line breaker - no.
Quality user - yes.

What has more importance? I would happily trade a bit of pace if I knew any kicks going into our end of the ground were going to hit one of our players. I'd trust Porps with the footy at half back. I also think he'd be handy for kickouts, allowing Reilly to present further up the ground with his marking ability.

Share your concerns on his defensive side, but is that only because he's never played defense? I'd atleast like to see him try it before writing him off as a defender - especially if it meant keeping his spot in the side.

Truth be told I want Porps in attack 100% of the time, playing some sort of a makeshift FF role...

 

[amer]

The following people need a rocket.

-anyone who is surprised when a forward who spends half the night in the defensive half of the ground only kicks three goals
-anyone who is surprised that a forward becomes impotent when he hits almost every contest moments after sprinting 100metres from the defensive end of the ground
-anyone who thinks Walker didn't work his arse off last night
-anyone who thinks Walker struts too much, is too arrogant, looks too aloof, or would prefer he exhibit more honest, try-hard, Michael Doughty, AFC-like qualities


The following people do not need a rocket

-Taylor Walker

Post of the year stitched up right here. Dogga reference elite.

 

[Allefgib]

Uses it well, but would he run with it?

Not fast enough to be a line-breaker, and I'd have concerns over him defensively.

Why do you have to fast be a line-breaker?

Brad Symes was an ELITE line-breaker - he broke lines and ended up being the guy with ball in hand FAR too often given his poor use.

Porps is a great hand-ball receiver on the overlap - which is effectively a key part of breaking lines - and then a quality user.

I can see arguments that a guy like Mcleod would run 50m and kick it 50m to be a 100m player. But I'd suggest Porps can be a 70 to 85m player comfortably.

Having said all that... don't want him down back. Just wanted to debate that a line-breaker doesn't need pace. Just the desire and ability to time their run.

 

[Wood_Duck]

How do other teams manage to win without Tippett?

 

[Lawrst]

How do other teams manage to win without Tippett?

Usually they kick it to their forwards. Not on them like we seem to do.

 

[Slippery Pete]

How do other teams manage to win without Tippett?

Usually they kick it to their forwards. Not on them like we seem to do.

They have gun coaches like Andrew McLeod and Nathan Bassett.

 

[cmndstab]

Tippett is not the issue. I've said all pre-season - Walker won't suffer for Tippett's departure. Where we might suffer is in losing Tippett's 2-ish goals a week, but Jenkins has filled that void.

We're suffering in the midfield. Jacobs is getting smashed, nullifying our midfield to the point where it can be tagged out of effectiveness. This puts our young defence under more pressure than it can handle, and starves our forward line of legitimate opportunities.

The only reason we lost to Port last weekend is because we couldn't get one good pass inside 50 in the 4th quarter. A functioning midfield would have gotten us over the line with ease. Fix the midfield up and most of our problems go away.

Walker has been one of our best players in terms of what he's put into the game in the first three weeks. Calls to change even the slightest thing about his game are missing the mark, in my opinion.

 

[Slippery Pete]

Can someone do a statistical comparison between Jenkins and Tippett at the same stage of their careers?

 

[Allefgib]

Can someone do a statistical comparison between Jenkins and Tippett at the same stage of their careers?

Just dothis year to last year dude. It's about the same.
Jenkins is even ahead in Hit-outs....

**** it - here it is for your convenience:
http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/...=17&pid2=1750&type=A&fid1=S&fid2=P&fopt2=2012

and same point of career/age you can go yourself.
(my quick look says Jenkins ahead comparing their first seasons.. by age its kurts 2011 season and again its not far apart with much upside in Leeroy IMO.)

Now I'm not saying Josh has Tippett's presence and ability to nullify an aerial contest which is hurting us at the moment - but IMO he'll end up being the better performed player over their careers.

 

[Wood_Duck]

Just so this year to last year dude. It's about the same.
Jenkins is even ahead in Hit-outs....

**** it - here it is for your convenience:
http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/...=17&pid2=1750&type=A&fid1=S&fid2=P&fopt2=2012

and same point of career/age you can go yourself.

Hes way ahead this year.

 

[Allefgib]

Hes way ahead this year.

Even on average salary per game....

For now...

 

[betterthanu]

Tippett is not the issue. I've said all pre-season - Walker won't suffer for Tippett's departure. Where we might suffer is in losing Tippett's 2-ish goals a week, but Jenkins has filled that void.

A lot of the time last year Tippett + Callinans goals = Tippets goals.