The destruction of our forward line pillars

[1970crow]

I think this is a big part of the problem. I'm not saying forever, but surely given the conditions we shouldm have gone smaller in our forward line over this period.

The end comes very quickly, and this is an adjustment we need to make.

Tex needs to.stand aside unless the conditions are perfect.

You try telling Tex he’s not playing. The names change, but the culture does not.

 

[1970crow]

I don't think this suddenly fixes the output of the others.

Fogarty v Tex H2H this season -

View attachment 2342721


I think it's pretty alarming Tex is still able to find it more, tackle more, same shots on goal as a 35 year old that many believe is only playing to get to 300 games. What is Fogarty's excuse for not being able to offer us more?

You could argue Tex getting to play higher up the field allows him to find it more but why isn't Fogarty able to push a 35 year old out of that role? For someone as slow as Walker, why is he able to tackle more than Fogarty? Perhaps Walker is more of a target up forward - but is that because he's in the right spots ahead of Fogarty or do players purely have Tex vision only?

Funnily enough, I thought it was Dawson that spoiled Fogarty on a marking attempt or two last week which didn't help.

Would love to see him step up and impact the game more often. He's a fantastic goal and field kick but he needs to find a way to impact the game more than he does.


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Overall though, it's frustrating we keep retreating back into our shell and going defensive when our attack mode is so very hard to stop.

Tex runs the forward line and directs the other players as to where they go. And the worse his body gets, the more he’s demanding entries directed to him.

 

[1970crow]

Nicks loves the strategy of kicking long to the context leaving our key players often out numbered 2 or 3 to 1. Which is insane because each one of our tall forwards are your more leading forward types than having the ability to pack mark. This is strategy is even more daft because teams can predict it and can have one player hang off the contest and jump over the top to spoil.

When we use plan A we hit our forwards up on the lead. When we move into hit and hope football, it appears that we revert back to bombing it deep into the forward line with the clear attempt to either markt it and goal, rove it and goal or its spoiled and we can trap it into our forward line. Either way this clearly doesnt work in our favour yet Nicks continues to try it.

The strategy’s goal isn’t to rove a goal, it’s purely about reducing opposition turnover quality. We’re not entering our 50 to kick goals, we enter to save them. We’re going to be picked apart come finals.

 

[1970crow]

One of the problems is Fogarty has gone into that wrestling mode with his opponent again.

That’s a result of the inbound strategy though. We’re not deliberately hitting up leading targets, we are actively seeking forward 50 contests. Welcome to 2021.

 

[1970crow]

Probably because Tex gets half the entries directed at him?

The worse he’s going the more entries he demands. It’s rampant stupidity, we are putting Tex ahead the team. And don’t think for a second that it’s not exactly what he wants. He could lead as a decoy and provide space for TT or Fog to compete one on one. But he chooses not to, 300 is all that matters.

 

[kirky]

Think the big thing that is happening now is they are all flying for the same ball (which in part is due to our forward entries) whereas early in the season, they would all separate.

 

[Danger in Texas]

First Crack preview put up a stat last week, that said Tex was like 4th or 5th in the comp for intercept marks conceded. Adds up with the eye test too, he’s getting beaten a lot of the time these days

He’s pretty clearly done

 

[1970crow]

The stats were posted a few weeks back. Tex is getting twice the targets that Fog is.

If he's only producing comparable results that's very very bad.

The positive aspect is only half the equation. It’s the opponent’s value from the lost contests that is killing us. And worse, we seem to be targeting him more as his body declines. It’s insanity.

 

[1970crow]

Why is that though?


Haven't seen that one yet, would be nice to see how they stack up along with Thilthorpe.

Why? Because Tex controls the forward line and the player movements.

 

[Scorpus]

We are playing like we expect Thilthorpe to contested mark everything in huge packs

I mean he's a great player but it's asking a bit much of him

 

[Doctor B]

Over the past five weeks, we have ranked.

-Last for marks inside 50
-Last for marks inside forward 50 per inside 50
-14th for marks on a lead
-1st for offensive 1 on 1 contests, but 15th for % of offensive 1 on 1 contests won

 

[Ham]

Is the reason ROB is going into the 50 to drag the opposition ruck in too to stop the outlet kick? Repeat entries seems to be the current fixation but i thought early in the season it was widely recognised quality was trumping quantity.

 

[George CantStandYa]

Over the past five weeks, we have ranked.

-Last for marks inside 50
-Last for marks inside forward 50 per inside 50
-14th for marks on a lead
-1st for offensive 1 on 1 contests, but 15th for % of offensive 1 on 1 contests won

But we are the no 1 for points

 

[Ham]

I’v mentioned it before but I wonder if Tex is no more or less cooked than the start of the year, just the timid gameplan removes any of what was working for him early. Similarly to his near coleman in 2023

 

[George CantStandYa]

After rd 3 we were way out in front for points for.

Once Bulldogs and Gold Coast catch up their games we will drop to 4th.

The only reason we are that high still is because of how efficient our forward line has been because it’s stacked with top end talent.

Yeah but Nicks isn’t a defensive coach.

He’s weakened our greatest strength. Moron.

 

[Southerntakeover]

I’v mentioned it before but I wonder if Tex is no more or less cooked than the start of the year, just the timid gameplan removes any of what was working for him early. Similarly to his near coleman in 2023

The eye test suggests he's getting the best looks of the forwards, but consistently losing one on one marking contests.

He got outbodied and outmarked in a one on one by Jarman Impey on the weekend. That's crazy.

 

[Southerntakeover]

Yeah but Nicks isn’t a defensive coach.

Kind of weird that Jeffy's last post was Thursday really

 

[imagifED]

TBH, we are lucky to have even scored the measly points we have in the last few weeks. We have relied on Keays to kick goals out of his ass through sheer gut run and will, Dawson/Cumming to take contested marks, Thilthorpe as a KPF to kick a goal on the run from the boundary, Rachele from the boundary after a deliberate out of bounds. Even in the Sydney game, we kicked a couple of fluke goals like the accidental toe on the goal line, etc. These type of goals have no system attached, will not happen every week and is unsustainable.

 

[Barneythecrab]

The change happened after the Collingwood game. Despite having the most potent forward line in the comp, we decided to crunch up the game, slow down our transition and play contest to contest down one side of the ground. We never ever ever open up the ground for fear of being exposed on the counter. We take zero risks.

Thats what happens when your coach has a baseline of not trusting the players.

Interestingly it sounds like Davis is responsible for this. At the end of the hawks game Rowe and Campo were discussing ball movement and mentioned that it was one of Davis’s key roles at the club.

 

[MRB37]

They are jumping together and not having separation where you’d back fog Thilthorpe and occasions Tex in a 1 on 1 most times.
Then there’s ROB clogging up the deep 50 thinking he’s a 60+ goal forward.
GTFO
Surely has to be instruction as we know they can play together well.

ROB moving forward pretty much lines up with our game against Collingwood. He's not doing it of his own accord suddenly, it's happened since that loss with Tex not taking inside 50 ruck contests anymore, so ROB floats forward to be able to take them. Prior to the Pies loss ROB had 2 touches inside 50 all year, which were against the Saints and barely inside the 50. Since then he had 3 vs Eagles, 3 vs the Swans, 1 vs Lions and and 2 vs the Hawks. They're not huge numbers individually, but shows Nicks has decided to send him forward for whatever reason and our forward line is even taller and slower than ever.

Tex's ruck contest percentage lines up too. Between rounds 1-9 he averaged 9 ruck contests a game. Since the Pies game it has gone down to 0 vs Pies, 4 against Sydney, 0 against the Lions and 0 against the Hawks. Thilthorpe has gone from 14.6 to 17.1 in that same time, so he might be taking a small amount of it, but the majority has gone to ROB.

 

[George CantStandYa]

Kind of weird that Jeffy's last post was Thursday really

Yep, as soon as Murphy was picked he didn’t post. Perhaps reality has hit for him and his gusto has been sapped.

But it’s pretty weak to attack posters for realising things aren’t as rosy as they seem, see selection and a result that vindicates that and then don’t post.

 

[MRB37]

Interestingly it sounds like Davis is responsible for this. At the end of the hawks game Rowe and Campo were discussing ball movement and mentioned that it was one of Davis’s key roles at the club.

They were singing his praises at the start of the year about how great our ball movement was. Is what we've changed to look all that dissimilar to what Nicks has done to us in the past?

 

[1970crow]

Think the big thing that is happening now is they are all flying for the same ball (which in part is due to our forward entries) whereas early in the season, they would all separate.

They’re being coached, you do realise that?

 

[kirky]

They’re being coached, you do realise that?

As does everything that happens on footy field, but obviously something has changed.

 

[kirky]

They were singing his praises at the start of the year about how great our ball movement was. Is what we've changed to look all that dissimilar to what Nicks has done to us in the past?

Well the Richmond game at the MCG will be a big test for Nicks.

If he goes defensive then we are cooked.