The Forward Line

[Polly]

A part of our team that seems to escape much criticism. Pav's a bloody star we all agree on that but is there anybody else down there who can take a grab. There are very few contests in our forward half, we seem to get caned around the HF line where the opposition sit a couple of loose defenders and its straight out again. If we manage to get the ball in long it's typically rebounded out quite easily. Seeing Westhoff taking marks for Port in the last quarter highlighted our lack of targets down our end, I don't really think hes that good but there was space for him to work in.
Comments.

 

[Belnakor]

Our HF line is very weak. Aside from Taz who normally is pretty good with pressure, the two HFF are normally actually rovers (Palmer got named on the HFF).

We also tend to not flood back as quickly as the other teams - i think this is a pure fitness problem. Our forward line looks cluttered, and theirs looks empty has been the way of the Dockers since the Cuddles era.

 

[prattsta]

Our HF line is very weak. Aside from Taz who normally is pretty good with pressure, the two HFF are normally actually rovers (Palmer got named on the HFF).

We also tend to not flood back as quickly as the other teams - i think this is a pure fitness problem. Our forward line looks cluttered, and theirs looks empty has been the way of the Dockers since the Cuddles era.

It's a joke how crowded it gets down there. Reflects the mindset of a lot of our midfielders i reckon, happy to go forward if they think they're a chance for a goal, not quite as quick to run back and help out.

Our defenders are left 1 on 1 far too often. Whilst our forwards almost never get the same opportunity.

 

[theGav56]

Last year Harvey was forward line coach, specifically brought in there to get the chemistry between Pavlich and Tarrant right. Unfortunately he was hampered by tarrant having surgery pre-season, then playing a bit too soon perhaps. Also Pavlich had the yips in crucial games. The other major blip was that Farmer single handedly ruined the year, and while Headland stepped up, it robbed us of delivery into the forward line.

This year Farmer has been border-line serviceable, and should be one of the players looking at retirement. Specialist forward pocket in the form of a crumbing goal sneak, with blistering pace and good defensive pressure is needed. Couragous decision to delist Collard last year instead of trying to manage player issues in other ways.

 

[Chops_a_must]

We really are missing one more GENUINE natural small forward. Not some midfielder cum forward wannabee.

And aside from Tarrant and Pav (unfortunately Jeff struggles with this now), no-one really knows how to lead.

Mayne to me is more of the third option, rather than a small, and as yet, has lacked confidence commanding territory.

But then again.... who the ____ would want to be a forward for Freo with the delivery they get?

I have often noticed at times through the year, the forwards leading hard, 10-20m in front of their men, only to have the ball kicked along the ground, or straight to the opposition, and the leads dry up. If you have no confidence in those kicking to you, you can't lead properly, because you inevitably get the blame for those ____ing it up for you.

But for what help they get, our forward line is pretty damn good most games. I'd rather have it than the majority of those in the AFL.

 

[SupersonicDocker]

Last year Harvey was forward line coach, specifically brought in there to get the chemistry between Pavlich and Tarrant right. Unfortunately he was hampered by tarrant having surgery pre-season, then playing a bit too soon perhaps. Also Pavlich had the yips in crucial games. The other major blip was that Farmer single handedly ruined the year, and while Headland stepped up, it robbed us of delivery into the forward line.

This year Farmer has been border-line serviceable, and should be one of the players looking at retirement. Specialist forward pocket in the form of a crumbing goal sneak, with blistering pace and good defensive pressure is needed. Couragous decision to delist Collard last year instead of trying to manage player issues in other ways.

Hayden Ballantyne Hayden Ballantyne Hayden Ballantyne....we need to draft this kid... we are a great chance to snare him with our second pick

Would also like to see us take jay van berlo with our third if he is there...

 

[Chops_a_must]

Hayden Ballantyne Hayden Ballantyne Hayden Ballantyne....we need to draft this kid... we are a great chance to snare him with our second pick

Would also like to see us take jay van berlo with our third if he is there...

Will be rookied I reckon.

And I don't think we should waste the 2nd pick on him, because there are good options around, like the guy that taught him how to play on the weekend...

Probably 2-3 fall backs that are just as good, without the hype.

 

[Bluto]

Hayden Ballantyne Hayden Ballantyne Hayden Ballantyne....we need to draft this kid... we are a great chance to snare him with our second pick

Would also like to see us take jay van berlo with our third if he is there...

Every second post you make is about Ballantyne! Like chops said, he is chance to get rookied...a chance. If any club spends a top 50 draft pick on him then more power to them...but i hope it is not us.

If we stay sucky, then we are a show for several top 25 picks and I really hope one of them is Neville Jetta. Could be sensational under the tutelage of The Wizard.

 

[Brumbies]

Ill say this if Balla's doesnt get picked up there is a problem. He is now 20 and has matured and is a ready to play pick up, no development time needed. He has genuine pace so he needs a quick small defender but for his size is very strong so in 1 on 1's generally comes up with the mark.
Also this kid could show a few what its like to work hard i havnt seen many work harder on the track or in a game. He constantly puts in 2nd, 3rd and 4th efforts all in the same passage of play. He wants to play in the big time and puts in the effort to do it as he knows he is almost out of chances this year.
Apart from being a great lead and grab he is also very smart and is a great crumber. If we dont take him someone else will and i reckon by the end of next year you will all be cursing Freo for not getting him.
I may be alittle biased as he came thro the Brumby juniors but when ever he can he comes and trains with us and always pleads his case to play for us when Peel have a bye but always without luck.

 

[Chops_a_must]

Ill say this if Balla's doesnt get picked up there is a problem. He is now 20 and has matured and is a ready to play pick up, no development time needed. He has genuine pace so he needs a quick small defender but for his size is very strong so in 1 on 1's generally comes up with the mark.
Also this kid could show a few what its like to work hard i havnt seen many work harder on the track or in a game. He constantly puts in 2nd, 3rd and 4th efforts all in the same passage of play. He wants to play in the big time and puts in the effort to do it as he knows he is almost out of chances this year.
Apart from being a great lead and grab he is also very smart and is a great crumber. If we dont take him someone else will and i reckon by the end of next year you will all be cursing Freo for not getting him.
I may be alittle biased as he came thro the Brumby juniors but when ever he can he comes and trains with us and always pleads his case to play for us when Peel have a bye but always without luck.

Sorry mate, but he got reemed by the other best small man in the WAFL on Saturday.

If you want strength and speed, check what Siekierka does in the gym and on the track. Would put 99% of AFL players to shame.

Which = Ballantyne, not quite there.

 

[nezasaur]

Another big problem is how slow our ball movement is going forward; we give opposition players way too much time to get back and crowd our 50. I like Tarrant but he is one of the worst offenders in this regard. He rarely plays on when he has the ball around HF or out on the wing and you could grow old waiting for him to pick his target. He's not the only one of course.

 

[Pav for AA]

Hayden Ballantyne Hayden Ballantyne Hayden Ballantyne....we need to draft this kid... we are a great chance to snare him with our second pick

Would also like to see us take jay van berlo with our third if he is there...

No and no.

Ian Richardson is worth a pick. Ballantyne is actually smaller than my left calf.

Good WAFL player, would never make it in the AFL.

 

[MadMac]

We really are missing one more GENUINE natural small forward. Not some midfielder cum forward wannabee.

And aside from Tarrant and Pav (unfortunately Jeff struggles with this now), no-one really knows how to lead.

Chris Yarran would solve that problem. He's got the potential to become a goal-machine. Can also play in the midfield when needed and is lightning fast.

 

[Chops_a_must]

Chris Yarran would solve that problem. He's got the potential to become a goal-machine. Can also play in the midfield when needed and is lightning fast.

He'll probably go too early when we are looking for genuine midfielders unfortunately.

An alternative would be to develop Hinkley as a small forward. He's way too small to be a full fledged midfielder now... but it could be an idea.

 

[MadMac]

He'll probably go too early when we are looking for genuine midfielders unfortunately.

An alternative would be to develop Hinkley as a small forward. He's way too small to be a full fledged midfielder now... but it could be an idea.

I agree, he's too fragile to be in the midfield atm, but in the forward line he might develop better. He's also seriously fast.
As for Yarran, we should probably take him in case Rich is already taken by then, ie we end up with a pick 3 or 4.

 

[Chops_a_must]

I agree, he's too fragile to be in the midfield atm, but in the forward line he might develop better. He's also seriously fast.
As for Yarran, we should probably take him in case Rich is already taken by then, ie we end up with a pick 3 or 4.

It depends.

If his endurance is any good, it might be ok. But I'd much prefer a genuine midfielder. We haven't had much luck drafting small forwards...

 

[sto8228]

One word for our forward line: Predictable.
Watching fremantle go inside fifty is so rehearsed its ridiculous. The Pavlich lead is always honoured. If not, the player cops a spray. Fremantle lack a player of dal santo/simon black skill who can hit a player at speed on the chest. Instead, we chip the ball to Pav, and incredibly, he seems to mark it all the time, getting his head taken off most times. We have no crumbing forwards at all. Jeffrey plays as a tall, and too often the loose ball is rebounded far too easily, due to lack of ground level support. We have players like murphy and Campbell kicking 7 goals in the WAFL and coming in as decoy forwards, rarely being honoured on the lead. Boring and predictable. Recruit somebody who is quick and can crumb our 4 tall forwards. All the ladder leaders have at least two good crumbers- rioli, stokes, didak, medhurst, davis, motlop. We dont have anybody close to this quality to crumb goals. if cannot stab kick over 20 metres at full pace accurately, you dont have a place in the game, nor our struggling midfield.

 

[theGav56]

One word for our forward line: Predictable.
Watching fremantle go inside fifty is so rehearsed its ridiculous. The Pavlich lead is always honoured. If not, the player cops a spray. Fremantle lack a player of dal santo/simon black skill who can hit a player at speed on the chest. Instead, we chip the ball to Pav, and incredibly, he seems to mark it all the time, getting his head taken off most times. We have no crumbing forwards at all. Jeffrey plays as a tall, and too often the loose ball is rebounded far too easily, due to lack of ground level support. We have players like murphy and Campbell kicking 7 goals in the WAFL and coming in as decoy forwards, rarely being honoured on the lead. Boring and predictable. Recruit somebody who is quick and can crumb our 4 tall forwards. All the ladder leaders have at least two good crumbers- rioli, stokes, didak, medhurst, davis, motlop. We dont have anybody close to this quality to crumb goals. if cannot stab kick over 20 metres at full pace accurately, you dont have a place in the game, nor our struggling midfield.

Maybe instead of looking at recruiting another crumber, get the strategies in Forward Line more operational. I agree we have a predictabe "kick it to Pav" strategy, but why? Our forward line has several weapons, but we always go for the Big Gun.

This is imilar to our midfield/clearance issues where Sanilands is sharked continually because his tapwork is good, but predicatable, where as our midfield work is only workmanlike. What we need is not a different ruckman, but better coaching.

 

[Belnakor]

This is imilar to our midfield/clearance issues where Sanilands is sharked continually because his tapwork is good, but predicatable, where as our midfield work is only workmanlike. What we need is not a different ruckman, but better coaching.

absolutely. Its all about coaching. If you are winning the taps like we are, any other team in comp would be winning the clearances.

Sandilands can only do so much - people seem to be expecting him to make up set plays and coach the midfielders on gameday which is ridicilous.

I can accept there is some element of "you have either got it or you don't" for clearances - guys like Hasleby seem to just "know" where to go - but that is a combonation of good coaching and good football brains. Our current midfield seems to lack both at the moment.

 

[Belnakor]

Jeffrey plays as a tall, and too often the loose ball is rebounded far too easily, due to lack of ground level support.

I agree, this is a HUGE problem in our forward line at the moment. The opposition half back has been absolutely murdering us and its because the crumbs are just not getting swept up. Jeffrey doesn't seem to know where the ball is heading, his reading of the play seems to have really dropped off, and added to that Jeffrey seems to have medhurst syndrome and is playing like a tall, like running out on the lead, or flying when he should be waiting down.

If you look at "the streak" in 2006, our absolute hallmark of those games was the oppositions inability to clear our forward line once it went in. They would just get hemmed in and couldn't run the ball out of defense. This year teams have been doing that at will, and its due to lack of crumbing forwards, lack of midfielder accountability and lack of pressure from the forward half when not in possession.

We have players like murphy and Campbell kicking 7 goals in the WAFL and coming in as decoy forwards, rarely being honoured on the lead.

Murphy and Campbells leads, by and large aren't honored because they don't seem to know where to go to lead into space. Which means our guys have to hit someone on the chest with about 1% room for error. Its a hall mark of a WAFL player. WAFL games are much more open and guys like Murphy get used to it. They need to learn that you have to lead or create space.

Murphy's kicking has also been diabolical when he has gotten a game.

 

[rotto]

I have always thought that Hasleby would be handy small forward. Great mark for his size, clever/creative, and seems to be reliable for goal. Add more rotations to the midfield.

 

[Ysaye]

Is Andrew Browne still on our list?

He is a good crumber, fast, good defensively and is fairly good kick on the run. Been cruelled with injuries, but maybe he could get a run as a small forward before the season is out.

As I tried to point out in another thread, we don't neccessarily need a Davey/Davis type freak, we can get by with a hard working crumber who works hard defensively when the ball is not in our hands. I also don't think we need to worry about whether they are a midfielder-wannabee or not, so long as they excel at picking the crumbs from contests.

I actually don't mind lack of height for small forwards - it means that they can often balance and adjust faster.

Michael Walters is a highly skilled small midfielder who is a great goalkicker / crumber . If we can't get Daniel Rich first up, then maybe this guy is a good bet.

 

[Shadow Man]

I agree, this is a HUGE problem in our forward line at the moment. The opposition half back has been absolutely murdering us and its because the crumbs are just not getting swept up. Jeffrey doesn't seem to know where the ball is heading, his reading of the play seems to have really dropped off, and added to that Jeffrey seems to have medhurst syndrome and is playing like a tall, like running out on the lead, or flying when he should be waiting down.

If you look at "the streak" in 2006, our absolute hallmark of those games was the oppositions inability to clear our forward line once it went in. They would just get hemmed in and couldn't run the ball out of defense. This year teams have been doing that at will, and its due to lack of crumbing forwards, lack of midfielder accountability and lack of pressure from the forward half when not in possession.




Murphy and Campbells leads, by and large aren't honored because they don't seem to know where to go to lead into space. Which means our guys have to hit someone on the chest with about 1% room for error. Its a hall mark of a WAFL player. WAFL games are much more open and guys like Murphy get used to it. They need to learn that you have to lead or create space.

Murphy's kicking has also been diabolical when he has gotten a game.

Thats a fair observation Belnakor, although our delivery into the 50 is still no better than ordinary.

 

[theGav56]

... our delivery into the 50 is still no better than ordinary.

If it was ordinary then that would be enough as our forward players, especially Pavlich and Tarrant are good enough to win their positions.

 

[dominguez]

Hayden Ballantyne Hayden Ballantyne Hayden Ballantyne....we need to draft this kid... we are a great chance to snare him with our second pick

Second pick? I reckon he'll still be available when we make our 4th selection.

The games I've seen him play his goals have come from leads, not from crumbing. A poor mans Medhurst or a shorter version of T-Lo is how I've seen him.

I'll be disappointed if we rookie list him.