
Sam_Malone
Norm Smith Medallist
- Banned
- #1
We have been discussing this predicament across a number of different threads, so, let's discuss the elephant in the room.
How can we get better productivity out of out current midfield?
In the past, we would have left the midfield clearances to an aging Scott Thompson who's body is breaking down and much, muc closer towards the end than it is toi the start of his career and the Geelong Cat's new guy in Patrick Dangerfield. Now, unless you have just come back from the moon - we no longer have Dangerfield to rely on and the past 2 weeks, Thompson has had 2 shocker against 2 quality teams.
Therefore we can not rely on those 2 players anymore and now the pressure and enormously high expectations gets dumped onto Rory Sloane, Richard Douglas and the 2 Crouch brothers shoulders to march us through another season.
IMO, this isn't sustainable as the Crouch brothers are still young and Douyglas doesn't have the ablity to be the number 1 man in a top 4 midfield. That leaves Sloane and the longer we place that pressure and workload on him, the shorter his career will be. We need to recuit, develop or draft some help. But who?
This weekend, out starting midfield will look like this
C: Cameron ~ Thompson ~ Atkins
R: Jacobs ~ Sloane ~ Douglas
IMO - that isn't very inspirational. That midfield doesn't scream, look at me and watch out we are coming to get you. It doesn't scream, we are a top 4 midfield. It screams, apply a small bit of pressure as we will roll over.
C: Smith ~ Thompson ~ Seedsman
R: Jacobs ~ Sloane ~ B. Crouch
This still isn't very inspirational but it does give you a glimmer of hope it can become a top 4 midfield in 2 or 3 years time. Then you add Milera, Atkins, Cameron and M. Crouch playing their roles on the half forward and midfield we are slowly adding depth.
This is not a "let's tank" for a high draft pick thread as we have enough jigsaw pieces already to build for a top 8 die, now we just need to put them into the right place to allow that combination to grow. Then if we can add 1 or 2 mature bodies with 1 or 2 quality draft picks, we then have the depth to grow fior the future and look beyond the next 24 hours.
Premierships are won 36 months before the game, not 22 games before hand. It's about getting all the right pieces in the right place. We don't have that anymore.
So, I guess my question is -
1) how can the midfield get better?
2) What player characteristics do you want to see in a midfilder to help our midfield improve?
3) what sort of player do we need to recuit or draft?
4) Are any free agent midfielder available and would they automatically help for the now?
5) who should we build a midfield around?
How can we get better productivity out of out current midfield?
In the past, we would have left the midfield clearances to an aging Scott Thompson who's body is breaking down and much, muc closer towards the end than it is toi the start of his career and the Geelong Cat's new guy in Patrick Dangerfield. Now, unless you have just come back from the moon - we no longer have Dangerfield to rely on and the past 2 weeks, Thompson has had 2 shocker against 2 quality teams.
Therefore we can not rely on those 2 players anymore and now the pressure and enormously high expectations gets dumped onto Rory Sloane, Richard Douglas and the 2 Crouch brothers shoulders to march us through another season.
IMO, this isn't sustainable as the Crouch brothers are still young and Douyglas doesn't have the ablity to be the number 1 man in a top 4 midfield. That leaves Sloane and the longer we place that pressure and workload on him, the shorter his career will be. We need to recuit, develop or draft some help. But who?
This weekend, out starting midfield will look like this
C: Cameron ~ Thompson ~ Atkins
R: Jacobs ~ Sloane ~ Douglas
IMO - that isn't very inspirational. That midfield doesn't scream, look at me and watch out we are coming to get you. It doesn't scream, we are a top 4 midfield. It screams, apply a small bit of pressure as we will roll over.
C: Smith ~ Thompson ~ Seedsman
R: Jacobs ~ Sloane ~ B. Crouch
This still isn't very inspirational but it does give you a glimmer of hope it can become a top 4 midfield in 2 or 3 years time. Then you add Milera, Atkins, Cameron and M. Crouch playing their roles on the half forward and midfield we are slowly adding depth.
This is not a "let's tank" for a high draft pick thread as we have enough jigsaw pieces already to build for a top 8 die, now we just need to put them into the right place to allow that combination to grow. Then if we can add 1 or 2 mature bodies with 1 or 2 quality draft picks, we then have the depth to grow fior the future and look beyond the next 24 hours.
Premierships are won 36 months before the game, not 22 games before hand. It's about getting all the right pieces in the right place. We don't have that anymore.
So, I guess my question is -
1) how can the midfield get better?
2) What player characteristics do you want to see in a midfilder to help our midfield improve?
3) what sort of player do we need to recuit or draft?
4) Are any free agent midfielder available and would they automatically help for the now?
5) who should we build a midfield around?