Time for a fwd line with 2 tall's.

[carnaroys08]

Imo, the Lions need to find more than 40 goals than last year, this year, to be a Finals side. I believe we have a supply of goal kicking small forwards other sides would envy. Zorko, Charlie, Rayner, McCarthy, Lyons, Robinson, Bailey, McCluggage, Matheson, Bundy & Taylor; that's a lot of talent. I'd like to see Hipwood & the Big O be our two tall's with four of the mentioned small guys crumbing, trapping it in there & booting goals; most of them can also rotate through the middle which is great.
McStay looks stronger to me outside 50 & the wing would not be such a crazy place to play him. I'm a fan of a big strong marking wingman. McStay can play a kick behind when the ball goes deep. He has proven defensive skills & he kicks well to a lead. He didn't kick that many goals last year & could be more valuable to the team on the wing; he's a quality, versatile player.
With our small fwd talent, can we realistically boost our scoring to the extent we need persisting with the same 3 tall's setup?
2 tall's or 3?

 

[M Malice]

I've been banging on about this for 18 months, IMO the best set up is-

2 talls - Eric Hipwood, Daniel McStay.
3 smalls- Lincoln McCarthy, Charlie Cameron, Lewy Taylor/resting mid.
1 hybrid- Cameron Rayner.

I don't like Hippy, The Big O and Mcstay all up forward at once, they get in each others way and they also allow the ball to rebound out of our F50 too easily.

 

[SizeMatters]

Talls - Hipwood Oscar
Hybrid - mcstay rayner
smalls - CC mccarthy

mcstay to gtf out of deep f50 like he has a tendency to do and force himself to play as a hybrid in that he will be too athletic for tall defenders but too powerful for small defenders
move up the ground and provide options as he is getting crushed by experienced defenders when clogging the holes with minimal movement
he should play in a similar fashion to rayner in that roaming hff hybrid role and wouldnt even mind him having a quick burst in the guts or wing at times

 

[briztoon]

I would prefer to see Zorko playing in the forward line ahead of Lewey Taylor. With Robinson coming of the bench to rotate through there as well.

Taylor doesn't offer the defensive pressure needed to help lock the ball in to the forward line.

 

[LongLion]

Imo, the Lions need to find more than 40 goals than last year, this year, to be a Finals side. I believe we have a supply of goal kicking small forwards other sides would envy. Zorko, Charlie, Rayner, McCarthy, Lyons, Robinson, Bailey, McCluggage, Matheson, Bundy & Taylor; that's a lot of talent. I'd like to see Hipwood & the Big O be our two tall's with four of the mentioned small guys crumbing, trapping it in there & booting goals; most of them can also rotate through the middle which is great.
McStay looks stronger to me outside 50 & the wing would not be such a crazy place to play him. I'm a fan of a big strong marking wingman. McStay can play a kick behind when the ball goes deep. He has proven defensive skills & he kicks well to a lead. He didn't kick that many goals last year & could be more valuable to the team on the wing; he's a quality, versatile player.
With our small fwd talent, can we realistically boost our scoring to the extent we need persisting with the same 3 tall's setup?
2 tall's or 3?

You need the Big O up forward as the 2nd ruckman. I'm happy with the 3 however they need to spread more particularly with the 6 6 6 now in play

 

[Dalions]

When Big O is in the team, which I think he will be come round 1.
At centre bounces he needs to be the one playing one out in the Goal square with the other 2 further up the ground. If we get a quick clearance it will be less likely they will get in each other’s way.
If the Coaches are prepared to run with the 3 tall set up, then I will back them in because they are backing our midfield group to win the centre clearances more often then not.
With the new 6-6-6 rule, I think a lot of teams will start to employ a similar set up as long as they are winning centre clearances.

 

[POBT]

I don’t like three talls but, equally, I don’t think we have much choice. We need a second ruck, particularly this year.

McStay hasn’t shown anything to suggest he can play away from the KP roles. It is a nice, creative thought but not based in reality IMO, at least not without a summer of work. If nothing else, the aerobic capacity required to play the modern wing is far more than a KPP trains for.

If we assume we need a second ruck, Oscar is the only current ruck-forward option. Hipwood can’t play other roles due to his physical limitations and McStay isn’t tall enough really. We could use a defender in that role but almost all clubs avoid disrupting their defensive set up.

To be honest though, I’m less concerned about this than I was last year. Sides are going to need to think about having an adequate second ruck. I suspect the use of a midfielder in the ruck will be far more limited. If everyone has to play a genuine forward-ruck, everyone will be similarly restricted in the variety of their forward set up.

The sides most advantaged will be the ones where their best or second best KPF can ruck - eg North, Collingwood, etc. There will then be a group who it makes no difference to as they played a second ruck last year - West Coast and us would be examples of that. Then there’s a sizeable group who need to work out where to fit a second ruck in their side - they potentially will be disadvantaged until they work out a solution (or not).

So, while I don’t think 3 talls is ideal, I don’t think we’re as bad off as some, given we had a year of kinda making it work last year.

 

[chopperduck]

Dont think much wpuld change to be honest. Our problem isnt really stopping the rebound (which is why you would have more smalls for chase and tackles).

Think the balance is pretty good, we just need to get some more marks inside 50 happening, and especially with the talls get them to find some separation from each other. I like the tought of us having 3 talls that can stretch defenders, especially because i think Hippy and McStay can do some serious damage if they got the right match up. If you can then have a 200cm resting ruck deep all the time you are going to make defenders very nervious.

Think Hippy needs to find a way to draw more free kicks.

 

[Billy Puller]

6 smaller, push everyone up the field as soon as the bounce goes. Get it to rich or witherfen to kick into space for Charlie to run into an open forward 50 kicking 15 goals a game as we win the flag. Boom

 

[DashinD]

I like the idea of McStay deep and Hipwood up the field.

 

[DERRINALPHIL]

A small forward line of Matthews, Barlett, Rioli, Wanganeen, Betts and our own Charlie Cameron would be OK

Conversely Hudson, Salmon, Buddie, McKenna, Maddern and Hipwood would probably work.

Play our best players and the players in form. Understand the weaknesses of our players (when the Big O kicks 4 in a game, or has four shots at goal, I will rate him as a forward) rather then shuffle cards on a table.