Time for brodie smith to play in the midfield

[Scorpus]

Is Sloane handling the heat? Should we trade him?

And what kind of heat are you talking about? The heat that sees someone shut you down?

If it gets to that stage where he's copping a tagger in the middle, great that means it's been a success. But they won't be able to tag Smith and Sloane. Win win

And why wouldn't you want to at least see it tried? It makes no sense not too.

I'm not talking about when he's tagged. He's absolutely diabolical when tagged.

When there's anyone even remotely near him in a pressure game his disposal turns to s**t. Uncontested passes he shanks, he tries to execute low percentage and completely unnecessary kicks and fails. Defensively he turns into a soft ball watcher.

Smith is a downhill skier who only looks good when he can execute unpressured bombs from defensive 50. In the midfield he'll have an opponent at all times, and considering how that goes for him in defence when not tagged, it's not looking good for him.

 

[feenix67]

feenix67 , this brings up your point yesterday. Do we ever go into a game with a plan that relates to how our opponent wants to play. There's almost no doubt that we don't. I guess having our opposition analyst poached by Worsfold was no big deal, we were probably going to make him redundant anyway.

Did you watch any of the Bombers game? You can see him next to Worsfold and they were regularly interacting. Very different to our box.

 

[marty36]

I'm not talking about when he's tagged. He's absolutely diabolical when tagged.

When there's anyone even remotely near him in a pressure game his disposal turns to s**t. Uncontested passes he shanks, he tries to execute low percentage and completely unnecessary kicks and fails. Defensively he turns into a soft ball watcher.

Smith is a downhill skier who only looks good when he can execute unpressured bombs from defensive 50. In the midfield he'll have an opponent at all times, and considering how that goes for him in defence when not tagged, it's not looking good for him.

Is there anyone in our team that can handle a bit of physical pressure?


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[feenix67]

Does it matter? If Smith is being shut down and we are losing his run, we are better off having a defender there because he's no good at it.

We have two choices as I see it. If the run Smith creates is important we either get him help by bringing in Seedsman so we have 2 runners off our half backs or we replace Smith with Cheney who is a quality defender and try Smith in the midfield. We didn't consider him vanilla when we drafted him as a midfielder.

I reckon we'd be better off with more pace tbh. Keep Smith on HBF and bring Seed in on the other side. Or have them both play as defensive wingman. We need more than one option to run it out of D50

 

[Scorpus]

Is there anyone in our team that can handle a bit of physical pressure?


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Yes. Guys like Matt Crouch, Lever, Walker, Cameron, Greenwood, Brown, Kelly, McGovern when he plays, Betts

Unfortunately you may see a lot of those guys aren't in the midfield

 

[marty36]

Yes. Guys like Matt Crouch, Lever, Walker, Cameron, Greenwood, Brown, Kelly, McGovern when he plays, Betts

Unfortunately you may see a lot of those guys aren't in the midfield

I think I'm noticing a trend in the AFL these guys don't mind some body contact but none of the will dish it out

Look at Melbourne with Viney Lewis Vince Gawn even Oliver they are aggressive we saw it with the hawks in their hey day

The only one in the team that dishes it out is Lever we are choir boys and when the heat is turned up you know what is happening to us we are falling apart


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[Elite Crow]

I reckon we'd be better off with more pace tbh. Keep Smith on HBF and bring Seed in on the other side. Or have them both play as defensive wingman. We need more than one option to run it out of D50

I don't have a problem with that if we do it

 

[Scorpus]

Brodie Smith is the next Hamish Hartlett

 

[Elite Crow]

I'm not talking about when he's tagged. He's absolutely diabolical when tagged.

When there's anyone even remotely near him in a pressure game his disposal turns to s**t. Uncontested passes he shanks, he tries to execute low percentage and completely unnecessary kicks and fails. Defensively he turns into a soft ball watcher.

Smith is a downhill skier who only looks good when he can execute unpressured bombs from defensive 50. In the midfield he'll have an opponent at all times, and considering how that goes for him in defence when not tagged, it's not looking good for him.

I don't agree with that assessment.

So are you saying we should trade him without even trying him in the midfield based on what you think might happen? Wouldn't you want to see how it pans out first given we drafted him with a first round pick as a midfielder?

 

[Elite Crow]

Brodie Smith is the next Hamish Hartlett

According to you

 

[feenix67]

I don't agree with that assessment.

So are you saying we should trade him without even trying him in the midfield based on what you think might happen? Wouldn't you want to see how it pans out first given we drafted him with a first round pick as a midfielder?

I'm just curious, do you think he brings what we lack in the midfield?

 

[Scorpus]

I don't agree with that assessment.

So are you saying we should trade him without even trying him in the midfield based on what you think might happen? Wouldn't you want to see how it pans out first given we drafted him with a first round pick as a midfielder?

I don't have a problem trying him there first, but I don't think it'll make a shred of difference.

I'd be looking to trade him while his value is high to avoid a Hartlett situation. In the meantime we could give him some midfield minutes, sure

 

[Alwaysacrow]

From another point of view Smith and Seed are 2 of the few players that can roost a goal outside of 50.
When the opposition clogs our forward line and then Pyke predictably refuses to man them up we've got no options up forward.
Having a combination of Smith and Seeds kicking a few from outside the zone would make opposition coaches re-think their strategy I think. Not only that but when we kick those type of goals it creates a massive confidence boost to the team when we need it most.
Those sort of outside bombs don't always come off but I seriously don't think we'll regain our form by playing it safe, we'll have to take our chances with some risky strategy to find it. It may not work but at least we'll be a little less predictable.

 

[Scorpus]

According to you

Of course. And according to you, Smith is going to magically become a contested ball pressure specialist by moving from the least to most accountable position on the field.

 

[Elite Crow]

Of course. And according to you, Smith is going to magically become a contested ball pressure specialist by moving from the least to most accountable position on the field.

Is that what I've posted or have I posted that we drafted him as a midfielder and I would like to see him tried there before writing him off?

Only one of us is passing off our opinion as fact.

 

[marty36]

Of course. And according to you, Smith is going to magically become a contested ball pressure specialist by moving from the least to most accountable position on the field.

It's worth a crack but I'm with you he's not hard enough


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[hey shorty]

Of course. And according to you, Smith is going to magically become a contested ball pressure specialist by moving from the least to most accountable position on the field.

It's a long time ago but he blitzed the SANFL as a 17yo mid. Not even the Gowans could intimidate him.

 

[Elite Crow]

I'm just curious, do you think he brings what we lack in the midfield?

Yeah I do.

He was a good contested ball winner as a junior, he could use his pace to break away. If he gets that opportunity I trust him to deliver into our forward line or ping goals more than anyone else in our midfield currently.

He's not going to be the saviour but he could potentially add one piece to what we are missing.

With Sloane, Greenwood, Crouch x 2 and Smith, I think we could have a very good balance.

 

[Scorpus]

It's a long time ago but he blitzed the SANFL as a 17yo mid. Not even the Gowans could intimidate him.

It was 8 years ago. Troy Menzel looked good as a junior midfielder too.

 

[Scorpus]

Is that I've posted or have I posted that we drafted him as a midfielder and I would like to see him tried there before writing him off?

Only one of us is passing off our opinion as fact.

Okay that's a fair point.

My main concern is that by playing him as a midfielder, he'll look worse than as a half back, thereby reducing his trade value.

If there's an opportunity to replace Smith with a genuinely good midfielder, rather than switching Smith into there as an optimistic chance, I'd take it

 

[Elite Crow]

It was 8 years ago. Troy Menzel looked good as a junior midfielder too.

And hasn't looked half the AFL footballer Smith has, I doubt he will ever become an All Australian.

 

[Scorpus]

And hasn't looked half the AFL footballer Smith has, I doubt he will ever become an All Australian.

My point being that sometimes where you play as a junior has no bearing on whether you can play there successfully in the AFL.

 

[hey shorty]

It was 8 years ago. Troy Menzel looked good as a junior midfielder too.

We've gotta have a look, put some heat on him and if he fails he goes.

 

[Elite Crow]

Okay that's a fair point.

My main concern is that by playing him as a midfielder, he'll look worse than as a half back, thereby reducing his trade value.

If there's an opportunity to replace Smith with a genuinely good midfielder, rather than switching Smith into there as an optimistic chance, I'd take it

There isn't that opportunity though this year.

If we tried Smith and it didn't work, it won't diminish his trade value because everyone will remember the quality half back.

He would have a heap suitors if we wanted to trade him, all willing to pay a decent price.

 

[Elite Crow]

My point being that sometimes where you play as a junior has no bearing on whether you can play there successfully in the AFL.

Yeah but you have to at least try them in the position they were drafted!