Roast We have no More Tall Defenders

[mattys123]

GC Game : Brown
Melbourne game : Swan,Reid and Tarrant

Would that be accurate?

I'd say so, I hope Swanny gets an extra weeks rest, it's not like we need him against the Suns.

 

[Cory]

Yeah would be a good idea to give him an extra weeks rest but we'd have to give him some game time before West Coast

 

[Breakthelines]

Yeah would be a good idea to give him an extra weeks rest but we'd have to give him some game time before West Coast

I agree.

Brown this week.

Reid, Swan & Taz vs the rabble (MFC).

 

[Hardas]

So barring the resting of players before the bye, here are some possible teams for the next two games:

POSSIBLE TEAM v Suns:
B - Toovey Brown O'Brien
HB - Clarke Maxwell Shaw
C - Thomas Beams Wellingham
HF - Didak Cloke Goldsack
F - Sinclair Dawes Blair
R - Jolly Pendlebury Sidebottom
INT - Elliott Williams Fasolo
SUB - Buckley
[Brown for Keefe]

POSSIBLE TEAM v Demons:
B - Toovey Brown Tarrant
HB - Maxwell Reid O'Brien
C - Thomas Beams Shaw
HF - Didak Cloke Goldsack
F - Sinclair Dawes Wellingham
R - Jolly Pendlebury Swan
INT - Sidebottom Blair Clarke
SUB - Fasolo
INS: Swan, Reid and Tarrant
OUTS: Elliott Williams Buckley

Having said that, should we take the opportunity to give Williams, Elliott or anyone else games to give them more AFL exposure and grow our depth as much as resting any mids etc?

 

[Cory]

Well they will play against GC but not sure if they will be playing against due to Swan,Tarrant and Reid needing game time before the West Coast game.

They will be playing more games at the end of the season when we need to rest players

 

[Hardas]

That team:
POSSIBLE TEAM v Demons:
B - Toovey Brown Tarrant
HB - Maxwell Reid O'Brien
C - Thomas Beams Shaw
HF - Didak Cloke Goldsack
F - Sinclair Dawes Wellingham
R - Jolly Pendlebury Swan
INT - Sidebottom Blair Clarke
SUB - Fasolo

That would leave us with the following players for depth [unless there are to be more debuts]:
TALLS - Wood, Paine
MEDIUMS - Buckley, Young, Seedsman
SMALLS - Elliott, Williams, Rounds, Ugle

On that basis, should we stick with what we've got

, or blood another tall, even if they're not quite ready? [Ceglar or Witts, I guess]

We do need to get games into the first choice talls, of course, as you say, but now that Keefey's gone, are any of the young talls capable of helping this year?​

 

[Quicky]

I really wonder how we are going to go fitting so many talls back into this side. I was bullish about it earlier on in the season but we have seen the benefits of having extra run and carry and clean ground level players the past few weeks. As quality as our talls are if you try and smash too many of them in the 21 it is inevitable you lose something in this area of the game. Is this something we can afford to do?

 

[mattys123]

I really wonder how we are going to go fitting so many talls back into this side. I was bullish about it earlier on in the season but we have seen the benefits of having extra run and carry and clean ground level players the past few weeks. As quality as our talls are if you try and smash too many of them in the 21 it is inevitable you lose something in this area of the game. Is this something we can afford to do?

I think once again this is another "bonus" of having won our last 2 games and therefore all but securing a top four place already.

We can now test a few things out, like playing the 3 tall defenders in the same side, hopefully against Melbourne next week, because I sure don't want to see it trialled against West Coast in the match after that.

But even if we can't play all 3 together until then, and it costs us a win at some point, we can now afford to have that loss while experimenting, simply because of the position we will be in soon (9-2).

 

[Quicky]

I think once again this is another "bonus" of having won our last 2 games and therefore all but securing a top four place already.

We can now test a few things out, like playing the 3 tall defenders in the same side, hopefully against Melbourne next week, because I sure don't want to see it trialled against West Coast in the match after that.

But even if we can't play all 3 together until then, and it costs us a win at some point, we can now afford to have that loss while experimenting, simply because of the position we will be in soon (9-2).

I question whether experimenting with that structure against a side like Melbourne is going to demonstrate anything meaningful. They are seriously poor right now.

The flipside being, our two hardest fought games this season against Geelong and Adelaide have both identified the importance of having extra, clean ground level players.

Unfortunately Keeffes ACL somewhat addresses the question. But Reid, Tarrant and Brown plus Maxy is still very top heavy for one line on the field.

 

[76woodenspooners]

I really wonder how we are going to go fitting so many talls back into this side. I was bullish about it earlier on in the season but we have seen the benefits of having extra run and carry and clean ground level players the past few weeks. As quality as our talls are if you try and smash too many of them in the 21 it is inevitable you lose something in this area of the game. Is this something we can afford to do?

Fair point, but would we've thinking this if Cloke had been clunking marks over the last few weeks rather than bringing the ball to ground?

 

[Quicky]

Fair point, but would we've thinking this if Cloke had been clunking marks over the last few weeks rather than bringing the ball to ground?

In terms of talls i'm not sure our forward structure has been an issue. Dawes plays his minutes in the ruck. Goldsack is as good as a small in terms of his ground level play. We'd be a better side with Cloke or Dawes in form but I don't think they will affect our ground level balance.

It has been noticeable however that we have benefitted from the extra ground level player against both Geelong and Adelaide. When the heat is on, in the clinch, the extra run and clean skills have been really telling.

 

[Hardas]

I really wonder how we are going to go fitting so many talls back into this side. I was bullish about it earlier on in the season but we have seen the benefits of having extra run and carry and clean ground level players the past few weeks. As quality as our talls are if you try and smash too many of them in the 21 it is inevitable you lose something in this area of the game. Is this something we can afford to do?

It's an interesting one, Quicky.

On the one hand, at least a couple of the talls [Tarrant & Goldsack come to mind] are flexible enough to play tall/medium/wing roles; and in day games played in dry conditions, you'd have lots of match up options.

On the other hand, as shown again versus the Crows we have great 'mediums' like Shaw and Toovey that can play tall, as well as Maxwell and O'Brien's abilities to help out when spare man; which would then give us the option of one more runner [and tackler] for the contested possession wrestling matches that we see so much of now.

Bucks sure seems willing to try different things and both options offer different types of flexibility. Maybe we just need to work on both options and choose the one we think is best suited to exploiting different opposition.

 

[TradeDraft]

We could have both Reid and Brown back this week now as they are as Tests

http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/News/Injurylist/tabid/14769/Default.aspx

 

[Hardas]

We could have both Reid and Brown back this week now as they are as Tests

http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/News/Injurylist/tabid/14769/Default.aspx

Yeah, TD, have a look through page 7 for some discussion on that topic.

 

[Old Spice]

We can thank our lucky stars that of the 5 season ending injuries, we have depth in those fields. Keeffe is a tragic one, but we'll manage KPD.

On that, I hope we don't rush anyone back before their time. I really love that Bucks went aggressive and put Goldsack forward in spite of only having Keeffe as a tall defender. Yes, Walker was out, but they had Jenkins and Jacobs.

I realise fans want a % booster, but rushing back defenders before they are ready would be a campaign error. I think we'll need to push Goldsack back or otherwise try another 193cm type option, or possibly McNamara.

We have to remember Taz went down early after we rushed him back. That type of situation really sets us back.

I'm for giving the optimum recovery time to our other key defenders rather than a % boost. If we bring players back under strain, we risk losing them for 3-4 weeks more. We all know that players that are NQR tend to over-compensate and put strains on the other side/parts of their body.

The last thing we want with a difficult draw is to bring players back early mid-season and create injury issues that hadn't existed before. That just compounds the matter.

Give them the rest they need and compensate for the short-coming through tactical moves or blooding new players, especially now. Got to manage the list well and not be reactive so early in the season.

 

[Hardas]

Agreed, OS. I like the result of the slow build up for Dids, as opposed the misadventure with Taz the first time around.
Don't want to see anyone rushed back, but Browny apparently did all the training last week, and from the pics I saw had no strapping. It was supposedly a 2 - 4 week injury, so if he's okay to go, great... if not, let's get by without him one way or the other.

 

[Kramer]

according to Geoff Walsh Reid is still 2 weeks away and Brown 2-3 weeks??
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/afl/magpies-feeling-weak-at-the-knees/story-e6frexx0-1226370438813

 

[blaze036]

Put brown in against GC, with taz's age give him until melb or after the bye

 

[Thommo 42]

Unfortunately Keeffes ACL somewhat addresses the question. But Reid, Tarrant and Brown plus Maxy is still very top heavy for one line on the field.

Tarrant plays small/tall, so he won't make us top heavy. He can play on Lecras/Betts/Milne one week and Lance Franklin the next.

As much as I love Keefey, he probably would have fallen out of the side with Reid/Brown fit, although I did like that Keefe was dual sided, while Brown and Reid are both very much one sided, which gets us into trouble ocassionally down back.

I had high hopes for Keefe to develop into a 2nd ruck option who can play KPD or KPF, hopefully next year.

 

[Pie eyed]

according to Geoff Walsh Reid is still 2 weeks away and Brown 2-3 weeks??
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...eak-at-the-knees/story-e6frexx0-1226370438813

Something for GC and Melbourne strategists to think about no doubt.

 

[Aliago]

We only need Taz back in for Mitch Clark. Be interesting to see who plays on Sam Day though.

 

[biggiemediums]

Tarrant is a superior defender to Reid, and far superior to Brown. He should always get the number 1 key forward when playing.

I think Brown fully fit is superior in almost every way to Tarrant, not to mention he's got a couple inches on him too. Forget the official stats, you can see it with your eyes he's taller.