- Jan 10, 2011
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Unless we get crunched by injuries etc, our forwardline is the one area where we could very, very easily see significant improvement this year.
Two years ago we lost all our games when any of Riewoldt Bruce, or Membrey didn't play, and won something like 8 in a row when all 3 did play.
So despite the fact that Nick was well short of his best during most of that period, and Bruce was also not really firing, we clearly we were a much better team with the 3 marking targets up there. The proof was in the pudding.
We were also 2nd to just Richmond for F50 tackles.
But then last year we lost Roo obviously, and then we only had Bruce for 3 games, and Paddy only played 13, so that structure that worked so well for us the year before took a big, big hit.
Also not helping was Skunk having the yips until R10.
Battle was good for a 3 game stretch, but then he too got injured and wasn't the same on his return.
And our defensive pressure up forward also dropped off significantly, just to make matters worse.
Basically our forwardline was a hot mess and the way we moved it in there also left a lot to be desired.
So if this year we have Bruce, Paddy and Skunk up there a lot more than we did last year and going well, it could help us improve a bunch- especially now that 6-6-6 is in play, which Paddy said after the game last week he loved (as it gave him a lot more 1-on-1's, for one)- and hopefully adding the Parker/Kent types, and possibly having Long and Lonie for much more of the year, will return our forward pressure to where it was.
Then last year we also basically carried Hunter Clark up there for more than half a season, when he really wasn't contributing enough, only had a fully fit Long for about 8 weeks, had Mav up there doing just enough to not get dropped, and a down-on-form Newnes playing a big chunk of the season there, etc.
This year on the other hand it's hard to see us carrying anyone up there like we did Hunter, unless we've been crunched by injuries, and hopefully a Kent/Parker or both will be an upgrade on Mav, and we'll have good Lonie for a full season, not just a month, etc.
I reckon we could just about field two forwardlines this year that would be about the equivalent of the sort of one we had for most weeks last year, which suggests it has the scope to be significantly better overall:
Gresham Marshall Acres
Kent Membrey Long
Lonie Bruce Parker
Billings McCartin Sinclair/Clark
Other options: Battle, Newnes, Young, Paton, eventually King.
I imagine if you offered WB either of those forwardlines this week they'd just about snap your hand off.
If we're not hard hit by injuries there and the likely improvements in our front half don't equal more wins, then something will have to have gone horribly awry elsewhere.
Forward lines are completely overrated in today’s footy unless you have stars or close to it. None of our marking players are close to stars. Gresh is but people want him in the middle. Billings maybe but people want him on the wing. The rest are ordinary but that doesn’t matter either way if our mids continue to be ordinary. Our biggest weakness is the midfield but all areas are average. You win 4 games because of all round weakness.