jackster83
The leader of the bunch.
This has been a bugbear of mine for a while. We simply lack competitiveness in the air.
This year we are ranked 17th for contested marking, and in recent weeks we've lost the contested mark count 20-4 and 12-5.
This follows from last year where we had games where we lost the contested marking count 16-7 (Essendon), 13-5 (West Coast), 11-3 (Carlton). These were all middling sides who absolutely smashed us aerially.
So what is the issue?
Recruiting short people is an factor - Rowe, McHenry, Jones, Parnell, Murphy, etc. but Porps was no taller than these guys and he was one of the best marks we ever had.
IMO the big problem is ROB, Himmelberg, Frampton, McAsey, Worrell, Fogarty and even Thilthorpe are all varying degrees of poor overhead. Even at SANFL level these guys get outmarked far too easily. We can't even halve the contest and bring the ball to ground. Some of these guys are still very young but I worry that they have such a poor technique, just adding a few kg's won't fix the issue.
It's not just contested marking either - we get lost on the lead too easily. Frampton in particular just stands there while his opponent takes an uncontested mark. Thilthorpe and Fog are guilty of this at the other end of the ground. The quality of our delivery inside 50 is atrocious, but even Murphy puts up more of a fight in the air than guys 20cm taller than him. Is there an issue of us not going hard enough? Quite possibly - Gollant at least has a crack at everything.
It's been a problem for as long as I can remember - the four pronged tall forward line that couldn't catch a cold in the GF, Tex with his infamous one handed attempts, Jenkins who would constantly play from behind and Hartigan who used to get falconed on a regular basis. Dangerfield was the last player we had who was decent overhead.
I don't think it's just an issue of drafting as these guys were at the very least decent in their draft year. Do we need a dedicated marking coach?
One thing that needs to happen is whoever is our ruckman needs to be ordered to not enter the forward 50, and to push back to help out the backs at every opportunity.
Thoughts?
This year we are ranked 17th for contested marking, and in recent weeks we've lost the contested mark count 20-4 and 12-5.
This follows from last year where we had games where we lost the contested marking count 16-7 (Essendon), 13-5 (West Coast), 11-3 (Carlton). These were all middling sides who absolutely smashed us aerially.
So what is the issue?
Recruiting short people is an factor - Rowe, McHenry, Jones, Parnell, Murphy, etc. but Porps was no taller than these guys and he was one of the best marks we ever had.
IMO the big problem is ROB, Himmelberg, Frampton, McAsey, Worrell, Fogarty and even Thilthorpe are all varying degrees of poor overhead. Even at SANFL level these guys get outmarked far too easily. We can't even halve the contest and bring the ball to ground. Some of these guys are still very young but I worry that they have such a poor technique, just adding a few kg's won't fix the issue.
It's not just contested marking either - we get lost on the lead too easily. Frampton in particular just stands there while his opponent takes an uncontested mark. Thilthorpe and Fog are guilty of this at the other end of the ground. The quality of our delivery inside 50 is atrocious, but even Murphy puts up more of a fight in the air than guys 20cm taller than him. Is there an issue of us not going hard enough? Quite possibly - Gollant at least has a crack at everything.
It's been a problem for as long as I can remember - the four pronged tall forward line that couldn't catch a cold in the GF, Tex with his infamous one handed attempts, Jenkins who would constantly play from behind and Hartigan who used to get falconed on a regular basis. Dangerfield was the last player we had who was decent overhead.
I don't think it's just an issue of drafting as these guys were at the very least decent in their draft year. Do we need a dedicated marking coach?
One thing that needs to happen is whoever is our ruckman needs to be ordered to not enter the forward 50, and to push back to help out the backs at every opportunity.
Thoughts?