Why so many mid sized forwards?

[FAIRANDBALANCED]

I was just wondering if you guys are seeing the same thing as I do with Melbourne. You have an abundance of talented mid sized forwards, but very few true small forwards or tall forwards.
There is Jurrah, Green, Petterd, Sylvia, Howe, Bate and Dunn, I guess you could nearly throw Watts into that group as well. How can you expect to field these same 7 or 8 guys every week when you only have 6 spots up forward? And then when these guys get a run in the middle, they are beaten by pure midfielders.
I just can't for the life of me work out why Melbourne hasn't traded a little more. Guys like Dunn, Bate and Sylvia are great trade bait when you already have Howe, Watts, Petterd and Jurrah on your list for the future. Sylvia especially, I think he has proven over time that he is not a quality ball getting midfielder.
Having a quality mid sized fwd who is good in the air is a great thing for contenders (Darling, Walker, MaCaffer was, Gunston should be) but all of the top sides have only one or two.
It doesn't make sense to me why every time a young Melbourne draftee debuts, they are a mid sized flanker type. I think this is the reason your midfield is not improving.
With Scully gone, I can only see Trengove and Gysberts as young quality draft picks who look to be ball getting midfielders. Surely this is poor drafting and trading?

 

[rhaz]

Sylvia plays through the midfield whether you like what he does there or not, so no point putting him on the list. Bate isn't playing forward this year, he is being trialled in the midfield, it isn't working so if he is in the round 1 team ill be disappointed. Jurrah isn't playing at the moment. Dunn was the sub and came on for Howe tonight. So yeah, we dont actually field those 7-8 guys every week but fair enough.

Watts is meant to be a tall forward and will get there. Cook was a 1st rounder KPF prospect who is taking his time, like they do. Clark was recruited to be a tall forward. Stefan Martin is playing there this year. We're missing a crumber yes but i'm hoping Howe will 'play tall' whilst Petterd will 'play small'. Tall forwards dont grow on trees and good crumbers are hard to come by. How many Milnes are there going around? NOT MANY.

 

[deeman87]

meh its a fair point and im sure we're all aware of it. maybe we will scrap a few this year and draft some genuine tall forwardss/midfielders. our recruiting has been pretty pretty average for as long as i can remember.

 

[Jordie_tackles]

I was just wondering if you guys are seeing the same thing as I do with Melbourne. You have an abundance of talented mid sized forwards, but very few true small forwards or tall forwards.
There is Jurrah, Green, Petterd, Sylvia, Howe, Bate and Dunn, I guess you could nearly throw Watts into that group as well. How can you expect to field these same 7 or 8 guys every week when you only have 6 spots up forward? And then when these guys get a run in the middle, they are beaten by pure midfielders.
I just can't for the life of me work out why Melbourne hasn't traded a little more. Guys like Dunn, Bate and Sylvia are great trade bait when you already have Howe, Watts, Petterd and Jurrah on your list for the future. Sylvia especially, I think he has proven over time that he is not a quality ball getting midfielder.
Having a quality mid sized fwd who is good in the air is a great thing for contenders (Darling, Walker, MaCaffer was, Gunston should be) but all of the top sides have only one or two.
It doesn't make sense to me why every time a young Melbourne draftee debuts, they are a mid sized flanker type. I think this is the reason your midfield is not improving.
With Scully gone, I can only see Trengove and Gysberts as young quality draft picks who look to be ball getting midfielders. Surely this is poor drafting and trading?

I would expect a few of Dunn, Bate, Petterd and Sylvia to be floated around at years end. Maybe the 2 who are not working obviously.

But as mentioned Bate and Petterd and Sylvia all do work through the midfield atm

 

[Enforcer25]

Bate and Dunn not worth much at all.
Nor Green, if we're honest.

Jurrah can crumb like the best smalls, Howe will be a star, Sylvia will play more in the middle and Petterd is too good to let go unless we get something really good in return.

Watts is slated for a Buddy Franklin-like tall forward role (as opposed to the Travis Cloke style), and still just needs to put on more size, and gain more strength.

 

[FAIRANDBALANCED]

Bate and Dunn not worth much at all.
Nor Green, if we're honest.

Jurrah can crumb like the best smalls, Howe will be a star, Sylvia will play more in the middle and Petterd is too good to let go unless we get something really good in return.

Watts is slated for a Buddy Franklin-like tall forward role (as opposed to the Travis Cloke style), and still just needs to put on more size, and gain more strength.

To me Sylvia is not smart enough to play as a midfielder, both with creativity and knowing where to go to get the ball. He can pinch hit but he hasn't shown that he can play a full season in the middle and be a very good player yet, and he is now 26 years old.
If you gave up trying to turn him into something he is not, and just made him a most-of-the-time-forward, then i think he would be one of the better mid sized forwards in the comp. But by trying to turn him into a mid, it doesn't get the best out of him. And you wouldn't need to turn him into a mid if guys like Petterd, Bate and Dunn were traded for pure midfielders.

Clearly the problem with Melbourne is the midfield and the forward line pressure. There are not enough good and class ballwinners in the middle, and there are not enough super quick and tough players up forward to lock the ball in.

Instead of trying to fit in Petterd, Dunn, Sylvia, Howe and Green, it would be so much easier if you just went with Howe and Sylvia, but because they are all talented, they play every week, but I think it's what makes Melbourne unbalanced.
You can't just play players when they don't have a position because they are talented.
Something like,

Davey, Martin (resting ruck), Howe
Watts, Clarke, Jetta perhaps?

This is still a good forward line that could develop very well together, and you don't have any of Sylvia, Petterd, Dunn, Bate or Green. there is a surplus here that should've been recognised and an attractive player should have been offered up for trade (Petterd or Sylvia, Bate prob no takers, but Dunn might have). Now even though you know Petterd and Sylvia are likely to come out and be stars at their new team, you still have Watts and Howe who can be stars for your team. But essentially they will be playing similar roles.

The stunning thing to me is that Addam Maric looks to be a good small forward in the making, and he was the one you guys let go. I just don't understand the list management at Melbourne.

 

[Ando727]

It means there is competition for spots so that might promote the development of some of them. The ones who don't make the grade will be cut, a couple might be depth players.

 

[Djcjdees]

To me Sylvia is not smart enough to play as a midfielder, both with creativity and knowing where to go to get the ball. He can pinch hit but he hasn't shown that he can play a full season in the middle and be a very good player yet, and he is now 26 years old.
If you gave up trying to turn him into something he is not, and just made him a most-of-the-time-forward, then i think he would be one of the better mid sized forwards in the comp. But by trying to turn him into a mid, it doesn't get the best out of him. And you wouldn't need to turn him into a mid if guys like Petterd, Bate and Dunn were traded for pure midfielders.

Clearly the problem with Melbourne is the midfield and the forward line pressure. There are not enough good and class ballwinners in the middle, and there are not enough super quick and tough players up forward to lock the ball in.

Instead of trying to fit in Petterd, Dunn, Sylvia, Howe and Green, it would be so much easier if you just went with Howe and Sylvia, but because they are all talented, they play every week, but I think it's what makes Melbourne unbalanced.
You can't just play players when they don't have a position because they are talented.
Something like,

Davey, Martin (resting ruck), Howe
Watts, Clarke, Jetta perhaps?

This is still a good forward line that could develop very well together, and you don't have any of Sylvia, Petterd, Dunn, Bate or Green. there is a surplus here that should've been recognised and an attractive player should have been offered up for trade (Petterd or Sylvia, Bate prob no takers, but Dunn might have). Now even though you know Petterd and Sylvia are likely to come out and be stars at their new team, you still have Watts and Howe who can be stars for your team. But essentially they will be playing similar roles.

The stunning thing to me is that Addam Maric looks to be a good small forward in the making, and he was the one you guys let go. I just don't understand the list management at Melbourne.

Agree with your comment on Maric. Seemed to know where the goals were when he finally actually got given a game, and not a green vest. As soon as we got flogged, he'd get relegated from the sub vest to Casey, play well there, we get flogged and he's back on the bench again. The only small forward we had, we got rid of