With so many HB/Medium backs, can we boost the midfield

[SellarStardom]

We are seeing the transition of Rory Laird from a small back to midfielder and have wanted the same from Brodie Smith for a while. However, this robs us of the small to medium defender who can play on the tricky small to medium forwards.

On the flip side we have a plethora of the third tall types. Lever, Kelly, Otten, Cheney, Doedee and Keith (although Keith is more the big back type). It had me thinking, can these guys move to the midfield. Otten was always drafted as a mid, but is so damn good down back.

Kelly - an absolute bull with a massive tank that this year has shown and ability to find the ball. As an inside mid he could be fantastic as he can extract the ball in a pack so well. His disposal has been in the 80% this preseason, why not have a big midfielder in the mix

Lever - was always an obvious one for the big midfielder role, but does he have the legs. Certainly has the brains and beast components and if Otten keeps performing the two of them could be interesting

 

[marty36]

No its just an error in recruitment strategy as HB flankers are easier to find and its showing how we are lacking in the mid

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Really good question and will be interesting to watch. Seeing players transition from one area of the ground to a more influential area of the ground is a real measure of the quality of the player and of the coaching group. It is development personified.

If Cameron can go from small forward to wing, Atkins from wingman to inside/outside mid, Smith/Laird from HBF to part-time or full-time midfielders it gives us greater depth and flexibility, not to mention opens up opportunities to ease in players like Menzel, Poholke, Gallucci, Doedee.

 

[Scorpus]

It's interesting just how many players we have that can, have or will play half back. There's almost an entire team.

B Lever - FB - Brown
HB Cheney - HB - Doedee
C Smith - Laird - Seedsman
HF Mackay - HF - Atkins
F FP - FF - FP
R Ruck - Hampton - Douglas
I Kelly - Otten - Wigg - Keath

We could realistically field a team where only seven players have not played half back

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

We are seeing the transition of Rory Laird from a small back to midfielder and have wanted the same from Brodie Smith for a while. However, this robs us of the small to medium defender who can play on the tricky small to medium forwards.

On the flip side we have a plethora of the third tall types. Lever, Kelly, Otten, Cheney, Doedee and Keith (although Keith is more the big back type). It had me thinking, can these guys move to the midfield. Otten was always drafted as a mid, but is so damn good down back.

Kelly - an absolute bull with a massive tank that this year has shown and ability to find the ball. As an inside mid he could be fantastic as he can extract the ball in a pack so well. His disposal has been in the 80% this preseason, why not have a big midfielder in the mix

Lever - was always an obvious one for the big midfielder role, but does he have the legs. Certainly has the brains and beast components and if Otten keeps performing the two of them could be interesting

Using Laird & Smith more through the midfield just means we will see more midfielders rotate through hbf. E.g. We saw Douglas, Cameron & Menzel all spend periods in defence.

 

[Geoffa32]

I personally see flankers as mids already.

Guys like Laird, Smith, Cameron, Eddie, Milera, Menzel, Atkins Lynch etc can all be denoted as flankers or small forwards (Eddie) but they will all spend time at stoppages whether it be at a centre bounce or boundary throw ins.





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[marty36]

I personally see flankers as mids already.

Guys like Laird, Smith, Cameron, Eddie, Milera, Menzel, Atkins Lynch etc can all be denoted as flankers or small forwards (Eddie) but they will all spend time at stoppages whether it be at a centre bounce or boundary throw ins.





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Most players can play as mids, even lynch could play as a mid. We saw Pavlich go I to the mid on occasions

But then you have very good mids that destroy teams or win you games like Danger or Sloane or even bcrouch

 

[Peter Doherty]

Laird into the midfield also fixes Laird being just a little too short. The club have often stated they would love for him to be a few inches taller.

He's done such a good job undersized but there's always been a little of rolling the dice about it.

Long term Doedee will play midfield.

 

[GrommoT]

 

[marty36]

Laird into the midfield also fixes Laird being just a little too short. The club have often stated they would love for him to be a few inches taller.

He's done such a good job undersized but there's always been a little of rolling the dice about it.

Long term Doedee will play midfield.

Really Kane McGoodwin not overhyped

 

[Carmo]

Surprised no ones mentioned seedsman. Adequate at half back with speed and a good defensive mindset. Has some weapons if you wanted to use him around the ball, his kick being the obvious one, decent height, probably not as solid as you'd like but could work on that. Would demand that his opponent not leave him too loose, or he'd potentially be very damaging. Only prob is not great at finding a lot of the ball (yet).

 

[dogs105]

Laird and Smith were recruited as midfielders. Mark Ricciuto was AA in the back pocket in his first year. Tyson Edwards started at BP. McLeod started half forward then went to half back. Goodwin started at half back. Those last four were (obviously) genuine guns.

Also, Kane Johnson was CHB in under 18s.

Don't think anyone was complaining about using a zone selection on a back pocket when Roo started there. The recruiting policy is surely to recruit good footballers. Some of them will play in the midfield.

 

[DD#23]

Surprised no ones mentioned seedsman. Adequate at half back with speed and a good defensive mindset. Has some weapons if you wanted to use him around the ball, his kick being the obvious one, decent height, probably not as solid as you'd like but could work on that. Would demand that his opponent not leave him too loose, or he'd potentially be very damaging. Only prob is not great at finding a lot of the ball (yet).

injuries last year, injuries in preseason, he's the forgotten man at the moment.

he'd likely be in the Round 1 side if he'd been fit all this time.

 

[TheLeftFist8]

Surprised no ones mentioned seedsman. Adequate at half back with speed and a good defensive mindset. Has some weapons if you wanted to use him around the ball, his kick being the obvious one, decent height, probably not as solid as you'd like but could work on that. Would demand that his opponent not leave him too loose, or he'd potentially be very damaging. Only prob is not great at finding a lot of the ball (yet).

Seedsman's return could pave the way for Smith to spend much more time in the midfield.

 

[TheLeftFist8]

Players who I don't think would be full time mids but would be very interesting to see in small bursts would be McGovern, Beech and Lever...big bodies, great overhead, tough, presence.

 

[DD#23]

Players who I don't think would be full time mids but would be very interesting to see in small bursts would be McGovern, Beech and Lever...big bodies, great overhead, tough, presence.

McGovern is a boarderline no-brainer IMO

 

[SellarStardom]

But why wouldn't we consider Kelly in midfield. In the preseason (and I know its only preseason) he showed a fantastic ability to get in and under of packs and extract the ball. Runs hard and I would feel comfortable that he could bury himself in and not get pushed off the ball too easily. All the other mids like Atkins, Cameron and co are too light to go head to head with the likes of Kennedy, Danger and co. I would like to see the club have one more other than Sloane that could go in and under (excl. Thompson and Brouch for obvious reasons)

 

[earlsta]

With the game style that we play.. one of the most important aspects of our mids is to have defensive running capabilities and pace.
Of course for finals contested ball winning ability is vital but pace and closing speed is extremely vital to the make up of our team.

People need to hold on and back our kids in, because we can change a losing situation into a winner. If our opponents that win contested ball and our structures are right then you'd expect the ball carriers to be under extreme pressure and cough up a mistake in our back half.
If we get a turn over in our back half then the other team better be prepared because you know what's coming, nobody moves the ball faster than we do.

It's one of the reasons they're backing Charlie to play midfield.. his manic pressure.So what if he gets 15-20 touches a game.. that's perfectly fine in the role he's going to be playing in our team. Our midfielders won't be chipping the ball around this year they go in a precise direct line towards our goal front. Another reason why I'm looking forward to watching Hampton play in the middle this year, go have a look at his closing speed, he'd be right up there with Cameron.

 

[Captain Furious]

The way the game's played now with zones and rotations etc. anyone not on the last line of defence and attack is a mid, even them sometimes. There's stoppages all over the ground, so everyone needs to be adept at clearances, the speed of the game dictates that who your opponent was at the centre bounce may not be 10 seconds later. Laird and Smith are two of our higher possession winners, regardless of whether or not they start in the centre square. Don't get too attached to where names are on team sheets, it's not how things work anymore.

 

[Geoffa32]

The way the game's played now with zones and rotations etc. anyone not on the last line of defence and attack is a mid, even them sometimes. There's stoppages all over the ground, so everyone needs to be adept at clearances, the speed of the game dictates that who your opponent was at the centre bounce may not be 10 seconds later. Laird and Smith are two of our higher possession winners, regardless of whether or not they start in the centre square. Don't get too attached to where names are on team sheets, it's not how things work anymore.

Tbis is the reason when I put a team up I now do it in three catagories.

Defenders
Mids/Flankers
Forwards.


The "Field Position" method is now redundant.

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[StonesThrow]

I like Laird in the middle and never really considered it tbh. He finds the ball easily, makes good decisions and is tough as nails as well as a good tackler.

I never really get on board with the whole 'big bodied mid' thing in regards to moving a defender to the midfield. However (as DD#23 mentioned) Gov seems like an obvious option. Tough, quick, smart and good skills.

Hampton looks like he will be an immediate option, which has really surprised me.

 

[Golumless]

With the game style that we play.. one of the most important aspects of our mids is to have defensive running capabilities and pace.
Of course for finals contested ball winning ability is vital but pace and closing speed is extremely vital to the make up of our team.

People need to hold on and back our kids in, because we can change a losing situation into a winner. If our opponents that win contested ball and our structures are right then you'd expect the ball carriers to be under extreme pressure and cough up a mistake in our back half.
If we get a turn over in our back half then the other team better be prepared because you know what's coming, nobody moves the ball faster than we do.

It's one of the reasons they're backing Charlie to play midfield.. his manic pressure.So what if he gets 15-20 touches a game.. that's perfectly fine in the role he's going to be playing in our team. Our midfielders won't be chipping the ball around this year they go in a precise direct line towards our goal front. Another reason why I'm looking forward to watching Hampton play in the middle this year, go have a look at his closing speed, he'd be right up there with Cameron.

We'd be laughing if that's his output per game.

It's really when he drops to <11 disposals that it gets a problem if he's a full time midfielder seeing it becomes a borderline non statistical role, and we don't want to destroy his confidence.

 

[WetCrow1991]

The beauty of rotating a number of players through the midfield is that it can start to get confusing for the opposition, I know it has worked on the Crows when teams have midfields that run deep.

 

[marty36]

The beauty of rotating a number of players through the midfield is that it can start to get confusing for the opposition, I know it has worked on the Crows when teams have midfields that run deep.

Do you think it will confuse Danger, Selwood and Motlop, or will they go on the merry way against a sub standard opponent

 

[Golumless]

The beauty of rotating a number of players through the midfield is that it can start to get confusing for the opposition, I know it has worked on the Crows when teams have midfields that run deep.

It's more about being adaptive then confusing the opposition.

I.e. if someone is getting beaten in the midfield, with more rotations/flexibility he can get into the game elsewhere.