You can not win a premiership without an elite midfield

[go_the_dockers]

There appears to be a number of post suggesting we should draft KPD or KPF. Freo have never had an elite midfield, and with out one success will continue to elude us.

We have Silvagni, Anthony, McPharlin and Faulks as backs. McPhee is apparently going to play as a third tall.

Our forward line with Clarke, Clark and Pavlich + Mayne, Ballantyne looks good. (Yes i am assuming we trade for Clark)

Until we get an elite midfield that includes 3 guns + 2 or 3 good midfielders who play a role + 3 or 4 good depth midfielders we wont win a premiership.

We have Barlow, Mundy, Hill, Fyfe, Morabito, Pitt??, De Boer??

I also think having upto 12 players running through the middle will stop our last quarter fade out, as our best 2-3 midfielders will have more rest therefore will have the energy to turn the game when needed.

I accept we could use an extra forward, but teams have won premierships with out great forward lines and the cats did a good job of trading in two key forwards.

 

[Leslie_Chow]

Well we wont be getting any great midfielders out of this draft, especially at out pick. The only exception being O'Meara, who will be elite but doubt we will get him.

 

[13then7]

The thread I was going to start!

Midfield depth is what we need. Not that there are any as good as Barlow but there are many players plying there trade week in week out in lower levels of football around the country that would do anything for a chance at the next level.

Just look outside the box and not always at these 17-18yo kids.

 

[Clay Davis]

The problem is, after 4 years of drafting pretty much solely midfielders, we should have the ingredients of our elite midfield already there. If we don't, we've stuffed up big time.

You look at the Geelong side that's dominated the past few years, and the majority of their high possession winning elite mids have come from the two drafts - 99 (Corey, Ling, Chapman) and 01 (Bartel, Kelly, Ablett, Johnson).

Jury is out on whether we've had that kind of strike rate, hopefully 08-09 is that for us.

 

[free at last]

Mundy is an A grader IMO.
Fyfe will become an A grader next year IMO.
Barlow is super solid , don't know if he will reach elite due to broken leg IMO.
Mora as above.
If hilly can get a heap more protection and learn to beat a hard tag, he has displayed all the tools to become an elite outside mid IMO.
Pitt similar to hilly but not quite as confident.
We lack a Joel selwood , sam Mitchell , Lenny Hayes , simon black type of mid.
O'meara would be a perfect addition to our midfield , sadly I can't see us getting him now. Sheedy will bar us.

 

[theGav56]

Mundy is an A grader IMO.
Fyfe will become an A grader next year IMO.
Barlow is super solid , don't know if he will reach elite due to broken leg IMO.
Mora as above.
If hilly can get a heap more protection and learn to beat a hard tag, he has displayed all the tools to become an elite outside mid IMO.
Pitt similar to hilly but not quite as confident.
We lack a Joel selwood , sam Mitchell , Lenny Hayes , simon black type of mid.
O'meara would be a perfect addition to our midfield , sadly I can't see us getting him now. Sheedy will bar us.

Yes. That is 5 players who you would be confident that at the end of their careers would be regarded as B+ or better players, with Mundy and Fyfe already A graders. As well as that Fyfe, Hill and Morabitto have the potential to be elite.

Palmer should have been the grunt midfielder, but grunt can be found at any stage of the draft, and we have players like Suban who may be able to be coached into that role.

 

[yakka man]

Yes. That is 5 players who you would be confident that at the end of their careers would be regarded as B+ or better players, with Mundy and Fyfe already A graders. As well as that Fyfe, Hill and Morabitto have the potential to be elite.

Palmer should have been the grunt midfielder, but grunt can be found at any stage of the draft, and we have players like Suban who may be able to be coached into that role.

So you don't rate Barlow as an A grade midfielder? For goodness sake the guy was second favourite for the Brownlow in his first year before he had one of the worst injuries possible. He will kill it this pre-season and star next year.

I do agree with Clay, if the nucleus of our midfield is not there already we are in trouble. We still have a way to go in terms of player development.

 

[george2]

There appears to be a number of post suggesting we should draft KPD or KPF. Freo have never had an elite midfield, and with out one success will continue to elude us.

We have Silvagni, Anthony, McPharlin and Faulks as backs. McPhee is apparently going to play as a third tall.

Our forward line with Clarke, Clark and Pavlich + Mayne, Ballantyne looks good. (Yes i am assuming we trade for Clark)

Until we get an elite midfield that includes 3 guns + 2 or 3 good midfielders who play a role + 3 or 4 good depth midfielders we wont win a premiership.

We have Barlow, Mundy, Hill, Fyfe, Morabito, Pitt??, De Boer??

I also think having upto 12 players running through the middle will stop our last quarter fade out, as our best 2-3 midfielders will have more rest therefore will have the energy to turn the game when needed.

I accept we could use an extra forward, but teams have won premierships with out great forward lines and the cats did a good job of trading in two key forwards.

Forward line worries me. Pav probably only has 1 or two good years left in him, zac clarke is a ruckman and will always be a better ruckman than forward so will be wasted in the forward line full time, mitch clark we dont have yet but still hasn't really proven that he can be a main focal point in the forward line. so in my opinion we still need to recruit a kpf with our first pick that can step in when pav retires straight away and have an impact. second pick should be on an inside mid/ clearance specialist (Clay Smith would be a goodpick if still around).

The most successful clubs ie Geelong Collingwood haven't traded for players, they have drafted well. i wish we could just do the same rather that keep on trading in players to plug the holes.

 

[shibz_1989]

I thought we had one? Just that they were all injured...

 

[theGav56]

So you don't rate Barlow as an A grade midfielder? For goodness sake the guy was second favourite for the Brownlow in his first year before he had one of the worst injuries possible. He will kill it this pre-season and star next year.

I do agree with Clay, if the nucleus of our midfield is not there already we are in trouble. We still have a way to go in terms of player development.

Rating players only ever works based on their most recent form. Barlow may or may not be A grade again. He wasn't this year, neither was Hill.

 

[longsuffreosupp]

You cant win one without playing contested football. See the Collingwood v Hawthorn game - majority of the game long kicks to contests.

Need tallish strong midfielders that can play one on one, mark and have the capacity to kick a goal.

 

[free at last]

You cant win one without playing contested football. See the Collingwood v Hawthorn game - majority of the game long kicks to contests.

Need tallish strong midfielders that can play one on one, mark and have the capacity to kick a goal.

mundy , barlow , mora & fyfe all fit that bill. fyfe is probably close to the best marking mid going round IMO.

We fall down in the contested footy IMO. We lack that hardnosed mid like , ball , lewis , selwood , kerr , hayes. Yep we do have lower & de boer , but they are not in same league & will never get to that level.

 

[DizzyHB]

Mundy, Barlow, Fyfe, Hill, Morabito - A Graders.
De Boer, Lower, Mzungu, Suban, Broughton - Solid, contested ball winners. All with defensive attributes and an ability to beat an opponent.
Lyon has mentioned Ballantyne possibly spending more time in the midfield, this can only mean more opponents around for Ballas to niggle.

Then we've got past-draftees that havn't established themselves yet for one reason or another:
Bollenhagen - Potential B+ grader. Questions on his attitude but the tools are there, new coach could help.
Crichton - Didn't have a great year this year but he loves the contest and can find the ball.
Michie - Lyon has already mentioned Viv I few times and I'm happy to hear it. Reminds me a lot of Hase.
Pitt - Elite potential, of the Mundy/Pendlebury variety.
Walters - Obviously doesn't have the tank right now, the ability is there, but he may be restricted to the forward-line until he works harder.

That's 5 A Graders, another 5 solid B/B+ Graders, Ballas could join either group IMO. Another 5 who have to push their way into the team.

That's 16 midfielders without mentioning Ibbotson, Roberton, Mellington, Crowley or JVB.

I'd personally like Kersten with our first pick or a KPB, I think we can trust our recruiters to find more midfield talent from the second round onwards.

 

[theGav56]

The most successful clubs ie Geelong Collingwood haven't traded for players, they have drafted well. i wish we could just do the same rather that keep on trading in players to plug the holes.

Geelong and Collingwood have both traded for critical weaknesses in their makeup. So have the other members of this years top 4. Once you are in Premiership contention it becomes more difficult because your salary cap is pretty full, but if either of those teams needed a key player, they would go hard at them.

 

[theGav56]

I'd personally like Kersten with our first pick or a KPB, I think we can trust our recruiters to find more midfield talent from the second round onwards.

Too much hanging on what happens with Clark and what picks we have after that. At pick 16 it seems from Phantom Drafts that some decent KPP's will be available, and they are from WA too. But if we do have Clark, I'd look at a Defender.

 

[Nickos66]

I agree, and one thing I agree we're lacking is hard ballwinning inside accumulators like Priddis, Boyd, Hayes, Mitchell etc.

 

[Cameron_K]

In my opinion Broughton could become that player.

 

[13then7]

There is a big difference between A graders and potential A graders.

A graders are those that turn up week in week out and perform over 4-5 and more years. Guys like Fyfe, Hill, Morabito and Barlow could be A graders but it is a bit premature to put them in that category.

You still need to continue bolstering this area. Morabito (knee) and Barlow (we all saw it) are guys that could go either way after their injuries. Hill again showed what injuries can do.

Fyfe is a dead set champ but is also having shoulder concerns.

I am just cautious of calling them A graders cause anything could happen. Think Palmer.

 

[Patty_Moz]

IMO the sad truth is we are lacking in all areas KPF, KPD and quality contested footy midfielder that has some pace.

KPD seems to have some options however many are yet to be proven. Mcpharlin has been very injury prone in the past and who knows how his future will be but he is our only elite KPD. Of the rest Silvani has shown a bit but is far from elite Scarlet, Glass type and Grover has always been serviceable even though he is quite undersized. Anthony and Faulks are both unproven to this stage but give some options Faulks is probly undersized as a true KPD for the afl. Johnson can only be used as thrid tall option but there are options back there. Sounds like Mcphee will be back there next season as well.

The midfield does have options but really depends on how the second tier players come along and as others have said we have drafted so heavily in this area that if we havent got them already then I dont think we will.
Mundy is A grade.
Half a season from Barlow, 1 from Fyfe and bits and pieces from Hill and Mora doesnt put them in the A grade category yet but they definitely have the potential to be elite and hopefully can show it under Lyon. If all play to their potential then IMO that would be a core group of midfielders comparable to Swan, Pendle, Thomas, Ball, Wellingham etc, but they need to improve. The best thing about our group is that they are not one paced but a very good spread of speeds but lacking a fast, strong contested ball winner.
The next tier of players also need to find some improvement with Lower, Mzungu, Crichton, DeBoer have all shown bits but need to do it week in week out but all those guys are good ball winners. Something elite could develop out of Pitt, Michie and Mellington but they are all far from elite midfielders at afl level yet. Suban and Broughton are other possibilities but may be better suited to defensive roles but there are definitely options in this area. Ballas, Bollenhagen, Walters, VB are other options.
Also quality mids can often be found later in the draft.

Houghton being delisted means there is only Pav as a KPF. Clark would help a bit but there isnt anything for the future and Clark isnt in the team yet. I think it is obvious that this is the area that we need to look at most as if Pav goes down even with Clark we are screwed so a KPF should be taken now and developed for the future.

 

[Righteo]

In my opinion Broughton could become that player.

The problem I see with that though is that we are already lacking shutdown small defenders, a role which Broughton has proven to be useful at in the past. Considering our tendency to get r*ped by small fowards I think that's one area we can't really afford to be further weakened in.

Although Broughton has shown he can be more than adequate playing in the midfield, I still feel we have some other options to play that role on our list, whereas when it comes to small defenders we have no existing players on our list capable of filling that role other than Broughton.

 

[PapaJ]

Rating players only ever works based on their most recent form. Barlow may or may not be A grade again. He wasn't this year, neither was Hill.

I agree with this. On most recent form Barlow looked very average TBH. He may well come good again, hope so, but being brutal about it, we don't really know and wont until probably the 2012 season.

Anyway, I agree with OP and many through this thread, the big issue is the midfield. When we were all fit and firing early last year, it was out midfield which looked sharp - but it's thin in depth, has a few inconsistent players running through there and probably a top ball winner short of being up with the big boys.

A well organised defence can make it as long as you've got a couple of good key backs (Elivs & SNOS). Fwd zone needs 1 or 2 powerful contested marks (Pav & Clarke?) and a good sml (Frodo/Walters?) and you'll get by as long as they know how to pressure - the midfield is where it's won or lost, simple as that.

 

[Moo]

I agree I see the midfield as a priority - a Sewell type would be lovely.

I hope we get Clark and target a mid if possible - would love to see Michie and Pitt take a massive step up next season.

 

[Taylor]

It would be nice to get a couple of top five picks to build our team around in one year. Roughhead/Franklin, Reiwoldt/Kosi, Thomas/Pendlebury...

Purely on that record, Melbourne were due for a grand final up until Scully left.

 

[Jezzitizle]

not sure if we will have any players turn into superstars in the off season, but would expect to see a smaller gap in consistancy and application next year from our best and our worst. And personally Im confident Barlow will be back to his best. Really when he came back it was only soreness and touch that let him down, and a touch off the pace with getting rid of it. But he still found the ball and got in the right spots.

 

[estibador]

It would be nice to get a couple of top five picks to build our team around in one year. Roughhead/Franklin, Reiwoldt/Kosi, Thomas/Pendlebury...

Well we got 3 top 5 picks in one year and we still managed to **** it up.

Not the picks themselves (though Glass over Brown would've been nice since they were the two we were tossing up between), just every single other part of building the team.