Slow midfield

[Smoking Aces]

You do need someone with a burst from congestion. De Goey, Oliver, Petracca, Dusty and Chimp at their peaks, Warner. McClug and Bailey are not slow and both burst.

Prestia was also elite in this space. Unfortunately injuries and age has caught up with him.

This is why Bolton is so important to us. As much as we would all love him to play more forward we need him more in the midfield.

 

[MD Jazz]

That’s more of a hard running midfield than a pacy one.

I still think most of you blokes are way too enamoured with the thought or fantasy of a pacy midfield when the truth is every midfield in the comp has their share of slower players going through there. Hard 2 way running is much more important than having express pace at the coal face. During our dynasty we were by far the quickest side in the comp, by far - our midfield was Cotchin, Prestia and Dusty, all 3 exceptional runners but none of them express pace

Dogs - The bont, McRae, Treloar
Dees - petracca, Oliver
Pies - Pendles, Sidebottom, Mitchell- last year they had Adams, DeGoey is explosive, Daicos brothers aren’t super quick
Brisbane - Neale, mcClugage, Bailey, Berry, Dunkley are all slow
Carlton - Cripps, Kennedy, Acres, Hewett, Cera are all slow
GWS - Kelly, Caniglio, Green

Do I need to go on? Midfield is about hard 2 way running not pace, you need pace on the outside off HB, wings and fwd.

Are you suggesting Petracca and Oliver are slow? They are bloody quick and Treloar still has pace

 

[Leysy Days]

That’s more of a hard running midfield than a pacy one.

I still think most of you blokes are way too enamoured with the thought or fantasy of a pacy midfield when the truth is every midfield in the comp has their share of slower players going through there. Hard 2 way running is much more important than having express pace at the coal face. During our dynasty we were by far the quickest side in the comp, by far - our midfield was Cotchin, Prestia and Dusty, all 3 exceptional runners but none of them express pace

Dogs - The bont, McRae, Treloar
Dees - petracca, Oliver
Pies - Pendles, Sidebottom, Mitchell- last year they had Adams, DeGoey is explosive, Daicos brothers aren’t super quick
Brisbane - Neale, mcClugage, Bailey, Berry, Dunkley are all slow
Carlton - Cripps, Kennedy, Acres, Hewett, Cera are all slow
GWS - Kelly, Caniglio, Green

Do I need to go on? Midfield is about hard 2 way running not pace, you need pace on the outside off HB, wings and fwd.

Yep, we're one the same page.

As Leysy said in his post - Must be able to transition up and down the ground i.e. hard running.

Most (not all) of the guys you mentioned can. Sidebottom, Daicos x 2, Neale, McCluggage, Bailey, Acres, etc etc etc.

Do you think our midfield is hard running and can cover the ground well enough?

 

[spook]

Prestia was also elite in this space. Unfortunately injuries and age has caught up with him.

This is why Bolton is so important to us. As much as we would all love him to play more forward we need him more in the midfield.

If not Bolton perhaps a Rioli or two. And in time, McAuliffe and maybe even Trezise.

 

[tony_montana]

Yep, we're one the same page.

As Leysy said in his post - Must be able to transition up and down the ground i.e. hard running.

Most (not all) of the guys you mentioned can. Sidebottom, Daicos x 2, Neale, McCluggage, Bailey, Acres, etc etc etc.

Do you think our midfield is hard running and can cover the ground well enough?

Yep fair point, Taranto, Macca and Graham gut run as well as anyone. I think Dow is an underrated runner, Seth is an aerobic beast so will give a chop out playing high HF, question is can Prestia and Hopper do it? That will determine the answer as a collectiveI reckon

 

[tha8ball]

Slaughtered yesterday. Absolutely slaughtered.

What’s the right mix??? TT was horrible and gets around at turtle pace. Prestia looks cooked. Hopper was a pass because he hit the scoreboard.

Bolton needs to be in there… is it time for Rioli to spend some time in there? Maybe both Riolis? Cupboard looks pretty bare.

Need to fix this up asap.

 

[btoz_01]

Every time I see Prestia Taranto Hopper at centre bounce I just know the other team will run clear the ball

 

[The_General]

This. Jesus Wept this.

I'd maybe move a Rioli to the middle for some pace if we're not going to play Bolton here. The Suns just ran past us all over the ground.

We need some big bodies, but someone has to be able to get the ball and get out of the pack.

 

[Smoking Aces]

Taranto and Hopper cannot play in the midfield together. Stats show our clearances numbers are in the negative region when they do.

Taranto without Hopper is a vastly different outcome. Plus 100 clearances.

We have to get the midfield mix right.

For me is Taranto Shai and Martin as our starting three.

 

[DavidSSS]

Taranto and Hopper cannot play in the midfield together. Stats show our clearances numbers are in the negative region when they do.

Taranto without Hopper is a vastly different outcome. Plus 100 clearances.

We have to get the midfield mix right.

For me is Taranto Shai and Martin as our starting three.

This.

Tarranto and Hopper need to swap being in the middle.

We need a mix of pace, grunt and defence in the middle. It is possible, maybe Tarranto, Bolton and Pickett; swap with Hopper, D Rioli and Graham; and a few more options to circulate players through the middle. Should add in Ross, maybe MRj, Dusty of course, and a few others.

DS

 

[momentai]

If not Bolton perhaps a Rioli or two. And in time, McAuliffe and maybe even Trezise.

Don’t worry about ‘in time’.
I would like to see him there next Thursday.

 

[TimeToRoar]

This.

Tarranto and Hopper need to swap being in the middle.

We need a mix of pace, grunt and defence in the middle. It is possible, maybe Tarranto, Bolton and Pickett; swap with Hopper, D Rioli and Graham; and a few more options to circulate players through the middle. Should add in Ross, maybe MRj, Dusty of course, and a few others.

DS

Smoking Aces and DavidSSS hit the nail on the head. Our midfield is too one dimensional. We can have the best forwards in the league but if it does not get down there what’s the point. 6-6-6 has made it more imperative to get the midfield mix right as you cannot have the spare set up in defence from the centre bounce.

Need to have a burst player, a run with/tagger and an extractor at most centre contests. Set up by attributes/skill set complement. Leave ego’s at the door.

Burst player - Bolton / D Rioli / Baker(?) / Dusty / Moju(?). Get it and run. Fast and evasive.
Tagger - Graham / McAuliffe (?) / Lefau (fast and hurt factor?). Do we have any to shut down the oppo best or at least mitigate their influence? See what Rowell did to us. Tank and big body but footy brain not to give dumb free kicks away.
Extractor - Taranto / Hopper / Prestia / Dow / Ross. Get it to the burst players. Bash and Crash. Big body.

I know there’s more to footy than just this simplistic view, but having same attribute types in starting midfields leaves us exposed and watching ball sail into oppo forward 50 time after time.

 

[Ripplestick]

Slaughtered yesterday. Absolutely slaughtered.

What’s the right mix??? TT was horrible and gets around at turtle pace. Prestia looks cooked. Hopper was a pass because he hit the scoreboard.

Bolton needs to be in there… is it time for Rioli to spend some time in there? Maybe both Riolis? Cupboard looks pretty bare.

Need to fix this up asap.

Problem is we knew this last year and the new coaches went with the same set-up yesterday. Insanity. They had a whole pre-season. It was ground hog day to first round last year.

I'm staggered.

And playing Ryan, who plays 2 rucks anymore? That lasted a half a game.

 

[ToraToraTora]

I reckon the wheel has turned with the drafting of McAuliffe. Ooze will be all over this.

 

[tony_montana]

Are you suggesting Petracca and Oliver are slow? They are bloody quick and Treloar still has pace

Treloar is certainly not quick, hasnt been since he had the major hammies a few years back.

Petracca and Oliver arent slow but theyre certainly not express, theyre no quicker than a macca or pickett and those 2 are continually labelled slow around here.

 

[tony_montana]

You do need someone with a burst from congestion. De Goey, Oliver, Petracca, Dusty and Chimp at their peaks, Warner. McClug and Bailey are not slow and both burst.

McClug is slow as a wet week in every way you want to measure, Bailey I'll give you that a bit like Trac hes got a good initial burst

 

[Smoking Aces]

No Shai no midfield.

We just lack and sort of foot skills at our centre bounce stoppages. We have no zip in there.

It’s no coincidence today our game ebbed and flowed on how Shai played.

We need to address this area as our first priority.

 

[Danjam]

No Shai no midfield.

We just lack and sort of foot skills at our centre bounce stoppages. We have no zip in there.

It’s no coincidence today our game ebbed and flowed on how Shai played.

We need to address this area as our first priority.

Seth Campbell to potentially start pinch hitting in there? Could give us a bit more burst and class out of stoppage?

 

[Smoking Aces]

Seth Campbell to potentially start pinch hitting in there? Could give us a bit more burst and class out of stoppage?

Long term yes. Right now he provides the very little class we have forward of centre.

 

[Danjam]

Long term yes. Right now he provides the very little class we have forward of centre.

Would it be worth throwing him in the odd centre bounce to get him a bit of midfield exposure?