08-09-2020, 10:30 AM
With the limitations on our list at the moment, we should be pretty happy. I'm not. I hate losing and we've had enough losing.
[1] We need to rest Cripps. Cripps had 8 clearances, 8 tackles, 19 possessions and is mistreated every week. That might not be his greatest form, but do we have anyone better to take his place?
I would really love to able to rest Cripps for a few weeks, to get his head right, to get his body right, to get his kicking for goal straightened out. Last year his goal kicking was much better than it has been at any time this year. His kicking is general has been considerably shorter, one of the reasons why I think he is not 100% fit. But, for God sake, look at what he does. He is still one of the clearance kings of the AFL even as he is.
[2] Our forward line. It has not been at its best this year, but no forward line has been. Many games have scores for entire games that used to be common in the first quarters.
(a) We are missing Harry McKay, Jack Silvagni, Charlie Curnow and Mitch McGovern: 4 of our 5 key forward options. We haven't had all of them available at any time this season. All of them have had form and/or injury issues.
The only taller forward we have had for the whole season is Levi Casboult and he has generally been playing well.
(b) Our small forwards have done better this year. Jack Martin has been an excellent pickup, and while his kicking for goal has been ordinary, he has provided us with the sort of thing we have needed for years.
Eddie Betts a cult hero, but even he is struggling for goals. Good as he is, he is much closer to his coaching career to kicking 70+ goals in a season again.
The rest have been mids passing through, like Gibbons, etc.
We caught the Weagles out with Fisher today and he proved good value. having seen that, I do not expect Fisher to kick many goals next round. I would put him on the ball or on the wing. He is unlikely to be able repeat his performance, but he could be very useful in another role, because he is a good player.
I would be tempted to play Honey forward next week. With Martin out, we have very little to lose in trying him out.
© Our rucks: in case you do not remember, Matthew Kreuzer, our best ruckman, was injured in Rd 1 and is unlikely to play this season. that takes a hell of a lot out of our midfield. When Kreuzer plays well, we usually win.
We have been very lucky that Pittonet has played as well as he has. I didn't think he had it in him, but he proved me wrong. But he is limited as a ruckman. The top rucks crap on him. We tried de Koning today and he looks to have a future, even with the mistakes he made in the last quarter.
But we are a long way behind in this department. Remember that. We do not yet have the ruck to win a premiership: Kreuzer may well be done, Pittonet is a good trier and de Koning isn't ready yet.
I'd be playing de Koning, especially in the next few weeks. He can only benefit from the experience.
{d) Our other mids are not dominating games. Not one of them. Cripps has been down and looks injured. The rest are trying to make a mark, and have improved a lot, but are not top mids yet. Nor do I know if they will ever be A-class mids. I think we could well do in poaching a top mid from another club.
Even with our mids not getting superior numbers, our clearances have generally been more effective this year. But we really need more of that and guys with some experience to stand up.
(e) Negative players: This is one of our biggest weaknesses. We have one, repeat ONE, player who can cut our star opposition mids. We need to be able to keep more of them out of the game, lest we get run over by 2nd raters like Sheed. We need to stop their best getting the ball and we can't.
(f) Our defence has been quite good this year, although it hasn't delivered as much run as it has in the past. Docherty started off providing it, but opposition clubs have woken up to that and have curbed his influence. Simmo is not getting any younger, although he is still going strong. Newman will miss the entire season, after providing huge amounts of run last year.
Weitering is defending beautifully, but not producing much drive and Jones has not been able to produce the drive he has in the last either.
SPS and Willo have been decent defenders, without setting the world on fire.
As teams appear to have 'worked out' our defence, I would be changing it. Cottell played well enough today. Give him a few games. Move SPS and Docherty into our centre square mix. Give them jobs and see how much run they can provide.
[3] In many ways we are very predictable in our setup. I would like to change this. I do not want opposition teams to know where our guys are going to play. This sort of thing can work, especially if it ruins opposition matchups. It worked today with Fisher.
Our list has been ravaged. It was badly damaged before we started with 4 players, 3 of our best, not being there at all. Take out 3 top players from any team and see how they handle it. Most do not.
Then take out our forward half and expect us to kick 100 points every week.
We were on a hiding to nothing when the season started. We have done better than I expected. We have beaten good teams and scared all of our opponents. That isn't bad for half a team.
There are things I would like to see from our recruiters, our coaches and our fitness people over the break:
<1> Get our whole list available. teams like Brisbane are good because they have their best players week after week.
<2> Get our coaching staff to be more adaptable. Make changes during the game. Mix the roles around. try players elsewhere if they are having a bad day. get them to play 4 quarters instead of 2 to 3.
<3> Get the sort of players we need to improve our list, by hook or by crook. We need to find the next top ruckman and get him into our colours. We need to get a top mid from elsewhere. We need to recruit like St. Kilda did last year: note where we were less than perfect and recruit to fix those problems.
[1] We need to rest Cripps. Cripps had 8 clearances, 8 tackles, 19 possessions and is mistreated every week. That might not be his greatest form, but do we have anyone better to take his place?
I would really love to able to rest Cripps for a few weeks, to get his head right, to get his body right, to get his kicking for goal straightened out. Last year his goal kicking was much better than it has been at any time this year. His kicking is general has been considerably shorter, one of the reasons why I think he is not 100% fit. But, for God sake, look at what he does. He is still one of the clearance kings of the AFL even as he is.
[2] Our forward line. It has not been at its best this year, but no forward line has been. Many games have scores for entire games that used to be common in the first quarters.
(a) We are missing Harry McKay, Jack Silvagni, Charlie Curnow and Mitch McGovern: 4 of our 5 key forward options. We haven't had all of them available at any time this season. All of them have had form and/or injury issues.
The only taller forward we have had for the whole season is Levi Casboult and he has generally been playing well.
(b) Our small forwards have done better this year. Jack Martin has been an excellent pickup, and while his kicking for goal has been ordinary, he has provided us with the sort of thing we have needed for years.
Eddie Betts a cult hero, but even he is struggling for goals. Good as he is, he is much closer to his coaching career to kicking 70+ goals in a season again.
The rest have been mids passing through, like Gibbons, etc.
We caught the Weagles out with Fisher today and he proved good value. having seen that, I do not expect Fisher to kick many goals next round. I would put him on the ball or on the wing. He is unlikely to be able repeat his performance, but he could be very useful in another role, because he is a good player.
I would be tempted to play Honey forward next week. With Martin out, we have very little to lose in trying him out.
© Our rucks: in case you do not remember, Matthew Kreuzer, our best ruckman, was injured in Rd 1 and is unlikely to play this season. that takes a hell of a lot out of our midfield. When Kreuzer plays well, we usually win.
We have been very lucky that Pittonet has played as well as he has. I didn't think he had it in him, but he proved me wrong. But he is limited as a ruckman. The top rucks crap on him. We tried de Koning today and he looks to have a future, even with the mistakes he made in the last quarter.
But we are a long way behind in this department. Remember that. We do not yet have the ruck to win a premiership: Kreuzer may well be done, Pittonet is a good trier and de Koning isn't ready yet.
I'd be playing de Koning, especially in the next few weeks. He can only benefit from the experience.
{d) Our other mids are not dominating games. Not one of them. Cripps has been down and looks injured. The rest are trying to make a mark, and have improved a lot, but are not top mids yet. Nor do I know if they will ever be A-class mids. I think we could well do in poaching a top mid from another club.
Even with our mids not getting superior numbers, our clearances have generally been more effective this year. But we really need more of that and guys with some experience to stand up.
(e) Negative players: This is one of our biggest weaknesses. We have one, repeat ONE, player who can cut our star opposition mids. We need to be able to keep more of them out of the game, lest we get run over by 2nd raters like Sheed. We need to stop their best getting the ball and we can't.
(f) Our defence has been quite good this year, although it hasn't delivered as much run as it has in the past. Docherty started off providing it, but opposition clubs have woken up to that and have curbed his influence. Simmo is not getting any younger, although he is still going strong. Newman will miss the entire season, after providing huge amounts of run last year.
Weitering is defending beautifully, but not producing much drive and Jones has not been able to produce the drive he has in the last either.
SPS and Willo have been decent defenders, without setting the world on fire.
As teams appear to have 'worked out' our defence, I would be changing it. Cottell played well enough today. Give him a few games. Move SPS and Docherty into our centre square mix. Give them jobs and see how much run they can provide.
[3] In many ways we are very predictable in our setup. I would like to change this. I do not want opposition teams to know where our guys are going to play. This sort of thing can work, especially if it ruins opposition matchups. It worked today with Fisher.
Our list has been ravaged. It was badly damaged before we started with 4 players, 3 of our best, not being there at all. Take out 3 top players from any team and see how they handle it. Most do not.
Then take out our forward half and expect us to kick 100 points every week.
We were on a hiding to nothing when the season started. We have done better than I expected. We have beaten good teams and scared all of our opponents. That isn't bad for half a team.
There are things I would like to see from our recruiters, our coaches and our fitness people over the break:
<1> Get our whole list available. teams like Brisbane are good because they have their best players week after week.
<2> Get our coaching staff to be more adaptable. Make changes during the game. Mix the roles around. try players elsewhere if they are having a bad day. get them to play 4 quarters instead of 2 to 3.
<3> Get the sort of players we need to improve our list, by hook or by crook. We need to find the next top ruckman and get him into our colours. We need to get a top mid from elsewhere. We need to recruit like St. Kilda did last year: note where we were less than perfect and recruit to fix those problems.
Live Long and Prosper!