Rd. 5 - Pre Game Thread - Blues V Dockers

[crashlander]

All teams have inside and outside players, our problem is we haven't had a good midfield coach since Ratten got the chop!

We don't even set up correctly at the bounce. Phillips get a free hand to the ball and taps it right, Kreuzer has stopped cracking in, I assume because they are leaving it all to Cripps. Nothing I have seen so far this season gives me any confidence. There are U12s with better structures.

I actually think Laidley did a good job with the midfield last season, especially when we had some fit players to move through it. We did quite well at getting clearances, even when we weren't winning the ruck. We were not perfect - we really got smashed a couple of times - and we didn't make a lot of those clearances, but we managed to get good numbers.

At the moment, Bolton and his crew have made significant changes to how our midfield operates. When we finally work it and get it right, it should be as effective as Hawthorn's and it really does offer the opportunity for good inside 50 entries. Last year we went via the cape most of the time.

Ratten would be useful as a midfield coach, as he did make some significant progress with what turned out to be a very average bunch of mids (not including Judd). However .....

I don't think our midfield will get close to its potential until we find or develop a top ruckman. At the moment, we are not tapping to the advantage of our mids enough. Kreuzer, in particular, rarely get a really clean tap. Phillips is learning and improving. He is better at getting cleaner taps when he gets them, through his leap. Kreuzer hasn't been able to out jump or out muscle his opponents.