Power forward?

[Vivian]

Do the Hawks have a specialist FF ?

No they do not. The position of a power forward is increasingly redundant. All big blokes have to be able to run, and are more likely to spend most of their time running up and down the wings, to provide an option for the defenders to kick to.
The days of a FF running out of the goal square are gone.

[Professer E]

The basics of footy never  change, although fads come and go.  Any side with power forward woudl play themplay him, but he has to be mobile and not be a witches hat when the ball leaves his area....  frankly we are looking for an entire front half, not a single power forward and you need a mix of types to succeed.

[cookie2]

I'm sure BB is working hard trying to fix our fwd structure. This will be a big challenge for him and it's still uncertain re. how many players we have on our list who will measure up. Mckay seems promising among the new recruits as a big bloke and Levi may come good this year as a good contributor but I don't think he'll be a dominating power forward (hope I'm wrong).

[DJC]

"Fix" Cookie?  I'd say it's more like trading our forward structure in on a new one 

I think that the forward structure has to be looked at in the context of our new proactive defence and better ball movement and, even if nothing else changes, that should give our forwards more opportunities.  If Bolton's forward structure can work with the players we've got, kicking a winning score should be possible, if not probable.

While I appreciated the way Jones tackled and attacked the contest on Thursday, he never really looked like taking a mark and I suspect that he won't play much of a part in the season proper.  Gorringe had a cameo appearance and I don't know if he'll offer anything.  Kreuzer looked OK when he went forward but he has to make the most of his chances and his best work is around the ground.  Phillips has some hops (Brereton reckons he once hurdled a car) but so did Hampson.

Casboult is our best bet as a key forward if his knee holds up (I hope his knee was just iced to aid recovery after the game).  His marking is outstanding and his tank is good enough for him to get up the ground to provide an outlet target.  His wonky ball drop is still an issue and I think that he will need ongoing work on his kicking to ensure that his conversion rate remains well above 50%.

Finding another key forward to complement Casboult seems to be the issue and I will be looking forward to seeing whether McKay is up to the challenge or whether Foster or Gorringe can do the job.  Wietering could be another option, particularly if Jaksch has been earmarked for a defensive role.   

[cookie2]

"Fix" Cookie?  I'd say it's more like trading our forward structure in on a new one 

Yes, but unfortunately we have to wait until next trade period for that  .  As you say though, there are a few options to try and we may get lucky with one of them.

[DJC]

Yes, but unfortunately we have to wait until next trade period for that  .  As you say though, there are a few options to try and we may get lucky with one of them.

Yes, we could well have a ten year key forward waiting in the wings and our targets at the next draft will be midfielders.

I'm looking forward to seeing a couple of the young forwards in action next weekend.

[ElwoodBlues1]

I am quite surprised that Elwood used nous and Fevola in the one sentence.
What we need is a leader in the forward line, the go to man. The Hawks had a problem when they had Buddy in that they became a bit one dimensional. His leaving opened up the options and opportunities, however Roughhead has been their main man since he left. We need a team approach to our forward structure but we also need a leader. My biggest criticism on Waite and Henderson was that neither had the character to be the leader. They both were happy to be the second banana and that is why they will be happy in their new clubs.

Fev was a natural Full Forward with plenty of nous on the field but zero nous off the field.....

re: Hawks...good teams have good fowards that hunt in pairs....Gunston helps make Roughead the player he is when playing forward......Freo cant win a flag with only Pavlich, Collingwood won with Dawes and Cloke
but have not been any good since...

We need need two Key specialist forwards who can convert because thats the other issue...Gunston and Roughead dont miss the easy ones....

All good Carlton teams have good key forwards and we will never be any good until we get back to the basic structure of a good team and have proper KP players down the spine ..not this Bull Shizen
idea of playing ruckman in KP's.....

[flyboy77]

Fev was a natural Full Forward with plenty of nous on the field but zero nous off the field.....

re: Hawks...good teams have good fowards that hunt in pairs....Gunston helps make Roughead the player he is when playing forward......Freo cant win a flag with only Pavlich, Collingwood won with Dawes and Cloke
but have not been any good since...

We need need two Key specialist forwards who can convert because thats the other issue...Gunston and Roughead dont miss the easy ones....

All good Carlton teams have good key forwards and we will never be any good until we get back to the basic structure of a good team and have proper KP players down the spine ..not this Bull Shizen
idea of playing ruckman in KP's.....

Brad Pearce was the missing link in '95 and he'd be a fair bit shorter than 1AW I imagine.....?

[DJC]

Fev was a natural Full Forward with plenty of nous on the field but zero nous off the field.....

re: Hawks...good teams have good fowards that hunt in pairs....Gunston helps make Roughead the player he is when playing forward......Freo cant win a flag with only Pavlich, Collingwood won with Dawes and Cloke
but have not been any good since...

We need need two Key specialist forwards who can convert because thats the other issue...Gunston and Roughead dont miss the easy ones....

All good Carlton teams have good key forwards and we will never be any good until we get back to the basic structure of a good team and have proper KP players down the spine ..not this Bull Shizen
idea of playing ruckman in KP's.....

Fev's nous was more about getting the pill himself than doing the best for the team . . . but that's another story.

We definitely need two genuine key forwards.  Add a ruckman that can go forward and kick goals, midfielders that can score, backmen who can bang a couple through, a crumbing forward, a third tall and we've got the makings of the forward line.  If all of the forwards can be effective up the ground too, we've got the makings of a very competitive side.

[maxm68]

Brad Pearce was the missing link in '95 and he'd be a fair bit shorter than 1AW I imagine.....?

He was the cream on top of Kernahan and Spalding cake ....... we don't have Kernahan and Spalding..