Great post about the broader "play to their strengths" mindset, it does seem they're gradually moving away from that important 2017 bottom-up approach. Caddy a perfect example. It's only a small thing, but I am looking for signs of a club on the march and I'm not seeing those signs in this move right now, as Balta up forward isn't playing to his strengths. It does help him develop, but would a developmental role suggest a hedge on our ambitions this year? Is it a shift back to the top-down approach of fitting players into pre-defined roles?
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Noah Balta - Welcome to Tigerland
- Thread starter RICHO_12
- Start date
Great post about the broader "play to their strengths" mindset, it does seem they're gradually moving away from that important 2017 bottom-up approach. Caddy a perfect example. It's only a small thing, but I am looking for signs of a club on the march and I'm not seeing those signs in this move right now, as Balta up forward isn't playing to his strengths. It does help him develop, but would a developmental role suggest a hedge on our ambitions this year? Is it a shift back to the top-down approach of fitting players into pre-defined roles?
Just from Saturday’s match sim, I reckon we’d look more balanced with Balta down back, Gibcus and Miller biding their time in the twos for now and Caddy playing third tall in the forward line. Also helps us to keep Nank and Soldo as a ruck duo.
Pretty sure the match committee won’t be taking my advice on this though and, frankly, they’ve proven me wrong before.
Pretty sure the match committee won’t be taking my advice on this though and, frankly, they’ve proven me wrong before.
I can see he or Jack troubling their 3rd best defender .
But he was developing nicely as a defender , so get that argument ,
I think it will be one of those situations where we judge it later with hindsight ,
hes gone from being Rance to Richo
But he was developing nicely as a defender , so get that argument ,
I think it will be one of those situations where we judge it later with hindsight ,
hes gone from being Rance to Richo
I can see he or Jack troubling their 3rd best defender .
But he was developing nicely as a defender , so get that argument ,
I think it will be one of those situations where we judge it later with hindsight ,
hes gone from being Rance to Richo
He can also ruck, so he's Rance, Richo and Mark Lee IMO
Looked like a tourist walking around without a map. Had no idea what he was meant to be doing.
Love his work in the ruck though
Love his work in the ruck though
Koutoufides and Goodes are both players who took a long time to mature into football roles. Each being a small.
Goodes rucked, played key forward, semi-tall forward and God knows how many positions before he emerged into stardom. In 2003, as a 23yo, Goodes averaged 12 HO a game. Eade was playing him ruck to teach him and get him into the game. Not just looking for a tactical edge. It worked. He won a Brownlow and the club B&F. Over the following years ruck was eliminated from his role. And his game was increasingly midfield.
By 2006 26yo midfielder was born and he improved every year. Over time Goodes developed his tall game and could play tall forward reliably. But if they'd persevered with Goodes as a tall we might never have met the player.
When Noah plays ruck he is around the ball. And he gets a chance to play small against a ruck (potato). When he plays #3 forward he gets the chance to mop up when they have the ball. Is he brisk? Is it hard to chase?
It's clear that we'll be needing plenty of hunting done by George when we unleash our 2022 tall forward line. Noah can do that too. If we can teach him the simple skill of hunting Noah can be priceless in his new role.
He got a hold of one midget on the wing yesterday. Let him feed on a few dancing backs and his confidence will skyrocket. Meanwhile coaches can aim higher - run over there, Noah. Jump very high, Noah. Keep going, Noah. Chase, Noah.
Confidence is very important but priority #1 with Noah Balta is football education.
Goodes rucked, played key forward, semi-tall forward and God knows how many positions before he emerged into stardom. In 2003, as a 23yo, Goodes averaged 12 HO a game. Eade was playing him ruck to teach him and get him into the game. Not just looking for a tactical edge. It worked. He won a Brownlow and the club B&F. Over the following years ruck was eliminated from his role. And his game was increasingly midfield.
By 2006 26yo midfielder was born and he improved every year. Over time Goodes developed his tall game and could play tall forward reliably. But if they'd persevered with Goodes as a tall we might never have met the player.
When Noah plays ruck he is around the ball. And he gets a chance to play small against a ruck (potato). When he plays #3 forward he gets the chance to mop up when they have the ball. Is he brisk? Is it hard to chase?
It's clear that we'll be needing plenty of hunting done by George when we unleash our 2022 tall forward line. Noah can do that too. If we can teach him the simple skill of hunting Noah can be priceless in his new role.
He got a hold of one midget on the wing yesterday. Let him feed on a few dancing backs and his confidence will skyrocket. Meanwhile coaches can aim higher - run over there, Noah. Jump very high, Noah. Keep going, Noah. Chase, Noah.
Confidence is very important but priority #1 with Noah Balta is football education.
I hope the move to forward is only for development and Plan C (when our forwards are not firing in a particular game), then I would entertain the move up forward. I believe we should play the two ruckmen, can't have 3 talls. Role up forward could be a pinch hitter.
Where to play Balta?
Not everything the match committee does work - see Vlas move to the midfield, so the Balta forward experiment may not work but I see a team with the whole greater than the individual parts with Balta up forward and playing the two rucks.
OK, for me this strategy of talls does weaken not just our defence but potentially also our around the ground defence but we gain two really important cogs as a trade off - our midfield / centre clearances becomes very competitive again (which also takes some pressure off our defence) and our attack is obviously much more potent (we have often struggled to kick goals at times).
The new stand rule also helps this new strategy to some degree.
The challenges for us is to quickly reorganise our defence and we have plenty of options there that we didn‘t have yesterday - Grimes the obvious for structure and Rioli for run and pressure and Mansell for lockdown pressure. Either Grimes or Mansell solves the Stengle problem and/or Grimes can help with their gorillas.
I also reckon Grimes and Vlas play 3 times better when they are both out there but either can become lost if their partner in crime is missing. Bit of a Batman and Robin type of thing.
I like Balta up forward - it has that Richo to the wing feel that at first I wasn’t sure but that really worked in the end.
To win the flag this year, the odds are you will need to beat the demons in a final to achieve it. To beat the demons, you will need to match them in the middle / stoppages and their defence built around Lever and May can‘t play on three talls. This is the thinking behind our madness.
For this to all work, we just need one of Millar or Tarrant to hold their own with the threat coming from eagles (Darling dependent), cats and Lions (if Hipwood plays) - do other teams have two talls to worry about.
There is also plenty of discussion around our wingers - or one winger as there is no debate re McIntosh. I can’t see why Broad can’t play that role - he has some size, speed and smarts and can add defence up the ground. Gives Hardwick another swing man during match day if needed.
I like that we are not just rolling around into another season relying just on youth to give us a bounce - but we have learnt from 2017 and are happy to radically change the way we play - high risk and high reward.
Lets see how it goes once the games mean something.
Not everything the match committee does work - see Vlas move to the midfield, so the Balta forward experiment may not work but I see a team with the whole greater than the individual parts with Balta up forward and playing the two rucks.
OK, for me this strategy of talls does weaken not just our defence but potentially also our around the ground defence but we gain two really important cogs as a trade off - our midfield / centre clearances becomes very competitive again (which also takes some pressure off our defence) and our attack is obviously much more potent (we have often struggled to kick goals at times).
The new stand rule also helps this new strategy to some degree.
The challenges for us is to quickly reorganise our defence and we have plenty of options there that we didn‘t have yesterday - Grimes the obvious for structure and Rioli for run and pressure and Mansell for lockdown pressure. Either Grimes or Mansell solves the Stengle problem and/or Grimes can help with their gorillas.
I also reckon Grimes and Vlas play 3 times better when they are both out there but either can become lost if their partner in crime is missing. Bit of a Batman and Robin type of thing.
I like Balta up forward - it has that Richo to the wing feel that at first I wasn’t sure but that really worked in the end.
To win the flag this year, the odds are you will need to beat the demons in a final to achieve it. To beat the demons, you will need to match them in the middle / stoppages and their defence built around Lever and May can‘t play on three talls. This is the thinking behind our madness.
For this to all work, we just need one of Millar or Tarrant to hold their own with the threat coming from eagles (Darling dependent), cats and Lions (if Hipwood plays) - do other teams have two talls to worry about.
There is also plenty of discussion around our wingers - or one winger as there is no debate re McIntosh. I can’t see why Broad can’t play that role - he has some size, speed and smarts and can add defence up the ground. Gives Hardwick another swing man during match day if needed.
I like that we are not just rolling around into another season relying just on youth to give us a bounce - but we have learnt from 2017 and are happy to radically change the way we play - high risk and high reward.
Lets see how it goes once the games mean something.
If Balta is the answer up forward our long term future looks a lot brighter.
Massive highlight from today.
Massive highlight from today.
Only contribution I would make to the Balta back or forward debate is that I liked the three goals kicked. Deep left foot snap and a set shot on the right from the boundary outside 50 are nice goals to get. He is big, tall, jumps well and is fast. If in addition, he can kick well for goal - that's a lot of what you need up forward. Maybe he can be taught some of the smarts (e.g. leading patterns), required to go with the A class talent - I get that he doesn't have the instinct and may never develop it.
I can't get away from the swingman concept. When I think of where Balta should be playing I first think of match-ups. Is the moron playing Blicavs on the wing again, is there one more gorilla down back than we can cope with, is Tarrant getting a hiding, is Jack or Tom injured. Classic swingman questions.
Actually now I come to think about the ruck rover concept (may Tucky rest in peace) - could Balta play a defensive midfield role on players like Bont, Fyfe and Cripps (well Cripps is a stretch but you know where I am going).
Actually now I come to think about the ruck rover concept (may Tucky rest in peace) - could Balta play a defensive midfield role on players like Bont, Fyfe and Cripps (well Cripps is a stretch but you know where I am going).
