Riley has to play. if he fails? We move on..but we have to find out.
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Midfield Depth
- Thread starter Scoop
- Start date
Everyone on PRE spoke about us HAVING cap space to afford a free agent. I was with you in saying we had none but the prevailing wisdom was that we had the money to go after something.
If we have Cerra last night, it's a different game. But we were never in the hunt for him. And the price would've been the same as the Prestia in terms of draft capital. And we didn't even go after Dunstan. I think that's probably an indication of how tight our cap really is.
We need to bring in some free agents and draft mids. Our draft position has something to do it with it but we don't seem to like drafting them all that much.
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The midfield's problem isn't necessarily it doesn't win clearances. When we were dominating, we didn't win clearances. The midfield's problem is that last season and this game the midfield isn't able to affect opposition's clearances. The opposition's midfield waltz out of a stoppage with no pressure whatsoever which puts the backline under too much pressure.
I'm not saying you're wrong, and I agree up to a point, but a busted clock is right twice a day
I think it will be a year of transition, assessment, development, the club has ample political credit for that, 2 years even. Cotch and Jack, at minimum, off the books next year frees up a heap of dough, we'll know where our young players are at, the good ones will be a year older, and the chances are we'll have some good picks.
The drum I've banged for years is that its a numbers game. We are and will continue to be above statistical trend draft-wise, but lack of early picks and paying top money for ageing legends will still get ya.
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You won’t be saying that if we sign xxxx and xxxxx next year….
Agree with all, but not as strong re the last paragraph. Maybe a few of the 50’s
He had a disrupted preseason. I reckon he will be in once fit- though it might be next week regardless, for Prestia.
We surely have massive cap space in coming years, with the impending departures of Cotch, Jack, Sheds and co.
Yep, both - can't win the clearance and allow the other side to get clean clearances as opposed to pressuring them and their clearance is a dump kick forward.
But, while we did often lose clearances when at our best, we fixed that up in the finals in 2020 as we knew it was a problem. However, it was a temporary fix and now it needs to be a permanent fix.
Get RCD and Dow in so we can see if they are good enough. If Ross plays, it is in the middle as he is not quick enough for the wing. Let's see what they have to offer so we can make decisions about their future at the end of the year.
DS
It's not as simple as saying we need big, pure midfielders.
This club is in a defiant tactical position - we still like to set up a choking, turnover game, despite rule changes making that less viable for us. Let the oppo clear it if they have beasts at the coal face but degrade it if possible. We like mids who can win loose ball gets, run and link, pump out repeat 200m sorties up and down the length of the ground.
That's how we won our flags - not by having 190cm leviathans ripping the ball out of congestion.
This is not to say we don't have a midfield depth problem. But targeting ball winners doesn't serve the turnover template.
Are we a club evolving the turnover format? Possibly. We've already selected as much height as we can cram in.
We can't add ball-winning power. We don't have it. The coaches will work out another way. Dimma hinted at it - one thing we CAN do is shore up team defence against teams with big-bodied clearance mids.
I don't think we respected Carlton enough TBH.
Watch out for a VERY defensive game against GWS next week. Gonna be real interesting. If I was a betting man I'd be banking on a result under two goals either way.
This club is in a defiant tactical position - we still like to set up a choking, turnover game, despite rule changes making that less viable for us. Let the oppo clear it if they have beasts at the coal face but degrade it if possible. We like mids who can win loose ball gets, run and link, pump out repeat 200m sorties up and down the length of the ground.
That's how we won our flags - not by having 190cm leviathans ripping the ball out of congestion.
This is not to say we don't have a midfield depth problem. But targeting ball winners doesn't serve the turnover template.
Are we a club evolving the turnover format? Possibly. We've already selected as much height as we can cram in.
We can't add ball-winning power. We don't have it. The coaches will work out another way. Dimma hinted at it - one thing we CAN do is shore up team defence against teams with big-bodied clearance mids.
I don't think we respected Carlton enough TBH.
Watch out for a VERY defensive game against GWS next week. Gonna be real interesting. If I was a betting man I'd be banking on a result under two goals either way.
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He had sore ribs for a week and a half.
Prior to that he had a very solid body of work.
Watched the magoos with Caesar yesterday. He is miiiiiiiiiles off it. Looks to be carrying too much weight around the flanks and his running from contest to contest has not improved. More or less unsighted for the entire game.
Be careful what you wish for bringing him into the side.
