I have a lot of time for that.
I do still wonder if, with Hartley, and obviously the main ruckman spending a little time forward, it still leaves us too tall.
I also wonder if Stewart is doing any ruck training.
I hope Stewart becomes second ruck. It would allow us to focus Daniher where heās most dangerous.
My thinking with talls is we often lost our structure when a tall went to defence / bench / ruck. The remaining tall forwards would get double teamed. Because Stewart, Daniher and Stringer are all fast and mobile, we can afford to be slightly tall and get away with it.
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WIM. I think youāre not giving enough credit to how well our fwds did setup last year. Given the huge talent in there very rarely did they get in one anotherās way. That to me spoke to how well organised they were even after just 1 preseason together.
Now can Stringer leave his ego behind and ensure he gives the space to the other fwds as wellā¦
Stewart was outstanding last year at the non honoured lead creating space for others behind.
Iām sorry, but I cannot agree.
My perspective of our forward-line was that we had two talls too close together more often than not.
We dumped to Joe in the goalsquare far too often. Yes, it led to some spectacular moments, and that was great, but we should have been able to exploit our unique forward-line far, far, far more than we did.
Hookerās 40 goals were wonderful, but he went quarters, halves, without having any impact on a game. And by impact I mean a helpful possession.
We can do better.
We have to do better.
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So, we are not going the full Richmond B40? Makes sense. We have lots of talls.
Who will?
Richmond, bulldogs, collingwood, geelong, port adelaide. Maybe more.
Hooker had some bad games but I donāt think that was a structure thing.
There was a patch of 4 games were I reckon we got lazy and bombed and Daniher didnāt lead enough.
But across the year these were relatively minor and the fact we were UBER efficient once the ball entered the fwd 50 was a result of both talent and good structures IMO.
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Hooker also saved us a couple of times, doing precisely what a gorilla forward should do. Even if heās kept quiet for 3 quarters, you know heās almost certainly going to get a hold of his man at some point.
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I agree with half of this.
Do you honestly think Daniher isnāt dangerous when heās going through ruck? He did some serious damage through there in 2017.
Daniher will do serious damage anywhere heās played. Heās an elite talent. But if We are more likely to kick goals with Stewart rucking and Daniher forward, then Iād like us to try that.
I do agree that Daniher did some amazing things through the middle.
He would have to do a tonne of work on ruck craft over the next 6 weeks. Imo he would be coming from way behind to even get to joes ruck skill level.
Anzac day him going into the ruck won him the medal, couldnāt buy the ball in the first quarter.
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I donāt want us to copy the last team that won a Premiership. I want us to find a way to beat that team. Our strength is our mix of talls and speed. We need a gameplan that beat utilises our strengtha whilst avoiding an Adelaide style collapse when pressure is applied.
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None of this necessarily mean itās right, but I donāt know if one in twenty bombers fans would agree with you about the forward setups being a problem. We were the one of only a few sides with two key forwards topping 40 goals - and we did that with fewer than average entries.
Iām sure there were times we dumped it to JoeDan - I reckon if you went through tapes youād find just as many times when Giants went to Patton as the wrong option or Eagles to Kennedy - sometimes mistakes are just mistakes. Iād like to hope weāre not as knee jerk as to chuck out a setup that shows genuine promise because of some teething troubles in its first 20 games.
Best weāve set up forward in 15 years IMO. Entries did get sloppy at times, and the forward structure dropped off at times too, but overall, the forward line was a huge breath of fresh air.
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You are right. Long term I hope he develops that skill. Not a round 1 option.
Im with wim on this one, our forward line structures failed a lot through the year, and relied on supreme individual talent (joe, raz, walla and to lesser extents stewyy and green). I remember complaining a lot about how close joe and stewart were together, i donāt so much mind hooker being near either player as all joe and stewart are quite capable at ground level but wish theyād spread out. joe and stewwy are not contested beasts they capable on occasion but their forte is spreading the defense and working into space with more than good kick (except at goal for joe yet).
I think its an issue where our strongest part on the ground has to be unstoppable when the midfield defends like a west tissue.
I donāt think we would be.
If you were opposition coach, who would you rather see in there?
Youāre missing out on 4d chess hap, stewwy loses tap, goes to our hbf, saad and conor blitzkreig it to joe.
I think we should fix the big hole first.