And in the real world, he’s been a full time on-baller since about 2009/2010.
Yes because we are being consistently destroyed by tall midfielders taking lots of marks in midfield.
I tried to ask the proponents of this theory for just one example of this happening.
I’m still waiting.
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It’s mainly about weight and weight distribution. I mean, this big body mid narrative has been around for a long time - it’s not something that’s been made up.
Of the top 10 contested mids in 2018, only two are under 185 - Neale and Mitchell… the guys that dominate contested midfield footy are generally bigger.
Great game by Darc.
Has he finally found his role within the team. I hope that Woosha leaves him there.
I have made mention of our midgets in the past & how this may effect our ability to win games.
If last weeks game is anything to go by, what does it matter if we don’t have a midfielder that is over 190cm playing for our club when Heppell & Clark & Darc play together? Football ability can’t simply be measured in height alone or even at all really. There are plenty of gun mids that aren’t giants of the game, whilst actually being giants of the game.
I am looking forward to facing a hawks team with Darc, Clark, Hepp & Snelling
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He’s been more inside and contested, rather than an outside mid in 17 and 18… in his own words.
You dont actually mark a contested ball. Nor do you clear a pack with a mark. As a mid I would have thought that marking the ball was desirable wasn’t top of the list of must have skills.
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Ok, I’m not one to knit pick, u have brody Grundy an aa ruckman, not a mid, Callan ward is shorter than Dylan Clarke, can remove those 2 so that’s half the list, and I can argue yeo spends just as more time at half forward an on ball.
I agree about weight (to a certain extent).
You can’t be scrawny, across the board.
I’m not fussed about height.
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Agreed
You’ve presented no rationale in removing those three from the argument that bigger bodies win more contested footy.
…so what? Clarke could be a great clearance player, given time.
I’ll take ability and agility over height/weight as a raw stat, thanks.
Pendlebury isn’t a great player because he’s tall or even heavy(ish).
Virtually every midfield mark these days are uncontested. Even for those who can push forward, I’d say only Martin and Fyfe are genuine contested marking threats. There may be a few others but not a huge number imo.
Parish’s ability to run, find space , quick hands and weave through congestion will offset any perceived issue with a smaller frame. And whilst he won’t get any taller, his core strength can continue to improve.
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Well, that’s a given… there’s no discussion here about whether you can get away with not being able to kick a footy or read the play just because you’re tall.
U sure?? Would it surprise you that Zach Merrett has had as many contested possessions as Dangerfield this year?? And comfortably more than Pendlebury and josh Kennedy?
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I’m definitely not trying to be argumentative I’m trying to get my heard around your point. Is it we need height for contested marking or are we comparing mids and contested possession, the posts have changed a bit
These are the numbers for total clearances
If there’s any tendency there, it’s for traditional mid sized guys - nuggety dudes around the 5’10 - 6’1” mark (177cm-185cm).
That accounts for Cunnington Neale Kelly Boak Shuey Rockliff Parker Sheed Libba JO’M Sloane Prestia: 12 of the top 21 clearance winners (and grundy is kind of a one off)
LOL
No agree, it’s a good discussion. I just think that bigger bodied mids bring something different to the mix, particularly towards the end of games… and it’s not about being able to mark.
There’s never any substitute for being fit and skilled. But, like the old adage, everyone gets fatigued towards the end of the game but big guys don’t get any shorter. So, in the last quarter when everyone’s moving a little slower, the bigger mids still have a wider stance, a few more more kilos, to help them stand up in a tackle and get the ball away. They’ve also got longer arms and more leverage to free those arms.
Now, it’s just an opinion, but one that a lot of people and coaches clearly have because ‘big bodied midfielders’ is a term that gets brought up a lot in modern footy, where fatigue is an issue. We don’t talk about big bodied wingers or half backs because there’s relatively little contested footy played there… but big bodied mids are talked about a lot.
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callan ward and Ben cunnington are both bang on 185, which isnt considered tall.
That means that 4 of the top 10 players are not considered tall Mids.
Theory debunked.
You can argue this as a theoretical point, and you’re probably right - if you have two guys of completely even ability in every other facet, the bigger one would win.
But
There’s just never going to be a choice between two otherwise identical players.
It doesn’t happen like that.
One of them will always be better at something, worse at something else.
I just can’t see a situation where you’d ever actually go to height and weight as the deciding factor, for a midfielder.
(Unless one of them was like 170cm. Then, well, yeah.)
So you come up with some arbitrary cut-off that 6 foot 1 is “not tall” and that’s your argument to end all arguments?