And then Conor turns into McGrath
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Anyone bagging out Bellchambers as a bully and that little mollusc a hero is comical. Belly is one of the bests sledgers going around and got right under their skin and got a reaction.
And when someone 200 cm tall is getting chested in the knee caps by someone auditioning for the hobbit sequel it’s got to be hard not to give them a little rub on the noggin.
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I think him getting caught ar times may be a result of VFL-AFL yoyo-ing - things he can pull off at VFL level due to difference in pace and strength don’t always succeed at AFL level - but he is improving there too.
definitely a natural footballer - you see it when he doesn’t have time to think, and his ball-handling for the 2nd goal was something you’d expect from raz/tippa/Zach…
huge game ahead for him with Stringer possibly out. would love for Langers to succeed, has certainly done it the hard way.
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FWIW, 9 centre square attendances while Parish had 8 
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Where are these numbers from?
Me.
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Notice how our best quarter coincided with the captain attending 5 of his 8 centre bounces in that quarter.
Or was that parish?
Parish
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What? You mean that fucktard that works for the gambling company and appears in the advertising for them in timeslots where children are watching is dodgy? Say it ain’t so!
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Interesting. Surprising hepp went there so little. To be honest though I don’t mind it. I prefer a more agile centre square set up
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I feel like the driving factors since Skippie took over as midfield coach are a) flexibility (exemplified by how little Hepp was in there - he leads our clearances most years) and b) pace/agility
As much as Blitz pulls its hair out over the games where Parish plays more wing, yhey are doing it with everyone (eg Zaha - zero clearance attendances). That’s the aim, that they have 8 or 9 or 10 chess pieces they can throw in there in any given game. Makes us very hard to set up against.
EDIT: This is part of what’s held Clarke back IMO. He really only has two roles as it stands, tagging or clearance mid. I think they may try and have him tag a half back at times this year, like they tried with Myers early in the year.
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I watch the center square structures pretty closely most weeks and they like to set up with either Clarke or Langers as the big body mid that is tagging the oppositions best player or at least wrestling/blocking and then having Merrett and Sheil being one out with their opponents and backing them in.
The obvious intention to nullify their best clearance player while allowing out two quickest and explosive players to get the ball into the forward 50 as quick as possible.
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Like last week, by the second half Clarke was being tagged at the centre.
DJR from memory clarke played a little bit of half forward at the start of either 2017 or 2018?? Has he played there since?
Sort of. Common ploy to help break a tag is have another player go to the tag and try to create a 2 on 1 to work off. The risk when you do that is leaving another mid free at the stoppage. Zach Merrett come on down.
Clarke’s first year (2017) was almost entirely HFF, but he roamed.
2018 onwards pretty much full time midfield.
I actually reckon this could be his role. Run with at stoppages/centre bounce or rotating to half forward to apply pressure and lock it in our forward line.
I 100% think it’ll be something they try, this year. He’s a similar body shape, type of athlete and skillset to De Boer, who has been pretty handy at Freo and GWS.
They want every midfielder to have a second string.
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yep, it’s a necessary part of the game now. You have to be able to change your mix as the game dictates and can’t afford to be then carrying a player who can’t do anything else. It’s the very reason why the development coaches (including James Kelly who is rolled gold) have spent 2.5 years trying to develop Parish’s outside game, to good effect.
He spoke to Hirdy before and after the game on Friday. Awesome that that relationship is still active.
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