Why have we always gone with an extra around the ball and left the opposition to have a spare in defence?
Every coach since hird has used this tactic and the spare has killed us compared to how the extra for us around the ball helps us.
If anything we should be using Ridley or Francis as a spare defender for ourselves
We win more stoppages but that’s about it
Because if the ladder was sorted by handballs we’d be 1st.
Ahead of the curve for the rule change
And we win the inside 50’s and can’t stop the opposition running it back up the other end and kicking goals.
No matter what part of the ground it is i feel we are always outnumbered. An example today was in the first quarter where we won the stoppage and kicked blindly forward to the forward flank to 4 saint’s players on their own (not one of our players within 30 metres i reckon) The saints player kicks into the corridor where there are three more loose st kinda players who freely run it forward and then kick a goal. So dare I ask the obvious question…where the hell were our players?!
Agree with you. We have excellent half backs and small men that would love to feed off those sort of intercepts by those sorts of taller men around the CHB line and launch it forward. Ridley and Francis are not being used in the right way and to their strengths.
Time to show faith in the current ball players without the belt and braces of an extra man. Big handballs and playing in front have never gone out of fashion btw.
It’s no wonder the ball comes out of our forward 50 so easily
This topic does not get enough attention.
The loose behind the ball murders us each week.
Every time we go long down the line we are out numbered
Can’t agree more. Extra at the contest means it’s more difficult to kick it unless you are absolutely in the clear to hit up a target, because the opposition will have an extra back.
We don’t have the players to do the handball game anyway. Players like McGraths, Smith, Shiel and even Merrett don’t do it well. The amount of loopy handballs or handballs to feet Ive seen suggest it’s not going to work for us.
You can train the handball game all you want in practice but when it comes to the real thing the players are lost.
I would rather see us try to win the ball with even numbers at the contest and then handball it out or do a rush kick, because at least it means the panic kick will end up going to a 50/50 marking contest.
Because we refuse to play the one big bodied defensive midfielder we have on our list in his natural position
because the majority of our team are built like sticks. So we need to put extra bodies in there so we don’t get pushed around too much
LOL that is not the reason.
It’s to suit our overlapping handball game.
If we were that concerned about body size we would be playing clarke in there or brought someone else in from another club
Correct me if I’m wrong but hawks had no spare in defence in 2nd half? They couldn’t have when we had players like hooker and Clarke out the back for easy goals in the last quarter.
Change of game plan?
Not only us scoring but hawthorn coming out of defence were so pressure coz they didn’t have an extra down there to pass to
I just re-watched the 2nd half.
We definitely ditched the extra at the contest tactic at half time.
Surely we do the same verse eagles and do not let them have a loose (McGovern)