“As that intercept player, he was the best defender we saw at the championships. Going forward, he was in the top three forwards that we saw,” a leading AFL analyst tells Fox Footy.It didn’t take Francis long to prove his versatility at the recent under 18s carnival.
In a Round 2 victory over Vic Metro, the 190cm youngster took 11 intercept marks playing across half back.
Just a week later and he went forward, kicking 4.5 from 22 disposals in a convincing win over Western Australia.
with accuracy like that how could we say no?
It seems to me that with our 18 players mostly in the back two thirds of the ground, competing against 15, with the other 3 opposition players goal side, we get 1 or 2 goals a week when one of our speedsters sneaks through. In addition we usually get 1 or 2 goals from precise ball movement, carving our way up the ground. In addition we usually get 3 to 5 goals from "chaos" balls in the forward line. Lastly we get 1or 2 goals from a froward leading up field and taking a mark. That gives 6 to 11 goals a week. That's the impression I have of our forward results. It's almost as if we're playing to limit damage on the score board, not to win the match.
Bingo. Sadly. I am desperate to see a functional cohesive forward line, but I don’t think it this year. Our game plan involves hanging onto the ball, or overpossessing and hopefully eking out a close game. The more we have the ball, the less the opposition have to score against us. Clearly the calibre of our team can’t compete against seasoned opposition so I hold little hope that we are likely to see a forward line system that gets us excited this year. I hope that we get to see some signs from individuals.
Oh, and surely we are not serious about Hartley forward, or Baguley. Let the guys play in the positions where they are best! Clearly the club recognises that we need a key forward hence them chasing Josh Bruce. Alright, we didnt get him, so we move on and see who else is out there as it is pretty clear the next key forward is not on our list currently
first we take manhattenthen we take berlin.
Halleluyah !!!
HF: Redman Jenkins Walters
F: Matera Hooker Watson
Or so Blitz has told me.
Coaching and players.Our leading patterns and game movement are not in sync, not predictable and seemingly often ‘made up’ as we go along. Compare that to the top offenses where the midfielders know where the forwards will be even before they start the lead. Often an adelaide mid (for example) will kick to ‘space’, knowing that Tex Walker is about 2 seconds away from pushing off his man to hit that hole. That kind of precision only comes from consistent coaching, players knowing what to do and then having the skills (both the leader and kicker) to execute.
The next problem is finding a second True key forward to pair with Daniher. We tried Hurley and Carlisle… no dice… now we look like trying Hooker but imho we should be throwing the sink plus more at a guy like Patton, someone who is a natural forward. However we could almost survive with another key forward if we could, for all things holy, recruit a smart small forward who can crumb and kick goals.
So once you have you leading patterns sorted and the right players… then it is simply about maintaining structure, discipline and skills and we should see our scoring improve.
Right now I hold little hope of being able to consistently score over 60pts for a long long time.
Lets worry about a second true key forward when we get a first one.
I’m totally underwhelmed with Skippy as forward line coach
Fix that first otherwise we’re treading water if we’re lucky but most likely sinking
Scotty Lucas / Wayne Carey are two that spring to mind still involved in the AFL in some capacity
BTW Is Lloydy still coaching Joe or has that wound up since end of last season?
I'm totally underwhelmed with Skippy as forward line coach Fix that first otherwise we're treading water if we're lucky but most likely sinkingScotty Lucas / Wayne Carey are two that spring to mind still involved in the AFL in some capacity
BTW Is Lloydy still coaching Joe or has that wound up since end of last season?
I’d be surprised if there aren’t changes in the coaching ranks in the offseason. at a guess 2 of the current assistants replaced
We need a Centre half forward, McKernan is the answer, lets try it.
I'm totally underwhelmed with Skippy as forward line coach Fix that first otherwise we're treading water if we're lucky but most likely sinkingScotty Lucas / Wayne Carey are two that spring to mind still involved in the AFL in some capacity
BTW Is Lloydy still coaching Joe or has that wound up since end of last season?
I’d be surprised if there aren’t changes in the coaching ranks in the offseason. at a guess 2 of the current assistants replaced
Considering Woosha only just put his team together 4 months ago, & it’s most likely they are all on 2 year contracts at least, & he & the club are very happy with the coaching group thus far, & the fact that there would no way to, & no sense in, making any judgement on them given the situation this year, coupled with the fact that the majority of blitzers will have absolutely no idea whether they are doing exactly what they are supposed to, regardless of how it may appear, … I’d say there is a very good chance you’re 100% wrong in that assumption, and you may want to re think your position.
The club is very happy with Skipworths work, and his footy brain, very. that’s why they promoted him… 4 months ago. What ails our forward linse at present is hardly a fwd coach issue.
The haters don’t have a clue.
I'm totally underwhelmed with Skippy as forward line coach Fix that first otherwise we're treading water if we're lucky but most likely sinkingScotty Lucas / Wayne Carey are two that spring to mind still involved in the AFL in some capacity
BTW Is Lloydy still coaching Joe or has that wound up since end of last season?
I’d be surprised if there aren’t changes in the coaching ranks in the offseason. at a guess 2 of the current assistants replaced
Considering Woosha only just put his team together 4 months ago, & it’s most likely they are all on 2 year contracts at least, & he & the club are very happy with the coaching group thus far, & the fact that there would no way to, & no sense in, making any judgement on them given the situation this year, coupled with the fact that the majority of blitzers will have absolutely no idea whether they are doing exactly what they are supposed to, regardless of how it may appear, … I’d say there is a very good chance you’re 100% wrong in that assumption, and you may want to re think your position.
The club is very happy with Skipworths work, and his footy brain, very. that’s why they promoted him… 4 months ago. What ails our forward linse at present is hardly a fwd coach issue.
The haters don’t have a clue.
Mate, you’re misreading what I say. I don’t hate anyone. I agree that those of us on the outside have no idea whether they’re doing as expected or not. If they’re all doing a brilliant job and keep their jobs for next year, then I’ll be fine with it.
But I’m not convinced at all that this panel was selected by Woosha. Harvey was certainly contracted for 2016 before Woosha arrived. I’d be surprised if Skipworth and Egan weren’t as well.
Woosha may well be very happy with all of them. But he may have kept some of them on because (a) he had limited other options in October when he was appointed and (b) he wanted to see for himself how good they are and © he may have wanted to tap into their existing knowledge of the playing list.
If he’s not happy with some of them, I don’t think he’s going to be saying that at this point. He strikes me as the sort of guy that will try and help them improve first, which may be a reason why you’ll end up being right.
But, very few clubs, good or bad, make no changes to their coaching panel in the offseason.
I’ll be very surprised if we happen to go with no changes in this offseason.
Yeah, fair enough. If you’re right on him “having” to keep them, then it’s a real possibility, I was under the impression he put his own team together.
Wasn’t referring to you as a hater btw.
Kick more goals than our opposition
I think we would all love to see a natural key forward who doesn’t have to run up and the park all day. However I can’t see anyone on our list suitable. Until we recruit or draft a Hawkins, Kennedy or Cameron type player we will waiting for quite a while
The first part of the solution, debuts this week.
It’s coming.
David Zaharakis in his interview with REN “James Kelly is like having another coach”
if Kelly doesent play on = Kelly forwards coach 2017
good idea?
Fair chance he’d be good in the role.
It seems to me that with our 18 players mostly in the back two thirds of the ground, competing against 15, with the other 3 opposition players goal side, we get 1 or 2 goals a week when one of our speedsters sneaks through. In addition we usually get 1 or 2 goals from precise ball movement, carving our way up the ground. In addition we usually get 3 to 5 goals from "chaos" balls in the forward line. Lastly we get 1or 2 goals from a froward leading up field and taking a mark. That gives 6 to 11 goals a week. That's the impression I have of our forward results. It's almost as if we're playing to limit damage on the score board, not to win the match.
Tend to agree with that.
The frustrating thing is though, at least 5 players get stuck in no mans land. They aren’t influencing the opposition in the back half, and when we do eventually get the ball they are too close to the ball carrier, so they don’t influence the inevitable long bomb forward.
They also don’t seem to have a plan to move the ball forward, it’s still massively relying on players using composure to pick the right target. Every player in the comp would struggle to remain composed trying to move the ball forward in our current climate.
There’s no kick the ball to a certain position, knowing players will be there and if not mark it, crumb the ball.
It’s just, kick it long and high cos daniher is tall so that’ll do.
If their only objective is to not get belted, this year so be it. but they have to find better ways of getting the ball down our end, cos sooner or later the backline is just not going to be able to cover the amount of ball that is coming down there, simply cos we can’t get it past the center of the ground.
David Zaharakis in his interview with REN "James Kelly is like having another coach"if Kelly doesent play on = Kelly forwards coach 2017
good idea?
he’s said hes going back to his afl coaching gig with the u18s.
David Zaharakis in his interview with REN "James Kelly is like having another coach"if Kelly doesent play on = Kelly forwards coach 2017
good idea?
he’s said hes going back to his afl coaching gig with the u18s.
can we trade them for skippy?