John Worsfold - will not get a new contract in 2021

Blitz wouldn’t exist without the forward or back discussion!

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We also need someone who’s a strong mark in the back-line. Hooker seems to fit the bill.

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Oh cool, … this again … hang

Wherever we need him, … that’s where he goes. EOS.

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Without JD in our forward line, we have a popgun attack of Brown & McKernan, I’m sure backlines around the league are literally shittting themselves at the thought of facing up to those 2.

I agree with Ants, we needed Hooker in our backline when JD was playing & our midfield was getting smashed.

We don’t have JD & our midfield is on the improve, we need a decent target to aim for.

Put Cale forward again, bring in Francis in the backline & Ambrose when available, or Hartley at a stretch.

To have 50,000 inside 50’s last week & only 12 goals against our name shows we need a decent target to aim for.

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What did I say?

What we never factor in with Hooker forward is the inability to trap the ball in the forwardline and get those repeats entries just like we did against Brisbane.

Corrigan mentioned it in the coaches rundown video and lets face it, inside 50’s are key to successful teams.

Since Hooker has gone back there has been a noticeable improvement in our ‘team defence’ which has looks to have made our midfield more competitive due to the pressure put on the opposition from our forwards.

By moving Hooker it may alleviate one problem but create another.

For mine we need to set the structure as it should be and work with what we have in the forwardline until Joe and others come back.

The reason we weren’t trapping the ball in wasn’t related to Hooker specifically.

Every team will have at least one player who isn’t the best at ground level follow up…but still carries significant value in other ways - look at Mason Cox for Pies on weekend. Their job isn’t really to be chasing and harassing, not that Hooker doesn’t fight for ground balls hard however.

We weren’t trapping ball in as we also had JD on one leg and our other smalls/midfield weren’t working hard enough &/or playing injured - so easy exits.

This is spot on and i even said it after round 1 that we looked ■■■■ and the plan was basically bomb it to hooker when moving forward and all will be right. Not a sustainable plan and just a band-aid fix. Credit where it is due you actually have a good understanding of the game dkp.

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We weren’t trapping the ball in because we effectively had 4 tall players in our forwardline.

Hooker, Joe, Stewart and Laverde.

In my opinion we need to be far more aggressive in the forward half of the ground and that means less talls.

Going forward it should be Joe, Stewart and a Langford/Stringer that’s rotating through midfield. Then the rest smalls that apply pressure.

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This the combo of the two was the main issue i think. Joe was probably even slower than hooker when playing.

LAV didn’t play until much later into season

I don’t think we’ve ever seen those 4 together

Hooker and JD only works when Daniher is actually fit and can use his athleticism which he wasn’t.

The whole thing wasn’t working as he was playing hurt. So was TIPPA. And we also had no Raz. And our midfield were witches hats early in year.

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Last year we had those players and we were kicking big scores but also leaking like a sieve.

The best we looked this year against Geelong and GWS and we played a brand of football that is successful in September.

Yes, Hooker forward may help now but as pointed out above that is just papering over the cracks.

Smack just needs to lift his output and we start to look better again.

They have gotton to you…

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I agree.

We did but we had zero midfield pressure that’s why. Part personnel part returning player challenges (very heavy legs). And kept having to put TIPPA and Raz into midfield rotations a lot to help.

Hence they actively have tried to rectify it with the Smith recruitment, Saad in & McGrath fwd, Stringer an inside mid with wheels who tackles, Guelfi another and now on a wing also. And also had the change in defensive strategy (which took ages for the team to actually get and apply this year)

Our inside 50 numbers were quite low last year, but we were efficient based on a that fwd 6 which worked very well together. Now we are getting far more inside 50’s but can’t capitalise.

If we had last years forward 6 up there we would be IMO. Albeit Stewart might lose his spot to Stringer.

Isn’t that only based on opinion not actual fact? I have not seen anything that officially, or even unofficially, saying that he is playing with an injury. Has there been something other than Blitz opinion?

I think the question everyone is afraid to ask is-

Would he be getting games if he was a blond?

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I’m agreeing with you, I just don’t quote kokhead anymore.

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Personally I thought the Geelong and GWS games were the best we have looked for ten years and that was the structure across the whole field.

Moving Hooker from defence to attack would have made a huge difference and I’m not convinced it makes us better.

The pressure you apply in the forwardline allows you to set up in midfield better which helps you to either turn it over in midfield or at least apply further pressure resulting in a high kick into your defence where Hooker and Hurley intercept the ball.

It’s a small mans game now and we have been slow to take that on board.

I’m not disagreeing about the structure at all

Absolutely we looked great and our pressure was off the charts. The midfield rotations and where players were setting up was excellent. We literally crushed GWS at the start of that last quarter.

But I just think it should be Hooker, JD & Stewart/Stringer

Hooker is far more consistent and far more likely to impact there than Smack when fwd. Also much smarter, will hold his position etc.

And with how the midfield performing now we won’t be exposing our defence like we were so Hartley/Ambrose/Brown etc can be effective

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A fit and firing Daniher and Raz would have the biggest impact imo.

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