I thought he was underrated when he played.
Will be tough to crack first team but can definitely provide support.
If there is, we donât play one.
With that said a few guys played as or started as forwards who we would like to see develop into mids - Zerrett (albeit under a different setup), Fanta, Tippa, Begley, Lang, and I daresay Stringer.
Langford & Begley (or possibly Colyer) in, Hartley & Lav out for mine.
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Donât know what to make of Cals side.
Iâm sure he knows as well as anyone the importance of midfield rotations yet he has four talls on the bench.
Thatâs a very tall side.
He probably did 18 of these sides in an afternoon, donât overthink it
Gleeson and LAV ainât KPPâs, and if you switch Calâs side around to have it as it should look with Ambrose, Gleeson & Stewart starting all the players he has named is very close to how it will likely be.
Just swap Langford in for LAV
B: Mark Baguley, Michael Hartley, Michael Hurley
HB: Martin Gleeson, Patrick Ambrose, Conor McKenna
C: Andrew McGrath, Dyson Heppell, Brendan Goddard
HF: Devon Smith, Joe Daniher, Orazio Fantasia
F: Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, Cale Hooker, James Stewart
Foll: Tom Bellchambers, Jake Stringer, Zach Merrett
I/C: David Zaharakis, Darcy Parish, Kyle Langford Adam Saad
Against teams when we play a smaller backline & drop one of the kpdâs then Green to come in IMO, and Smith to move into main midfield rotations.
Not bad.
My side would beat yours thoughđ
We played gleeson as the third tall defender most of this year.
Not really. Itâs basically the same 22 as most have. He just has the talls on the bench instead of being on the field. And the rotating mids on the flanks instead of the bench.
You might take 1 mid sized forward/mid and replace it with a small forward, though most prob wouldnât, but thatâs about the extent of it.
Heâs got two key defenders on the ground and two key forwards which in my opinion is enough.
He hasnât tried to disguise his disliking of Langford. I would put him in over Laverde just because he can play midfield or forward.
I would have Franga on the bench also.
Heâs got Hurley, Hartley, Ambrose as KPD.
Hooker, Daniher, Stewart as KPF.
This is not a Cal thing, this is a you vs everyone thing. Iâm not saying youâre wrong, but that is our typical structure last year and what most would have.
I would also have Frang and Lang in.
Just out of curiosity, you say you want only 2 kpd and you say you want Frang in. Are you saying youâd play just Hurley and Francis as kpd?
Ambrose was out for a big portion of the year and itâs no surprise that when he came back in we really struggled to get the ball out of defence.
I would be surprised if we go with the three at the back again.
As for the forwards I donât mind if we have the three talls as long as a small defensive player is included. Laverde for mine was one taller player to many and I would prefer either green or hopefully long performing that role.
And Francis for mine will replace Gleeson at some point next year. Hopefully early.
Gleeson will be amongst the first picked next year.
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To briefly reference a post of mine from a month ago;
Particularly when considering the backline there are two different best 22âs.
One for matching tall forward lines, one for matching a Richmond with only one tall forward.
Just maybe our coaches take this into account at selection.
To avoid this circular argument re talls in the backline itâd help to specify.
Itâs also why Gleesonâs versatility keeps him ahead of blokes like Hartley - sometimes you need a Hartley, sometimes you donât.
In terms of Francis, itâs not Gleeson whose spot is at risk in the backline (Iâm a Francis fan but the thought of the opposition sending a mobile twisty flanker to Big Red is a bit scarey)
If Francis plays back then itâs either for Hartley whose role is taken by Ambrose, or for Goddard as the floating spare distributor, where his intercept marking/ spoiling and kicking can set up counter attacks.
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Yeah I suspect it will happen moreso now given some opposition may move towards running smaller fwd lines.
Looking at the top sides thoughâŚ
Crows still will play the 3 talls + Lynch (med)
Cats will send Taylor to defence but maintain the 3 talls inc Crameri*+ Menzel (med)
GWS looked to drop it back to 2 talls (after Mummy got injured) and got better results from that towards end of season. Mainly as they lacked the quality small fwds to pressure enough around Patton, Cameron & Lobb.
And Rich got away with just 1 & a rotating Dusty/Caddy as their medium target from midfield, however likely would go back to 2 if Griffiths fit again.
Sydney will also keep their 3 tall fwd structure. In the final vs Syd we had all 3 of our kpd & Gleeson, probably part of reason he was so prominent as was able to drop off and help out. Our lack of midfield pressure meant he had plenty to do.
*Plays tall
Tom Lynch has 3cm in height on Crameri, so if youâre including Crameri as a tall for the Cats, you should be including Lynch as a tall for the Crows, or vice versa (i.e., both mediums).
Height wise you are correct. The way I see it Crameri plays tall however.
He has the strength to go up against a main kpd. When he was our leading goal kicker he often got the opposition best kpd.
If it was a Hawkins, Stanley fwd/ruck & Crameri fwd line I sure wouldnât want Gleeson matched up on Crammers. But he could cover Menzel.
For the flankerâŚ
(Pity he can only do this once a game!)
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Francis is agile and explosive.
He wouldnât be matching up on your Eddie betts but he would more than comfortably match any mid size player as well as most talls for athleticism.
I think Francis will put it all together this coming year and for mine what he can offer us will be second to ownly Hurley in our backline.
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Hopefully his running capacity is up to it. That is still the concern. Imagine him matching up on a guy like Adelaideâs Lynch