We kicked 21 goals against Carlton with only 2 coming from Carlisle & JD. Fix the midfield & the forward line will improve (or at least be less of an obvious problem) . While we are getting beaten around the contest our forward line will continue to be dragged out of the forward area to compensate & we will struggle to score. Our best goal scorer (Chappy) has spent much of the last few games playing up the ground - why, because our midfield is getting beaten. At 32 he should be played very sparingly on the ball & like Fletch, shouldn't be rellied upon to carry a huge load.
Look at last year when we were playing better footy. We still didn't have that dominant forward & Crameri with the occasional 3 goals was as good as it got BUT our midfield was performing & that allowed us to have Watson, Goddard, Zaka etc spend time forward (not just to break tags) & remain competitive in the middle when they were rotated. Zaka, Melksham, Heppel, Hocking & Howlett as a group are all down on where they were at this time last year. Add a few down games from Jobe, injuries to BJ & Myers who is possibly the only guy who looked like he'd improved in the midfield & you have a big reason why we are struggling to get enough scores.
We kicked 21 goals against Carlton with only 2 coming from Carlisle & JD. Fix the midfield & the forward line will improve (or at least be less of an obvious problem) . While we are getting beaten around the contest our forward line will continue to be dragged out of the forward area to compensate & we will struggle to score. Our best goal scorer (Chappy) has spent much of the last few games playing up the ground - why, because our midfield is getting beaten. At 32 he should be played very sparingly on the ball & like Fletch, shouldn't be rellied upon to carry a huge load.
Look at last year when we were playing better footy. We still didn't have that dominant forward & Crameri with the occasional 3 goals was as good as it got BUT our midfield was performing & that allowed us to have Watson, Goddard, Zaka etc spend time forward (not just to break tags) & remain competitive in the middle when they were rotated. Zaka, Melksham, Heppel, Hocking & Howlett as a group are all down on where they were at this time last year. Add a few down games from Jobe, injuries to BJ & Myers who is possibly the only guy who looked like he'd improved in the midfield & you have a big reason why we are struggling to get enough scores.
I think that is harsh on Heppell, Hocking and Melksham. Heppell I think has improved and the other two are as good as they were at this time of the year. Stanton is down, Zaha is down, Myers is missing, Jobe is down, but worst of all our game plan does not seem to be working. We had DE of about 60% on the weekend with mostly the same mids who last year were averaging about 90%. I think a big part of the problem is the gameplan.
All i can say is that Kennedy OF THE WC kicked 11 against Sam Frost and Carlisle against an equivalent type opponent in Darcy Gardiner kicked 1. Tall forwards with ability dine out against poor or developing defenders.
Midfield is not the issue. How can you have more inside 50's than the opposition up to Round 8. Poor midfield means you dont get the ball into forward 50 as often as the opposition.
I wanted to have Carlisle forward, and I would normally think that the games to date are nowhere near enough to determine if Carlisle can make it as a forward or not. HOWEVER, if this is completely doing Carlisle’s head in. If whether due to the swap or personal issues he is in no place to be doing this, then maybe he needs to be moved back. Only the coaching staff would no if this is the case, or just the story been created by some fans/commentators/media to explain some of what has happened. It could all be rubbish. The problem is, if we move Carlisle anywhere (whether VFL or backline), we need somebody to support JD up forward. Even when Belly is fit we probably still want another tall forward. So the choice is pretty much switch one of Hurley/Hooker forward (both of which has a heap of issues), have an undersized forwardline, or try someone like Steinberg. Not good solutions any of them.
All i can say is that Kennedy OF THE WC kicked 11 against Sam Frost and Carlisle against an equivalent type opponent in Darcy Gardiner kicked 1. Tall forwards with ability dine out against poor or developing defenders.
Midfield is not the issue. How can you have more inside 50's than the opposition up to Round 8. Poor midfield means you dont get the ball into forward 50 as often as the opposition.
Ridiculous point. Completely different ground, completely different game, completely different players.
Who of the other players who have played on Gardiner this year has kicked a bag on him? (ignoring that Brisbane were more competitive in the midfield than they have been)
You can get Kennedy Franklin Cameron in the team… But the way we deliver and move it forward I don’t see it producing a lot of goals… We have some talent already. Just need to tweek the game plan.
I don't think it would matter who we had at full forward. We only have one player in Zerrett that can deliver the ball to where the forward is going. We need to fix that first.
Best Part about Zerret's kick to Ryder against the doggies is that he MADE him lead by taking such a wide kick.
Just shows what happens if forwards present a lead and I think others should look at Zerret's kick and try to do the same with Daniher.
I would say do that to Carlisle as well but he probably wouldnt bother chasing the ball with his effort and attitude the past few weeks he would rather deck a player, yell in his face and give a 50 meter penalty away.
I love you Carlisle but sometimes you need to give some tough love and grow the ■■■■ up.
Crameri gets criticised for only kicking goals against weak opposition but this is not really how I remember him (and yes, I noticed that he kicked for against the demons - but still he won them the match).
I think both Stewie and Angus had an ability to kick goals for us at times when we were struggling to kick goals as a team. I always felt they had the ability to snag a goal for us when we didn't look like scoring and would be our top goalkickers in games we weren't really playing that well - I enjoyed their value in the team because of it. IMHO we desperately miss this now. Obviously this is history but until we become a top class team (which we are not and are never guaranteed to achieve) there will always be times our forward line struggles, Players like Angus and Stewie are valuable at these times - I'm not sure who is on our list that fits this mould.
As J-Bomb said, it's as much about the midfield as anything at the moment.
Best illustrated by Goodwin and Bomber in the post match interview who said, the midfielders didn't earn their champagne on the flight back. Said they just aren't defending and defensive running well enough.
I recall Bomber having a crack at the midfield last week as well saying, they were lacking hunger around the contest. Too many guys watching and waiting for the handball receive (yes, we were 9th of the 10 teams that played this week for contested possessions)
The Swans will destroy us in the midfield if we serve up anything like we have in the past few weeks.
Here's to hoping the inclusion of Myers in the centre square will mean Chappy can go back to playing in the 50. And we can get some friggin grunt back!!
All i can say is that Kennedy OF THE WC kicked 11 against Sam Frost and Carlisle against an equivalent type opponent in Darcy Gardiner kicked 1. Tall forwards with ability dine out against poor or developing defenders.
Midfield is not the issue. How can you have more inside 50's than the opposition up to Round 8. Poor midfield means you dont get the ball into forward 50 as often as the opposition.
Ridiculous comparison. Frost and Gardiner may be similar, but Kennedy and Carlisle are not. Kennedy has been in the system 10 years, all of it as a forward. Carlisle has been in the system 4 years, 2-3 of them as a defender.