The purpose of training reports has been to try and paint a consistent picture of the club's 2014 development from pre season to the present. Last week I tried to summarize the "plan" so far when I explained the conflict between strategy (overall plan for the future) and tactics (immediate coaching moves to win games) in the article "Bomber's Press Conference Tues 22/4/14."
If you accept that Bomber is coaching for the future by sticking to his strategy of Carlisle & Joe in the forward line and Hurley back etc. etc. with the resultant "short term" damage to our win loss ratio there is a glaring weakness in the implementation of his strategy.
Pre-season reports show that there was competition for a forward line spot between Hardingham and Steinberg. Both trained for this position all summer and both performed well so that there were two players who could fill a role forward as well as having the ability to be swung into defense if needed. However the critical shortage as we all know is not defenders but forwards.
Hardingham got the nod - possibly due to experience and did very well in early in early games with improved kicking for goal. In the last three games he has hardly touched the ball and has been subbed off, unable to sustain his performance.
At this point you would think that Bomber's thinking, bearing in mind that he is coaching for the future, would be to look at elevating Steinberg at the earliest opportunity to give him his chance to show what he can do before deliberating on his one year contract.
Now here's the rub which makes no logical sense. From round one in the VFL Steinberg has been moved back to defense despite excellent pre-season form in attack and a grave shortage of forwards. To compound this Pears who showed some promise back in 2010 but has done little of note since has been moved to the forward line recently where unsurprisingly he has shown little. If Pears is going to make it it will be as a defender surely and if the forward line is currently failing and you are coaching for the future surely Steinberg must be played as a forward in the VFL and elevated and given a chance as soon as the opportunity arises.
Playing the younger Steinberg fits the strategy rather than conflicting with it and I urge the coaching staff to think it through and play him as a forward as you did all pre-season and elevate him as soon as you can - to do otherwise makes no sense.
JM is stating that he should be playing in the forward line in the Reserves, not in the back line. He did not state that he was going to be a star, in fact I don't think he is up to it either.
But if he EVER is going to play in the firsts (with our injury history, anything could happen), it will be as a forward not back, so play him where we will potentially require him.
Agree with your thought process JM and would be happy to see Steinberg elevated but is there a spot now that Belly is fit? Also, with Paddy Ambrose about to resume in the VFL I think Ariel remains back in the queue for senior selection.
didn't he kick 1 goal and limited possies for the whole of the preseason ?
Please read the article carefully. I never said he had excellent form I said both he and Hardingham "performed well".
The where is was at pre-season training week after week and if you had witnessed it you probably would have been impressed.
I must admit I can't remember how many goals he kicked in pre-season games - I'm sure it was more than one and I remember him giving at least one to Carlisle on the goal line with a handball over the top after a mark. His assets were that he made repeated leads, brought the ball to ground and battled very fiercely in contested situations even when out numbered and kept the ball in the forward line.
Stenberg had excellent form ? where, when ?
didn't he kick 1 goal and limited possies for the whole of the preseason ?
Please read the article carefully. I never said he had excellent form I said both he and Hardingham "performed well".
With all due respect you did say excellent form. You said performed well in the third paragraph and then excellent form in the fifth. Not that it really matters all that much.
It probably does make sense to keep him forward given our needs however I don't see him getting elevated.
I think they are looking at adding a string to the bows of Pears and Steinberg so that they can keep a spot on the list. Steinberg looked out of his depth preseason playing as a forward. He could not get separation from his opponent. We know what Pears gives as a defender, and it’s not enough to warrant an AFL game. It makes sense to try to reinvent him to give him a chance at extending his career.
I agree, yet when it came round 1 ambrose was given the nod too… Not that im complaining because he has been very good but it just didn’t sound like he did too much in the preseason compared to hardy and stein.
Stenberg had excellent form ? where, when ?
didn't he kick 1 goal and limited possies for the whole of the preseason ?
Please read the article carefully. I never said he had excellent form I said both he and Hardingham "performed well".
With all due respect you did say excellent form. You said performed well in the third paragraph and then excellent form in the fifth. Not that it really matters all that much.
It probably does make sense to keep him forward given our needs however I don't see him getting elevated.
I think Ambrose’s success is a factor as well. By the time vfl Rd 1 came around we were happy with Ambrose’s progress.
I’d like to see Steinberg working on both positions in the vfl though. A quarter forward here and there as a development plan.
(still think we’d be better with Hooker - Fletcher - Steinberg as the tall defenders and Hurley adding the aggression in the forward line so that the defenders are second guessing when they’re coming back with the flight, which they aren’t doing currently. I also want someone to lay out anyone that knocks out Chapman in the Square if no free is paid.)
Stenberg had excellent form ? where, when ?
didn't he kick 1 goal and limited possies for the whole of the preseason ?
Please read the article carefully. I never said he had excellent form I said both he and Hardingham "performed well".
With all due respect you did say excellent form. You said performed well in the third paragraph and then excellent form in the fifth. Not that it really matters all that much.
It probably does make sense to keep him forward given our needs however I don't see him getting elevated.
Steinberg will never play a Senior game. Not sure why his name keeps coming up.
Correct.
Of course we're 1 Hooker hamstring off having to choose between Hardingham, Pears, Steinberg and Gregory as a tallish defender if we're committed to Carlisle forward.