If I were to nominate two characteristics of modern footy it would be speed and keeping the ball I your forward half, usually with small blokes.
We are terrible at both and do t have the players to do this.
We would have been a Good team a decade ago.
Yeah I agree with most of that.
The back group being unnecessarily under the pump from self inflicted skill issue turnovers up the field more than should have happened, and when you don’t have Reid, Ridley and at times Redman, and instead are relying on Lav, and Kelly, and then Martin who couldn’t nearly get his head across the risk/reward of his attempted kicks right, just turned the back group into a panic led mush. Martin can’t be trusted back there.
In theory, Reid and Ridley are supposed to be your better kicks, and Redman if he actually played half decent would also be in the bracket. Had a down year. So by doing nothing except having Reid and Ridley over Lav and Kelly you are already 1000000% better off.
I do think Langford can give you composure and is a comfortable user of the footy. I don’t want Martin near the backline again, he was horrid in that role and cost us so many goals from his poor decision making.
Some speed wouldn’t go astray though, El-Hawli the obvious candidate. I wonder what the right mix is. McKay Reid Ridley Redman McGrath the obvious candidates if all healthy. El-Hawli and is it Roberts?
We threw Langford on the wing in a similar to Jones wing/fwd role towards the end of the last game of season if I recall correctly and it looked awesome having him further up the field, which could be the move instead of all the way to half back.
I guess my main takeaway is we need better users out of backline and into the forward line. Langford can help with that. Funnily enough, Martin up the field kicking into the forward line is where he has real value, if not being a target there himself.
Edit: it has dawned on me, X Duursma missing large chunks really hurt our ball movement too, as he pushed real deep into backline to be an outlet option and we lost something we couldn’t really replace when he was out. He’s been an excellent pickup, and a dead eye ■■■■ for goal too which doesn’t hurt. 90% accuracy…
Nguyen has a lot of similarities to Merrett imo, won’t get anywhere near him obviously, but a lot of similar traits and build
Does he have a tank or will he end up like the Daveys have so far which is just nowhere near the required tank for AFL level?
You say Merrett and I immediately think great endurance.
I’m guessing he’s probably less likely than the Daveys coming on.
Lets not get crazy here 
He has similarities with Merrett is the same way that every quick and agile shortass has similarities with Merrett.
Quick, agile, shortass, stout, deft touch on his kicks
For me his kicking is solid. I don’t think its fair to compare it to Zach, who has vision and creativity with a touch of flair. Zach’s one of the best field kicks in the comp.
Sometimes you need a coach to back you in, like Sam Mitchell has with his kids. Dear wouldn’t have gotten a game in our side, but look what happens when you develop the kids.
He’s the type of player hawks would take, i like what see from the vids on youtube.
Reading that just and watching the smalls dominate in the first two finals just makes me think our whole list is wrong we are too tall and slow down back with poor kicks, the midfield don’t transition to defense to help quick enough and the forward line is again too tall and slow
Way to tall. I don’t see where Cox and Jones fit in our team.
Our forward line needs to look something like this next year
Perkins/Stringer Caddy Gresham
Guelfi Wright/Draper Langford
(+Kako/Davey)
I actually reckon that’s still too tall, in an ideal world.
I reckon you want 4 smalls of varying kinds. A high hf, a hf/mid, a pressure fwd and a goal kicking fwd. Then one medium and two talls.
I’d have Wright/Draper, Caddy, Langford, Kako, Gresham, Guelfi, and then one more small from who knows where. So essentially I’d be swapping Perkins/Stringer out for a smaller, harder running option (perhaps why I’d be interested in Berry as an option, or Caldwell plays there.)
I could see an arguement for Merrett to play that high hf role, would allow more mid rotations for our younger mids and get Zac delivering into the forward fifty more often
It’s funny when you really think about how you would structure the team, what names end up not really finding a role.
We have so many players that just don’t fit (not Merrett by the way), but the club would never put them the trade table because they are either fan/club favourites or the club has invested so much into them.
Its shame, if we did we could have a better balanced list, team and a strong draft hand at the same time.
I think the hawks ordinary looking defence on paper, shows us that the most important element is what happens up the field. A good zone defence through the midfield and good pressure small forwards can make your back 6 look like millionaires.
Good small forwards, good kicking skills and competitive players need to be at the centre of all our future drafting. Recent premiership sides tell us that key position players aren’t as important as smalls anymore.
Ditch the two rucks to start with and Wright or Cox or Jones (anyone else) can chop out as backup.
That reduces some of our mobility and forward pressure issues.
The two rucks and wright is just too tall and that should be another pressure forward type eg Kako.
I agree, you could actually use Wright as a second ruck that pinch hits forward, he might actually be more dangerous that way. I also think if Cox plays he has to do a blicavzs and second ruck, otherwise not in the team. We need better speed, mobility and kicking skills throughout.
It’s interesting, for us a lot of the ingredients (structurally, not necessarily on output) are there when it comes to the fwd line.
You want a big anchor fwd, this guy doesn’t have to be a world beater but competes and present. For cats it’s Neale, Hawks it’s Chol. For us it could be Draper or Wright.
You want a mobile tall who works up and back and is dangerous in the air and on the ground. For Cats it’s Cameron, Hawks use Dear, for us it would be Caddy.
You want a medium who can exploit a mismatch and provide agility to go with good running capacity. For Cats it’s Henry, for Hawks Gunston, for us Langford.
Then the 4 smalls. Cats have Mannagh, Stengle, Close and Miers. Hawks McDonald, Watson, Ginnivan and Moore doing mid time also. For us we would go with Kako, Gresham, Guelfi and one more tbd.
If we committed to that structure, and traded out accordingly, we could hit the draft effectively.
Won’t happen. Oh well.
25/26
El-Hawli Caddy Merrett (rotating mid)
Langford Shanahan Kako
Durham Caldwell Tsatas
This forward line might work well
Yeah, the issue we have is, we also have Jones and Stringer, and then midfielders that aren’t that effective like Perkins and Hobbs resting/living forward a lot too.
The balance is off, for sure.