stevens and saddington

[penga]

what i am about to propose would be on the hypothetical assumption that the swans have a fully fit squad...

could we see stevens pushed to the backline? so often backs first start out as forwards then they become succesful backmen... he definitely has the height and the marking ability, with a little bit of mongrel about him as well. saddington could then be pushed to the wing, again :) ball and doyle imo are much better at playing the chf role than stevens.

so, i love doing lists and here is mine (again):

b: fixter schauble barry
hb: crouch stevens c. bolton
c: goodes cresswell saddington
hf: o'loughlin doyle nicks*
f: o'keefe hall davis
ball: ball williams maxfield
int: kennelly fosdike kirk matthews

* rapid improvement in form after being dumped by tamin sosek, she decides to go out with me instead ;)

what would everyone think of this move? ie stevens to chb? saddington and stevens have very similar build so there wouldnt be much lost with the body sizes...

[NMWBloods]

Given Steven's terrible kicking accuracy it might not be a bad idea. After all Dunks came to us a forward. And so did Freddy Goldsmith for that matter!

[Rod_]

Too tall on the wings....

Right players though...


Rod_

[penga]

Originally posted by Rod_
Too tall on the wings....

Right players though...


Rod_

i dont see how they r too tall, i think theyd create a matchup problem for other teams, they r both quick on their feet and they could outmark a lot of players... how would they be too tall? (just to be clear, im being curious not attacking... some people can take my message the wrong way sometimes...)

[penga]

its just that stevens looked so composed across the half back line against brisbane... he looked like he suited there better than half forward imo anyway

[omnipotent]

Saddington hasn't got the pace or kicking ability for the wing. I still maintain he's slow and I am not a fan of his kicking.

[NMWBloods]

I think Saddington is quick enough, he just looks slow because he lopes. Reminds me a bit of DRJ.

[floppinab]

Looks pretty good, probably haven't seen enough of Stevens but would there be a question mark over his pace particularly against one or two of the quicker half forwards in the league.
If you could generally push Goodes back to assist and cover that it doesn't look that bad.
One comment on Steven's accuracy. I seem to remember... was it early 2001 (it might've even been last year) when he booted his first 6 goals without a miss. The boy can convert, it's a mental thing I'm sure.

It's great to speculate about these things at the moment. There's a lot of potential for variation (and the opportunity to catch the opposition out as well) with our current situation.
And isn't this a relatively tall side compared to say 2000 when we we had one of the shortest 22's week in week out.

[swan_song]

Im with Penga...Saddington is a half back flanker or winger not a key position player...though hes a good mark normally, he seems to want to try and mark when the better option is to spoil or punch. Not good for a CHB. Therefore IMO hes better suited to the flank or the wing where his height and marking can be exploited to our advantage. I am more concerned about the forwards...not kicking a goal in three of 8 quarters in modern football is, quite frankly, inexcusable, no matter who is on the field, kids or not. At least the forwards look potent in ur line up...lets just hope they're fit, cos a loss to Carlton when it really matters, given its clapped out team of hacks, would be ignominy. Im not a fan of NickD, but I sincerely hope he will prove me wrong. What buoys me, despite the past 2 horrendous results is the fact that the losses count for not much when u are injury hit and rebuilding a young team, and we played with style and directness at the end of last year.
But how about those Roos eh...they never fail to impress me, no matter what obstacles are thrown at them.

[NMWBloods]

Although I've been critical of the forward line, it's probably worth noting that the one on Saturday lacked Hall, O'Loughlin and Davis, not to mention Ball and Doyle.

[penga]

its quite shocking to see that the only players that are full time backmen are schauble and barry (according to my list anyway)... i would like to see bolton, crouch and fixter all pushed up the field but they are filling holes, so many of our players have become hole fillers that they can never buckle down to one posi and make it their own... we do have seymour and warfe, but i think they lack the quality we need. however with powell, hunt and lrt all coming through the pipework we might end up with the backline we have lacked for some time... also having thewlis reported as a backmen, we could have a baby but skilful backline *fingers crossed*

[barry]

Stevens as CHB is a good move. I see him as a Leppitch type: Able to go forward and back as needed. CHF is wasted on the SCG so cementing himself at CHB would be a good way to establish his career.

That gives us a strong backline in my opinion. Schauble and Stevens to take the two tall fowards. Saddington and C.Bolton to take the two medium sized forwards. And Barry, Nicks, Couch, and Matthews to take care of the pockets/flanks.

I'd play Ball/Goodes rotating between CHF and Ruck, with Doyle helping out in Ruck and maybe FF occationally.

Fully fit, we arent a bad side at all.




Originally posted by penga
what i am about to propose would be on the hypothetical assumption that the swans have a fully fit squad...

could we see stevens pushed to the backline? so often backs first start out as forwards then they become succesful backmen... he definitely has the height and the marking ability, with a little bit of mongrel about him as well. saddington could then be pushed to the wing, again :) ball and doyle imo are much better at playing the chf role than stevens.

so, i love doing lists and here is mine (again):

b: fixter schauble barry
hb: crouch stevens c. bolton
c: goodes cresswell saddington
hf: o'loughlin doyle nicks*
f: o'keefe hall davis
ball: ball williams maxfield
int: kennelly fosdike kirk matthews

* rapid improvement in form after being dumped by tamin sosek, she decides to go out with me instead ;)

what would everyone think of this move? ie stevens to chb? saddington and stevens have very similar build so there wouldnt be much lost with the body sizes...

[swan_song]

Again, I just wish we could come up with something better for FB...I like Shauble, but not at FB...I can see quite a few bags being kicked down that end. It's a lot to expect Goodes and the others to cover the hole left by Dunks. It wasn't Dunks kicking (the less said the better), or marking (as good as it was)...it was his ability to spoil...punch...get to the contest that will be missed. I guess it just puts more pressure on the midfielders to get the ball going the other direction, and our forwards to keep the pressure on...time will tell. We'll get an idea on Saty if Schaubs lines up on Neitz, another good wrestler who also leads well...

[NMWBloods]

Schaubs needs to develop a bit of mongrel about him. Dunks was great not just because he could spoil and mark, but because he was all over his opponent. Not as bad as Silvagni, who was like a wrestler, but he was body to body and would hit away their arms. I don't know if Schauble has the strength to do this, in which case, he needs to look at how Silvagni was able to get away with what he did for years.

[gloveski]

Stevens at CHB is worth a shot especially if he struggles early on in the season in the forward line.

He has been around awhile and you would think if he is going to be anything special he will have to make his mark this year

[blinddog]

besides being injured! OK so if he was now a backman could we see him being, then a pinch hitter like Justin Leppitsch (and when I say pinch hitter I know JL is sooooo much more).

[penga]

Originally posted by blinddog
besides being injured! OK so if he was now a backman could we see him being, then a pinch hitter like Justin Leppitsch (and when I say pinch hitter I know JL is sooooo much more).

well apart from the quite large weight difference, all the brisbane backmen are tanks! have they been taking drinks out of lynch's coffee lately or something... JL is a very accurate kick, so if stevens improves and puts on about 45kg (obvious exaggeration) he might have a chance of having as much damage as JL...