Quote Originally Posted by sharp9 View Post
We need to improve one thing more than anything else....centre clearances and, by extension, number of forward fifity entries generally. For some reason (which I can't quite work out) we just don't get the ball forward nearly as much as the other top teams....notwithstanding we had more i50s vs Collingwood when we lost.

Centre clearances vs Hawthorn in GF were in the region of 20 to 5 and in the round 22 game this was a prime driver in their winning with several goals from CCs.

I feel that this is doable and we'll win if we fix this stat. doubly so if we get tippett.

I really think that we cannot sustain another finals campaign without our fair share of the ball (QF and GF) - other teams will make sure they win if they have that dominance in 2013.
I can't work out with our midfield how we're not smashing it in the clearances but maybe it's because we now have a much better spread. Plus we're the best tacklers.

The low i50 count is partly a function of our game style, the 'slingshot' and the 'swarm'. A lot of the opposition entries are either shallow or the ball just gets locked in their forward half. What I really like about our game style is how well our midfielders get back up in numbers in defence and move the ball so well by hand, or they get in the hands of someone like Shaw and Jetta and there's your slingshot.

The low the inside entries are not really a problem if you're winning the games, but yes, more clearances would be nice. I expect other teams will do a lot of strategising about that over summer.