As long as Lloyd and Reid are both cleared to play I would have one change in Naismith for either Tippett or Sinclair. I wonder if Tippett is carrying an injury, would explain his form. Jack was playing poorly before he went out with his hip so I would give him limited time in the NEAFL; not so much to blow the cobwebs out as to see whether his body can handle it.
I just don't see where they'll play Aliir in the seniors right now. I think he needs to be playing as a half back or spare in defence as he uses the ball well and is very evasive and a good mark (also good disposal efficiency at 74% this year, 82% last year). It seems the coaches only see him as a key defender though so he'll probably have to wait for Melican or Grundy to hit some poor form which is pretty unfortunate.
Both Newman and Aliir can play through the midfield or forward. Newman played both positions before he became a backman, which is why he looks comfortable when he finds himself in the midfield or up forward. In fact, he may well be better suited to play on the the left wing where he can use his powerful kick to get the ball inside 50. That last kick is something we can really improve on.
How many times do we have to see Mills in a defensive mismatch, or Reid having to leave the forward line for need of an extra tall defender (and then finding ourselves without a forward option on the rebound), before we realise how many of these problems would be solved by just adding Aliir to the team. We would effectively gain an extra midfielder and keep our forward line structure.
The problem is that Longmire would have to admit that he made a mistake in how he viewed our forward line, which was to have Buddy, Reid and Tippett all playing up forward, plus a good tap ruckman, like Naismith, to feed our dominant inside mids. This was fine 4 years ago, but things change quickly in football. Rebound off halfback and forward pressure have become more important in the game now, so something has to give, which is that 3rd tall marking option. If Tippett could play at the level of a Tom Hawkins, for instance, then perhaps we could do it, with Buddy and Reid spending a lot more time in the midfield. I would imagine it was Longmire's dream that Tippett would be even better than Tom Hawkins, but it just hasn't quite come together for him.
I feel that Longmire will persist trying to make his dreams come true, bring in Naismith and not Aliir. Maybe Tippett will become the dominant forward of the 2nd half of the season and Longmire can have the last laugh.
Ludwig, which team in the AFL has the best ruck/forward combo going around ?
I am suprised you brought up Geelong, as Ive always though Hawkins was as much a cap liability as tippett. A bit of a dinosaur in this post global warming age.
Need more dash in the side and not sure we are getting enough with two ruckmen. Maybe ruck Tippett for the majority of the time, drop Sinclair as his dropped marks are costing us.
Melican is becoming a fixture so we probably now have to make the call on Aliir becoming the third tall but athletic HB, leave Rampe to pick up guys more his own size, plus Smith & Newman.
Maybe get Mills out of the backline and permanently on a wing?
How about back to the future and get KJ to tag the oppositions best mid?
Time to do something different!
The best ruck forward combos would be the 2 Adelaide team. I like Sam Jacobs as a ruckman and Jenkins backs up well. Ryder is a great modern day ruckman and Port have several 2nd ruck options in Trengove, Dixon and Westoff.
I compare Tippett to Hawkins because of their physical similarities. They are both dinosaurs, but at least Hawkins is kicking 50 to 60 goals a year, is an accurate kick for goal as well and does it under pressure in big games. If we got that from Tippett, most of us would be happy.
I agree with all this. If someone other than Aliir has a free kick in the back line (from a mark or whatever), then Aliir can be a good outlet for a kick to the midfield because of his strong marking ability, and if the ball hits the ground, he's as agile as a cat.
I'm worried about the 4 umpires on the ground. When it's 3 of them we get screwed against the dogs...can you imagine what 4 of them will do??
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