Changes for round 15 v Port Adelaide

[Ludwig]

I'll have a bit of a ramble about things we should consider heading into the back 9 games of the season, rather than specific changes for just the PA game.

It was noted on Access All Areas today how we were exposed for height, as if it was a stroke of genius by Clarkson to take advantage of our undersized defence. Yet nearly everyone on RWO recognised it was a problem, but not our selectors.

There's something not right about how our coaching staff are going about things this year. We've had some great performances at the start of the season, but we've also been under-prepared in some games, indicating something hasn't been right with our training schedule, particularly v Hawthorn and GC.

The poor performances by our VFL team is also a worry. I don't think Laidler is a coach, but has been put in the job as a low priced alternative to a real coach due to the soft cap constraints.

I'm for overriding the coaches' judgment (which of course can never happen) and start playing some guys who haven't quite looked ready from their VFL games, particularly Gould, O'Connor and Ling. And let them learn on the job with direct AFL experience. Sometimes it works out. Our back line really needs fixing.

Forward lines are getting bigger every year, but Longmire thinks the answer countering with a shorter defence. There's enough evidence in by now to show that it doesn't work. I can't see the point in persisting. Maybe we don't have the best personnel to do the job, but we do have the warm bodies. Let's get the structure right and see if we have the right people for the job, and if not, we will know what needs to be done to plug holes in the post season.

I'm feeling confident now that Hayward is ready to be a reliable forward. We don't need both Hayward and Heeney in the forward line if we go with 3 tall forwards, as has been the case. We can fill out the forward line with Papley plus Wicks, Gulden or Ronke with a midfielder rotating for interchanges. Heeney can then play mostly in the midfield with stints up forward. It gives us a bit more class going through the midfield. When he gets the ball, good things happen.

Eventually Blakey will find his spot and his form. I'm not sure if it's at HF or HB. Whichever it is, Dawson can take the other position, although he's doing such a good job in defence, it would be a pity to move him forward, but I feel he's the kind of player who can make an impact wherever he plays.

[SwanSand]

I'm feeling confident now that Hayward is ready to be a reliable forward. We don't need both Hayward and Heeney in the forward line if we go with 3 tall forwards, as has been the case. We can fill out the forward line with Papley plus Wicks, Gulden or Ronke with a midfielder rotating for interchanges. Heeney can then play mostly in the midfield with stints up forward. It gives us a bit more class going through the midfield. When he gets the ball, good things happen.

Eventually Blakey will find his spot and his form. I'm not sure if it's at HF or HB. Whichever it is, Dawson can take the other position, although he's doing such a good job in defence, it would be a pity to move him forward, but I feel he's the kind of player who can make an impact wherever he plays.

Agree with above. Hayward has class. He has become better in field kicking than he used to be and seems to be better settled in front of goals than before. He has the class to be a consistent performer and can easily cause headaches to the defence due to his aerial skills.He just needs to learn to keep his feet in the contest. He gets pushed away far too easily at times.

Do you think Heeney should play wing? He is good over head. Can distribute the ball well. And can run back and help the defence easily. It would not be A bad idea to switch the magnets a bit and play Heeney on wing.

I think in the long run, Blakey in HF is going to be the best chance For Blakey to come into the team. He cannot be the first or the second forward but he can have a major impact like Hayward if asked to do what he does - have 10 disposals but make them count.

[707]

I think most of us saw the lack of defensive height an issue before the Hawks game, they then go and drop Brand who is a good negating FB standing 198cm.

Derrrr, we get exposed for lack of defensive height, big win by Clarko who was reading RWO I reckon.

Rampe is a champion defender but can't be expected to give away so much reach without copping frees against. Time to bring in more height (when fit) and free up Rampe to be an intercept rebounder playing on guys of similar reach.

Even after the bye we will still have several best 22 players unavailable.

[Ludwig]

I was saying for 2 years to get Mills into the midfield and it finally happened this year. I feel the same about Heeney, although Heeney can spend more time on the outside. He's a great lead up mark and hits targets as well. If we have Mills and Heeney in the midfield, then we had something to build a team around. Those 2 can play. Get them where the ball is.

Campbell will probably become a midfielder in due course, while Gulden can play either midfield or forward.

Those 4 academy kids have so much class and footy smarts.

We just need to fix the defensive group and we can compete with the best.

[NeonBible]

I was saying for 2 years to get Mills into the midfield and it finally happened this year. I feel the same about Heeney, although Heeney can spend more time on the outside. He's a great lead up mark and hits targets as well. If we have Mills and Heeney in the midfield, then we had something to build a team around. Those 2 can play. Get them where the ball is.

Campbell will probably become a midfielder in due course, while Gulden can play either midfield or forward.

Those 4 academy kids have so much class and footy smarts.

We just need to fix the defensive group and we can compete with the best.

Great observations Ludwig!! I too think it would prove worthy to try Heeney in the midfield! He is so strong with such clean hands!! I have heard the reasoning that if you play Heeney in the midfield then we miss what he provides as a forward. To that I ask: Why? Why can't he do both? Play as a midfielder in and around the stoppages but go forward and take marks and kick goals?? Isn't this what the very best midfielders in the game (Fyfe, Dangerfield, Dusty, Bont) all do?? I say we pull the trigger and have faith in our blonde bombshell!!

The other question is... do we need to move magnets around to accommodate Heeney in the midfield?? Does Joey or Parker have to spend more time forward, or does he replace one of the younger mids like Ollie or Rowy?? Very complex trying to juggle all the rotations! But its nice to finally HAVE rotations!! Wasn't too long ago our midfield was just Joey, Parker and Hewett lol

[Bangalore Swans]

I'll have a bit of a ramble about things we should consider heading into the back 9 games of the season, rather than specific changes for just the PA game.

It was noted on Access All Areas today how we were exposed for height, as if it was a stroke of genius by Clarkson to take advantage of our undersized defence. Yet nearly everyone on RWO recognised it was a problem, but not our selectors.

There's something not right about how our coaching staff are going about things this year. We've had some great performances at the start of the season, but we've also been under-prepared in some games, indicating something hasn't been right with our training schedule, particularly v Hawthorn and GC.

The poor performances by our VFL team is also a worry. I don't think Laidler is a coach, but has been put in the job as a low priced alternative to a real coach due to the soft cap constraints.

I'm for overriding the coaches' judgment (which of course can never happen) and start playing some guys who haven't quite looked ready from their VFL games, particularly Gould, O'Connor and Ling. And let them learn on the job with direct AFL experience. Sometimes it works out. Our back line really needs fixing.

Forward lines are getting bigger every year, but Longmire thinks the answer countering with a shorter defence. There's enough evidence in by now to show that it doesn't work. I can't see the point in persisting. Maybe we don't have the best personnel to do the job, but we do have the warm bodies. Let's get the structure right and see if we have the right people for the job, and if not, we will know what needs to be done to plug holes in the post season.

I'm feeling confident now that Hayward is ready to be a reliable forward. We don't need both Hayward and Heeney in the forward line if we go with 3 tall forwards, as has been the case. We can fill out the forward line with Papley plus Wicks, Gulden or Ronke with a midfielder rotating for interchanges. Heeney can then play mostly in the midfield with stints up forward. It gives us a bit more class going through the midfield. When he gets the ball, good things happen.

Eventually Blakey will find his spot and his form. I'm not sure if it's at HF or HB. Whichever it is, Dawson can take the other position, although he's doing such a good job in defence, it would be a pity to move him forward, but I feel he's the kind of player who can make an impact wherever he plays.

When it comes to tall defenders a think most teams are probably caught short on height. There are only 4 key defenders in the competition whom match up well against the biggest and most athletic forwards. Blicavs, Moore, Andrews and Balta have the attributes of height, weight, speed and ball reading ability to make it difficult for the best forwards. Stephen May is smaller but makes up for a lack of height through physical strength and being a brilliant footballer. All other key defenders are miles away from these 5 mentioned. The rest of the key defenders in the competition competition are doing their best. It’s pretty hard to get one of these top five on your list.

May have to spend some future money on a good one.

[Bangalore Swans]

When it comes to tall defenders a think most teams are probably caught short on height. There are only 4 key defenders in the competition whom match up well against the biggest and most athletic forwards. Blicavs, Moore, Andrews and Balta have the attributes of height, weight, speed and ball reading ability to make it difficult for the best forwards. Stephen May is smaller but makes up for a lack of height through physical strength and being a brilliant footballer. All other key defenders are miles away from these 5 mentioned. The rest of the key defenders in the competition competition are doing their best. It’s pretty hard to get one of these top five on your list.

May have to spend some future money on a good one.

Apologies to McGoven form West Coast and Weitering from Carlton. They are also top grade key defenders.

[Ludwig]

The other question is... do we need to move magnets around to accommodate Heeney in the midfield?? Does Joey or Parker have to spend more time forward, or does he replace one of the younger mids like Ollie or Rowy?? Very complex trying to juggle all the rotations! But its nice to finally HAVE rotations!! Wasn't too long ago our midfield was just Joey, Parker and Hewett lol

We are a bit spoiled for choice. It's one of the reasons that Hewett is being tried in defence. What happens when Gulden, Campbell, Stevens and Blakey come into the side? It's hard to say what the eventual makeup will be for the midfield. There will no doubt be a lot of trial and error.

[MattW]

Thanks for that post, Ludwig.

Particularly agree with this:

The poor performances by our VFL team is also a worry. I don't think Laidler is a coach, but has been put in the job as a low priced alternative to a real coach due to the soft cap constraints.

I'm for overriding the coaches' judgment (which of course can never happen) and start playing some guys who haven't quite looked ready from their VFL games, particularly Gould, O'Connor and Ling. And let them learn on the job with direct AFL experience. Sometimes it works out. Our back line really needs fixing.

Our defence has been a problem all year. Without checking the stats (mostly because I can't find it), I suspect we'd be near league bottom in opposition forward 50 efficiency.

While looking for that stat, I noticed we're 15th in own efficiency inside forward 50. The only other top 8 team outside the top 8 in that stat is Port.

This is despite being second in inside 50s, first in tackles inside forward 50, and 6th in marks inside forward 50. That suggests our midfield isn't the issue in terms of winning the ball, although entries may be an issue.

So, we're not making the most of our own opportunities and conceding too much when the opposition has an opportunity.

[liz]

Thanks for that post, Ludwig.

Particularly agree with this:



Our defence has been a problem all year. Without checking the stats (mostly because I can't find it), I suspect we'd be near league bottom in opposition forward 50 efficiency.

While looking for that stat, I noticed we're 15th in own efficiency inside forward 50. The only other top 8 team outside the top 8 in that stat is Port.

This is despite being second in inside 50s, first in tackles inside forward 50, and 6th in marks inside forward 50. That suggests our midfield isn't the issue in terms of winning the ball, although entries may be an issue.

So, we're not making the most of our own opportunities and conceding too much when the opposition has an opportunity.

I think that after the first month or so we were 1st or 2nd at efficiency inside forward 50. We were leading marks inside forward fifty by some margin, and most of them were from a position where the set shot was quite straightforward.

As we've seen, our ability (or willingness) to take risks and move the ball through the middle has fallen off sharply since then. Part of it is the opposition preventing us, but I also think the team isn't displaying the run or the dare that we saw early on. I wonder if this is partly deliberate in that the coaches are worried about the vulnerability of our defence, and so are instructing the half-backs to be conservative in how they kick out. Certainly Dawson isn't trying anything like the kind of kicks he was early in the season.

As for forward 50 entries, the quality has clearly declined, particularly over the last month. Gone are attempts to kick vaguely to a target, and instead we are back to the mindless, aimless bombing it in. Who knows why they've stopped doing what worked well for the first couple of months. Sure, Gulden was one the the prime movers in this department over the first month, but he wasn't the only one. Now they've all reverted to the long mindless bomb.

The other aspect of our game that stands out to me (and has been noted by a few others) is the quality of our tackling. We seem to be expending a lot of effort but for little effect. That's one reason why the backline is being exposed - we're not really slowing down the opposition moving the ball through the midfield. Too often they are able to get a handball off to a team mate, then to another in space with the ability to kick the ball to a target.

Quite a few things to work on, but I think the tackling technique should be a priority. Start getting that right, and getting more reward for effort, and a few other things will flow. We will turn the ball over (in our favour) further up the ground a bit more often, and get more chances to get the ball into our forward 50 before it is clogged up with defenders, and thus more chance to find a target. And also provide a bit more protection for the defence. I don't think it's a work rate thing, a willingness to tackle. I think they are trying, just not doing it well. Surely that's one of the easier things to fix, even within season?

[Markwebbos]

I'll have a bit of a ramble about things we should consider heading into the back 9 games of the season, rather than specific changes for just the PA game.

It was noted on Access All Areas today how we were exposed for height, as if it was a stroke of genius by Clarkson to take advantage of our undersized defence. Yet nearly everyone on RWO recognised it was a problem, but not our selectors.

There's something not right about how our coaching staff are going about things this year. We've had some great performances at the start of the season, but we've also been under-prepared in some games, indicating something hasn't been right with our training schedule, particularly v Hawthorn and GC.

I'm for overriding the coaches' judgment (which of course can never happen) and start playing some guys who haven't quite looked ready from their VFL games, particularly Gould, O'Connor and Ling. And let them learn on the job with direct AFL experience. Sometimes it works out. Our back line really needs fixing.

Forward lines are getting bigger every year, but Longmire thinks the answer countering with a shorter defence. There's enough evidence in by now to show that it doesn't work. I can't see the point in persisting. Maybe we don't have the best personnel to do the job, but we do have the warm bodies. Let's get the structure right and see if we have the right people for the job, and if not, we will know what needs to be done to plug holes in the post season.

I'm feeling confident now that Hayward is ready to be a reliable forward. We don't need both Hayward and Heeney in the forward line if we go with 3 tall forwards, as has been the case. We can fill out the forward line with Papley plus Wicks, Gulden or Ronke with a midfielder rotating for interchanges. Heeney can then play mostly in the midfield with stints up forward. It gives us a bit more class going through the midfield. When he gets the ball, good things happen.

Eventually Blakey will find his spot and his form. I'm not sure if it's at HF or HB. Whichever it is, Dawson can take the other position, although he's doing such a good job in defence, it would be a pity to move him forward, but I feel he's the kind of player who can make an impact wherever he plays.

I agree with some of that, particularly that our defence is undersized. I think we have historically relied on our mids putting plenty of pressure on the ball-carrier so that the ball coming in is slow and dirty. The rule changes have made it harder for every side to defend and have forced a lot more one-on-ones. Plus in some games (e.g. Friday) our pressure has been pretty non-existent. But there have bee examples where it's worked. I seem to remember before the first game of the year, Brisbane, our backline was also considered an undersized liability, yet they held up really well against a tall attack. I think we aren't defending up the field as well as we have been.

The other factor that should not be overlooked is the loss of Coach Blakey. I'm not a fan of Hewett in defence. And I suspect he may use his free agency rights to seek a move at the end of the year.

I'm not sure Heeney is fit enough or agile enough to play in the midfield right now. Horse implied he is barely training this year after his ankle injury. I would love to see him fitter and play more of a Dusty role in 2022. Even if he becomes more of a centre bounce specialist. Given our dearth of dangerous marking players, I'd be reluctant to put him in the mids full-time.

I'm really excited about the return of golden-boy Gulden, above all for the quality of his delivery inside 50. Can't remember the exact stat but he was the best player delivering inside 50 in the entire AFL by about 10%. I think we've really missed his ability to find a target rather than bomb away.

Liz, if you watched the TV coverage of Friday nights game, which I'm sure you did, it looked to me like Clarko was denying us the corridor by kicking wide to a forward pocket and then effectively trapping us out wide and filling the corridor with defenders to stop us using it on the rebound.

My big worry is that we seem to be leaving the corridor unguarded (exhibit A = Friday) and sides are carving us up with ease. I wondered if it was a tactic to encourage the centring kick by the opposition from which we could get a turnover? I feel like our offense and defense is a work in progress at the moment. We seemed to have a lot of players guarding space (poorly) rather than playing man-on-man like to good old days.

Tackling wise, I think clubs have copied Richmond and are now training their players to break tackles and/or get the ball away when tackled, so I think it's harder to make an effective tackle than it used to be. The way the HTB rule is written taking on the tackler does not = prior opportunity, so it's a free hit for the player with the ball.

[mcs]

I was saying for 2 years to get Mills into the midfield and it finally happened this year. I feel the same about Heeney, although Heeney can spend more time on the outside. He's a great lead up mark and hits targets as well. If we have Mills and Heeney in the midfield, then we had something to build a team around. Those 2 can play. Get them where the ball is.

Campbell will probably become a midfielder in due course, while Gulden can play either midfield or forward.

Those 4 academy kids have so much class and footy smarts.

We just need to fix the defensive group and we can compete with the best.

Very good points as always Ludwig. I think back though, and leaving solving the 'defence' question to the 'spare parts brigade' or to 'last but not least' is broadly how we did it for 2005 and 2012, so it doesn't suprise me its not been the highest priority. A lot of the other parts of the puzzle are broadly beginning to fall into place, or we are getting a good idea of the direction we are taking. But the defensive group remains a bit of a puzzlement.

In terms of Heeney - one step at a time. Got to find a way to stop him getting random injuries so much ha! Reckon he was far from fit on the weekend, close to the worst game I can remember from him ever pretty much. Couldn't have caught a beachball I reckon, let alone a footy most of the night.