Dermott Brereton says Richmond need Dustin Martin to rise to the occasion, is Jamie Elliott Collingwood’s answer?Herald-Sun
April 11, 2014 HISTORIANS write that in medieval times commanders would put their best soldiers, the ones who were wild of eye and fearless of their foes, at the front of a charge.
They would be the first in what was known as the shield wall because men who are unsure of their own courage, fear their own failure and need to follow fearless leaders.
Richmond seem to be a group who need a ferocious warrior to lead them into battle from the outset. And without Ivan Maric there doesn’t seem to be a fearless warrior ready to clash bodies and lead the charge.
It is ironic that from the outside, the assumption of who is their next best competitive beast and warrior is a second-year player Nick Vlaustin.
Even the way he attacked the ball in the collision with teammate Dylan Grimes that resulted in him being subbed out early against the Bulldogs last week reinforced his uncompromising charge at the football.
Captain Trent Cotchin is fearless also, but he is so good as a player and so valuable, there is the distinct possibility that he will be targeted for heavy physical attention from the opposition mob. And therefore he needs to keep his eyes on the contest and the ball — not the opposition.
Dustin Martin is a beast when he has the ball. Trade mark fend-offs and a right leg like a Scud missile launcher are his long suits. But for all the big, mean and nasty attributes that he seems to possess, no one fears playing against him.
He breaks opposition tackles but he doesn’t break their bones or their hearts. He needs to start, and in a fair manner within the rules, crunch and batter the opposition while still being a very good player. He is no longer the rookie prodigy, he is the present day star and he must make teammates follow him because of his attack.
This must happen tonight against an opponent who is also yet to find its identity this season.
Collingwood is a team that is attacking by nature but just not very good at scoring. At least not at this point in time anyway.
We know what they will try to do as they really attack hard through the middle and their midfielders do take balanced risks but the forwards are yet to truly mesh together.
I am still yet to decide whether or not Jamie Elliott is the real deal. Sometimes we need to look deeper than the tally of goals or the highlight package.
Most small forwards have a completely different skill set to him. Most are crumbing players that can chase, harass and tackle in their area. Most can also push into the midfield.
And some for an added bonus can take overhead marks.
For most of the others the overhead marking component is like the steak knives thrown into the end deal. So if Elliott, who is low for pressure acts, doesn’t push into the midfield and isn’t really a crumbing small forward, where does that leave him?
His long suit is his marking, but I can’t get my head around the thought that a spectacular mark here or there will compensate for his inadequacies in the other facets.
The accepted and balanced forward set up that Collingwood has preferred over more recent times is two key forwards and two high half-forwards that literally play as midfielders. And two more mid-range players that provide a mixture of pressure acts, lead-up marking and perhaps even slp in as a third tall forward.
Travis Cloke and Jesse White have the first two roles of target key forwards. Tyson Goldsack and Ben Reid, on return, will have the third tall and lead-up roles.
And that leaves Steele Sidebottom to be one of the high half-forwards. Elliot takes the sixth spot, which leaves them one high half-forward short.
Elliott neither crumbs, nor runs down the opposition. Therefore Collingwood lacks the pressure and crumbing attributes of one small forward. This imbalances them compared to other top teams.
The opposition may fear young Elliott’s leap and aerial attributes but once the ball hits the deck, there is not as much pressure as the other top tier teams place on defenders wanting to crumb and clear the ball.
And once Goldsack tires, the forward line pressure drops away severely.
Elliott reminds me a little of the former undersized full forward for Hawthorn in the mid 2000s Mark Williams.
Essentially a 5’11” marking forward who could kick his bag of goals semi-regularly, Hawthorn wasn’t going to be a venomous forward line outfit until there was other forwards playing bigger roles.
Williams then had to improve his other defensive attributes to complement the team. He did and he became a premiership player as a third or fourth string forward.
Another noticeable area for concern is the Cloke and White duo.
White got too far away from Cloke last weekend. You can’t crowd each other, but you definitely can’t play in another postcode.
And when that happened, the extra Geelong defender predictably peeled off and constantly made a two on one against Cloke when inside the attacking 25m range.
When White went further adrift up-field and the ball came down to Collingwood’s forward line, Cloke led to bad positions — hard up on the boundary line 60m out.
I would think the answer is to have Goldsack and even Elliot lead up and outside the 60m range. Then White can range from 25m to 60m and Cloke stays deep.
On the other hand Richmond definitely has the talent and the goal-kicking potency, the problem is we just don’t know when during a game they’ll start trying.
It wasn’t in the first half last week against the Western Bulldogs. Tonight it needs to be from the opening bounce.
Both sides know it’s a long way back when your season starts 1-3.
http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/dermott-brereton-says-richmond-need-dustin-martin-to-rise-to-the-occasion-is-jamie-elliott-collingwoods-answer/story-fndv8t7m-1226880334448
