Ok, so there is a bit of a debate over Houli v Grigg. That's ok but until someone stands up and demands their spot in our best 22, at this stage they both stay IMO. But for how long who knows.
Now I have been thinking about my original question 'bridging the gap' and how we can achieve it. And without any of the pre season stuff being played yet, it's more based on the players we have seen, but with a bit of luck one of our new guys might be a standout in the next couple of months and push someone out.
One of the biggest questions for me is where is Lids (probably our most gifted player/athlete) most damaging for us? Most will say midfield but IMO he can be taken out of the game to easily by someone playing a tight tag on him. In that case he either doesn't get a kick or at best he is serviceable. We need better than that from all our mids if we are to 'bridge the gap' on the top four. And most coaches have realized this now or will pretty quickly in 2014. So what I would do with him is play him across halfback and move Houli to a wing. Lids won't get beaten it the air down back, can rebound as good as anyone in the game and just shores up our backline. A backline of
Morris Chaplin Grimes
Lids Rance Vlastuin
is pretty bloody solid! You have people who first and foremost can defend the footy, the cool heads of Chaplin and Vlastuin, the desperation of Morris and Grimes, and the rebound of Lids, Rance, Grimes and Vlastuin. As a group IMO they can be the best back 6 in the game.
Now what moving Lids to our backline does, other than shoring it up, is give us a chance to play/develop someone else through the midfield. Whether it be one of the new guys Gordon or Miles,(if they earn it in the pre season) or someone like Conca, Ellis, Houli, Vlastuin, Helbig, or Arnot to play more time in their. A Conca not being tagged in the middle would be just as damaging as a Lids being tagged in their. But with the bonus of Lids somewhere else.
Now all those mentioned have been at the club a while now and if they are to develop properly into genuine midfielders then they need a good go at it. Not just pinch hitting in there from time to time.
Someone like Helbig who we have tried as a halfback flanker with not much success could just be a genuine mid. Imagine trying to play Dane Swan across halfback, it just would work, he is a genuine mid and just needs to play there. Now I'm not saying Helbig is the man but sometimes a player like that cannot play (really well) anywhere else other than where they have played all their lives. And IMO Houli could be another one in the same boat??
Remember not every midfielder needs to be a tough, Trent Cotchin ball winning machine, some of the best midfielders of all time have been outsiders that just receive the footy out and deliver it down someone's throat.
Thoughts??
Now our forwardline is a different storey, but I'll talk about them another time, this post is starting to resemble one of Claws....
