Playing 9 talls instead of the usual 7 means 1 or 2 less runners/mids , i wonder how much of an affect that had..
plus playing slow average players like aarts and ross on the wing..
Need a better structure , like melbourne
Melbourne normally go with 8 talls.
The thing that stands out for me is the number of smalls we play every week as many as 11 at times.
Melbourne go roughly
8 talls 8 mediums and 6 smalls.
We only have the one power house mid in dusty that is good height and big bodied 187/90. the next biggest is Cotchin at 185/85 he hardly what you would call a big mid.
It just seems to me we have our issues with bigger mids because we dont have the size to match up on them hence i think the missed tackle count or the ease they seem to get their hands free to off load.
Will look into it as best i can but that is the feel i get when i watch us.
Thought it was crazy to play two ruckmen when we had the extra key fwd and agree thursdays set up was too tall
A player type we really lack is 188 - 192cm tall fwds who can take a grab but are quick and agile.
Id have no problem with two key fwds a 188 - 190ish medium and a couple of goal kicking small as our fwd line set up but we dont have the players on the list to set up like that so its usually two talls 3 smalls and dusty and others rotating thru there.
Yeah midfield is screwed without Prestia and lambert. Not to mention an underdone Graham. Those 3 are crucial. No hard in rcd for ross at this stage.
Prestia has been on one leg since 2019 and Lambert is also old and struggling to get on the park. Their days are very numbered. Cotchin even worse, Edwards also ageing.
And yet we drafted 1 potential mid in Sonsie. I'd have liked 3 mids and 2 talls. Instead we stocked up on half back flankers.
Yep I couldnt agree more, I was staggered draft night with the selections.
And on top of that our most damaging mid in Bolton was hardly in there
Yep we have had this discussion. Maybe not staggered but definately had an opportunity to address some midfield issues .
Going to keep on copping crap for this next one but i still think Luke Dunstan would have been a good to get as a f/a on a short contract and minor wages. Getting him was the cover in case Prestia went down.
We lack inside and purely as an inside player he was the best available player to offer a bit of cover and depth for us in this.
His inside stats last yr went at the following
25.0 Disposals - he got plenty of ball
16.7 Effective disposals.
5.0 Tackles- lots of tackles so when he didnt get first hands on it he was applying plenty of pressure
6.0 clearances just what we lack
4.5 score involvements
366 metres gained.
While his offensive game is nothing grand for an inside mid its okay. His inside game was pretty darn good and with the outside players we have we would have got him for some competitiveness at stoppages.
When you look at the inside game of our youngsters and even a player like Graham, Dunstan would have been a great fit for us even if it was to only fill in when injury hit. Id say atm our vfl team could do with some grunt inside and a few more mature heads about the place.
