It's time to move Nasiah

[Otiman]

Now is the time to move Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera from half back.

He has proven he is bordering on elite in this role in 2023, and despite some attention so far this year has been in our better players in that role.

I hate to make it all about Collingwood, but Nick Daicos' game last night got my attention.

Everyone was singing Nick's praises over the last 2 years but in reality he was getting cheap possessions off half back. Yes he was a good ball user but wasn't as good as everyone was saying as he collected 30+ touches from half back every game. Sheezel is another of that variety.

Nas and Sincs are in the same boat here. Sincs has already made the move.

We need a player of Nasiah's talent in the midfield. We have a very good launch from the backline and some players in waiting to play that role.

The 'quarterback' role isn't as critical as it was 3-5 years ago, we need to let it go.

Nas needs to play on ball for the rest of the year. Moreso than Owens that everyone has been screaming for.

[St Dave]

It might be worth a shot but I think his evasiveness and kicking skills are more valuable coming off the edges rather than directly in the middle. I agree half back probably isn't his final position, but not sure he has the physicality to scrap for the ball in a stoppage situation full time, at least right now. Maybe with another preseason he can replace Clark as an evasive mid breaking out the front of a clearance.

On the Owens point, there was a period last year where he was statistically elite for a forward pushing up on to the ball, so personally I want to see that potential realized rather than stagnating spending too much time forward.

[WellardSaint]

Nah.

When we get 2 or 3 decent hard nut mids, Sincs will return to HB.

He's in the middle to fill a gaping hole

[Otiman]

Run and spread. We can win the ball but lack outlets. Doesn't need to scrap and win ball but should be first or second receiver on the outside.

We are obsessed with winning ball at the detriment of disposal quality.

I would also argue a lot of our midfield deficiency is in general play rather than stoppage. We can rebound from half back but struggle to win clean possession and deliver i50 with class.

[Vortex]

Now is the time to move Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera from half back.

He has proven he is bordering on elite in this role in 2023

See I think this is where we get ourselves into trouble as Saints Supporters, we massively overrate players well before they are deserving of such high praise.

NAS is far from one of the elite players in the competition...in any postion.

He's got a long way to go in that regards.

Nick Daicos is freak, he can go into the midfield because he's a freak, like Owens, NAS is not suited to a full time role in the midfield, however that doesn't preclude these players from rolling through the midfield, which is pretty much required of every player in the modern game.

The true definition of a full time midfielder is an elite player, if you are elite and not a KPP, then you are a full time midfielder, that's what a full time midfielder looks like.

Owens is a forward

NAS is a flanker

Can't see either of them ever becoming elite OR midfielders.

But I can see them becoming really good players.

[Otiman]

I don't see him as a ball winning midfielder, which is what most people think of when they say midfielder, and certainly not the double digit clearance game we saw from Daicos.

Someone who can be at the fall of the ball on that first kick out of defense, that release target out of stoppage. Something we seem to have forgotten about. Perhaps we need champion data to come up with a new stat just for us.

[B.M]

Nas is not an inside mid - far from it

Hasn’t got the build or the skill set

I believe Liam Henry should spend a lot more time inside though, he has breakaway speed - more so on the wing

Is stifling him at HF

[Vortex]

I don't see him as a ball winning midfielder, which is what most people think of when they say midfielder, and certainly not the double digit clearance game we saw from Daicos.

Someone who can be at the fall of the ball on that first kick out of defense, that release target out of stoppage. Something we seem to have forgotten about. Perhaps we need champion data to come up with a new stat just for us.

I think as supporters we tend to overthink things a little, simply what we need is more talent, specifically a critical mass of A grade and elite talent especially in the midfield, to win a flag and your team has to have more talent than your opponent as the primary ingredient, and then there are all of other ingredients as well obviously, but it starts with talent.

Remember when Eddie McGuire was driving the campaign against COLA?...that came from his realisation after losing the 2002 and 2003 grand finals to Brisbane, he constantly bemoaned how the difference between winning and losing a grand final can be the difference in one team having just ONE extra talented player in their side, which was at the time the luxury Bribane had.

Because as we know the difference in performance in the final 2 weeks of a season can come down to really small percentages in difference.

Lyon bemoaned similar arguments back when he was last our coach and argued we were one X factor player away from being the difference on grand final day hence his desire to bring over he who shall not be mentioned from the Bombers.

Skills is what pays the bills, and teams have multiple avenues to procuring the required amount of depth but all successful AFL coaches will tell you the magical number is around 25 deep on the list to go the marathon journey and still be standing in the last 2 minutes of a GF.

So this talk about game plan etc being the difference for a team at our stage of development is misguided, Lyon knows he can't seriously challenge until he gets close to that number of 25.. And anyone that thinks he doesn't know what it takes is kidding themselves, that's one thing he knows well.

We are well short of the required talent and so the journey will be ongoing as there is no magic wand to cut any corners.

[Vortex]

Nas is not an inside mid - far from it

Hasn’t got the build or the skill set

I believe Liam Henry should spend a lot more time inside though, he has breakaway speed - more so on the wing

Is stifling him at HF

Liam started to get a bit of his confidence back in patches last week, I wonder if he'll enjoy playing back in WA, could be a good game from him today if it stays dry.

[Otiman]

I don't pay much attention to Eddie but I get your point, Vortex.

I just feel like we have not spread our talent throughout the field as well as we should have. When you have SInclair, WIlkie, and Nasiah in the back 6 and a midfield that's floundering at best, you move some players.

Definitely not a 'magic wand' but a vision to what our best team looks like.

Henry is another in the same boat, I think they can play very similar roles with Nasiah pushing back and Liam pushing forward. It's almost a 'wing' position, but closer to the stoppages and contest.

[Otiman]

Didn't notice this much during the game but on replay it was noticable that Nas was playing around and ahead of the ball a lot more. Still anchored at HBF but given freedom to move up and back from there.

Definitely shifting forward and back, helped shift defensive forwards on him, and also influenced with score involvements (4) and inside 50's (4).

Does anyone know if this is a shift, or if i'm just noticing it for the first time?

[Waltzing St Kilda]

The problem is that the delivery into the forward line is below average.

Nas delivering into the F50 improves that stat appreciably.

"Get the pill to Nas" should replace "Get the pill to HIlly" as our midfield mantra. Hill's delivery is dodgy. Maybe he should play off half-back in Nas's place? Kicking deep into the narrowing F50 is like threading the eye of a needle and would benefit from Nas's laser skills; Hill might be better kicking into the wider spaces from half-back.

[St Dave]

Didn't notice this much during the game but on replay it was noticable that Nas was playing around and ahead of the ball a lot more. Still anchored at HBF but given freedom to move up and back from there.

Definitely shifting forward and back, helped shift defensive forwards on him, and also influenced with score involvements (4) and inside 50's (4).

Does anyone know if this is a shift, or if i'm just noticing it for the first time?

I would probably trust your eye if it felt like he was getting up the ground more, it certainly felt like he was more impactful, so maybe he was being allowed to get to better spots.

The stats aren't super conclusive, he spent about 27% of time in forward half which was slightly more than average for the last 6 games (about 24.8%, fluctuating between 13% v port and 40% v north). Like you mention he got 4 inside 50s which was his equal best for the year, and he actually got his first direct goal assist for the year, but he was also above season average for rebound 50s (7 vs 5.6, and West Coast only kicked 8 behinds).

Overall it was probably pretty similar to recent games, thought his disposals were slightly down on season average (24 vs 25.75) and his disposal efficiency was almost his worst game (70.8%, only v melb at 70% and port at 69.2% were worse), he was maybe able to find a bit more space or in better positions to be able to be more impactful with the ball.