Midfield still a worry

[IluvHarvey]

This post baffles me a little bit.

It appears that people are getting caught up in disposal counts rather than actually identifying what the team are doing.

Firstly,
We had more players rotate through the midfield this week than I can ever recall. Maybe this was due to Steven and Armitage being out or maybe it is the new format of how we play.
We also could be trialing a lot of others early in the season to come up with the best outcome.
From Yesterday we had the following players all start in the square or on a wing at Center bounces.

Montagna
Riewoldt
Newnes
Ross
Dunstan
Steele
Acres
Gresham
Hickey
Weller
Billings
Gilbert
Geary
Bruce
Roberton and Membrey were also spotted on a wing but I think that was a result of Interchanges rather than planned.

That's 16 players rotating through the midfield.

Secondly,
Our game plan seemed to me a preference to kick long to either a one on one or a player breaking away or run and carry. This week we had 225 Kicks and 136 Handballs as apposed to Brisbane who had 186 kicks 171 handballs
There seems to be a lot of, get the ball inside fifty and set up a forward zone with all players zoned between our goal line and 70 metres out.
This style brings our half backs and backs into the game a lot more ( Joey, Roberton, Savage, Gilbert, Carlisle)

Both of these points mean that it will be a lot harder for our mids to rack up 30+ possessions a game as the workload is shared amongst many rather than the 5-8 we previously have previously relied on.

As a side note there were moments where we had some of our best clearance work we have had for a while on the weekend.

[BigMart]

Except for a couple of key forwards, who generally remain a kick in front of the ball, and maybe a small forward... After any stoppage, all players push up and back and run to what ever space they can in offence, and fill whatever space they can in defence

They also press both ways without the ball. They game is more akin to basketball now, where players just run the entire floor ... Except a few structural players. Trying to get equal numbers at stoppage and forward of the stoppage, or an outnumber, or whether to go a plus one and how you use the Wingers is all coaching is really on game day.

But what remains the same, and will never change
Who wins the ball more and uses it effectively wins
Applying pressure nullifies point two and allows point one... Winning it back

Turn over, like basketball is the most effective way to score, not defence has been set

[spert]

Watching yesterday's game, there is no doubt to me that in our midfield/ onball group, Dunstan is a cut above the rest in foot and hand skills, in and around the packs, and Acres ability to effectively get the ball out of tight situations is valuable and he should always be in the team regardless. These two don't need huge amounts of disposals to set up good plays. Ross tries hard, but for a mid, his footskills are ordinary and lack penetration and he is not a line-breaking runner. For skills and quick thinking with the ball, I would like to see Sinclair in there.

[lewdogs]

I think Dunstan is tracking pretty well this year. He was poor in Rd 1 along with many others, but he's responded well. He was influential in the last quarter of yesterdays game.

He needs to improve his tank and play higher TOG%, but he's tracking nicely.

Considering we were missing 2 of our best 3 mids, I think we did alright in midfield.