What is Max King's role in the team ATM?

[shanegrambeau]

..I just wonder. He kicked and marked well for a patch last week, but I can't help wondering whether we may have played or structured differently without him?

[WellardSaint]

Roughead has a lot of experience.
I think they'll be hoping he can kick 1-2 goals a game, and keep learning.
Having Butler, Higgins, Lonie sniffin for crumbs when King gets spoiled.

[skeptic]

We've always had something of a tendency to blindly bomb in forward hoping a tall is there when under pressure...

I don't think this is part of the game plan per'se

IMO it's just bad habit... I think guys like Gresh accept the need to be more careful or direct if there isn't a clear target/preference, but if there is... under pressure, their more inclined to bomb to a jumper under the guise of moving it quickly rather than take the extra second or steps to pick out a target and kick to advantage

To answer your question... Max's role IMO is to bring the ball to ground in pack situations, or try to get out one on one and use his height/reach to out manoeuvre his opponent under the ball and mark

What he's not so good at... and nor should he be, is to suddenly have to change direction and close 30m to get to a contest where he's outnumbered 2-3 to 1 + smalls

[B.M]

To play as a key forward

[ace]

To kick GOALS, not behinds and not out of bounds on the full.

[shanegrambeau]

We've always had something of a tendency to blindly bomb in forward hoping.....

Yes, and yet what did Ratten say after last weeks disaster? 'Too many shallow entries"

I think we do have that long bomb-n'-hope but we also have the 'anti-bombing short mortar' syndrome.

We can see Geelong succeed with tumbling scrubbers into the F50, Richmond with bombing and crumbing, but I guess we do not have the finesse and skills sometimes. Perhaps when tired like last week.

King looks very agile and able to scoop off the deck well for such a spiderman, utler can be a superstar on his day. I don't think we lack for small forwards even if we haven't got a Shai Bolton or Rioli or a Pickett.

So Bomb to King is no.

Use King as decoy is no.

Short lobs to outside or just inside 50 is no.

We have to expect two giant and skilled opposition defenders against us each week.

for King - I haven't seen him lead aggressively but maybe few forwards now do. I think they should have more space now because of 6-6-6, deliberate out-of-bounds, and frozen-man-on-the-mark rule.

[desertsaint]

max is very quick for a tall and agile enough to scoop the loose ball. he should be taking marks on the lead, but it appears we just bomb it in. if that's the instruction it aint a good one.

[WellardSaint]

I don't understand how 17 other teams can hit fwds on the lead inside F50, and create space, but we seem to have congestion worse than the highway to Philip Island on a long weekend.
We have no room for King and Skunk to lead into,
and we insist on picking out the best oppo defenders.

Watch us play vs WCE, McGovern will feast on the intercepts, while up the other end, Darling n JK will get silver service.
Those latter 2 could nail 8 goals between them, easily.
Not Dougal's fault, nobody putting pressure on the ball carrier or blocking the space for WCE to lead into

[spert]

I reckon our forward structure is still unsettled as it was a bit last season. King needs to be told to do a lot more hard leading and demand the ball better- he's a bit timid, and it's easy for the opposition to counteract him otherwise. I think Membrey's best value is playing deep, but King playing deep has forced Membrey to go up the ground where he is less effective- he played better as a forward against the GWS with King out. We need to settle CHF, and I would play either King or Battle there, with Membrey deep FF. But hey, I'm not the coach.

[skeptic]

I don't understand how 17 other teams can hit fwds on the lead inside F50, and create space, but we seem to have congestion worse than the highway to Philip Island on a long weekend.
We have no room for King and Skunk to lead into,
and we insist on picking out the best oppo defenders.

Watch us play vs WCE, McGovern will feast on the intercepts, while up the other end, Darling n JK will get silver service.
Those latter 2 could nail 8 goals between them, easily.
Not Dougal's fault, nobody putting pressure on the ball carrier or blocking the space for WCE to lead into

I think it’s having 3 small players that can’t be targets, being advised to go around the contest and wait for the ball to spill...
Leads to three opponents too

So it’s King leads... there are our small forwards around albeit spread... that’s 8 players crammed into a small space right there

[SuperDuper]

Kicked himself or directly set up all 4 of our first 4 goais on the weekend. Kept us in it early.

Is already very good.

[samuraisaint]

Can I be controversial for a moment and suggest that we will really know a lot about our team structures and game plan(s) after Saturday evening?
I believe playing an understrength Essendon at a neutral venue (it's their home match but there will be plenty of St Kilda away members on Tier 3) will be an excellent gauge of where we are at as a team and club. Sure we won't have our two ruckmen available, and arguably our best inside midfielder is out for the immediate future as well as our captain of the backline, but these outs will enable to see where we are really placed to compete (after all you're always going to have some injuries/suspensions). And this does give others their chance and this paid off for us in Round 1.

Apart from Jake Stringer (if he plays) and perhaps Hooker (if doesn't play as a defender), I cannot for the life of me see where the Bombers are going to be able to cobble together a score. There is always the spectre of 2 Metre Peter Wright pinch hitting in the ruck, who single handedly buried us way back in 2016 though.

I don't expect the match to be a one sided affair, rather I expect it to be like 2019 where we played a desperate Essendon in front of their membership, and we were able to beat them honestly. The difference now being that our game plan is different and far from being a bottom four team, we are a top 6 team who have been inconsistent due in part to injuries to key personnel.

Should we win (as we must) and should Membrey, King, Butler, Gresham and Higgins combine well in the forward line, with input from Billings and Steele, I think we are on our way to playing consecutive finals for the first time since the glory years of 2008-2011.

I am genuinely excited about tomorrow's match to be honest.

[WellardSaint]

Samuraisaint said we're a top 6 team.
I beg to differ.
We were top 6 last year, but compare the pair.
This year we have injuries to key players.
Last year we were revelling in the hub and gelled much better than most others, under the conditions.
And Butler has been unsighted, Skunk's radar is off again (he had his one good game vs Giants, but he goes cold for several games)
King was a revelation last yr but has now been worked out and has to rediscover himself).

Currently, we're 10th.
We'll stay there for a long time until we regain the top guys and Skunk, Butler, Jones, etc bring their A-Game

[B.M]

Skunk missing?

He was BOG vs the giants just two games ago (only played two?!)

Last week he had 16 disposals 8 marks 1 goal which is a goodish game for a hit up forward.

Seriously

[shanegrambeau]

Ia don't understand how 17 other teams can hit fwds on the lead inside F50, and create space, but we seem to have congestion worse than the highway to Philip Island on a long weekend.
We have no room for King and Skunk to lead into,
and we insist on picking out the best oppo defenders.,,
......

Mmn.. that’s what I wonder....Skunk did really well up forward.

Could King play on a wing? A giant Spider-Man super skilled wingman?

The defenses we face have a fundamental choice don’t they? Either they zone, or play according to the position of their opponents. But then the opposition can just flood in too?

Against Melbourne, perhaps their defenders (I mean the nominal back six) stayed accountable to their opponents but then their mids and Everyman are and his dog could just come in a fill all the gaps and cover every blade of grass in our F50. Seeing our kickers midfield straining their eyes looking for targets while Max Gawn and co. ran back to cover their assigned territory - it must be a set play - made my eyes bleed.

[shanegrambeau]

Kicked himself or directly set up all 4 of our first 4 goais on the weekend. Kept us in it early.

Is already very good.

Yes, and easy for me to forget.

So plan A, whatever it was, worked well.

Plan B?

[The_Dud]

Kicking it to his advantage instead of bombing it on top of his head repeatedly might help a bit.

[shanegrambeau]

Kicking it to his advantage instead of bombing it on top of his head repeatedly might help a bit.

But does he present a lead?

[SaintPav]

The team has an ATM?

[shanegrambeau]

The team has an ATM?

We used too, but At* the* Moment* Dan Hannebury has it in his shed. Apparently, we gave it too him at the end of 2018.

[Goose is king]

His role is to kick 10 goals this week so I can change my handle to King is King

[B.M]

He needs to get his hands on a few uncontested marks

[CQ SAINT]

Samuraisaint said we're a top 6 team.
I beg to differ.
We were top 6 last year, but compare the pair.
This year we have injuries to key players.
Last year we were revelling in the hub and gelled much better than most others, under the conditions.
And Butler has been unsighted, Skunk's radar is off again (he had his one good game vs Giants, but he goes cold for several games)
King was a revelation last yr but has now been worked out and has to rediscover himself).

Currently, we're 10th.
We'll stay there for a long time until we regain the top guys and Skunk, Butler, Jones, etc bring their A-Game

Or we could end up 6th tomorrow.

[shanegrambeau]

Samuraisaint said we're a top 6 team.
I beg to differ.
We were top 6 last year, but compare the pair.
This year we have injuries to key players.
Last year we were revelling in the hub and gelled much better than most others, under the conditions.
And Butler has been unsighted, Skunk's radar is off again (he had his one good game vs Giants, but he goes cold for several games)
King was a revelation last yr but has now been worked out and has to rediscover himself).

Currently, we're 10th.
We'll stay there for a long time until we regain the top guys and Skunk, Butler, Jones, etc bring their A-Game

Or we could end up 6th tomorrow.

it seems that we are 1-3 and in a familiar sulk. We are really just 1-1, but there is no denying we have a nasty fixture thanks to our relative success last year.

In my humble opinion, with my under 15Cs brain at full throttle, I do t think Butler is ever going to be ‘consistent’ like a Ross or Wilkie..He will flash when the sun shines and we have to take advantage of it when that kind of weather is around.

Jones will be consistent until his hammy goes again, but he is just what he is, a grunt.

Now Membrey is right on the border and he is uncomfortable thinking. I am impressed as we all must be. He presents and has that wonderful spring.

I do not have the knowledge but I wonder what fellow posters think about how opposition coaches weigh up Membrey. He seems to go ‘missing’ too, but I see effort and he presents ...I am sure they all do of course. I wonder if he is like Bruce - and can have his day when he dominates.

Do you remember Heatley? Does he remind you of him?

[SaintDippa]

Role is to stand under long bombs, have his kidneys and ribs absorb the second up defender's knee whilst making sure the ball goes to ground. Would have kicked 20 yesterday with the doggies.