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With the departure of Gehrig after 8 years of magnificent service to the club we now need to find another full forward for season 2008 and beyond. So let's have a look at the contenders.
Koschitzke - Clearly our best and most potent option at full forward. He's one of the best pack marks in the AFL as he's shown with several towering grabs this year. He's also also pretty quick on the lead and marks well with his hands out in front. His kicking for goal is pretty reliable too. That's all the assets he needs to be a gun full forward. Koschitzke is our answer at full forward. Unfortunately, he's our answer in the ruck as well and he can't play in both positions. If Gardiner returns to play decent football and we recruit/develop a backup ruckman to support him we can release Koschitzke to be a very damaging full forward. However its more than likely that we'll have to rely on Koschitzke to be our number one ruckman with only brief cameos up forward much as we've seen this season.
Watts - Surely this is the role we recruited him for when we sent a first round pick (#17) to Adelaide in a trade. He's kicked 10 goals in a SANFL semi-final and bagged 7 goals a few weeks ago for the Scorpions against Tasmania so he's a legitimate goal kicking full forward. Can he take the next step and translate those results to the AFL level? He looks to have the body strength but may lack some pace and mobility. Watts has been starved of opportunities at AFL in his brief career, but now he has the opportunity to step up and make the full forward position his own.
Brooks - He was recruited to become our developing young ruckman but if he's developed at all, and that's questionable, it has been as a marking key forward rather than as a ruckman. His career looks all but over given he can't get a senior game despite our lack of quality ruckman. However the retirement of Gehrig may keep the door ever so slightly ajar for Brooks to become a full forward. The idea of Brooks and Koschitzke rotating between full forward and the ruck is tantalising, but can Brooks ever deliver on his potential? Most likely not.
Riewoldt - Like Koschitzke, he has all the assets required to play at full forward. However he can be far more valuable playing higher up the ground where he can expose his opponent with his mobility and endurance. Rooey is our CHF.
This quartet would seem to be the most obvious answers. Beyond them you start looking to left field such as Allen, Gilbert, Goddard and maybe Maguire but they are not realistic options. Likewise, the trade period is also unlikely to yield a quality full forward.
For mine, it has to be Watts as I just can't see us finding a reliable alternative to Koschitzke in the ruck.
"Ask not what your teammates can do for you. Ask what you can do for your teammates." - Earvin 'Magic' Johnson
I would give both of Watts and Brooks plenty of opportunities to prove themselves in the first half of the season before deciding how our forward/ruck setup will be for the next few years.
If Gardiner comes back I would like to see this tried in round 1
If Gardiner breaks down again we should see how Brooks copes with the number one ruck spot. If he can't handle it then play Kosi in the ruck with either/both of Brooks and Watts up forward.
Oh When the Saints wrote:Don't be surprised if Jarryd Allen gets a gig at CHF in the pre-season comp, with Rooey at FF and Kosi still rucking ...
i would hope that Watts would get the first gig at full-forward purely based on the fact that he has been at the club longer and he has been starved of opportunity.
if he fails then i agree Allen should be given the next key forward license.
potentially a 100-goal full-forward and one of the few guys in the league who can consistently take big contested marks ... the only certain way i know to beat the flood
roo could do it well also. but why would you use a guy with superhuman endurance in the most static position on the ground. he's better value further up the ground where he can use his enormous tank to burn off opponents.
we need to find a ruckman to allow kosi to play forward
Just like moving Gehrig from the backline back to the forwardline was a masterstroke, maybe putting Voss at FF could be too. I think he's capable, a few times this year he has bagged a couple.
Well if the West coast game earlier in the year is any indication, Kosi should definately be the FF. Put Voss in there as another option and hope Gardiner is ready to play.
He is on the market (in a secretive 'off the market' kind of way). Would you take him?
I've asked a similar question before about who would be your next FF and the answer i got seemed to be either Brooks/Watts. Now call me naive, but wont you be struggling if they are your go-to guys? I've read by a few on this site that Brooks is close to facing the axe next year.
I also think Kosi is your best bet, but i think you are just as screwed in the ruck now as you were at the start of the year (after recruiting Doc and Gardner) so i reckon he's stuck in the ruck.
So IMO you either need to recruit a ready made ruckman to free up kosi, or recruit a readymade FF.
He is on the market (in a secretive 'off the market' kind of way). Would you take him?
I'd take him in a heartbeat...The cost would be the prohibitive factor.
If the club was able to negotiate the right trade and price then he would be our full forward for the next five years.
If that does not eventuate (and in all fairness, it won't), then Kosi is the man. He is a good lead and a very good pack mark. He also provides the flexibility the Fraser could not. If Fraser was not on song on any given day we were hamstrung because short of taking him from the ground there was not much we could do with him.
Otiman wrote:I logged on today to post a thread re: Fev, then saw this thread and came to post the same.
IF we can fit him in the salary cap, and IF we can get him for a decent price (probably draft picks + a okay player) then we should go for him.
However, don't trade Goddard for Fevola.
Personally i wouldn't want Goddard.
I know there has been endless talk from Carlton supporters about him, but he simply isnt what we need atm. We need either KP backmen, ruckmen or quick skilled mids...not tall utilities...we have them.
Fev was a saints supporter growing up i believe so there is always a chance. I just dont know if you can deliver what we need in return though.
Ruck: Gardiner
CHF: Koschitzke
FF: Watts
Brooks rotating off the bench between Ruck and FF.
Riewoldt roaming around the ground using his massive engine like he usually does.
Gehrig emerged from scans yesterday saying he was "as sweet as a bun"
I think getting Fev would be the greatest thing for us. Imagine having Roey Kosi and Fev, and as a bonus he can actually kick straight where our forwards having being shocking this year. I know he has signed with the Blues but Fev is a dead eye and a character and our game needs the characters like Gehrig, Fev and Richo, it was a sad day yesterday losing one of the best characters in footy...
Statsman - I agree with your summation 100%. Those are the four I was thinking about also. We now have a big long off season to work out who will fit best. I just hope that we can have a good rest and that most of our players get a good pre-season under our belts and are raring to go next year.
mad saint guy wrote:I would give both of Watts and Brooks plenty of opportunities to prove themselves in the first half of the season before deciding how our forward/ruck setup will be for the next few years.
If Gardiner comes back I would like to see this tried in round 1
If Gardiner breaks down again we should see how Brooks copes with the number one ruck spot. If he can't handle it then play Kosi in the ruck with either/both of Brooks and Watts up forward.
Everything apart from anything mentioning Barry Brooks I agree with. With so many retirements he may be lucky, but he should be let go IMHO...
"Now the ball is loose, it gives St. Kilda a rough chance. Black. Good handpass. Voss. Schwarze now, the defender, can run and from a long way".....
The price Carlton would want us to pay for Fev would be more than I'd be willing to give up. We don't need Fev. We've got forward options. Get a good look at Allen, Brooks and Watts in preseason, then play one of them if they're needed. Remember, we played Harvey's 350th with Kosi starting in the ruck and pushing forward and no Gehrig. Deep forwards aren't as valuable as they used to be.
