the hype regarding small and fast

[terry smith rules]

there has been plenty written about the "leg speed" of certain teams and how we are moving to smaller quicker teams (see gerard healys article)

I seem to remember that this is trotted out as this same time every year

However best I remember by about round 14 those very same teams have run out of legs (as examples I give you the dogs) and the big men are justing hitting their straps

and by the time we get to the finals it is big strong bodies who rule the day

in summary I am happy with the saints structure, given that it is round 22 we want to be on top of our game not round 5

fqf

[Dan Warna]

skill > speed.

we seemed to have lost that for much of the past 18 months.

[sackers5]

The only speed that matters is the speed it takes the brain to assess the options, pick the correct one and then drop the ball on the boot

[gooner]

The only speed that matters is the speed it takes the brain to assess the options, pick the correct one and then drop the ball on the boot

Exactly. Geelong are actually not a quick side in terms of leg speed, they just look quick because their decision making, skills and positioning are honed. Will reserve judgement til a small quick side plays in a GF.

[HarveysDeciple]

The only speed that matters is the speed it takes the brain to assess the options, pick the correct one and then drop the ball on the boot

exactly.

the cats play pure football, they aren't explosively quick but they get the ball more often, pick the right options and execute the fundamentals better then everyone else.

[rodgerfox]

there has been plenty written about the "leg speed" of certain teams and how we are moving to smaller quicker teams (see gerard healys article)

I seem to remember that this is trotted out as this same time every year

However best I remember by about round 14 those very same teams have run out of legs (as examples I give you the dogs) and the big men are justing hitting their straps

and by the time we get to the finals it is big strong bodies who rule the day

in summary I am happy with the saints structure, given that it is round 22 we want to be on top of our game not round 5

fqf

That is so true.

Every year it happens. Knee jerk reactions follow with guys like Alwyn Davey, Leroy Jetta and co. being hailed as superstars.

Come July, most of them are in the 2's and their teams miss the 8.


Geelong aren't fast. Neither are Collingwood - nor Hawthorn.

Have a look at Crawford, Mitchell as a midfield. Absolutely brilliant, but not quick. You'd even say they are deadset slow.

This is why I started the thread on the 'Pace' issue. Funnily, none of the people using that as an excuse for our form posted anything to support the argument.

[Red]

Rodger you have n't supported your own argument. All you have said is that

this player isn't quick and that this team isn't quick with no actual fact.

Geelong as you say may not overly quick (not that I actually believe that)

but I saw a lot of their players run away from ours last week.

It may just be that we are slow. Slow to get to the ball, slow to get the ball

to boot and slow to react to a situation. Slow to see options.

Yes we maybe slowly building up to top form but as I see it we now need

to win 13 from the next 18 to make top 4. So i hope we can speed it up a

bit.

[vacuous space]

Who's fast on Geelong? Ablett, Wojcinski... Anyone else? Stokes is small, but he's not all that fast. Bartel, Chapman and Corey certainly don't have great pace. None of their talls are particularly fast. They play a lot faster than they are, where I reckon we're the exact opposite. We have plenty of guys who can run 20m in ~3 seconds, but almost none of our players ever use their speed.

[rodgerfox]

Rodger you have n't supported your own argument. All you have said is that

My argument is realy simply that speed isn't everything. And that this time of year it is the flavour of the month.

Then, when the premier raises the cup in September, everyone forgets how important speed supposedly is.

West Coast, Geelong, Sydney, Brisbane etc.

None have been known for their pace.


We look speedy when we're playing well.


Have you ever noticed when a forward leads, they sprint as fast as they can to get a yard on their opponent. They go flat out. Then, when the pass is put out on front of them, they somehow find an extra yard to get to it?

When they first led, I guarantee they believed they were going full pelt. However, they found an extra gear they didn't know about when they needed to.

This, in my mind is the difference between being 'slow' or 'one paced' and being a 'fast side'.

It's also called effort. Geelong running away from our guys last week was intensity. We probably thought we were chasing flat out, whereas the Geelong players actually found that extra gear.

We, currently, can't find that extra gear - or don't really want to.