NAB Match Thread v Roos

[ripplug66]

Two of our top 7 from the best and fairest playing. I don't know how anyone can draw conclusions about the team as a whole.

And the winner played a half.

[The Fireman]

Two of our top 7 from the best and fairest playing. I don't know how anyone can draw conclusions about the team as a whole.

And the winner played a half.

As i said earlier our intensity in the first half got us over the line....skill eventually won out. The shitboners played their normal game.

[Con Gorozidis]

Petrie and Waite always kill us.

Good call. Yes they do. Even at Carlton when he played one good game a year Waite would go well against us.

[Con Gorozidis]

We werent disgraced. We still lack outside run and besides Steven and Joey none of our 'outs' will supply much outside run.
If Norf dont win the flag this year they are stuffed. Now or never. They will be top 4 I reckon.

[The Fireman]

Petrie and Waite always kill us.

Good call. Yes they do. Even at Carlton when he played one good game a year Waite would go well against us.

couldn't get over how much space petrie had.

[WinnersOnly]

Does anyone else think Hickey lacks any lower body/core strength whatsoever? He seems to get pushed off the ball far too easily for a guy his size. With someone with legs like twigs, you would think he would would be smashing the leg work in the gym, squats etc. It has been an obvious weakness of our list in recent years as guys with obious weaknesses are not showing significant improvement in size or strength. Pierce is another who has the opposite issue - he cant bench press any more than 50 kgs which pathetic for a guy his size.

[Con Gorozidis]

Does anyone else think Hickey lacks any lower body/core strength whatsoever? He seems to get pushed off the ball far too easily for a guy his size. With someone with legs like twigs, you would think he would would be smashing the leg work in the gym, squats etc. It has been an obvious weakness of our list in recent years as guys with obious weaknesses are not showing significant improvement in size or strength. Pierce is another who has the opposite issue - he cant bench press any more than 50 kgs which pathetic for a guy his size.

No doubt. I dont see Hickey as a primary ruckman. His legs are too skinny. Hickey needs to be a 2nd ruck and that means kicking 1 goal per game. If he cant kick one goal per game then I question his worth in the side. He can certainly mark the ball. No doubt about his marking ability. He is basically the opposite to Longer. Longer needs to just become a battering ram beast and Hickey needs to become a fwd target who can kick goals.

[Bluthy]

The Good:
First half was great - great pressure all over the field and taking the game on
Having Paddy, Billings, Dunstan, Newnes, Acres, Ross out there showed the future is promising
Ross got lots of the footy - needs to do more with it though. No point running up to get a little handball if you can't use it well
Acres first quarter he looked really dangerous
Lee was looking pretty good early - did some nice long kick outs and took some marks up forward
Savage good - does some clangers but then makes up for it with some brilliance - took some really great marks
Gresham good early before wilting in the heat
Saunders, Curren and Shenton were good early

The Bad
Our youngsters wilted in the heat which is understandable
Hickey wasn't great forward but then he wasn't getting good delivery
Without McCartin, Bruce is our only realistic target. Need to keep working on that third forward option
The team and structure was very choppy-changey with all the rotations and players rested in the 2nd half
Lots of clangers
Disappointing we couldn't keep the football very well - you give the ball to a team like North and they will cut you up
Our new backline needs lots of work

[Freebird]

Hickey can't run makes it too easy for defenders to zone / run off him..

[ripplug66]

Hickey can't run makes it too easy for defenders to zone / run off him..

Agreed but he could become a very good ruckman otherwise be becomes a very ordinary forward.

[kosifantutti]

He showed that he could destroy defences.

[Freebird]

who?

[kosifantutti]

Hickey

[BigMart]

How many goals for Yom?

[kosifantutti]

Yom, Yick and Yarry were hopeless.

[Long Term Injury]

The good:
Ross has stepped up and really enjoyed watching him, he is clean and makes good decisions given than his possesions are really contested, has the split second extra which he will only use better as he gets more experience.
Greshman will be a player. A couple of things he did really stood out to me. He was the highlight in the first term, fending and bouncing off a couple and then delivered well. Definite boost to the midfield.
Newnes had a fair game. Pretty solid out of defense, is a great kick and loves the work. Expect big things
Sinclair shows class when he needs to. I watched the first quarter and i was a bit worried that he might suffer the second year blues, but his second quarter was great and just a really determined and skilful, poised kid.
Billings for the quarter or so he played has great. I would have liked to see a bit more of him in the middle, but as a high half forward he will be elite.

The average:
WOuld have liked to see more from Acres. His decision making needs to improve a couple of times he just rushed things and or chose the wrong option or didnt put players to advantage. Early days, but would have like a bit more. As one poster mentioned he did look alright up forward, definitely has the size.
Tom Lee had a decent game, back and forward. I would have liked to see him more back, but there may be something there. But at the risk of using swallow and Tommy Lee in the same sentence one swallow doesnt make a summer.
Hickey was alright as well, as commentators mentioned gets moved off the ball a fair bit, but he is a smart player i reckon and is good with his hands, with confidence and a bit more mungrel could be big.

The poor:
THis is a bit harsh given it is the first hit out, but there are danger signs for a few players.
I was really disappointed in Delaney. I counted four occasions when he was sucked up into the midfield with the forward press and did not affect the contest at all. Was just a waste of space, not impacting on the ball carrier or eventual receiver, has to do one or the other. and while the backline was under siege he was made to look pedestrian on a number of occasions. i really hope he comes good.
While they tried hard and werent necessarily poor, i think Saunders and Curren are going to struggle for opportunities. I really like Curren, i think he is disciplined and has a neat kicking style, but needs to get more of it.

All in all, very much expected given the competition and our side, definite saving grace was seeing Gresham, Ross and Sinclair. Onwards and Upwards

[shrodes]

I thought Saunders and Curren were OK. I agree there are question marks on where they fit in the full strength side but neither were horrible. I agree about Delaney though. As a fan of his first season with us, he had a stinker yesterday and seems to be edged out of our full strength side.

[Dis Believer]

I was pleasantly surprised by Saunders, got a fair bit of it, but on the flip side was disappointed by Curren. This guy clearly works so hard that I would love to see him make it, just don't see him stepping up to the level required.

Ross impressed me again, just always seems to be able to make time once he has the pill, you can't teach that. Very much like Nicky Dal in that regard. If he had Dal's disposal he'd be a superstar, but that is his shortcoming, so makes him restricted to more of an inside mid role.

The other that I thought seemed to have made some ground was Eli Templeton. Don't know his stats, but seemed to get some of the pill, impacted some contests, and showed some glimpses of the impact he made pre-injury. If this kid can take some steps this year it will be very handy.

[Freebird]

I may be wrong but Ross appears to be one of those players that holds the ball when you want quick movement. Need to see more of him

I'd like to view the stats on scoring from the link Ross has been involved. Also he's very easy to run away from causing head-aches for our defenders. That's ok if he triggers damage the other end

[Bluthy]

He showed that he could destroy defences.

Well played Kosi

[ripplug66]

Does anyone else think Hickey lacks any lower body/core strength whatsoever? He seems to get pushed off the ball far too easily for a guy his size. With someone with legs like twigs, you would think he would would be smashing the leg work in the gym, squats etc. It has been an obvious weakness of our list in recent years as guys with obious weaknesses are not showing significant improvement in size or strength. Pierce is another who has the opposite issue - he cant bench press any more than 50 kgs which pathetic for a guy his size.

No.

[spert]

The trouble we will have this season, as we had last season, will be our midfield can't hurt the opposition by hand or foot, nor break lines and get involved in goal scoring enough. Ross had a good go yesterday, but he is not a damaging mid. I thought our setups at the centre bounces was pretty poor from a defensive point of view- too many North players all raffling the ball with no Saints near the pill far too many times. Our forward plans obviously were thrown out with the loss of Paddy early, but the plan anyway seemed to be just bang the ball in there with no real precision. Field kicking was a bad as ever.
We did ok for a young team against stronger bodies, but could have done a bit better I think, though it's just a pre season hitout.

[ripplug66]

The trouble we will have this season, as we had last season, will be our midfield can't hurt the opposition by hand or foot, nor break lines and get involved in goal scoring enough. Ross had a good go yesterday, but he is not a damaging mid. I thought our setups at the centre bounces was pretty poor from a defensive point of view- too many North players all raffling the ball with no Saints near the pill far too many times. Our forward plans obviously were thrown out with the loss of Paddy early, but the plan anyway seemed to be just bang the ball in there with no real precision. Field kicking was a bad as ever.
We did ok for a young team against stronger bodies, but could have done a bit better I think, though it's just a pre season hitout.

I would suggest that nearly every side has the same set ups at stoppages. What is different in the skill of players. We did exactly as you would expect with the side we had in.

[To the top]

Only know what I am reading on here.

Firstly my observation would be that over recent seasons we have been exposed by height in defense, with opposition teams even pushing their ruckmen forward to further exploit us, very, very successfully.

So we recruited an honest defender with some size in Delaney, who could not get a game at North Melbourne.

That is not the way to build a side which is going to challenge.

Fisher went down and Gilbert went down - so we were further exploited and the results were what they were.

We even tried Stanley as a tall defender on the last line (and I think he could have been developed as a defender further out from the goal square given his height, pace, mobility and kicking).

Now the future is Goddard (noting there was no mention of him in dispatches) and Carlisle - and that is a long term option - including Fisher for at least 2016.

This is where Goddard and Carlisle are absolutely vital - along with hopefully another 194cm plus, mobile, strong overhead 3rd defender yet to be identified.


In terms of Hickey and the reference to defenders running off him - well the facts are that he is 201cm and reasonably mobile for that height. As someone commented, he is a very, very good catch of the ball and that is his danger particularly if rotated forward. In terms of defensive pressure, that is the responsibility of all granted, but in reality it is the "chase" capabilities of our smaller, quicker attackers (the days of Milne are gone - and went before Milne retired) which will cause disruption to the ball coming out of our attack.

In my view there is still a fall off in our list and we realistically look at Carlisle, Steven, Dunstan, Acres, Freeman, Montagna, Riewoldt, Lonie, Billings, Newnes, Roberton, Gilbert, Armitage, Goddard, Dempster, Fisher, Bruce, Webster and Mc Cartin - with hopefully Gresham given his Draft Pick, as the core to build on with the aim being a side that consistently challenges and is therefore in premiership discussions.

That is 20 players we rely on in 2016 - and you could add Longer and Hickey to those numbers.

So we are half way there (at least we can put a reasonably structured side on the park from those names when all available) - with the remainder to show they can contribute to a challenging side or be turned over (which is the game. You turn and you turn and you turn and then you turn some more in search of consistent challenges late into September).

There is also, of course, the structure of the side to consider.

Hence the importance of Carlisle and Goddard and Mc Cartin and Bruce as blocks to build on.

[Bluthy]

The trouble we will have this season, as we had last season, will be our midfield can't hurt the opposition by hand or foot, nor break lines and get involved in goal scoring enough. Ross had a good go yesterday, but he is not a damaging mid. I thought our setups at the centre bounces was pretty poor from a defensive point of view- too many North players all raffling the ball with no Saints near the pill far too many times. Our forward plans obviously were thrown out with the loss of Paddy early, but the plan anyway seemed to be just bang the ball in there with no real precision. Field kicking was a bad as ever.
We did ok for a young team against stronger bodies, but could have done a bit better I think, though it's just a pre season hitout.

I almost prefer Ross handballing rather than kicking, he seems more incisive with his disposal that way. But I guess you've got to give him time to get his confidence going after being injury interrupted. He's only played mid 30 games I think and no amount of decision making video drills can match the heat of battle to hone your decision making. With that rangey stride Acres can really cover the ground. Loved the way he pushed forward yesterday. With his height and long arms he is real threat forward. I think when he acclimatises to the speed of AFL footy and takes that little bit more time to choose his targets his distribution will be much better and really effective. He just looks dangerous to me. I thought he might be a mid/sweeper but now I see him more as an out and out mid who pushes forward.

We want mids scoring goals. We want to average 100pts a game - no more winning games with boring 60 pts thanks Lyon! And so we need Billings, Acres, Steven, Freeman, Dunny and Gresham to be pushing forward at every opportunity to bang them in - as long they honestly work back the other way. It takes a while for these young players to get the tank to be able to push forward and then run back all game. A good structure will set up defensive measures to cover the rebound so they can risk going forward.