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Uncanny... I leapt out of bed this morning ( I staggered off the mattress more dead than alive with a thumping headache and severe lack of sleep but it doesn't sound as good, does it?) thinking about tagging Cox to nullify their game plan.
They are, apparently, playing a high possession game with a lot of handballing. Cox is an integral part of that with his running ability offering them another link player who happens to have a lot of height. The article mentions his staggering average of 27 possessions this year, which means 54 so far, really... but it doesn't mention their messy handballing game with it's naturally high stat gathering nature.
You could have someone run with Cox... but I wouldn't run Sandi with him. I'd run Happy on him with instructions to play him tight and niggly. Can Happy do that, by the way? Hope so... either that or Warnock but only if he's fit. Either one of them then becomes the second ruckman for clearances around the ground leaving Sandi to drift forward or back to fill the hole or create another attacking option. Tagging Cox as a priority implies playing to their strengths and I reckon we have enough strength to make them go defensive, personally. We'll miss Solomon again and he'd be handy in the middle, but with Des and Pav on the ball, with Campbell at FF, we should be able to win our share.
As for the punch forward thing... it has it's place, I'm sure, but touting it as a regular tactic smacks of no other ideas to me and it's no more reliable than trying to win the clearance off a tap. Defense only has to have the spare man floating around the fifty and they've mopped it up and sent it straight into attack. Ok for a surprise every now and then but not a realistic option for regular play.
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Cox isn't as damaging as many people in the worst want to make out. He was dominant last week yet the weazles struggled. Sandi needs to focus on getting the tap down and then he can worry about Cox.
As Guy pointed out, the weazles always get a lot of unecessary stats and Cox does it just as much as anyone. This means he gets overated by 'journalists' and fans alike. For me, Lade is a much more effective ruckman and help around the ground.
Then there is the 'thump it forward' critics who believe if Sandi hits it 25m forward to the opposition who then start an attack we will be better off. Using it once or twice a game is fine as long as the midfield know what's going on and are ready for it. Using it constantly is a waste and won't work.
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more to the point, it's quite hard to do.
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I found this paragraph quite interesting ...
"Fremantle get clean possession from Sandilands’ taps 28 per cent of the time, but the opposition have won the ball from 30 per cent of his knocks. West Coast’s midfield have got their hands on 21 per cent of Cox’s taps, but the opposition has intercepted 23 per cent of his knocks."
Both have a -2% ratio but 28 is a fair bit biggera than 21. Perhaps the Sandi knockers should rethink a bit.
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Michael Johnson could tag Cox. It would be a nice easy job for him, which could see him start to get his confidence back.
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But statistics show that Cox also hits more balls to the opposition than to his teammates
interesting!
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Yes I found the stats rather interesting, perhaps if the boys were to handball it back and forward to the big fella around the ground a bit more he may become "Theleaguespremierruckman" in the eyes of the media.
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But then again maybe not.
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No Alvin, then they'd just report that he can't kick.
Speaking of kicking, the big fellow did a few beauties last week.
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What those stats are telling us is that neither team has a particularly strong midfield this season. Which again makes it important for the Fremantle forwards to fire.
You can blame personnel for not turning ruck knocks into clearances but when that ball gets inside fifty it shouldn't come out without someone scoring or giving away a free kick for belting Selwood.
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