As I see it, we have one of the best small forwards in the comp (Walters) and another very good (I’m not going to say “elite” because no one should, ever) small in Matera. We’ve got some good pressure forwards that will kick more goals when the team is playing better (Switta, Crowden, would it be cheeky of me to say Banfield?) then a raft of talls that have some talent, have shown glimpses, but haven’t quite put it together in Hogan, McCarthy, Taberner, Cox, Lobbe and, another cheeky one, Kersten.
Now, we can argue all day about why those 5 (6?) haven’t come good (injuries, ruck duties, midfield delivery...) but I think the base assessment is there.
Add to that some goal-kicking mids (Fyfe, Mundy, Hills big and small) and there’s some firepower there.
So here’s the real question:
Do we have a forward structure problem (stop pushing the forwards so far up the ground, lead at the ball etc.) or,
Do we have a midfield problem (honour the McCarthy lead, stop bombing long, get some space around the contest so the whole team doesn’t have to run in to support etc.) or,
Do we have both?
I think we have a midfield problem. As a result, I find it hard to tell if we have a forward structure problem.
I think, this year, the coaching panel drilled the team to go attacking at the centre bounce, to either score directly or trust the backmen to stop the opposition doing the same (and looking at the back six, and the midfield grunt, that seems sensible). With the new positioning rules I think this is a solid attacking game plan.
Once the ball is in play, if you gain possession back of the centre, the plan is to go careful with the first kick (don’t try to be too clever, just get forward 20-30 metres), then go attacking with the next possession. Run hard to support, quick overlap running and handball work to get to the back of the opposition zone, then when you hit their mid-back wall, bomb it long to get over the back of the zone, and back in the talls to win the important contests.
I reckon that was the grand plan. Ross’ “new attacking style” for 2019. Theoretically, you get some exciting run through the middle, you get some big marks up forward and everyone is happy.
The team starts the year and is slowly starting to click into that plan, link up right, the team starts to get confidence in the plan. Hill and Langdon are exciting on the wings, Fyfe and Mundy are bulls in the middle, the forwards rack up some marks, and the backline stand tall.
Then the injuries hit. We can cover Pearce, and we can cover one of Tabs, Hogan or Lobbe going down - but not two, and certainly not three.
Suddenly we’re workig the ball to that long kick forward and at that point the plan falls down, and the opposition cuts us up on the rebound.
So, the coaches try to adjust. They tell the players, once you’ve overlapped through the middle, you should have some numbers to create time, you use that to lower the eyes, give the kids time to get forward. It takes the team weeks to adjust, and when they do, it still doesn’t work - too much pressure through midfield to nail that kick, too many tired 20 year olds running around that can’t get forward quick enough.
This weekend we got some talls back, tried to go long again. It kinda works, but when the ball hits the deck we’re stuffed because Darcy and Sandi aren’t as quick as Tabs and Hoges, they can’t stop the rebound.
None of this would be a problem if we had a different system bringing the ball through the middle.
tl;dr
Gameplan doesn’t work without talls. Need talls back AND new gameplan. Probably all RL’s fault.
