Forwards look best when they can run into space: sometimes that’s up at the ball, sometimes it’s back towards goal. But to do that you need transition the ball quickly, and we’re rubbish at that. The forwards can’t lead back because they’d be 100m from the ball with few links to get it there, and they can’t lead forward because there are too many people in front of them. When they do get in space, we rarely kick it to their advantage. Poor McCarthy is neither here nor there at the moment.
We need someone who is at least a target for the long bomb and/or someone can distract the loose back. Neither McCarthy or Kersten are that player. Tabs is the closest we have, but in an ideal structure he’d be using his combination of height and endurance to take his man up the ground and present on the way back. I reckon he’d go pretty well in that role, but he’s not quite equipped to be a true power-forward. We’re asking too much of him when he plays.
The coaching staff seem to be aware of this: they’ve tried better kicks in the backline (Hill, Mundy Crozier and Weller for example) and they’ve tried big lugs up forward (Sandi, Griff and Apeness for the 5 mins a year he’s not injured), without much success. We need backmen who can kick, and tall forwards who can mark. If we had those in place, we’ve got enough ball winning in place, and, when fit, enough attacking midfielders.
