Gaps in our current list

[Harrysz]

My focus is on this year. We have a chance to win the premiership. Gaps?
1. We need a key tall back. Darcy Moore is irreplaceable. Also, he can't do it all on his own. Billy Frampton looked quite good in the ruck but he's only played a couple of games in the backline. I thought he looked a bit slow against Melbourne. But who else have we got? I think he should play there every week and hopefully get used to the position. He's slower than Murphy or Howe but he has height.

2. We need a key tall forward. McStay seems to be the only choice and we haven't seen much of him yet. Again, he should play their every week and make the spot his own. David King suggests that Howe should play forward. Maybe, but he's too short to be a key position player.

[inxs88]

Watching Paddy Cripps run from stoppage and clearance the other night only served to highlight a glaring weakness in a mid-field setup and that's a big bodied (not 188cm) mid-fielder to impact clearances. 2022 was gaping in this area and although Tom Mitchell has been a welcome addition, he is a 182cm, 83kg grafter with big body limitations.

Our main rivals have Petracca, Oliver, Dunkley, Cripps, Green, the Bont etc... and although we have Pendles and DeGoey, we still seem to be short in this area and our losses have been against Brisbane, Melbourne and Carlton who dominated us in clearance.

Thoughts?

[Johnno75]

I wrote in the L thread about how we have gone from 1st in contested ball and ground ball gets in first 10 games to bottom 4 in both these areas in the last 9 games, we have essentially gone back to a 2022 version of us.

I think in time Ed Allan will become that player but maybe Maynard needs to get up near the contest more although his shoulders might prevent us using him like that.

It will stop us winning the flag if we don’t lift our ground ball gets and contested ball differential doesn’t lift in the next month.

[mgh3536]

Crisp?

[23 YIPPEE!!!]

Yep a couple or a few of big bodies bash and crash type mids is what we need also our game style to become more bash and crash type is what we need im done with all of this cute stuff

[3rd degree]

I think Carmichael fits the mould if he can get fitter and stronger.

[inxs88]

Crisp and Maynard unfortunately aren't elite "one grabbers" and can fumble a tad. Carmichael should get rewarded and play this weekend against a competent Hawks on-ball unit. Worth a look.

Also Taylor Adams has had a huge problem keeping his feet this year when going onto the ball. Scope for improvement and focus.

[Pies2016]

Won’t help this year but I wonder if Elliot Yeo is on the radar. Huge risk, very low cost but a big return if our fitness team could get him right.
A beast when he’s on.

[pietillidie]

We're a gun CHF, gun mid and a gun CHB short. We can still win the cup, but our margins are very thin because of this and the injury gods and momentum will need to be on our side.

[inxs88]

[RudeBoy]

My impression is that Mitchell's form has waned as the season has progressed. He actually looks buggered to me. His drop off in form, as well as Adam's inconsistent performances, have weakened our midfield imo. I agree with others who would like to see Carmichael given a run for a couple of weeks. Next year, hopefully Ed Allan will emerge as a real big bodied midfield talent.

[neil]

My glaring weakness is we need two elite mids to replace Pendles and sidey
who are nearing the end

Also a gun KPF

[stui magpie]

Reef was drafted as a midfielder, we're playing him KPF. Maybe, like JDG, he'll make the move to the midfield after a few more preseasons.

Allan is also a big unit midfielder.

Crisp is an outlier in that he is KP size, all the others in the OP are 191 or less.

[Johnno75]

Since the bye we rank LAST in the comp for ground ball gets. That’s right even the WCE midfield is winning it more than our midfield. A few senior players need to have a decent look at themselves and have those hard conversations this week. We won’t have a better opportunity to win a flag if a few pull their fingers out.

Let’s not get stuck into Nick. The kid has had 1 full preseason and you can’t expect him to go full time in the middle despite the high standards set, give him cameos there sure but guys like Mitchell, Adams, Lipinski, JDG, Josh need to get stuck in and start winning some ball. A few are also starting to go ahead of the contest to get the cheap ball expecting others to win it.

Before the bye we were swarming numbers at the contest then spreading when we won it, have our training standards dropped? Not sure but it’s an alarming drop off. Then this has a cascading effect on our defence being under siege and our forwards being ineffective.

[shawthing]