leon davis to the backline?

[i_coulda_been_a_champ]

hi to everyone. im a new poster . 1st time .
have put this in another thread but thought it would make a good topic
i have to admit that i both love watchin the leon davis's of this world and am frustrated by them at the same time. cant get into the game seems a big problem. heres an idea which i would like peoples opinion on . why not try him as a backman. can run bloody fast and has excellent disposal skills . can leap for his size and also hold marks which none of our small backmen (except burns when he plays there) seem to do . has better disposal than b. johnson(another i love and hate equally) . other teams have used exceptionally talented players there in the past to great effect(wanganeen and wirrapunda 2 nemae 2 - and that is not an aboriginal thing just that they come 2 mind quickly)
what do u think

[1948pie]

maybe its a good idea but leons form is so woeful at the moment he needs to go back to willi first. maybe he could be tried on the backline there the same as rhys shaw was.

[Sammy Gee]

doesnt have as much strength as burns or johnson, and these two players stick to their man extremely well, i dont think leon would be as effective as a defender..

[Joe Mamone]

Time to face up to some facts - apart from the the magpies general ineptitude, poor kicking skills lack of pace in particular positions, the team coaching staff have no imagination and appear transfixed.

1. Leon Davis should be played on the wing and just be be told and allowed to play footy - use his pace and skill re:Ricky Barham in times gone by, and not be forced into spending so much time on the bench or locked in a forward pocket. Here is a player with more skill than any other collingwood player save for Buckley and he is locked away in a pocket - how ridiculous.

2. Tarrant should be played at CHF full time. No question he has matured this year and he should be given this pivotal role where he can use his pace and marking ability. If anything has become obvious this year is that he is at his best when has some space to manouvre and make his decisions to go and get the ball instead of waiting for some moron down the field to send him a Saddam Husein missile!!

3. Molloy for want of a better position needs to be hidden at full forward - too slow for CHF or half forwad line - does not get enough of the ball. Yes he is tough, but so what - Barnard (essendon) is tough but he also gets plenty of the ball and damages opposition.

4. Fraser - surely it would have clicked to someone at magpie land that Fraser is not the player we all expected and he certainly is not a ruckman - play him at CHB - doesn't have to mark - punch and use agility to follow. We desperately need a CHB and he may just fit the bill. Try it for Christ's sakes. Just try it.

5. May need to ruck Rocca with a new ruckman to spell him off the bench - need to try one of the rooky rucks - Mckee is not the key!!

6. Ben Johnson has to go - cannot kick right foot and his disposal off his left is almost as bad as having no right foot - cannot afford to have him and Lica and the likes in the same team - when under pressure poor skills come to the fore. I do not question his commitment - but enough is enough.

7. Bring back Shaw, Rupert and Scottland and anyone else - but particularly Scottland must play if fit - has poise and skill.

8. Must play Byrnes at half back or back pocket.

Hope this provides some food for discussion.

[The Prototype]

Leon Davis is too small for the backline, sure he has speed, but he's makring let's him down alot. Play him on the Wing and let him run, that would be the better place to play him.

[Sammy Gee]

not bad joe..

although i dont agree with your point about ben johnson : johnson is a key to our defence, we cant let him go..he should be judged on a good game if his opponent in the forward line doesnt get any goals, not how he himself kicks. He constantly plays on the best small forwards and he rarely gets goals kicked against him, he is tough, always plays 4 quarters to his greatest ability, and he shouldnt be judged by a handful of dodgy kicks.

[i_coulda_been_a_champ]

i like the idea of fraser to the backline. could become like dustin fletcher with inspector gadget like arms . his mobility should see him get to most contests in the air and he doesnt have to mark - just punch forward or towards collingwood jumpers . this could be used whilst hopefully he is still going to the gym to put on more weight and STRENGTH (which he has none) also if he goes to ground here as he often does his opponent will cut him up and hopefully his pride will want to rectify this. maybe a good place for the boy to grow into the man we are all hoping for.

[Hanskies]

Leon to the bench at the moment, or back to Willy 4 a few weeks

[MardyP]

Leon will never be a backman - unless he is willing to put his body on the line.

In the second qtr he happened to be on the half back line just in front of our race.

The ball was coming in. Only one player had a chance of even getting near it - Leon. But he almost stopped! I couldnlt belive it.

Lloyd (I think) was coming on the lead, but the up and under was dropping 10m short of him. Instead of going full steam and getting an easy chest mark Leon started putting in the short steps!

I'd be surprised to see Leon before June. May down at Willi will give hime something to think about.

As for Ben. Maybe it is something in the name...

Sure he tries, but he just isn't up to it - TOO MANY MISTAKES.

Did anyone see MM go straight to him at qtr time and tear strips off him.

He is too loose and his disposal leaves WAY to much to be desired.

[CQ]

leon to the ressies, prolly doesnt even deserve a game there!

its supposed to be an honour to put on the black and white but theres too many lazy bludgers on our list who dont deserve the honour.

[Ant]

It is becoming increasingly evident that leon davis is fast becoming the new collingwood scapegoat (after the usuals such as fraser rocca and tarrant) but if any collingwood players should be criticized for our performance against the bombers, it should be presti and lokan. Lloyd destroyed Presti who always seemed to be behind lloyd and applied very little pressure, and lokan was continually beaten by cupido, a 4th season player in only his 13th or so game. Essendon had no right to have 3 players score 5+ goals each against us. I have no idea why presti was on lloyd at all and was even more surprised that he was on him for so long.
And on another note, how are we supposed to win games if we are losing practically every ruck contest? Get McKee and Fraser on a jumping program or something! I'm sick of seeing stats at the end of a game where they say hitouts- collingwood:13 Opponents (ie Geelong): 48 (this is a made up figure but im sure the stats when we played them was something like this.)
I believe that we have the BEST forward line in the comp, a top 3 Midfield and Defence for sure, but we don't have that tall bloke in the middle that hits the ball to his midfielders. We won't progress much unless we produce a ruckman which can at least "breakeven" with ruck contests consistently. If we just break even with our opponents we'll win that much more convincingly. Anyway i think ive said enough for now so yeah.

[MardyP]

Collingwood got more hitouts than Essendon - 28 to 27.

Actually I think we won ruck honours.

Hille had 4 possetions, Alessio 7. McKee 15 and Fraser 16.

[CQ]

[Whitey]

Most of the team hasn't played well right across the board (except for a few individual performances)...you can't hang it all on one, two or even three players. I think it's a bit early to go calling for everyone's heads. We've only lost a couple of games. A few players have been playing out of position, such as cloke down forward, which hasn't worked well, and certainly some players need to be brought back to add some freshness - ie. scotland, betheras. but the guys need to improve across the board as i said, and i'm very confident they will...not that that means anything.

[AbsoluteTallant]

I agree Leon is the new scapegoat.

CQ you're ignorance regarding Leon seems ill adivsed and flippant to say the least - doesn't even deserve a game at Willy? Deserves the scapegoat tag although "he's on the bench most of the time"?

However CQ I agree Ant's comments are well off the mark. Presti's match fitness is still to be regained and his pace isn't very fast anyway. Lokan is new and deserves more leeway and time. MM should have dropped him a game or two back for a few weeks at Willy.

Fact is, Leon has been getting stuff all game time and you can't play well if you're not allowed on the grass.

Give Leon 100 minutes in the position where he is strongest - forward pocket. Tell him he needs to demonstrate a willingness to put in second and third efforts and that he must attack the ball hard and earn possessions regardless of how many opponents scrag and retard him.

If he doesn't perform in this role, give him a solid half in the middle the following week with similar parameters. Then if he still doesn't perform, sure give him some time in the ressies.

The only big problem with Leon is that he's still small enough physically to be easily bumped off the ball. Compare Leon to a player like Jeff Farmer for upper body size for starters?

The age old problem is how many kilos do you pile on and how much pace do you lose in the process?

Facts are Leon's assets far outweigh his problems and his problems can be solved.

CQ you mention the work ethic required to wear the Collingwood jumper. I agree with the idea you present but I've watched too many unskilled but desperately hard working players slog it out and never get us too far in the long run to want to see any more. Licuria is a perfect example.

Leon:
- Strong overhead mark for his size (See QF 2002 for just one example)
- Very hard at the man with hip and shoulders for his size
- Genuine pace
- Brilliant kick on either foot

- Gets knocked off the ball too easily
- Plays too much for free kicks (though it worked early on in his career)
- Needs to lay more tackles and make more 2nd/3rd efforts to retain the ball.