What happens when Reid, Brown, Adams, Sinclair .....

[E]

.....come back.

Is it possible that there isnt a spot for Reid?? It would disrupt our structure to go back to one ruck and i personally think White is fitting in just beautifully as a foil for Cloke. I suppose Witts and grundy will miss games if Reid comes back and white will have to do some ruckwork.

I also think Goldsack is playing his modern footy role perfectly and dont think Reid can play that role.

First world problems at Collingwood at the moment.

[Donny]

Simple.

We'll have an excellent Magoos side.

[MagpieBat]

On Reid and his spot...

You don't sign a key position player for 4 years on pretty good coin to play him in the reserves.

Reid is a lock for the seniors. Take that to the bank.

Having said that, you are spot on re the chemistry between Cloke and White. Playing as a permanent forward is where White played his best footy at Sydney. No surprise he's in similar form playing that exact same role for us.

White's goal returns playing as a pure KPF...

NAB 1 vs Geelong - 5 goals (Cloke 1, Lynch 1)
NAB 3 vs Gold Coast - 3 goals (Cloke 6)
Round 2 vs Sydney - 0 goals (Cloke 2)
Round 3 vs Geelong - 2 goals (Cloke 0, Witts 0)
Round 4 vs Richmond - 3 goals (Cloke 0, Witts 0)
Round 5 vs North Melbourne - 2 goals (Cloke 4, Witts 0)
Round 6 vs Essendon - 2 goals (Cloke 0, Grundy 1)

Strictly speaking, the most productive 3 tall forwards structure in terms of goals, at least as far as White goes, is the one we played in NAB game #1, the Cloke/White/Lynch setup.

White's best work has come as a pure key forward. He should remain in that role. That means keeping him out of the ruck, a position he is not that good in anyway.

Which raises two questions - who should play the 3rd tall forward/2nd ruck role, and where should Reid play? For mine, the answer to the first question is either Lynch or Witts (I'd still go Lynch to minimise the amount of wear and tear on Grundy and Witts), while the answer to the second question would obviously be in defence given the chemistry between Cloke and White, which means dropping a tall backman.

That means leaving out either a stiff Maxwell (old but playing well), a stiff Keeffe (been pretty good after an ordinary start to the year) or a very stiff Frost (been on fire since taking down Buddy). And that's without considering poor Nathan Brown, who was playing reasonably well when his shoulder went!

I guess it's better to have too many than too few, but still...

(As a side note, I'm just glad we're getting our list back to full health. It's much easier to contend when you have your players on the park, instead of in the casualty ward).

[John Wren]

fasolo's injury, in a perverse way, might help to solve part of the problem depending on how long he is out for. i'd have reid for witts.

seedsman to slot into half back. williams or sinclair for langdon. frost to drop back for brown at a point in time. no point dropping frost if he is showing current form.

we seems to be getting more than we ever expected out of frost and langdon.

[Brown26]

Reid wont be back for a couple of weeks at least, then (all going well) I'd bring him back for a game or two in the reserves to get some touch. Then I'd bring him into the side and rest a few players, every week one of Grundy, Witts, White and maybe even Cloke (though traditionally he hasn't needed or wanted a rest). By then it'll be half way through the season and we'll have an idea of which combinations work.

I'd also play Lynch at some point - he's great depth material but if you need to call on him come finals time he'll be much better if he's played a game or two in the seniors.

Good problem to have

- Ben

[HAL]

Why not?

[neil]

Frost is a rookie upgrade
Who is he replacing?
When do they come back?

[John Wren]

[burnsy17]

Put Reid in the backline, problem solved!!

[Tannin]

Simple. Hawthorn don't have much in the way of tall, strong backmen. We have more than we can fit into the side on any one day. Simply lend Reid and Brown to Hawthorn for the season. In exchange, they give us a all of their cash, a competent goalkicking coach, and the 2013 premiership cup.

[Steve86]

we can get away with all 3 in forward line. I'd play reid n white deep and get cloke up on half forward. I would say reid is the most dangerous out of the 3 playing out of full forward. Guy is a gun.

[Duff Soviet Union]

I imagine Reid will play permanent forward, White will be the third tall forward / second ruck and one of Witts or Grundy will be dropped. Or you can move him back, where he'd be an upgrade on either Frost or Keeffe. Either way, it's ridiculous to say there isn't a spot for him.

I'll be more curious about what happens when he have a full complement of small / mid sized defenders. I suspect Fasolo would move back to the forward line, which leaves us short on run and skill from defence. Which is where Seedsman and Scharenberg come in. I think finding the right match down back could be a real challenge for Bucks and might be a week to week proposition depending on opposition matchups.

In general, I'd say our biggest problem is a duplication of talent in some areas (is it just me, or are Josh Thomas and Taylor Adams the exact same player? A few mids who run forward a lot harder then they run back. A lot of small / mid lock down defenders with questionable skill. A couple of tackling / pressure forwards who don't get the ball. Two rucks who can't really play anywhere except in the ruck.) and a shortfall in others (Young and Harry are really our only line breakers, not enough skill coming out of defence, no genuine crumbing goal sneak (Elliott's basically an undersized KPF)).

Basically, as good as things are right now, this team presents a huge challenge to a coach in terms of getting the right mix together and could probably benefit hugely from a couple of trades.

[John Wren]

^ jt had 11 kicks, 5 handballs (plus 3 tackles) in less than a half of footy. i thought he was very good.

blair had 3 kicks, 12 handballs and 7 tackles.

[Duff Soviet Union]

[John Wren]

i understood your point and don't disagree. jt and adams are still early in their careers so, obviously, have areas to develop.

your mentioning of jt jogged my memory to look up his stats cos i thought he was terrific with limited game time.

throughout yesterday, when watching blair, i was trying to work out what these so-called "pressure acts" were that he is so renown for.