My first post

[Harrysz]

DollyG - you are most welcome and your first post was very good. That's the whole idea of Nick's. Make suggestions; kick things around.

I understand the sentiment of moving Howe to full forward. The best marking forward I've seen at Collingwood was Terry Waters. Between 1963 and 1965 he'd take spectacular marks at full forward. I remember one day he kicked 7 goals against Richmond, and after the game (which we lost by a point)the Richmond coach said that performance was as good as anything he'd ever seen from Bob Pratt or John Coleman. I'd go to the footy just to see Terry Waters. Then Bobby Rose decided to turn him into a marking back pocket player and that was the end of that. So moving Jeremy Howe to full forward might thrill the supporters with some spectacular marks, but would it be a net plus for the team? I think not. In today's football forwards like De Goey, Elliott and Stephenson are more effective and dangerous.

Also, our backline is gelling together really well at present, if we can just forget how Michael Walters was able to take a chest mark with 90 seconds left to go. A winning team shouldn't be broken up.

[BazBoy]

I remember Terry and his forward stanza —-the coach moving a player with the veiw to team balance

A more successful employ of that was a guy who was tried as a forward at Carlton then became one of our best full backs —the one and only Harry Sullivan

[Harrysz]

Harry Sullivan - premiership fullback and a great player.

[inxs88]

Welcome to Nick's

[inxs88]

He is more needed down back given his dynamic marking and exiting (except for the odd clanger) however I think he should pinch hit up forward occasionally just to keep him "forward skills savvy". Remember Sheedy won a grand final and so did Blight by during their respective home and away season's playing:

* Paul Weston
* Shane Ellen

up forward. Imagine if we needed a spark up forward and Jeremy was needed. Even John Worsfold played "Hunter" as a pinch hitter to great success in 2005-2006.

[bally12]

The reason Howe would never make a good forward is that he's too lightly framed and his defender would body him out of the marking contest easily, and also not give him the space to jump and leap like he does in the backline.
Although Howe isn't slow, he doesn't have the explosiveness to get the extra metre on his man when it counts. As a defender, he can zone off his man and float in and take those great grabs.

[Pies2016]