Centre clearances -- the root cause of our losses

[Mr Miyagi]

Grundy had a whopping 73 hit-outs as the Pies won the tally 78-16, but the Giants read the Collingwood ruckman’s taps well, winning the clearances 54-35.

Let's repeat that.

73 hit-outs for Grundy to 16 by GWS.

Yet they won clearances 54-35.

This has been the story ALL YEAR.

[Adz]

Bottom 4 for clearances but top 4 for hit outs. Go figure.

[Johnno75]

It was our problem last year not just Centre clearances but stoppage in general. We couldn’t win the ball at the coalface we lost the territory battle due to lack of first use which forced our forwards to come up the ground thus whenever we won anything of HB we were outnumbered going forward.

Seems Bucks was right that this year was a waste as we haven’t learnt from last year. We need to find another Adams type that can play as an inside mid but win it 25-30 times every game. Maybe will be JDG in a year or 2.

We are kidding ourselves if we are blaming umpires. I was concerned at HT yesterday scoreboard had us up but we were getting smashed in most contested areas and they were driving the ball forward at will and locking it in F50.

I thought at HT either our prime mids will lift or GWS will start to take advantage of their dominance. Problem was our mids didn’t lift until the damage was well and truly done or more so their mids started to get tired.

[Mr Miyagi]

Can we play Cox in the ruck and Grundy as a mid? Imagine Cox tapping it to Grundy...

[RudeBoy]

Yeah, I agree J75.

One thing's for sure, neither Callum Brown or Josh Daicos are going to be able to give us the midfield improvement we desperately need. They are both too small and simply not quite good enough, to provide what we need.

[PyreneesPie]

[PyreneesPie]

sorry DP

[Pies2016]

YAWN !
I will say it one more time. Clearances are extremely overrated. It’s the consequence of the clearance that matters.
Yes we would all like to win more clearances but it stands for nothing if the clearance isn’t to that teams advantage. At club level, that stat is as relevant as inside 50s.

Would it make some happier if we win 10 more clearances a game only to hand it straight back to the opposition while all our mids have followed the ball forward ?

We lost the 2018 grand final by a few points and our clearance numbers for the season weren’t great.
Then we lost a prelim by a few points and our clearances were worse.
The dogs won a flag with Boyd as their ruckman. Check those clearance numbers.
The tigers won a flag with the second worst clearance numbers in the competition in 2017.
It’s all about clearance outcomes / consequences, not raw clearance numbers.
The reason we are competitive “ despite “ the poor clearance numbers is because we are very good at retaining the ball after an opposition clearance.
It serves us well because that’s when you can maximise the opposition being caught out of position.
Having said that, why we are unable to capitalise on our ball retention after we win the ball at half back is an entirely different conversation.

[RudeBoy]

I think what you are ignoring Pies2016, is the fact that we are losing clearances, despite having the most dominant ruckman in the comp. No doubt there's more than one way to skin a cat. Winning clearances does not guarantee victory. Sure, the Bulldogs and Tigers won flags without winning clearances, but that was because they did not have good rucks. Basically, they manufactured other ways to win, to make up for their obvious weakness. We, on the other hand, should be winning clearances hands down every week.

[Mr Miyagi]

The whole point of the 6-6-6 rule was so teams could score quickly from centre clearances. We should be absolutely romping the rule. But we're not.

[Pies2016]

^ ^ ^

Ok R B and I see where you’re coming from too.

My point is that increasing our clearance numbers doesn’t automatically translate into a better scoreline.
As per recent history, some clubs get their best returns when they ( inadvertently ) concede the clearance because their defensive structures are so good. No one sets out to lose clearances but on the occasions when well drilled opposition win it back, it’s generally the best chance to hit the scoreboard without the extra numbers getting back.
I do accept that given Grundys dominance, we should have more clearance numbers but I can’t stress enough there is no evidence to suggest that would automatically improve our scoreline.
Our real issue is that we’re not maximising our return when we win the ball back at half back, especially considering how many clearances were conceding
😉

[K]

I don't remember any of the centre clearances by either side going straight to the defence. Did any?

[Haff]

Honestly, I think trade Grundy. We need a power forward, midgets and mediums (checkers) aren’t going to cut it.
Move Cox to the middle, play two ruckman and pickup a gun fwd. Grundy for Cameron? Also go hard for Patton.
I’m just worried that the Beams trade has hamstring us.

[RudeBoy]

I think we are both right P2016.

[Pies2016]