Our ruck to midfield connection

[Pies4shaw]

Murphy has been a ready-made upgrade on Mayne for 3 seasons, which is part of the problem. Bigger, faster, kicks twice as far - and lacks match experience. There is talent in the VFL. I like Rantall (who basically was the Collingwood midfield today) and Chugg (very good player at half-back - with all the talent and nous that Noble lacks) to come up soon, along with Tyler Brown. Poulter and Ginnivan have heaps of skill but they're too slight. They'd get killed at senior level, physically, at the moment.

[Jezza]

Time to bring in Murphy. This should be Mayne's final year and I don't think it benefits a 4th year player to continue languishing in the reserves week after week.

Grundy was very good last night. At least it's clear he's capable of playing up forward when the need for it arises.

[Boogie Knights]

I've been wondering why we don't dominate out of stoppages and it's a real head scratch-er. We have this dominant ruckman winning hitout after hitout and leading the league in hitouts to advantage, coupled with this incredible midfield (less so no after the personnel changes, but still pretty awesome)... we should be dominating!

We seem to come out reasonably even in clearances won each game (give or take), yet this doesn't translate on the scoreboard. I've come to the conclusion that we have a great general play midfield only.

Our mids when they do get first hands on the ball, fumble allowing opposition possession and clearance or when they do take control of the pill, the clearance is often to a player under pressure, generally through short handball. Our clearances lack clean takeaway from the stoppage while we are quite poor in preventing the opposition doing this. The eye test tells me our mids get first hands on the ball a lot more than opposition yet fail to win the clearance. This is not Grundy's fault.

We need a player with good hands, vision, strength and reasonable enough disposal to put a player in the clear (or in a + position to have opposition shepherded off him and give him some space). This might be a mythical unicorn, but it is one thing that would completely turn the team around and allow us to take advantage (finally) of Grundy.

Then there is the little matter of stopping clean opposition clearances... but let's fix one thing at a time....

[Johnno75]

We looked better with Daicos and Crisp in the middle keep them there and use Sidebottom and Pendles forward

[Monco Matt]

When Brodie went to hospital during the game against the Cats yesterday I felt like the game turned our way somewhat. I have not watched the game again so my recollection may be a bit hazy. But did we not noticably improve our ball movement, run and carry and goal scoring after he left the field never to return?

With a different mix and dynamic at the ruck contest it looked like our mids, without Grundy's taps to the opposition to shark every time were getting more of the ball themselves.

Happy to be corrected if I didn't see this right, but it felt like we started to flow more freely after he left. Thoughts?

If this is correct, could it be possible that Grundy in the ruck is a major problem? The root cause of all our ball movement issues?

[David]

Cameron was good in the ruck afterwards, but we certainly missed him up forward as a consequence. So even if you're not a fan of Grundy's – and it's not something I have a strong opinion on either way – his loss will cause big problems for our structure.

[Jpies]

No, I don't think so.

We moved the ball better in the last quarter across the board, not just from clearances.

It seemed that the players simply played more positive football, with more confidence. When you're behind in the last and not expected to come back, you can throw caution to the wind because there's no pressure if you lose anyway. The players seem to lack the confidence to play positive football when there is real pressure to perform (e.g. at the start of a game, before they fall well behind).

[Monco Matt]

I guess I am just looking to figure out what was 'the reason' for our improved output after he went off the ground. If the general feeling that it was just the shackles coming off the team from being down by 5 goals with not much time left then I can accept that. Just thought the timing was thereabouts. If he is out next week then we may find out if there is anything more to it.

For the record I'm a Grundy fan, not a fan of Grundy's tap work or contested marking ability tbh but a fan of everything else he brings. But, yes, I don't think he is worth $1m p.a

[Skids]

It was probably due to the Cats not knowing where our hitouts were going to go. Teams have worked Grundy out, he's very predictable.
Needs to mix it up... as has been continually discussed, belt the ball forward sometimes, rip it out of the air sometimes, be less predictable.

[Pies4shaw]

Well, you may find out whether Collingwood can actually be goalless at 3/4 time. Cox has to be first ruck if he comes in - it doesn't matter if he gets hurt. He's just useless. They should protect Cameron - he may have a future.

[Ronnie McKeowns boots]

[Culprit]

[i hate carlton]

Grundy is an elite player, and we need him in our team. I'd like to see him share the ruck duties more, and float down to the goal square on occasion.

I'd also like to see Mason Cox used more as the ruckman, although since his eye injury he seems to have lost confidence and place in the team.

[hermie]

[quote="Skids"]It was probably due to the Cats not knowing where our hitouts were going to go. Teams have worked Grundy out, he's very predictable.
Needs to mix it up... as has been continually discussed, belt the ball forward sometimes, rip it out of the air sometimes, be less predictable.

I understand exactly what you are saying but if we are predictable to the opposition why are we nit predictable to our mids?

[think positive]

Well boys I guess we are about to find out the answer to the O P s question!