SurreyBlue wrote:
Sidefx wrote:
Sorry, I forgot how damaging he was in the middle this year.
Can you please provide the link to these highlights.
And if Voss played too many inside mids this year who makes way for Jagga and mid x that we pick up?
Cripps, Hewett, Walsh?
C’mon SB, this is getting quite ridiculous now.
I've said many times but for one last time.
1.
Cripps, Walsh and Cerra are our best versatile options. I love Hewett but he cannot play inside with Cripps at the same time. Just makes us vulnerable to smart midfields. Hewett should only rotate with Cripps.
2. Cerra and Walsh can also play wing if Voss wanted to be versatile and throw Williams, Elijah, Ollie, Motlop (although he did finally in the last 2 weeks) as additional options.
3. Smith will need to start half forward (when he is ready) and rotate in there replacing Walsh or Cerra. The kid will need time to build and learn.
4. Lord and Ben C (developing) are the depth insiders to Hewett and Cripps.
Where Voss and his assistants have let themselves down is that they refused to try something different to give us run and carry through the middle of the ground all year. It was a stagnated and a stale structure and setup. Opposition was never surprised or given a different view. We beat teams that just didn't have the midfield to push us such as (Geelong shown up in the GF) and bottom 4 teams - but got beaten by top 8 teams, not in clearances but on the outside because Cripps and Hewett couldn't go with them. Cerra played 19 games this year and most where outside the middle!!!
He refused to play Ollie wing, although he was one of our best runners and defenders - yet thought his run and disposal was better off half back.
As far as I'm concerned, we were let down by our coaches both in the midfield and forward of the centre due to the in flexible approach.
Firstly, thank you for the detail.
The biggest issue I have with a lot of what you are saying is that you seem to have forgotten players were injured or coming back from injuries and we lacked quality depth in both the midfield and up forward for most if not all of the year. And on top of that you are overvaluing some of our players way too much, clearly more than our coaching department and now GW, finally.
1. I agree on this point, you only need 1 contested midfielder that only has 1 gear. But this is all well and good when you have options.
2. a) I don't actually recall Cerra playing wing at all and even pre injury he is too slow. Now he has hamstring issues, he is slower and his kicking is not that great. 62% KE and he only kicked 5 goals this year plus his iF50 entries were not up to standard a lot of the times. Hopefully this year was just a recovery year and not the new norm.
b) Walsh is someone I'd like on the wing but he and Lord are the only midfielders we had that had any form of pace compared to Cripps, Hewett and Cerra. This was not an option to rob Peter to pay Paul. Plus Sam was still recovering from injuries at the start of the year and then missed 9 games in the last half. Hopefully he can get back to some sort of his normal self, the last few games were promising.
c) Williams had 17 games where he had CBA's, he was also injured for 5 games in the middle of the year and when he goes in the middle our F50 suffers. And towards the end of the season they started to load up his CBAs because his injuries were better managed and the better performance from the smalls in White and Evans allowed him to have more midfield minutes and be less required in the F50.
d) In the 5 games Elijah played this year he was put in the middle for 1 of those games, I am sure it was tactical as Lord and Motlop had CBAs in his other games. He was a liability this year and not an option.
e)Ollie. We need to stop this, Ollie is not strong enough, not quick enough and doesn't make quick enough decisions under pressure for a midfield role. His 2 way running is great but his delivery into F50 is both safe and poor most of the times and is the reason he is no longer on the wing, his offensive game is weak. In 2024 Ollie played his best football for us from the back pocket, I just don’t understand how this is not looked at rationally when talking about where he should play. IMO he’s a defender that can push up the ground to plug F50 exit holes and then run back with the ball to sure up defence, that is where he is utilised most effectively.
f) Motlop had 21 games where he had CBAs, his main issue is awareness and speed but he is growing as a mid but having him in the middle is at the cost of our F50 also.
3. I would hope Jagga is mid/wing with Lord to start with, but I have no real preference on this, just get the kid on the park first. But again, Jagga was not an option for coaching this year.
4. I believe they have been doing this quite well this year. Lord had cameos but was not impactful enough for more sustained appearances (he is still building and doing it well) and B Campo was nearly ready to debut at the end of the season.
Surely you have to be happy with the fact we are no longer rushing kids into the developmental detriment we used to.
So aside from over exposing the kids, Voss and co fielded our best midfields week in week out IMO.
We needed to win games and as you have already said, Cerra, Hewett, Cripps and Walsh are our best mids.
The issue is this season they were all too slow, had poor delivery and aside from Cripps hardly scared the scoreboard.
We kicked around 80 goals less than the premiers.
So this is why I am not sure what else you could’ve expected coaching to do, yes they do have blame for the season, but first and foremost this is a player issue.
Not because the current players are crap, but because they lack the right attributes to make us more dynamic and give coaching options for different set ups and structures.
You are putting the cart before the horse, we lacked depth (the club agrees), we lacked skill (the club agrees) and we lacked speed (the club also agrees).
We will be a different side with Jagga in the middle, Chesser on the wing, a fit Walsh bursting out the middle (fingers crossed) and our small and medium sized forwards causing damage.
Newman, Kemp and Cottrell back are all huge ins for us also and for the structure of the team.
Plus I look forward to the progression of the Campo boys and if we don’t have to play Acres (if he is still at the club) our side will be looking strong going forward again.
I think one thing most of us have forgotten is how much we needed everyone fit and firing to be competitive over the last 3 years, our depth has had issues for a while now.
Bondi has numbered it at less than 8 injured max, he has a good point.
2025 CBAs.
https://dfsaustralia.com/afl-cbas/?team=CAR&season=2025
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