Sidefx wrote:
Blue Sombrero wrote:
Martin is not quick
Cotchin is not quick
Pendlebury is not quick
Sidebottom is not quick
Ablett is not quick
Hurd is not quick
Fyfe is not quick
Bont is not quick
They are all pretty clean with the footy but nont of them consistently go at 80%
Pendles would probably be the closest.
There are lots of one paced good footballers out there. They compensate in various manners by skill levels, volume of possessions, brute strength, vision.... Martin is probably the best player in the comp at the moment but in 2011 he was still nowhere near the beast or player he is today and he was drafted in 2009. Yes, he was pretty good but he took a few seasons to dominate. Our kids are still boys by comparison.
Sorry for the late response BS.
I agree that each team has 1 or 2 slow mids, Cripps isn't a show stopper either. (Martin is pretty quick though, 2.89 20m and 1.02 5m, that's some burst power with an elite foot too)
But each team has quick mids that the slower players feed the ball too to break the lines and hit a target lace out. Something we lack.
And I agree on the good paced footballers that lack speed but compensate with skill etc. But we seem to lack that also.
Maybe I'm just being too harsh, but I think we lack 1-2 hard in and under players and 1-2 fast breaking players to rotate through the middle and not in 2-3 years, now.
Close to 80% would be a dream for us. I haven't looked at the numbers but surely we'd be lucky if we were pushing close to 60% as a whole.
I think the biggest issue is not so much the average percentage but hitting targets when it is absolutely vital. We constantly fail under pressure and I get this is because we have so many kids. And this alone is why I think we should've been drafting B+ mature mids to compliment and help protect these kids.
I might be wrong but in my view, there is slow and then there is SLOW.
I mean Kennedy, my Lord, is there anything more painful than watching him try and chase someone, especially off the first few steps? Watch him try and chase and you know straight away as a midfielder at least he is a liability. Unless you are a freak like Mitchell who can find it blindfolded, you cannot get by in this game today when you are too slow. And Mitchell is not anywhere near as slow as Kennedy.
Look t is about recruitment and development. Have we got these right?
Dow was a Pick 3. Now to my eye he lacks composure and reliable ball use (the 2 might be intertwined). Is it just nerves and confidence and he will be OK? I hope so. But if not, then that was a recruiting balls up.
A lot of it comes down to attitude though. I mean Cripps was pretty darn slow when he arrived. But he has slimmed down and I swear he is quicker now than when he came to the club. And as a result he has reduced the impact that negative in his game has on his overall performance. Got to hand it to him. No wonder he was made captain.
Look one of either Wines or Z.Merrett (read something about this, probably a pipe dream) would help us a lot.