Where is the next generation of mid-fielders - have a look at the Northern Blues - most of the key running players (Marcon & Lambert) are VFL listed players and do not belong to us.

We dont have young mid-fielders coming through, like Sydney or Geelong do.

We need to sort this out - List Management, List Management, List Management.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

We need pace as well. I know you say we don't need small guys - but there's a bunch of small kids with plenty of guts and skill in this draft. I reckon it's one of the strongest drafts for players under 183cm (6 foot in the old scale).

Like the little Mexican Girl said we could have had both.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

Touhy and simpson off half back. Walker going into midfield imo.
Yarran too lazy for mine. Happy if mm has finally got through to him and the green shoots of improvement in the last 5-6 rounds continues. But not what i consider to be a " gut runner" that we need in a modern elite midfield.

Menzel, buckley,graham, temay, lucas. Have you written these guys off already?

Not to mention the move into the midfield proper for tuohy, armfield

Then there is Mitch.

buckley lucas temay are not mids

but we wouldnt have had Dale or ROK........

you cant have everything!!!

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Do you even know what a midfield is????

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

do you even midfield bro??

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Got to love the stare Down by Setanta on Llyod

You better give our Recruiting Department a call - I'm sure there is a plethora of half back flankers out there.

They are always on the look out for those likely types that they can turn into mid-fielders.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

Please enlighten me synbad. I am interested in your answer.

Padre - I havent written any of those players off, however out of all the players you mention their is only player who is a genuine grunt mid-fielder and that is Graham.

The others are either small forwards (Menzel, Buckley), or flankers (Lucas), Temay is purely a defender.

At some stage I hope they all develop as players who can go through the mid-field rotation but if we are to rely on these players to one day be our "A" list mid-fielders then I think we will be waiting a very very long time.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

enlighten u about what a midfielder is???

depends
according to your definition.... you are taking a very generic approach to what a midfielder is

2 arms
one head
2 legs

but how many of these giuys can get a game with other clubs?

how many other clubs want armfield in their midfield.. or robbo...or lucas....temay... graham??.. yeah u can have one graham type in your midfield.. (think priddis) but thats not actualy what teams are chasing....

Tell me what clubs would kill to have guys like Temay and Lucas going through their midfield..

Ok let me make this simpler.. Lucas will be up for trade lets see what we can get for him....

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Sorry i just assumed that some of these players could be developed into midfielders. But you say they cant, and because we need more midfielders then they should be moved on. Is that what you are saying.

Still waiting on synbad to explain what a midfielder is though

We dont have not even one midfielder that runs both ways. Hows that ? True....

Murphy - Gets tagged too easy and shut out. One way runner
Judd - Doesnt tackle, doesnt run both ways.
Curnow - Can only tag.... Not attacking in any way. One dimentional.
Robbo - Does not get played there often. When he does, hacks the ball. Goes missing often. I would persist with him.
Bell - Untried for a long period of time. The most likely.
Carazzo - Gets the ball, but does not hurt the opposition with his disposal.
Graham - We dont know yet.
McLean - Too slow. But probably one of our better midfielders and that is saying something.
Cachia - Too slow. One dimentional as well.

Not really much else really. No one else really coming through.

We need really good attacking skillfull midfielders and plenty of them.

Padre dont assume anything.

Our "List Managers/Recruiters" over the past 5 years have assumed that we draft Half Back Flankers who we can turn into mid-fielders, but in the meantime because they were so crappy at being Half Back Flankers we had to flower up one of the best mid-field ball extractor we had in Bryce Gibbs and turn him into a Half Back Flanker.

We need to draft mid-fielders, big bodied, fast, agile and strong mid-fielders.

Teams that have these types of mid-fielders like Hawthorn, Sydney, Geelong beat us consistently, and other teams like Adelaide (Dangerfield, Sloane) and Western Bulldogs (Cooney & Griffen) who shouldnt beat us do actually beat us because they have it all over us in the clinches.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

I just get the feeling that Collingwood will match any offer by us. If they do trade Shaw it will free up cap space.

Ratten + Hughes = NFI
Hawk midfield held together by Mitchell and Hodge
There's your answer

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If I want your opinion, I'll give it to you!

Gut runners with and without possession
accurate kicks to spread
smarts when delivering in fwd line
clearance beasts
ferocious tacklers
handball accurately under pressure
accurate goal kickers
etc

Our midfield is ordinary (bordering on sh1t)

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If I want your opinion, I'll give it to you!

Agro, i think its ok to assume that some of these existing (half back flankers) players do alright. We still did well enough to beat 7 other legitimate teams into the eight. Or are we to assume that we fluked it into the finals and fluked a win against the tigers, because we have no running mids. Sorry just not buying the argument. Its not black and white.
Its not black and white whether a player is a mid or a running defender.
Its not black and white whether a player is a small forward or a mid either.
Surely being a mid requires a certain amount of skill and then now, in the way the game has evolved, a massive tank in order to run out a match.
Injuries play a massive part. A lack of preseason brings the most skillful back to the pack due to lack of fitness. fatigue induces skill errors and influences decision making, making the player seem less skillful.
Most Young players require a few preseasons to really be able to fulfil their potential, again this is fitness.
Development. Players can be played out of position due to coaches ineptitude. Or due to team needs to plug a gap. In this case they are still not being developed properly. Confidence , ability to play a team role that is clearly defined by the coach, can have a massive impact of the psychology of a player. Not many players have the ability and mental toughness to simply go out and play their own game, dominate, and bring others along with them. Judd and ablett are two. The rest of the mere mortals out there really respond to the roles they are given and the support that a solid team structure brings from their team mates.
Great coaches have the innate ability to analyse their cattle and identify their strengths and weaknesses and build a team around those players particular strengths. They then purposefully recruit to replace players who are not really performing the roles given to them. Players are sought with clear objectives in mind and they filter out players who do not fit that particular role.
My point is this. Even though i dont know yet what a mid is ( still waiting synbad) i think i have a fair idea about what a mid does.
In todays game a fair amount of it relates to running, tackling and supporting team mates. All these activities require elite conditioning and fitness, a massive part of this is a good preseason. Taking. 3 of our best mids ( i hope i am right about this synbad, but please correct me if i am wrong) in judd murphy and carazzo out of this elite fitness level due to injury and the compounding effect of a lack of preseason has seen a deterioration in the effectiveness of our midfield group this year, the replacements have been players that are either too young or lack the awareness and skill and so bring the whole group down a few notches.
But next year we should see full preseasons into those three, plus another preseason into bell and a few others. Gibbs and walker playing full time in the group should help the fitness and skill levels to go up as well.
Of course all of this could be complete BS and should be read with a grain of salt because it really is reliant on the writer to Actually know what a midfielder is . I promise to edit this post synbad once you get back to me with your definition of a midfielder. Thanks in advance.