2ndeffort wrote:
This year one of our worst deficiencies was converting forward entries into scores. Plenty of games we were tracking even on clearances etc just to watch the ball rebound straight back out for a coast to coast goal. Improving our scoring efficiency would have won us a few more games. McGovern adds plenty to help with that. he is mobile, he tackles, he kicks well and he has an awesome pair of hands. He also adds another dimension to our forward line and another marking target. Finally he can also go back if needed. Fantastic get by the club, fits the age profile and was a starter in probably the best forward line in the AFL, still under contract. Great get and we should all be blown away!
Firstly I agree MM is a great get for the club and he will provide another target as well as being a great intercept defender, especially for depth.
But I don't 100% agree with your view on the stat you've mentioned, as there are clubs with forward lines that will have less talent, less entries and will still win more games and score easier.
Our issue is still, small defensive forwards and midfielders. I hope MM and Fasolo have a great defensive game to stop the rebounding of the ball back out of the F50, because we are yet to address the midfield deficiency to help them lock it in. Good teams lock the ball in the F50 by means of defensive forwards and defensive midfielders, that's what stops coast to coast play more so than marking targets. Because they can't mark the ball every time, especially when the midfielders are under pressure and just bombing it in as we do (most of your F50 conversion stat) and opposition teams just flood our F50 with fitter, stronger and more mature midfielders.
Sorry to be a "Debbie downer", I would like to believe they are going to fix all our problems up forward, but we need midfielders, midfielders and more midfielders.
Let's just hope Russell can put some beef and good conditioning into the kids this off season and fix the defensive and bombing issues of this year and give our forwards a chance or even multiple chances.