The last 8 games Cripps has been held to under 20 possessions we have lost 7 of them
That’s a decent sample size and therefore a problem
Hewett was also on fire last year. Our best clearance player during the first half of last year
He hasn’t been as effective
Teams now play a big bodied mid on Cripps who can run
Dunkley
Steele
Dawson
Cripps is not a good ball carrier. Neither is Hewett
Other teams have worked out that if they can match up with us on the inside it’s pretty much game over

So it is a problem that hasn’t been resolved for over a year
Voss needs to change up the personnel to create more run
Durdin for one should play midfield minutes
Ditto Saad who teams now tag to stop his run
He needs a change of scenery
We may get away with the status quo this weekend but not against a top 4 team

Kennedy coming in will ease the load on Cripps & Hewett.

Agree with you that we also need to add some run to the midfield

_________________
#DonTheStash

As long as they don't play him at HB

Cripps Hewett Kennedy Walsh Cerra supported by Docherty Hollands Durdin Motlop Cottrell is balanced and talented and should be able to match it with anyone

Durdin will be too easily blown aside as an inside mid. At Marvel the run and carry must be provided by the HHF's, Wings and HB's. We need to squeeze the ground a lot more between the arcs. When Durdin currently plays HHF he essentially is playing as a midfielder with little impact so why start him in the middle.

Many teams now use smal forwards at centre bounces for fresh legs and to take some pressure off FT mids. Works well as they only go in for 2 or 3 bounces and generate some energy and leg speed

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

_________________
Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Do we have a list spot for the upcoming mid season draft?

Some good analysis here, almost like a “best of TC”.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/tha ... .html?btis

Thank you sinbagger.
i wouldnt know it if you hadnt cut n pasted. Gold.

its good to read of minor adjustments needed to be our best version of ourselves.
The nuke the place requests are so back office, and they dont help focus on field.

_________________
Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Can’t help but wonder if all of these expiring contracts has flattened the mood a bit. That, and a really aggressive preseason.

I suspect the media groupthink will turn its attention to Jack in the next few days.

_________________
"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter" - Winston Churchill.

What do you even do with that lot ?!?!

Gone - Durdin, Curnow, Philp, Cuningham, Marchbank, Plowman, Fogarty, Honey

Trade for stuff all - Dow, Mcgovern,

Keep - Silvagni, Pittonet, TDK, Newman, Kemp, Cincotta

??

Do Marchbank and Cuningham get reprieves again? Honey? Durdin maybe too

All pretty uninspiring.

_________________
*(grow - fun - gah)

Yeah but whatabout your whataboutism.

Every Club has Injuries and long term injuries BUT we are the only Club in the AFL that seems to have the Same players again and again, getting injured and being placed on the Long Term Injury list!



who do you Blame? the Medicos? the Recruiters? the Training regime? the Coach?

We had our chance to build a successful list a win premierships but we really did stuff it up
I believe we should have gone with a experience coach instead of Bolton then we get to SOS
Wel here’s a bloke who basically butchered every pick we had besides Curnow and Walsh
the players he traded in are no good besides Kennedy and not to mention the wasted picks on some
of them
Then we get to Austin who has basically brought in 2 small forwards with our 2 early picks because
We needed small forwards instead of drafting the best available talent with those picks
So it’s time to be ruthless trade some players out who do have trade value and get as many talented players in ithe next 2 drafts before tassie comes along other wise we will be in another 10 year rebuild

Start again

Don’t think the club can afford to go through another “scorched earth policy” rebuilding a list. Sets us back another 5 - 8 years as a minimum. Need to get wise about finding a better balance to the list and focussing on drilling a system into our game plans which holds up against the better teams and not solely reliant on talent.

There is a semblance of a good team but I think we will need to find 6 - 8 players. Unfortunately, our better players are getting to an age, where the reset needs to be spot on so we can peak at the e right time. I have no faith the club is capable of doing this. I don’t think they have a choice.

I agree WOW. We do need to make some bold decisions with our list though. This club is way too risk averse. From the board, to the match committee with selections, list management, playing style, the players going out there to not lose rather than going out there to win.
We have to be bold.
If that means making a call on our captain so be it. If we choose to retain him, do we look at trading out a Kennedy or a Hewett? We have too many of the same types. We need to make some bold decisions to get some outside run onto the list. Not only that, but players who cannot only simply kick, but are composed and make good decisions. Way too many panic merchants.
Do we now play TDK every week and hope he shows something and then if he chooses to walk, it maximises his trade value. If he continues to show nothing, it may reduce it, but we need to be bold and take that risk.
Is there anyone else with currency that we should look at moving on?
Others have mentioned H in the past. I admit I was reluctant, but starting to come around to that idea.
Who else can we shop around?

We need to change things as this group has come as far as it can go. I would tolerate a good trade for one of H, Jacob or Cripps.
Gather some early picks. Add some spark and point of difference that will allow us to adjust our gamestyle.

Being 8-2 last year flattered us, could easily have been 5-5. We are about where we should be, a middling side. The Age nailed it, terrible recruiting. No club gets it right all the time but we seem to get recruiting wrong way too often. Player salary cap maxed out with highly paid players who hardly get on the park and often are pretty ordinary when they are out there. A captain who is one of the worst shots for goal in the league, plus other "stars" who are terrible by foot. The Dogs have plenty of players who are ordinary kicks for goal too, field kicking much better than us though. Could have been way worse at half time.