SurreyBlue wrote:
All - please note, I was proving a point in how ridiculous and embarrassing the argument that our midfield lacks all of the above. It's truly NOT what I believe.
Ok, I'll bite.
Not sure what your point is though.
You seem to be making stuff up now to make a moot point, so I'll try and make my position a bit clearer.
From the start I have said we need to add speed, skill and more goal kicking to our midfield (not that our midfield is crap).
I have also maintained we need at least 1 more mid (preferably 2) with "burst speed" to add to Jagga next season, something you seem to be in agreement with based on your 1st point in a previous post regarding Cripps and Hewett attending CBs together. More importantly, clearly the club agrees also as those are the types of players we seem to be targeting to give coaching options.
If you think both Cerra and Walsh were playing at 100% capacity this year or that they will in future years, you need your head read Fred (jokes).
The optimist in me says I hope they do, but the reality is that they have both been injured on and off for a few years now and if we have any hope we need better depth to support them and give them positional change options to prolong their careers and get more out of them. i.e. Cerra to HF.
Back to the post, it was about the midfield being damaging by kicking goals, especially important for us as we have lacked our smalls and talls kicking goals this year.
Now while the stats might not be as damaging as they probably need to be for you to agree, you need to take the following into account:
1. The differentials were enough to lose games we could've won and got us closer to being in the top 8 this season, especially with a forward line that was not delivering.
2. In a game of %'s we are a still a little way off the top of the AFL team.
3. A lot of our midfield i50 entries were just bombs to packs or contests (not coaching because any A grade mid looks for a target first, as any A grade forward sees this and looks for space, pressure effects decision making).
4. And I am sure most would agree the "eye test" says we have a lot of work to do i.e. How many times this year do you recall our mids bursting out the centre and kicking goals - not many.
CBAs and goals in regular season only.Lions CBAs & goalsNeale 82% - 7
Dunkley 76% - 5
McCluggage 73% - 13
W Ashcroft 52% - 10
Mids - 35Mid/Forward (also next highest CBA)Rayner 16% - 29
Carlton CBAs & goalsCripps 80% - 14 (Cripps played in the F50 a lot this year also)
Hewett 77% - 7
Cerra 66% - 5
Walsh 56% - 5
Mids - 31 (12% differential)Mid/Forward (also next highest CBA)Williams 21% - 22 (24% differential)
Inside 50s and Score Involvement averages for the season.LionsNeale i50 4.2 - SI 5.5
Dunkley i50 3.3 - SI 5.4
McCluggage i50 5.7 - SI 7.2
W Ashcroft i50 4.4 - SI 4.9
Mid/ForwardRayner i50 2.9 - SI 5.5
CarltonCripps i50 3.5 - SI 5.7
Hewett i50 3.7 - SI 6
Cerra i50 4.9 - SI 5.1
Walsh i50 3.8 - SI 5.6
Mid/ForwardWilliams i50 2.4 - SI 4.2
So as I have said time and time again, none of this is about our players being crap or the coach can't coach but it is more about adding attributes and options that we don't have to our midfield as the mids we have are all very similar, especially in pace.
You only see coaching and I see the need to add player types that other teams have and are making finals to give coaching the options to change the game plan up and execute it effectively.
I'm just glad the club are targeting and adding these kinds of players, even if some are only for depth.
So I agree, let the future tell the story....
Login
Register
FAQ
