There seems to have been a shift in our forward line structure the past 2 weeks, which has coincided with Betts' absence and Crosisca's rotation to the position of forwards coach. Whether either of these points is significant, I have no idea.

The change has involved Fev rotating up the ground at times, Red mostly being left to play deep forward (or on the bench) and one of the other marking forwards hovering around the deep forward. Fev has also been making some dummy leads and taking multiple defenders with him.

The running midfielders have been kicking the ball high and long - often above Fev or Lance who have typically attracted multiple defenders to the contest - allowing Waite (both weeks), Fish (last week) and Skinny (this week) to arrive late to fly unhindered for the mark.

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Hey Rocky; there are too many rabbits ... in China.

Loving the opposition's defence having to think about matching up on our forward line for a change.

I think the beauty of this is that we can still hit Fev late on a lead if we want to and he can drill them from 55 out.

Nearly drilled one from 65 yesterday.

It will fall under pressure however if our marking power is off the boil or accounted for. This is where we need some speedy crumbers like Benji & Betts to take advantage. Our mids have been admirable in that role to this point.

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Yeah I noticed it last week but missed yesterday's game and you don't get the full picture on TV. The good sign is we are able to score goals without Fev or lance having to kick a bag.
Waite has really stepped up a gear or 3 the last couple of weeks.

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"We used to sit around and talk about how bad the game plan was." Anthony Koutoufides

I believe ya RR.Its beyond me to work out what they are up to,but it sure is differant to that ridiculous kick it to Fev no matter how many are hanging off him..........got no time for sookin',but shit Fev gets the rough end far too often from the umps.

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All my dangerous friends

RR, the formations have shown alot of thinking.

Last week there was a triangle deep forward with Fev, Lance and Waite. Waite was often left one out or by himself as Fev & Lance attracted defenders. Fish played up high as a leading CHF, much in the mould of Hansen from West Coast. It fell down late in the game when the defenders zoned off Fev and Lance back toward the hotspot. Also noticed more screening from the forwards, particulalry Lance.

This week the formation was more a huddle around 20m out, with the addition of Skinny Lappin. The high post role (sorry to use basketball speak) was rotated more, I think you'll find as the players get more comfortable with the initial 'plays' they will rotate more and introduce variations. In one of the training reports it was reported the forwards were practicing formations. With such a dangerous forward line adding plays and screens really makes it potent and creates more one on one or 2 on 2 situations. Also the mids knew where the forwards were going, think of Carrazzo in the last quarter when he did a handball fake, rotated to his right and found Waite 30m out (unfortunately Waitey missed).

And of course the more plays introduced, the more difficult to defend. It also keeps opposition defenders more honest and less inclined to zone off, which should end up benefitting Fev more than anyone.

Just think of how good we could be if we can get the centre clearance stuff right ......

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17 4 10

The forward line looks a lot better ATM.

Definently forces the opposition to be more accountable.

Crossisca has been quite a find if he is the one responsible.

Ratts should'nt have been the forward coach in the first place.

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They coud'nt.....could they?

Not as much bombing on the weekend and more kicking to the lead - also there appeared to be more goals on the run or from broken play

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Good thread River Rodent



Bettsy is cute, but as mentioned in the match discussion, I didn't miss Bettsy at all against the Doggies. I much prefer to have the experienced Lappin as my FP anyday in 2007; always have.

It's also interesting that earlier last year many TCers agreed we had the most potent fowardline in the comp but suffered from a weak supply from the midfield. We had Waite Fisher and Fevola. Waite played as our CHB in our successful NAB Cup, and earmarked to stay there with Setanta at FB to settle the back 6. Many supporters prefer Lappin and Houlihan in the forward half. So where does Bettsy fit in?

No doubt Waite Fisher and Fevola work well in the forwardline together; as long as the supply is there, they'll be fine.

Now we can't have everyone in there including Whitnall (preferred forward), Kennedy, Hartlett, Benjamin and Betts, let alone Gibbs and Murphy (who are both natural goalkickers).

barass wrote



Great analysis in your post barass.

Waite and Fish give us mobility and marking power (both a bit suss with their kicking), Fev is Fev and can kick them from 60m. So who are the other 3?

Well with 3 good talls as the abovementioned we can have 3 smalls or 2 smalls and Whitnall in 2007 or Kennedy, Hartlett or Hampson there in 2008.

I like the idea of Houla at HF playing up the wing for link and delivery and Lappin in the FP all the time, roaming the forward half. No doubt if Whitnall or a tall is resting on the pine, Gibbsy and Murphy are bound to pinch hit a couple at FP.

Forwardline is looking good, and great that we are rotating things around and playing Fev as decoy leading for a mark at 50-60m out. Variety is the spice of life. This game plan will benefit Fevola by playing week to wek in a winning side. Much better fun than losing.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

So when Fev spits the dummy, do you think that's also part of the decoy plan as well?

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“It is a state of mind, a system of belief, a way of seeing the world, a deep faith that, because you are Carlton, you belong to something great.” - Mike Fitzpatrick articulating what Out of the Blue means.

Fevola remonstrating against umpiring decisions is a reflection of the constant and numerous poor umpiring decisions made against him.

Maybe it's a decoy; doubt it though. I'd prefer to call it as Fev exercising his rights to disagree with poor decisions; this is one of the benefits of living in a democratic society.

Stick up for yourself Fev! Nobody else is/will.

If Fev continues to remonstrate against the umpires for the rest of the season, I'm sure the media and many football followers will accuse him of "dummy spitting", but I care little for their lack of support of his democratic rights, and I dearly hope that he wins the Coleman and responds to such criticism openly, honestly and within the stringent guidelines regarding commenting on umpires.

Simply: "I didn't feel as though I was being protected as the ball player by the umpires" or " I felt as though I was being unfairly persecuted", "I couldn't believe that some of the infringements could be missed by the umpires".

Fev will continue to be persecuted by umpires, I have no doubt about that, and I believe that umpires would prefer Lloyd as the Coleman Medallist. Big call.

Regardless, Fev in our forwardline will kick many more goals he earns himself; decoy or not; from 10m or 60m; with or without umpire interference.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

if we can make Fish, Fev, Waite like Hal, O'Keefe, O'Loughlin from Sydney then we've done well...the only thing is that i still want Jarrad Waite to play as a wingman, like Andrew Embley is played. A key role is where he plays his best footy because he doesnt have to think alot, but he's a natural talent who is vital to the boys around the ground if he can push up to CHF getting 15 kicks.


Nic

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Cuck Follingwood

Not including complete misses the stats on these guys kicking for goal over the course of the careers is interesting.

Fisher: 70.40 @ 63.64%
Fevola: 361.250 @ 59.08%
Waite: 82.66 @ 55.41%
Murphy: 12.14 @ 46.15%
Gibbs: 1.1 @ 50%

Obviously Murphy and Gibbs haven't played nearly long enough for us to be able to rate their kicking for goal (from a results perspective) but I've always been surprised how few people rate Fisher's goal kicking. He looks a bit unco and occasionally misses some he should definitely kick but overall he doesn't miss that often.

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“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus.”
Turkish Proverb

GWS, those figures don't include the percentage of Fisher's kicks that don't make the distance. Anecdotal evidence will tell you that he can't kick as far as the others. He is improving though.

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“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus.”
Turkish Proverb

Wouldnt be getting carried away with any new forward structure....
We had some easier matchups than normal with spuds like Wight and Hargrave, and a soft easy matchup for Lappin who got McMahon who isnt a defender, useless overhead, and not inclined to go too hard at the footy,which made him play from behind.

Rather than a new structure I think Fisher and Waite have just lifted their games and Lappin got lucky with some kicks that dropped short and a dud opponent.....

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the Hawthorn box that Healy and sheedy were talking about 4 weeks ago
Having said that Fisher and waite add extra dimension and finally we have decided not to always go to fev irrespective of whether he has 2 or 3 on him -saw in the last quarter Harris got caught being drawn to fev and they hit up waite instead
Without Eddie crumbing under fev we have sought to be more inventive

Lappin's first goal saw 6 Carlton forwards fly for the mark, and we did have a few similar long bombs, but not as many as there have been in previous weeks.

Also, without Eddie, we hardly ever had anyone front and square ... certainly not at that first pack.

Yep, I think that Eddie still has a role to play.

Not only does he present front and square in front of Fev, but he also applies great defensive pressure in F50. Others can do that too - e.g. Wiggins. But I reckon that Eddie has the best combination of acceleration and speed on the chase down. And there are others who can't do this anywhere near as well as Eddie - e.g. Lappin and Houla.

Skinny is doing well as a small forward, but is essentially a marking forward as with Medhurst and Phillip Matera.

Eddie is scoring more than a goal a game this year while playing only around 2/3rds of the game (and interchanging often with Skinny). His TOG and scoring would be a lot better if he didn't run himself to the point of exhaustion up and down the field and in chasing the rebounding defenders. Milne in recent years has been able to stay around F50 far more and has had a licence to play far more offensively than Eddie, so it's not surprising his scoring rate is higher.

Good point. I was getting a bit eager there...

Im not critical of Eddie and think he is an important component it is just with him in the side the mindset is bomb it to Fev and if he doesnt get it Eddie will mop up -whereas more thought was used on Sunday ie plan A B C rather than Plan A