I think it was our favourite footy journo Patrick Smith who wrote this week that Carlton sent Fevola a message by playing him up the ground on the weekend, and not being the main focus up forward. The message being we don’t necessarily need you, therefore you are dispensible, therefore you’d better pull your head in and not play like you did against Freo the prior weekend.

What do we think of this? Is he right? Was that the main reason we loaded up with Waite, Hammer and Austin? Or was it because we knew the Pies would double/triple team Fevola because he has murdered them in recent games? Or was it because Ratten saw this as a good opportunity to try something different? (ie: because the Pies were undermanned).

Question that I keep asking myself, is seeing as we are very unlikely to win the Premiership this year (while one could argue we are the 3rd best side in the comp this year, I think it’s fair to say we are still a fair way behind St.K and Geel), should we not continue to play the likes of Waite, Austin, Hammer, Kruezer up forward, in a bid to develop other forwards for the future? How would we all feel if we did this, even if it meant we maybe lost the odd game because we didn’t have Fevola, our best forward, near goals for much of the time? Is it a sacrifice we as fans could accept, given it will make us stronger in the future?

Personally I am all for it. I think development needs to come first, and let’s face it, it will be near impossible to develop alternate young forwards if we continue to kick to Fev nine times out of ten.

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It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it

Develop

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

AS full-forward he's in the team to kick goals...having said that - we only had one forward (Waite) on the weekend who was prepared to lead and if that lead wasn't honored, double back and lead again. That's surprising because Matthew Lappin was one of the best at doing this and he is our forwards coach! Clearly Fev's was instructed to provide a bit of presence up the ground and to be a bit of a decoy to others floating into our forward 50.

The same won't work against Adelaide...so I'm hoping he goes back to marking and kicking goals, and the team also finding other avenues to goal. I see no reason why they can't mix the forward structure up, and cause the opposition headaches instead of the supporter!

He needs to be the focus as he is our best forward. He also needs to understand that if things are not working for him during a game, for WHATEVER reason, he continues to do the team orientated things required to help us win the game.

Hmm, think you have missed the point maybe.

Qn is about whether, in arguably a developmental year we should be playing him away from goal a bit in order to develop other fwds.

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It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it

The only issue I can see here is that Fev ticks one box (goalkicker).

Not sure if he can consistently play other roles.

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"Truth, for the tyrants, is the most terrible and cruel of all bindings; it is like an incandescent iron falling across their chests. And it is even more agonizing than hot iron, for that only burns the flesh, while truth burns its way into the soul"     — Lauro Aguirre

The Media always Blows things out of proportion....at one stage, one Writer asked if Fev needs a spell in the 2's... what hypocracy


Last week, we had the lexury of experimenting with Him playing up the Ground, but this is not going to happen often becuase lets face it, we played a Reserve collingwood side...


Fev will once again be the Target against the Crows and unless he kicks 5-6, we will not Win....


lets see what happens

fev will be at fullback this week

NO!!! --
Fev is being paid around 800k to do more than excitedly celebrate other players goals and drag a Presti away from the square.
He needs to work to his pay scale and not just when he feels like it!!!

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Green Shooter

I'll make it clearer for you.
I don't want him playing away from goals but it comes with strings attached (refer above). If he can't handle the strings then move him out and put someone else in. If he looks after himself he has 4 years left.

I'd love Josh Kennedy back at the club

Took some nice grabs as the lead up forward. Good pace.

Aint gonna happen in the short term (but I have my fingers crossed),but like I use to about Leuenberger, I'm over that too.

We move forward with what we've got until a gem pops up each year for the next 5 years; some one better than Kennedy. They are out there and we can snag one or two.

When we got Kennedy and Hampson or looked closely at both and saw them live a few times too, I always had my money on Hampson. Hammer just looks smoother and moves more freely, and faster and presents taller and just had to get better at the game and fills into that frame with a lot of muscle. He'd always have a freakish leap. I reckon we've got better than Kennedy right under our noses if we want to go that way.

But Fev IS our full forward.

His main objective is to kick goals. He's not a FB.
If he is moved for the betterment of the team, sure that's good. But he's got to kick goals.
3 goals on Saturday would have sufficed the role he had, but he didn't.

Fev is not being paid $800K (?) for that sort of output and nor what he displayed against Fremantle.

We have to learn to take alternate options with or without Fev, and looking for them is a start.

As a short term tactic, I agree with what Ratts did. It's good but I believe he has to mix up with a bit of Fev as the focal point as well a letting him explore defensive options further up the ground like he did against the Pies.


I expect versatility from all our talls. Lets face it, we will have the most athletic and paciest ruck brigade and the sooner they work well together...well the ball is mainly going in one direction; Carlton's goal. Fev will be one who will be there most of the time, but we do have to give the other forwards a go too.

Fev does a good job of drawing his opponent(s) where he wants. It's good if he can take 2 defenders away from goal, but to do that he has to mix it up moving away from goals without them knowing; luring them.

I agree Fev has got another 4 in him, and we have to accept that form permitting. I hope he remains injury free. He has a very strong body, durable. 2012 is probable. Look he's a champion forward and he is ours thank god. We just have to use him better and mould him. He will get wiser and mellow out with age (or he should). I didn't.

ATM he's our leader in the forwardline. He should be given some scope to encourage and instruct the Kreuzers, Hammers, Yarrans, Betts when he is making a move and how he can bring them into the game. To empower him to be a guide to the developing guns. He'd love to be the General of the Forward line instead of the General of his persona.

If he does that, this year, and if Warnock, Walker play the last half dozen games before the finals, Grigg Carrots back and a couple of others...anything can happen.

Lets just make sure whatever happens it happens in our forwardline.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

It's not about Fev being the sole focus or not...it's having players who know not to kick it to Fev when he has 3 opponents on him and picking another option but still being able to kick it to him when he is 1 on 1 and leading into space.

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"You are being watched. The government has a secret system. A machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it." - Finch

Exactly.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

I seem to recall two separate instances in The recent Colling wood game when Fev moved the ball into the path of a running forward (Betts) who then kicked the goal.

On both occasions Fev was in havy traffic and would have been tackled and unable to kick the goal himself.

Therefore but for his direct involvement two goals were scored.

It is a team game - does it really matter who scores the goals as long as your team wins?

Perhaps it is better coaching to expect double teaming on Fev that then frees up a forward with less opposition.

Yesiree.

It is also about flexibility.

If we use this decoy tactic on and off during the year it makes us much more unpredictable to other teams.

Also, I'm not fussed if Fev is used up the ground for periods over the year, his field kicking is better than 90% of our list, he can spot up forwards as good as anyone. He just has no tank, so needs to be used sparingly in the middle.

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He'd be handy. Premature to compare him to Hampson. Kennedy is a natural tall forward - he's been one all his life and knows how to play the position. Has excellent hands and can use his big body. Also improved his pace quite markedly since moving to WCE.

Hammer just might have a higher ceiling as a forward, but it's questionable if he'll develop the skills and smarts to reach it, particularly as he needs to split his time learning to ruck. Kennedy is a safe bet to be a very good forward for a long time.

Well both have the future ahead of them.

Their success can only be judged at the end of their careers.

We've got a Hammer in the hand, and I'm happy with that. I know he will learn a variety of positions and his athletic ability is a given. I believe that the development role of Harris in the club will press the right buttons between the ears of our youth and I have great expectations of Hammer and the other kids.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

"Robbo" as a forward anybody? ....................... Anybody?

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"
- Aristotle

Setting the world on fire is he?
Winning games off his own boot is he?

Hampson is bigger, stronger, quicker and just as effective at this point in time.

Kennedy is gone. Move on.

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