Size does matter

[sharp9]

I'm still on my "how do we get them muscled up?" thoughts...they certainly manage it in other codes. Remember when Aker said he might play rugby if Carey came to Brissy and Eddie Jones said he was waaaaay too weak?

Well I notice that Jonny Wilkinson - the skinny piss weak English first five (so we think watching him on the TV) is Shane Crawford's height (177) but weighs 89 kg!

And if we were ever to target a player from another code then How about a 20 year old called Joe Rokocoko who is, wait for it, 198 cm, 100 kg and is the fastest All Black ever to play the game!? Faster than Cullen, Kirwan and Howlett. He picks up the ball deftly at ground level, kicks and marks beautifully, has a huge leap and waltzes around international defenders who are actually allowed to tackle round the legs if they can get close enough. How much do All Blacks get paid anyway? Hope it's not more than the Swans could offer him.

[Bleed Red Blood]

Give me time to think

[midaro]

Here's some data to back up the suggestion that we need to muscle up. BMI = Body Mass Index. For normal people the higher your BMI the fatter you are (30+ = obese). For athletes a higher number is indicative of muscle bulk. As you can see, most of our guys wouldn't want to arm wrestle some of the Lions.

(Some more detailed data about the Swans list is attached. Swans data was taken from RWO player profiles. Lions data from AFL.com).

SWANS LIST EOS 2004

Player _________________BMI
Paul Williams ___________26.5
Barry Hall ______________26.3
Jason Ball ______________26.0
Leo Barry ______________26.0
Stuart Maxfield __________25.9
Luke Ablett _____________25.7
Jared Crouch ____________25.5
Andrew Scahuble ________25.2
Ben Mathews ___________25.1
Stephen Doyle ___________25.0
Heath James ____________24.9
Matthew Nicks ___________24.9
Amon Buchanan __________24.7
Michael O'Loughlin ________24.7
Rowan Warfe ____________24.7
Adam Schneider __________24.6
Jude Bolton _____________24.5
Adam Goodes ___________24.4
Ben Fixter ______________24.4
Ryan O'Keefe ____________24.4
Brad Seymour ___________24.3
Joshua Thewlis __________24.3
Jason Saddington ________24.2
Ryan Crawford __________24.2
James Meiklejohn ________24.0
Nick Davis ______________23.9
Brett Kirk _______________23.9
Tadhg Kennelly __________23.8
Craig Bolton ____________23.0
Lewis Roberts-Thompson __22.9
Scott Stevens ___________22.6
Daniel Hunt _____________22.6
Sean Dempster __________22.5
Declan O'Mahony _________22.3
Paul Bevan ______________22.3
Mark Powell _____________22.0
Nic Fosdike ______________21.8
Jarrad Sundqvist _________21.8
Scott McGlone ___________21.6
Nick Malceski ____________20.8
Jarrad McVeigh __________20.7

Retirees
Daryn Cresswell _________26.0
Daniel McPherson ________25.4

Big Bodied Lions
Christopher Scott ________28.1
Chris Johnson ___________27.5
Michael Voss ____________26.9
Justin Leppitsch _________26.6
Alastair Lynch ___________26.3
Clark Keating ___________26.0


BTW does anyone know if there is a font with fixed character width available on this forum?

[liz]

Interesting stats, but you only have to look at our team to see how small and skinny they are, relative to others. The couple of games I went to this year where I was close to the fence (and hence could see the teams closely) - the NSO pre-season game against the Bombers and the SA Wiz Cup game against the Lions - I was struck by how the Swans were dwarfed by their opponents.

But also bear in mind that Roos has developed a game style that suits his squad. If the team was bigger and bulkier, there is a reasonable chance they would lose something in the speed department. The Swans play a very different style of footy to the Lions. Whether this style of footy can win a premiership, or whether Roos will adapt it as his squad changes, remain to be seen.

[Sanecow]

Originally posted by midaro

Player _________________BMI
Paul Williams ___________26.5
Barry Hall ______________26.3
Jason Ball ______________26.0

BTW does anyone know if there is a font with fixed character width available on this forum?

I think you can choose Courier from the FONT comboBox:


Player _________________BMI
Paul Williams ___________26.5
Barry Hall ______________26.3
Jason Ball ______________26.0

[monopoly19]

Craig Bolton has the second lowest BMI of those players who are firmly entrenched in the side (Nic Fosdike being the only one lower), yet he played on, and consistently beat, the oppositions 2nd or 3rd forward.

[Craig]

Originally posted by monopoly19
Craig Bolton has the second lowest BMI of those players who are firmly entrenched in the side (Nic Fosdike being the only one lower), yet he played on, and consistently beat, the oppositions 2nd or 3rd forward.

Good point.

BMI doesn't measure strength, only bulk. Quite often players of Bolton's size are just as strong as those who are 5 - 10 kg heavier.

[jixygirl]

Lizz made a good point that if the Swans had bulkier players, it could affect the game plan. I'd be interested to look at the rest of the BMI's for the Brisbane Lions.

[midaro]

Originally posted by Sanecow
I think you can choose Courier from the FONT comboBox:

Thanks

[Rob-bloods]

IMHO These stats are interesting, but on the relativities of the Lions and Swannies we obviously play to our strengths and they to theirs. We did not go exclusively for small players nor them large, rather our squads have evolved that way. We need some bigger bodied players and in balance, they probably would like a bit more pace in the back half! Let's face it we all feel very comfortable with Roos'y & he has seen first hand where we need to be, maybe that is why there is talk about Sadds going, as to get hold of a tough key defender we may have to give up a player of quality?

[DST]

Originally posted by Rob-bloods
IMHO These stats are interesting, but on the relativities of the Lions and Swannies we obviously play to our strengths and they to theirs. We did not go exclusively for small players nor them large, rather our squads have evolved that way. We need some bigger bodied players and in balance, they probably would like a bit more pace in the back half! Let's face it we all feel very comfortable with Roos'y & he has seen first hand where we need to be, maybe that is why there is talk about Sadds going, as to get hold of a tough key defender we may have to give up a player of quality?

The only talk of Saddington leaving is on this board, and frankly as much as some people think they have some sort of magical power of the Sydney footy department when it comes to making decisions talk on this board is all it is.

He has been mentioned as possible trade bait in the media, but that is becuase we have no other player other than Stevens that would possibly raise interest at another club (other than our untouchables of course).

DST

[Plugger46]

Some players just have strengh as a gift, where as others don't.
Some players can also work on weights, but in the long run it doesn't make a lot of difference.

Take Lockett for example, he never worked on weights, strength just came naturally to him. If you looked at his arms there was no manufactured muscle definition in his arms, he was just born big and strong, and therefore could out body anyone.

Then you can look at the other end of the scale, with Kel, he came to the club as a skinny boy but really worked on his strength, with weights.

[chammond]

IMHO These stats are interesting, but on the relativities of the Lions and Swannies we obviously play to our strengths and they to theirs. We did not go exclusively for small players nor them large, rather our squads have evolved that way.

That's true, but I think it might be influenced by the Coaches a bit more than that. Leigh Matthews style of play was based on his strong, bullocking build (and a lot of skill, of course), and he has tended to mould his teams (both Collingwood and Brisbane) down that same road.

It's really stark when you look at the Brisbane players before and after Matthews. If you get a chance to see some footage of Brisbane from the mid to late 90s, have a look at players like Leppitsch, Scott, even Akermanis and Lynch. They were a shadow of their current selves, but I'm willing to bet that Leppitsch and Akermanis in particular were quicker then than they are now (and had different roles in the team, of course).

[Sanecow]

Steroids are known to be effective also.

[Scottee]

The most interesting thing about this thread for me is the number of team stalwerts with higher BMIs. Fosdike was (surprisngly because he looks stockier) the only one down on the list.

Even allowing for the fact that the younger players will fill out it seems that our own side benefits from the higher BMI players. It must be a very important factor.