centre clearances

[barry]

An absolute shocker.....again.

Only in the last quarter when we started to win some did we get into the game.

Its time we did a complete review of whats going on in the centre square. We now have a ruckman of quality in Doyle, and our centre line players arent too shabby, there just seems to be no system.

Time to pick a centre combination which stays on the ground 80% of the time to get some continuity and system.

I was trying to work out why we were so bad today and noticed these things:
1) Positioning: Several times 3 or 4 swans were in the same area, opening up all the other areas.
2) Taking tackles. Whenever a swan gets the ball, he seems to just submit to the tackle forcing another ball up. Essendon on the other hand tried to move the ball on no matter what.
3) Positioning again: Swans seem to conregate around the fall of the ball, Essendon has flankers outside which pick off any knock outs.

We are no premiership threat until we win our fair share of clearances.

Oh, and finally, Maxfield needs a gig on the footy show to complain about umpires. Its worked wonders for the dons.

[Go Swannies]

How much time did Doyle spend on the ground? Every time they cut to the bench he seemed to be there.

[chammond]

Originally posted by Go Swannies
How much time did Doyle spend on the ground? Every time they cut to the bench he seemed to be there.

He got a fair run, I think, but Ball always got first go.

One think I noticed is that the on-ballers aren't good at anticipating the tap rucking of Ball and Doyle. They won plenty of ruck duels (and broke even many more times) but the Swans just couldn't work the clearances.

Yet when Goodes is on the ball, we seem to go through a miraculous transformation, forcing the ball forward on a regular basis.

It must be very frustrating for Roos tp realise that we still rely so heavily on Goodes in the ruck, even with two quality ruckmen like Ball and Doyle in the side!

[Swannette]

Where do I start......absolutely disagree with the statement that we have a 'ruckman of quality in Doyle'. Are you serious?? Please prove me wrong and point out at least one centre clearance that Doyle got today - at least tell me when he got his hand on the ball. In the game I watched, whenever Doyle was in the middle, he ended up practically falling into the bombers ruckman, without having any purchase on the leather at all. Is this considered the indicator of a ruckman of quality?? I doubt it. Am very happy to be proved wrong and I know Lizz believes Doyle was crucial the turnaround against the Roos a couple of weeks ago. But for mine, on the evidence of his performance this and last week, Doyle is definately not up to scratch as a ruckman.

[chammond]

Originally posted by Swannette
Where do I start......absolutely disagree with the statement that we have a 'ruckman of quality in Doyle'. Are you serious?? Please prove me wrong and point out at least one centre clearance that Doyle got today - at least tell me when he got his hand on the ball. In the game I watched, whenever Doyle was in the middle, he ended up practically falling into the bombers ruckman, without having any purchase on the leather at all. Is this considered the indicator of a ruckman of quality?? I doubt it. Am very happy to be proved wrong and I know Lizz believes Doyle was crucial the turnaround against the Roos a couple of weeks ago. But for mine, on the evidence of his performance this and last week, Doyle is definately not up to scratch as a ruckman.

I'm not sure that Doyle would see it as his job to get centre clearances . . . I think he's looking to knock it down to give his team-mates at least an even chance of getting the clearance.

From where I was sitting in the Southern Stand, he seemed to get his hand on the ball often enough?

[Mike_B]

IMHO the difference in the amount of ball we get when Goodes is in the ruck is due to him having the ability to rove his own hit-outs. In effect this means we have 4 players to win the ball at centre bounces rather than the 3 most other clubs would have due to their ruckman not being as adept at ground level.

[barry]

Originally posted by chammond
I'm not sure that Doyle would see it as his job to get centre clearances . . . I think he's looking to knock it down to give his team-mates at least an even chance of getting the clearance.

From where I was sitting in the Southern Stand, he seemed to get his hand on the ball often enough?

Right. Doyle is a tap ruckman. The first we've had since stafford. His job is to tap it to our midfielders who clear the ball. Doyle's getting his fair share of taps, we arent clearing it. Somethings going wrong.

I think Ball isnt up to ruck anymore, and I think the styles of Goodes and Doyle are so different, our midfield doesnt adjust. We need to settle on one "main" ruckman to play 70-80% of the match as ruck. I think long term that man should be Doyle.

[sharpie]

I agree Doyle potentially should be our no.1 ruckman. This SHOULD leave Goodes as the ruck rover. Pavlich does it for Freo, why cant Goodesy do it for us.

[Snowy]

Ball's ruck craft leaves a lot to be desired at the moment.