The "drab four" not so drab?

[wyatt]

Interesting comparison of midfields:

Sydney's "drab four" - Bolton, Kirk, Mathews and Crouch - have totalled 1610 disposals this season.

West Coast's "all-star" midfield - Fletcher, Judd, Kerr & Cousins - totalled 1781 disposals.

If you break it down, the difference is less than 2 extra disposals per WC player per game.

Admittedly Cousins has missed quite a few games, but he can't help the team when he's not on the ground.

The bottom line is that for such a supposedly defensive midfield, our boys are still getting plenty of the ball (what they do with it is another thread entirely!!)

[NMWBloods]

Re: The "drab four" not so drab?

Originally posted by wyatt
Interesting comparison of midfields:

Sydney's "drab four" - Bolton, Kirk, Mathews and Crouch - have totalled 1610 disposals this season.

West Coast's "all-star" midfield - Fletcher, Judd, Kerr & Cousins - totalled 1781 disposals.

If you break it down, the difference is less than 2 extra disposals per WC player per game.

Admittedly Cousins has missed quite a few games, but he can't help the team when he's not on the ground.

Sydney players have achieved those possessions in 88 games.

WC players in 79 games.

So, a meaningful comparison is that the Sydney players average 18.3 disposals per game each, and WC players 22.5, so an extra 4 disposals per player.

The bottom line is that for such a supposedly defensive midfield, our boys are still getting plenty of the ball (what they do with it is another thread entirely!!)

What they do with it is critical - I would suggest that say 10 possessions from Judd is worth perhaps 20 from any of the Sydney midfielders above.

[dawson]

Whole thing is an invention of the media who have nothing else to write about....

It is a complete fabrication of the truth and insulting to the Swans, Coach Roos and the players concerned.

[NMWBloods]

What is interesting is that West Coast stats do not seem to support a significantly better midfield.

Swans v. WCE

I50s: 44 v. 49 (comp ave 49)

I50s/goal: 3.4 v. 3.7 (comp ave 3.6)

Disposals/I50: 6.5 v. 6.3 (comp ave 6.1)

Disposals/goal: 22 v. 23 (comp ave 22)

Handballs as % of disposals: 41% v. 41% (comp ave 37%)

Contested ball gets: 35 v. 30 (comp ave 31)

Clearances: 7th best v. 6th best

Tackles: 7th highest v. 8th highest


West Coast lead the competition in uncontested ball gets whereas Sydney are third last. As I suggested previously, this indicates that WC like to play an open game and Sydney a closed one. The latter type normally does better in finals.

[Barry Schneider]

Fletcher would be close to the king of receivers.Last game he played he had 35 posessions of which 20 were receives.He won't get that latitude this game.The Swans intensity and hardness at the ball has won games against the top teams and I don't think the Weagles will cope.

[Bart]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
West Coast lead the competition in uncontested ball gets whereas Sydney are third last. As I suggested previously, this indicates that WC like to play an open game and Sydney a closed one. The latter type normally does better in finals.

Yet Sydney lead the comp in both lowest numbers of contested and uncontested possessions conceded

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Bart
Yet Sydney lead the comp in both lowest numbers of contested and uncontested possessions conceded

Yep - this is how I think Sydney can win, by shutting down WC and controlling the ball.

[midaro]

Re: The "drab four" not so drab?

Originally posted by wyatt
Interesting comparison of midfields:

Sydney's "drab four" - Bolton, Kirk, Mathews and Crouch - have totalled 1610 disposals this season.

West Coast's "all-star" midfield - Fletcher, Judd, Kerr & Cousins - totalled 1781 disposals.

I have a major issue with these numbers.

The fact is that WC's midfield has far greater depth than ours. I'd expect to find that the 4 players from WC have spent proportionally far less time 'on the ball' than ours - whilst their 5, 6, 7, 8, etc ranked midfielders get a run.

IMO those numbers are classic apples and oranges.

[vicburke]

Re: Re: The "drab four" not so drab?

wont be so drab when we move schneider into the middlefield next year.....dynamite!!

(oooooohh i feel like i am about to start something!!! )


GO MY LITTLE GERMAN SWAN!

[cruiser]

This comment in today's Herald Sun re our midfield:

Indeed, the Swans are disciplined, resilient, and will pose problems for any opposing forward line. They have a group of accountable midfielders who are harder to shake than a bad relative.

[NMWBloods]

Last night Williams showed the value of a classy and attacking midfielder (who also understands the defensive aspect of the game).

[Wil]

For me the only real fault of our midfield is their clanger count. Does anyone have a statistic of these vs West Coast over the season?

The only thing our midfield is not good at is supplying the forwards and kicking goals themselves - hence the "defensive midfield" label.

[cruiser]

Delivery to our forwards in the first quarter was very ordinary. Much improved in the second and subsequent quarters.

[Donners]

I noticed a very distinct gap in class between the two midfields. Had the conditions stayed fine, I think we could have been in a fair amount of trouble. It was quite fortunate the rain came when it did.

[BigBadBustlin]

West Coast midfield are over-rated. Chris Judd is an absolute star, and Ben Cousins is a great leader. But the rest i do not rate at all.

Fletcher got plenty of it, but never hurt us once and Kerr was hardly sighted all night. I would rather have Kirky, Jude, Mathews and Willo in my team then Fletcher, Kerr, Embley etc. All our players go hard at the ball and are not afraid to get under the packs and dish out handballs to team-mates. Those 3 eagles midfielders are mostly a bunch of receivers who enjoy fast grounds where they can use their pace.

Just my opinion, but i think the west coast midfield is far from the best in the competition.