Dead Serious, no mucking about thread

[Sanecow]

IF (!), as people say, Hall is a HF and not a FF (and I'm not saying I agree since HF is 1/2 foot square which is easy to go past at the SCG), then we should trade him (seriously) for a FF who can play out of the square and kick a bag in a Capper / Lockett role (since they are the only years Sydney came close to success*).

I actually think that Hall can play well as a leading FF and that he is 1/3 of a very simple puzzle. A great FB is elusive but I think our current defensive group actually do pretty well as a rule (esp. with Schauble).

So, while I have poo-pooed the whole "game is won or lost in the midfield" brigade in the past, I do think that our midfield "depth" is where we need adjustment. It consists of a dozen or so interchangable (in appearence and play) mid-range players rather than the half dozen top-range players we need.

* I am conveniently forgetting 2003 which was the other one that got away.

[Go Swannies]

I thought we got Baz as a FF then it got a bit crowded back there when Plugger came back. By then we'd found out that it confused the Fb no end when Baz moved to HF (and took his two attendant defence players with him) still won the ball and offloaded it to another Swan who kicked the goal.

Much of the current problem, as I see it, is that all the other teams fret about our drive out of defense (Tiger and Leo esp.) so they man up closely so we have to fuff around looking for a player free and end up making mistakes. Maybe leaving our forwards up forward and kicking long to them will clear the congestion? The other option is for Goodes to play the roll he did in 2003 where he could use his strength, speed and agility to break free of the pack and move the ball forward.

[swansrule100]

hall plays chf drifting back, especially at the scg and the resting ruckman plays ff. I think doyle ball and jolly all need to make solid contributions in the forward line on a regular basis.