Mid season review

[SimonH]

On the original topic: great to see Sydney being honest with the fans about what's really going on in the coaches' minds. Saves a lot of 'what's going on with X?' speculation. Should be more of it.

Notable/odd things about the substance of the article:
a) Despite best-player listings in the 2s and a bit of other chatter, little Willo is not being seriously considered for selection in 2006 at all (being in the queue behind Spriggs certainly counts as 'not seriously considered').
b) Good to see Grundy continues to feature in short-medium term plans; if the powers-that-be didn't believe that he would cut it, we would be dangerously short of KPP depth on the senior list.
c) If (premiership player!) Bevan gets a game, it will only be in the forward line? I know he's played forward before, but not to any great effect: he's classically a defender/midfielder type. I'd throw Schneider, Ablett or Williams out of the rotations to play the whole game near the goals well before I'd think of doing that to Bevan.
d) Good to see Crouch getting a bit of a rocket. He has fallen off the pace this year somewhat, and is one who can lift. The fact that Jonas feels free enough to have a go, also indicates that injuries aren't an excuse. I'm sure that Sydney wouldn't be unprofessional enough to play someone who was too injured to pull his weight, for the sake of some arid record.

[liz]

Originally posted by SimonH

c) If (premiership player!) Bevan gets a game, it will only be in the forward line? I know he's played forward before, but not to any great effect: he's classically a defender/midfielder type. I'd throw Schneider, Ablett or Williams out of the rotations to play the whole game near the goals well before I'd think of doing that to Bevan.

I wouldn't mind Bevan played in patches on the half-forward line.

In his break-through year he had a habit of kicking important goals. The one in the last quarter against Carlton, as a support act to Hall, was very impressive but it wasn't an isolated instance.

He kicked two (or maybe even three) goals in the first half against Eastlake a couple of weeks ago. I know the standard isn't comparable, but the two I recall were very impressive pieces of play.

Also, it is becoming increasingly important to have at least one half forward capable of playing a defensive role as teams use a designated defender to launch attacks (eg Bowden, McLeod and Johncock, Wirrpanda). A player like Bevan, whose defensive skills and attitude are pretty good (and look back to 2004, rather than judging him solely on 2005), and who also has a decent goal sense, would be ideal in this role.

d) Good to see Crouch getting a bit of a rocket. He has fallen off the pace this year somewhat, and is one who can lift. The fact that Jonas feels free enough to have a go, also indicates that injuries aren't an excuse. I'm sure that Sydney wouldn't be unprofessional enough to play someone who was too injured to pull his weight, for the sake of some arid record.

Crouch hasn't put together his best half-season thus far, but there's been some pretty good football mixed in there. What is likely to save him, if indeed his position is under threat, is his unique (within the Sydney team) ability to curb the likes of Milne and Akermanis. Schneider is possibly the only other option in this role but I doubt he'd have been as effective on Milne as Crouch was last weekend.

[NMWBloods]

I don't think Crouch did a particularly outstanding job on Milne. A couple of times Crouch looked a bit slow. Terrible conditions and mixed form for Milne were also major factors.