The Need For Speed

[Matt79]

We are seriously lacking pace and flair in every third of the ground, forwards, mids and back. One good pacey player in each third and we would be signigficantly better.

Just watched the Ess V Blues game and to have a player like Betts or a Lovett would add so much to our team.

Brisbane had too much pace tonight.

Bring in O'Dwyer soon and draft in some pace for 2010 and beyond!

[DST]

We are seriously lacking pace and flair in every third of the ground, forwards, mids and back. One good pacey player in each third and we would be signigficantly better.

Just watched the Ess V Blues game and to have a player like Betts or a Lovett would add so much to our team.

Brisbane had too much pace tonight.

Bring in O'Dwyer soon and draft in some pace for 2010 and beyond!

Understand your sentiments Matt79.

Problem is, by all reports O'Dwyer can't hit a target the size of a barn consistently. and last night showed kicking skills are the most important factor when looking to play an outside midfielder.

Thankfully, two of our younger guys in Merideth and Vezpremi both look to have good foot skills.

Hopefully we can finally see Laidlaw on the field soon as he also has the necessary foot skills required as well.

DST

[liz]

The good news about the "need for speed" is that, judging by other clubs' recruitment, there seems to be an abundance of decently skilled pace running around in the SANFL and WAFL able to make an impact at senior level quite quickly. Many of these players who have come in and made a quick impact - like Port's Wade Thomson (?), Carlton's Garlett, the Davey brothers - are already 19 or 20 by the time they get drafted. It is also evident that you can uncover players of this ilk with relatively low draft picks, even rookie picks. So hopefully we have people scouting the lower leagues for a couple of speed machines. It is a dimension we are missing, and with Crouch on his last legs, it ain't looking better in the short term.

[Bas]

It is also evident that you can uncover players of this ilk with relatively low draft picks, even rookie picks. So hopefully we have people scouting the lower leagues for a couple of speed machines. It is a dimension we are missing, and with Crouch on his last legs, it ain't looking better in the short term.

With GC 17 coming in next years draft, a bottom 8 finish isn't going to give us a draft pick better than we had last year finishing 7th.

So I hope you're right LIz because I'm fearful of the next few years.

[liz]

With GC 17 coming in next years draft, a bottom 8 finish isn't going to give us a draft pick better than we had last year finishing 7th.

So I hope you're right LIz because I'm fearful of the next few years.

GC17 don't come into the draft until the following year, though they get two shots at that. Firstly they can pick off up to a dozen players born between Jan-March 1992 at the end of this year, who wouldn't otherwise be eligible until the following year. And then they get the bulk of the early picks for the full year of those born Jan-Dec 1992 the following year.

This year's draft is only affected by the availability of players coming from just 9 months, rather than a full year. So you'd expect there to be almost a normal amount of talent available at the top of the draft but less depth than in most other years.

The lack of depth might hurt because chances are the Swans will need to dip far deeper into the draft than in past years. Fosdike and Kennelly are already gone. Things aren't looking good physically for Barry, Crouch and O'Loughlin. Maybe Hall too, since he's already picked up a minor niggle. There must be queries over the durability of Laidlaw, Schmidt and DOK, while question marks must be hanging over the heads of O'Dwyer and Brabazon given that Roos says he wants to play more kids but doesn't seem keen on playing pretty much the only two who are fit. Even if senipr spots on the list are earmarked for a couple of rookies, that still looks to be a minimum of 5 or 6 senior spots that will need to be filled via the draft.

[smasher]

I also agree that speed is a big problem in our current team.Shaw,Mattner and Malceski certainly are capable of fast movement off the half back line but I feel our worst position is the midfield.Most successful clubs have at least two really quick guys running arounf the middle'Those who aren't fast ie Sam Mitchell brings another quality to the Hawks and that is body strength.He is very hard to knock over or be pulled away from the ball.
Hopefully Hannerbury will be good for us next year (ala Dangerfield in Adelaide),I don't know much about Heath.We have a couple of blokes with good core strength but they are not that quick.We are going to have to be patient whilst we rebuild,IMO.

[Nico]

I also agree that speed is a big problem in our current team.Shaw,Mattner and Malceski certainly are capable of fast movement off the half back line but I feel our worst position is the midfield.Most successful clubs have at least two really quick guys running arounf the middle'Those who aren't fast ie Sam Mitchell brings another quality to the Hawks and that is body strength.He is very hard to knock over or be pulled away from the ball.
Hopefully Hannerbury will be good for us next year (ala Dangerfield in Adelaide),I don't know much about Heath.We have a couple of blokes with good core strength but they are not that quick.We are going to have to be patient whilst we rebuild,IMO.

Malceski to me is a major disappointment. Sure he didn't have much footy last year and might take time to get touch, but for mine he is not that quick over the first few metres with the footy and his courage level is about zero so far in 2009. Whether it is a confidence thing, who knows, but I reckon he was atop Roos's list of senior players who took the blame.

[Frosty13]

I bet we would love to have a player similar to Frosty right at the minute. We just need someone that can break the lines and take the game on.

[Mr Magoo]

Unless by Frosty you mean Paul Kelly, Paul Williams or Stuart Maxfield, then I doubt Daniel was the first person to enter peoples minds.

[goswannie14]

I bet we would love to have a player similar to Frosty right at the minute. We just need someone that can break the lines and take the game on.

Isn't that Bevan's job???

[Frosty13]

Unless by Frosty you mean Paul Kelly, Paul Williams or Stuart Maxfield, then I doubt Daniel was the first person to enter peoples minds.

You really do have a short memory Mr Magoo.

[alison.z]

I've just started watching the 05 GF and someone who did have some pace was buchanan ... i don't know what has happened to that in the last few years!!

[AnnieH]

Isn't that Bevan's job???

I miss Connolly.
Where's Connolly?

[Matimbo]

[QUOTE=Matt79;432968]We are seriously lacking pace and flair in every third of the ground, forwards, mids and back. One good pacey player in each third and we would be signigficantly better.

I agree Matt 79. I thought we looked very slow all over the ground on Sat night even accounting for the bad weather. Most disappointing was constantly being second to the hard ball gets.

Re the speed issue, later in this thread there is a mention back to the 05 premiership team and while this sort of nostalgia is not always productive, is is interesting to note the speed we had that is now missing:

Backline: Leo, Kennelly both at/near prime
Midfield: Crouch as tagger ... remember he used to be very quick (won the GF sprint one year), Williams as outside breaking midfielder ... while not tearaway quick, still handy
Forwards: Buchanan pushing forward, Schniderman as goalsneak

IMO, these guys allowed us to get away with other less mobile players in the mix e.g. LRT. Whereas now the slower guys are badly exposed.

In the forward line I can appreciate the development strategy around Vespremi and Moore but not so sure about the midfield and backline.

[stellation]

I miss Connolly.
Where's Connolly?

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