Want back-to-back flags? Then what do we to need change or improve in 2017?

[Dry Rot]

A premiership win is damned good fun, isn't it, and I'm recommending that the Saints and Tigers fans I know try it some time this century.

Two in row can only be twice the fun, but the stats suggest twice as hard.

Sure we have a host of players rejoining or joining us in 2017 like Murphy, Suckling, Wallis, Crameri, Adams and Cloke. Now just pause, and think if you were say a Pies or Tigers fan and you'd been able to trade that lot in. You'd be over the moon.

But is it enough?

The AFL decided it needed to act against Jong and our third man up prowess, and changed the rules.

Meanwhile, the mouthy, entitled, arrogant Giants scum are making dark plans against us at Breakfast Point* as I type this.

*Being on the water doesn't make their evil enclave any less of a shit hole.

Seasoned sides with strong home ground advantages like the Eagles and Swans will be chasing us, if they can find their players who went AWOL in the finals. Apparently Rohan and Tippett are still lost somewhere on the Hume Highway, trying to find their way home.

Young punk sides like the Saints and Demons will be coming at us, and the "young" Kangaroos if you can believe what Higgins said today.

The Hawks have had to resort to getting in the best mid to play in the history of game with only one knee and the great Ty Vickery, while the Cats are working on dark plans to make their 2 man team win against 22 players. And who knows what the **** is happening with two Adelaide teams?

In short, now we are the hunted, not the hunter. So what needs to change or improve in 2017 to get that second flag?

First thing I'd nominate is our kicking, both for goal and with our forward entries.

What do you think?

[boydogs]

Re: Want back-to-back flags? Then what do we to need change or improve in 2017?

Not a lot really. Injuries, goal kicking and forward line targets were issues in 2016, but we won anyway. Adjust to the loss of Hamling and the rule changes and we will be in the mix again

[Twodogs]

Re: Want back-to-back flags? Then what do we to need change or improve in 2017?

Agree with most of watch you say but I can't agree with St Kilda or Richmond winning a flag this century. *!*!*!*! 'em! I want their flags.

[Twodogs]

Re: Want back-to-back flags? Then what do we to need change or improve in 2017?

Our kicking really needs to improve. It's the next logical place for improvement in the AFL. Especially goalkicking. People will start saying, and they'd be right, we must focus more on players' goalkicking. They should be much better kicks at goal than this.

[Bulldog Joe]

Re: Want back-to-back flags? Then what do we to need change or improve in 2017?

I am expecting us to be very harshly umpired in the year ahead.

The rule changes and supposed harder interpretations on disposal by hand are clearly aimed at curbing our game.

Amazing that the AFL keep saying they want the game to open up and then react to the bleating of coaches who can't compete with how we open the game up.

Bevo will need strategies to keep the ball moving if the handball club is unduly penalised.

We need to maintain the manic pressure and run from behind. Improved delivery skills will also help and I see Bailey Williams as the player to add to what we have.

A better run with injury probably wouldn't go astray either.

[Bornadog]

Re: Want back-to-back flags? Then what do we to need change or improve in 2017?

Good thread DR.

Back to back is not an easy task, however, we have a young hungry team that can do it. One of the areas that other teams would have studied closely is the midfield. Most teams go in with 2 or 3 midfielders and rely on them for the entire game. We have been rotating around 8 players, with the advantage that they can keep up the intensity for the entire game. Other teams may start to employ the same tactics and our advantage may be whittled down. Therefore, our midfield will be challenged.

Another area other teams would have looked at is our defensive structure. When you look at who is in defense, we are very inexperienced with the exception of Morris, yet we didn't allow big scores throughout the year. Bevo needs to ensure our forwards kick lots of goals, as other teams will employ similar structures to ours. The challenge will be the delivery to the forward line, the forward line setup and the ability to hit the scoreboard with accuracy.

Certainly the rule changes like 3rd man up will impact, but I am sure Bevo will counter that with other tactics.

In essence, we need to have new tactics to counter teams that will have copied our 2016 game plan and we need the forward line to be super efficient.

I am confident we can go back to back, as we have depth, class and the hunger to win.

[Mantis]

Re: Want back-to-back flags? Then what do we to need change or improve in 2017?

Good thread DR.

Back to back is not an easy task, however, we have a young hungry team that can do it. One of the areas that other teams would have studied closely is the midfield. Most teams go in with 2 or 3 midfielders and rely on them for the entire game. We have been rotating around 8 players, with the advantage that they can keep up the intensity for the entire game. Other teams may start to employ the same tactics and our advantage may be whittled down. Therefore, our midfield will be challenged.

Do other teams have the depth of quality in the midfield? I guess other teams won't know until they try, but there is a reason why most clubs limit the numbers who go through this area.. No such problems for us as we bat very deep.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: Want back-to-back flags? Then what do we to need change or improve in 2017?

On paper we're going to be much stronger next year.

Crameri is a huge inclusion for our forward half, Cloke is a wildcard who if he fires probably makes us the most potent forward line in the competition. Dickson and Stringer are the obvious two who will benefit from Crameri/Cloke and we haven't spoken about Boyd's natural improvement, although he will spend time as a ruck.

Murphy is a big in along with a fit Suckling. Adams is better than Hamling when fit.

We would expect improvement from our young players, and I am bullish about the likes of Dale, Williams, Webb etc.

I think the question marks may revolve around our older players (Boyd, Morris, Murphy, Picken) playing as well as they have previously. Injuries will always have some sort of impact too. Other than that, we should be a much better side in 2017 than we were in 2016 which is scary.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Want back-to-back flags? Then what do we to need change or improve in 2017?

We should improve across most of the playing list, we have considerable depth, our players at 22-30 on the list are very capable and we were absolutely ravaged by injury last year.

We have great people at the club, the coach is a special unit and I can see him still surprising a few teams with bulldog strategy v2017.

Bontempelli.

So yes, yes yes, it can happen but a lot has to go right.

The greatest concern for me is the giants, I hope we can continue to get in their heads, they have an unreasonably talented team.

[Eastdog]

Re: Want back-to-back flags? Then what do we to need change or improve in 2017?

It is always tough defending a title but I believe we are every chance to do it again and experience that great moment we all did on October 1, 2016.

We have Bob Murphy our captain coming back which will be great and from training so far from what I've read he is super keen to get in it. Stewart Crameri as well will be a significant inclusion and will see how Jake Stringer goes and of course Travis.

Our midfield will scare many opposition sides: the likes of Libba, Macrae, Hunter, Bonti, Dahlhaus, McLean etc all at the top of their games will do a lot of damage.

Our defence despite all the battering it took in 2016 it was excellent and it is great to have experienced guys like Morris, M Boyd and Bob down there. Will be good to get Suckling back as well abd hopefully he is more consistent. I look forward to seeing more of Fletcher Roberts and how he goes and Kieran Collins will get more of a chance I would say particularly with Joel Hamling departing.

[Eastdog]

Re: Want back-to-back flags? Then what do we to need change or improve in 2017?

Our forward line in 2017 has the potential to scare a lot of opposition sides.

[1eyedog]

Re: Want back-to-back flags? Then what do we to need change or improve in 2017?

Do other teams have the depth of quality in the midfield? I guess other teams won't know until they try, but there is a reason why most clubs limit the numbers who go through this area.. No such problems for us as we bat very deep.

This is the nuts and bolts of it.

[Twodogs]

Re: Want back-to-back flags? Then what do we to need change or improve in 2017?

Do other teams have the depth of quality in the midfield? I guess other teams won't know until they try, but there is a reason why most clubs limit the numbers who go through this area.. No such problems for us as we bat very deep.

This is the nuts and bolts of it.

And all our mids can rest forward or back and still contribute. Bont did some of his best work roaming deep in attack in red time in quarters in the finals while he was resting forward. He took that hanger over Hodge while resting forward but that was earlier in the second quarter I think.

But Hunter, Daniel, Wallis, Tom Libba, Dahlhaus, Smith, Jong, McLean, Dunkley, Picken can all go forward and play well down there while Webb, R. Smith, Prudden, Suckling, Boyd, JJ, Biggs, Macrae can all rotate through the half back flanks and through the midfield.

That's why we have a magic pudding of midfield rotations-we pride ourselves on having a set of three different mids at each centre bounce and still scare the bejesus out of the opposition with the quality of the three we've sent into the middle. This is because Bevo and the coaching and development staff have challenged the players to add another bow to their armoury. Mids develop defense or attack roles and forwards and defenders can learn to take a turn through the midfield. We don't have to have our best players sitting on the bench because there isn't a spot in the midfield rotation for them. They can go forward or back and still contribute.

Our forward line in 2017 has the potential to scare a lot of opposition sides.

As opposed to the way our forward line have been scaring us over the last couple of years with their shooting at goal.

[jeemak]

Re: Want back-to-back flags? Then what do we to need change or improve in 2017?

It is always tough defending a title but I believe we are every chance to do it again and experience that great moment we all did on October 1, 2016.

We have Bob Murphy our captain coming back which will be great and from training so far from what I've read he is super keen to get in it. Stewart Crameri as well will be a significant inclusion and will see how Jake Stringer goes and of course Travis.

Our midfield will scare many opposition sides: the likes of Libba, Macrae, Hunter, Bonti, Dahlhaus, McLean etc all at the top of their games will do a lot of damage.

Our defence despite all the battering it took in 2016 it was excellent and it is great to have experienced guys like Morris, M Boyd and Bob down there. Will be good to get Suckling back as well abd hopefully he is more consistent. I look forward to seeing more of Fletcher Roberts and how he goes and Kieran Collins will get more of a chance I would say particularly with Joel Hamling departing.

Good post mate.

I appreciate you think cattle are going to play a significant part in our title defence, how do you feel strategy and selection pressure (providing we stay healthy) will play a part given it's getting harder and harder for all of us to select a best 22 players? This year we cobbled competitiveness together week in and week out due to injuries, what do we look like and what do we do with a healthy list to impreove?

Which players miss out on first cut selection and which ones play a big part in getting us up and running?

[jeemak]

Re: Want back-to-back flags? Then what do we to need change or improve in 2017?

I've said this in the rule changes thread, I think the key to our success in 2017 is being more direct with our usage and transitioning away from a huge reliance on handball to kicking more.

As others have said, we need to improve our kicking on all levels, as the cat is well and truly out of the bag on our handball effectiveness (to the extent the AFL is legislating against us).

For me, it starts from the back half. Without JJ and Murphy for a significant chunk and the whole season respectively our kicking game suffered. Biggs is a trier in this area, but he's not as proficient with either pace or skill execution to be a decisive kicker compared to each. If Murphy and JJ stay fit we are a significant step forward from where we were for much of the season, and the game will naturally open up.

The difference in these two using elite run and kick work in the home and away season can be the difference between us winning 15 games and 17 games - getting us close to top four (the obscurities of this most recent home and away season aside).

Importantly we'll be able to get the footy forward more decisively than we did this year on the back of better kicking out of defence, meaning we won't have to rely on the grind as much as we did in 2016. That effectively sees us playing intensely in the middle without having to hold onto the footy with ridiculously quick hands until a useful option short or medium distance presents itself. With Cloke, Boyd, Crameri and Stringer we'll be able to rush it long and get it out the back more than we did from the midfield this year, and or rely on our good kickers from defence opening up another side of the ground to transition the ball more easily.

I should note I don't want to see us become an Adelaide who relies on getting it out the back to score a huge chunk of goals, it's acknowledged that a grinding premiership win should be respected and much of that plan should still carry through given teams are going to be fooled into thinking that's our major play of 2016/2017.

But, we didn't win the premiership playing as we did in the first couple of rounds in 2016 when we were glittering. Things can change and you need to adjust as a team to the circumstances presented.