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Re: Moves From Left Field
I threw some suggestions via SMS at Mark Fine and Nathan Thompson last night on SEN when they were asking for tactical masterstrokes, but they rejected the lot (and gave the prize to the brilliant suggestions of putting Ling in the forwardline, and making sure Scarlett doesn't give Geelong too much rebound; obviously well-established and obvious things are now considered 'innovative'. Thank goodness they're not our brains trust.)
Anyway, for the record, my suggestions were:
#1 - Griffen or Gilbee on Goddard as defensive forwards. Both have the physical attributes to go with him while making him accountable. Finey's answer was that's not Griff or Gilbee's go, Gilbee plays in the backline and we're better off getting the ball in his hands off half-back. Wow, he's obviously watched a lot of Dogs' games post 2006.
#2 - Scott Welsh as swingman at times in the game, dropping back into the hole, dropping back to Kosi so Lake can go forward etc. Finey said that we should 'at no point should we do this' and that if we do, Fisher will have a field day as the free man in the Saints defence.
#3 - Go with a 7-man forwardline: man up on all the Saints defenders and don't let the Saints create drive off the half-back line. Finey said that this would give Riewoldt the freedom of the forward 50. To Thommo's credit, he said sometimes you have to roll the dice and trust your defenders to stand up.
#4 (which they didn't read out) - Shut down the game and play keepings off on the wing whenever the Saints seem like they are getting on top (kill the momentum). The Saints can't score if they don't have the ball.
Obviously these aren't set plans for the whole game -- tactical masterstrokes rarely are -- but change-ups in the flow of the game to keep the opposition guessing. Rocket does this better than most, and I'll daresay he'll use most of these tonight anyway (I didn't really make them up, but just suggested stuff I've seen Rocket pull out all year). Walls's article on Rocket in The Age today suggests that he's as experimental as anyone who's ever coached, and I'm glad that he's in the box today, and not those revolutionary thinkers Mark Fine and Nathan Thompson.
I threw some suggestions via SMS at Mark Fine and Nathan Thompson last night on SEN when they were asking for tactical masterstrokes, but they rejected the lot (and gave the prize to the brilliant suggestions of putting Ling in the forwardline, and making sure Scarlett doesn't give Geelong too much rebound; obviously well-established and obvious things are now considered 'innovative'. Thank goodness they're not our brains trust.)
Anyway, for the record, my suggestions were:
#1 - Griffen or Gilbee on Goddard as defensive forwards. Both have the physical attributes to go with him while making him accountable. Finey's answer was that's not Griff or Gilbee's go, Gilbee plays in the backline and we're better off getting the ball in his hands off half-back. Wow, he's obviously watched a lot of Dogs' games post 2006.
#2 - Scott Welsh as swingman at times in the game, dropping back into the hole, dropping back to Kosi so Lake can go forward etc. Finey said that we should 'at no point should we do this' and that if we do, Fisher will have a field day as the free man in the Saints defence.
#3 - Go with a 7-man forwardline: man up on all the Saints defenders and don't let the Saints create drive off the half-back line. Finey said that this would give Riewoldt the freedom of the forward 50. To Thommo's credit, he said sometimes you have to roll the dice and trust your defenders to stand up.
#4 (which they didn't read out) - Shut down the game and play keepings off on the wing whenever the Saints seem like they are getting on top (kill the momentum). The Saints can't score if they don't have the ball.
Obviously these aren't set plans for the whole game -- tactical masterstrokes rarely are -- but change-ups in the flow of the game to keep the opposition guessing. Rocket does this better than most, and I'll daresay he'll use most of these tonight anyway (I didn't really make them up, but just suggested stuff I've seen Rocket pull out all year). Walls's article on Rocket in The Age today suggests that he's as experimental as anyone who's ever coached, and I'm glad that he's in the box today, and not those revolutionary thinkers Mark Fine and Nathan Thompson.
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