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We have shown over the past few years that we sit quite comfortably amongst the top 4 teams in the competition, but as of now we haven't been able to make the step up to the top 2 and really challenge for a the premiership we all desire.
So as we sit awaiting the finals 5 weeks and then a finals campaign that will hopefully lead to the ultimate prize have we made the necessary changes to our game style and playing group to make this jump?
What's working?
* Clearances & contested ball wins:
From being a team that was known as a bunch of front running downhill skiers ( we still are by the nuffies of the footy world) we are now a hard & formidable team when it comes to our contested ball winning ability and clearance work. Boyd, Cross and the Hudson/ Minson combo give us our in & under strength and are ably backed up by Ward & Gia. In Cooney & Griffen we have 2 of the best 'burst' players in the competition who use strength, speed & power to break clear of the clearance area.
We have shown over the past few years and even more this year that we can match the best in this much important area, but as of right now it hasn't quite been enough, but we do know that we won't be bullied in this area.
* Backline:
One of Rodney Eade's great achievements within his time as coach has been the moulding of our defensive group. Thinking back to the period thru 2005-7 we really struggled in defence, but Eade allowed this group to grow and develop by plunging them into the deep end. Our defenders were forced to go one on one and were often out-sized and even out-skilled, but this 'tough love' has been paid back in spades with the group we now have.
The group has now matured such that it contains 3 All Australians (Lake, Morris & Gilbee) and another 2 (Harbrow & Hargrave) who have been or are close to the mark. We have the 2nd best ranked defnce now in terms of points against and while some credit most go to our defensive structures, most is/ should be heaped upon our defence.
Williams gives us some much need size and adds to our flexibility and in the past 5 or 6 weeks we have added Wood & Murphy to our defensive group which has been a great success. As well as adding excellent defensive skills they also add run, carry & creativity to the back half. We did look a little predictable with the way we released the ball from defence thru the first half of the season, but we now have great flexibility.
What isn't?
* Forward set-up:
I am not convinced that our current forward set-up and the players within it (on current form) have what it takes to beat the high quality teams. With our team looking quite settled I believe the following forward set-up will be the one we will take into the finals:
HF: Gia, Grant, Ward
F: Higgins, Hall, Johnson
Will this group kick us to a flag? I'm doubtful, here's why...
- Not enough variety - Only Hall & Grant offer something different.
- Higgins & Johnson are obviously struggling with their bodies and aren't playing the type of footy we expect (need?) from them. Both have issues with pace, ball use and defensive efforts.
- We don't have enough players who can take overhead or one on one marks.
- Opposing teams will sit on Hall, they know how good he is when has space... they won't allow us this luxury. While we can still rack up cricket like scores against the poor teams we do struggle to kick goals against the good teams and we do rely on Barry more so than any other player.
How to fix? -
- On current form not all of Johnson, Higgins & Gia can play - we need something different up forward. Hill is the obvious one as he has some unique abilities, but he needs to show he can compete with the best which he hasn't thus far. I guess it would be a big call to play him (or Everitt), but I think it's a risk we might have to take.
- I believe in our current (or perhaps any other) set-up Grant is the key. He has genuine pace and if used cleverly by blocking for him he will be able to find space within our F50 and with his hands we know the ball will finish with him. A big call, but he is one player through physical characteristics who will be able to get separation from his opponent. His kicking for goal will be crucial as I have no doubt he will be presented with plenty of opportunities.
- We must be daring with our use of Lake & Murphy up forward. We have seen all year that they make a real difference to our forward line. Murphy loves the space of the MCG and must be used wisely. Lake offers Hall some cover and will mean teams can't zone off which will be especially important against St.Kilda and Collingwood.
I guess one important factor will be how we use the ball going forward, but one would think that the opposition will not allow a heap of quality ball going forward so that may mean lots of ground balls, etc so we need to be prepared and pick a team for that.
* Defensive transition:
Our ability to stop the opposition on the rebound is a great concern. Our current forwards as a group is pretty slow and they don't offer great offensive pressure. As recently as a few weeks back we were the worst ranked team in the competition for tackles inside F50... that's not good enough.
Once the ball is cleared from this area we have a midfield group that generally is pretty poor at finding a man and pressuring the opposition to create a turnover. In a sense they are pretty unaccountable. Boyd, Cooney & Griffen seem lost in the transition from attack to defence and seem to mill around looking to guard space rather than to find a man. This may be a direct instruction, but the lack of real intensity they show in this part of the game isn't up to scratch. Cross generally for-goes hunting a man and heads back to defence to block up space for the oppositions forwards, but the out-numbering this creates in the middle means the ball travels further than it could if he was helping out.
Our one saviour is Liam Picken who works (runs) just as hard in defence as he does in offence. He sets the example which I wish others would follow. He is a gem.
We cannot allow the competitions big guns to have so much space thru the middle part of ground as it will place too much pressure on our defence. I have faith in our defence to hold steady, but they need more help from their team-mates further afield.
What's been lacking in previous finals matches and games against the big guns:
* Game-breakers:
We need the likes of Cooney & Griffen to continue their rise and make September their own. Griffen has been a solid contributor in previous finals, but Cooney has been a little quiet, he needs to stamp his authority on September. Our other mid’s will need to work hard to ‘free’ these 2 up by blocking for them at the contested areas, these selfless acts will be important. Our other jet is Lake who's form is a given, but he will need to rise again as both our rock in defence and our pinch hitter going forward.
* Win the key moments:
Our team and especially our game-breakers need to win the key moments. Ablett, Chapman, Hodge, Franklin, Riewoldt & Hayes have all shown in the past that they can step up at crucial times to ensure their team wins finals. We have had no player stamp their authority in this way and that needs to change. (I have purposely left out Collingwood players as they are in the same boat as us)
To ensure we win these key moments we will need our players to stick to our structures and game plans and especially concentrate when things get close. We can't afford to have past errors (think St.Kilda & Hawthorn clashes) rear their ugly heads as it can and has cost us close matches.... We need to be better than that.
Where does that leave us?
While it has been nice to get some confidence over the past 3 weeks with some comfortable wins (and we will probably have another one this week) I still feel there are some under-lying problems that could hold us back. These problems may be just in my imagination and we will step-up to the plate come finals time, but if they aren't I hope they have been noted and will be addressed sooner rather than later.
We have shown the ability in the past week to make the tough (and correct) call. I hope we can, if needed, make a couple more as I think our season may depend upon it.
So as we sit awaiting the finals 5 weeks and then a finals campaign that will hopefully lead to the ultimate prize have we made the necessary changes to our game style and playing group to make this jump?
What's working?
* Clearances & contested ball wins:
From being a team that was known as a bunch of front running downhill skiers ( we still are by the nuffies of the footy world) we are now a hard & formidable team when it comes to our contested ball winning ability and clearance work. Boyd, Cross and the Hudson/ Minson combo give us our in & under strength and are ably backed up by Ward & Gia. In Cooney & Griffen we have 2 of the best 'burst' players in the competition who use strength, speed & power to break clear of the clearance area.
We have shown over the past few years and even more this year that we can match the best in this much important area, but as of right now it hasn't quite been enough, but we do know that we won't be bullied in this area.
* Backline:
One of Rodney Eade's great achievements within his time as coach has been the moulding of our defensive group. Thinking back to the period thru 2005-7 we really struggled in defence, but Eade allowed this group to grow and develop by plunging them into the deep end. Our defenders were forced to go one on one and were often out-sized and even out-skilled, but this 'tough love' has been paid back in spades with the group we now have.
The group has now matured such that it contains 3 All Australians (Lake, Morris & Gilbee) and another 2 (Harbrow & Hargrave) who have been or are close to the mark. We have the 2nd best ranked defnce now in terms of points against and while some credit most go to our defensive structures, most is/ should be heaped upon our defence.
Williams gives us some much need size and adds to our flexibility and in the past 5 or 6 weeks we have added Wood & Murphy to our defensive group which has been a great success. As well as adding excellent defensive skills they also add run, carry & creativity to the back half. We did look a little predictable with the way we released the ball from defence thru the first half of the season, but we now have great flexibility.
What isn't?
* Forward set-up:
I am not convinced that our current forward set-up and the players within it (on current form) have what it takes to beat the high quality teams. With our team looking quite settled I believe the following forward set-up will be the one we will take into the finals:
HF: Gia, Grant, Ward
F: Higgins, Hall, Johnson
Will this group kick us to a flag? I'm doubtful, here's why...
- Not enough variety - Only Hall & Grant offer something different.
- Higgins & Johnson are obviously struggling with their bodies and aren't playing the type of footy we expect (need?) from them. Both have issues with pace, ball use and defensive efforts.
- We don't have enough players who can take overhead or one on one marks.
- Opposing teams will sit on Hall, they know how good he is when has space... they won't allow us this luxury. While we can still rack up cricket like scores against the poor teams we do struggle to kick goals against the good teams and we do rely on Barry more so than any other player.
How to fix? -
- On current form not all of Johnson, Higgins & Gia can play - we need something different up forward. Hill is the obvious one as he has some unique abilities, but he needs to show he can compete with the best which he hasn't thus far. I guess it would be a big call to play him (or Everitt), but I think it's a risk we might have to take.
- I believe in our current (or perhaps any other) set-up Grant is the key. He has genuine pace and if used cleverly by blocking for him he will be able to find space within our F50 and with his hands we know the ball will finish with him. A big call, but he is one player through physical characteristics who will be able to get separation from his opponent. His kicking for goal will be crucial as I have no doubt he will be presented with plenty of opportunities.
- We must be daring with our use of Lake & Murphy up forward. We have seen all year that they make a real difference to our forward line. Murphy loves the space of the MCG and must be used wisely. Lake offers Hall some cover and will mean teams can't zone off which will be especially important against St.Kilda and Collingwood.
I guess one important factor will be how we use the ball going forward, but one would think that the opposition will not allow a heap of quality ball going forward so that may mean lots of ground balls, etc so we need to be prepared and pick a team for that.
* Defensive transition:
Our ability to stop the opposition on the rebound is a great concern. Our current forwards as a group is pretty slow and they don't offer great offensive pressure. As recently as a few weeks back we were the worst ranked team in the competition for tackles inside F50... that's not good enough.
Once the ball is cleared from this area we have a midfield group that generally is pretty poor at finding a man and pressuring the opposition to create a turnover. In a sense they are pretty unaccountable. Boyd, Cooney & Griffen seem lost in the transition from attack to defence and seem to mill around looking to guard space rather than to find a man. This may be a direct instruction, but the lack of real intensity they show in this part of the game isn't up to scratch. Cross generally for-goes hunting a man and heads back to defence to block up space for the oppositions forwards, but the out-numbering this creates in the middle means the ball travels further than it could if he was helping out.
Our one saviour is Liam Picken who works (runs) just as hard in defence as he does in offence. He sets the example which I wish others would follow. He is a gem.
We cannot allow the competitions big guns to have so much space thru the middle part of ground as it will place too much pressure on our defence. I have faith in our defence to hold steady, but they need more help from their team-mates further afield.
What's been lacking in previous finals matches and games against the big guns:
* Game-breakers:
We need the likes of Cooney & Griffen to continue their rise and make September their own. Griffen has been a solid contributor in previous finals, but Cooney has been a little quiet, he needs to stamp his authority on September. Our other mid’s will need to work hard to ‘free’ these 2 up by blocking for them at the contested areas, these selfless acts will be important. Our other jet is Lake who's form is a given, but he will need to rise again as both our rock in defence and our pinch hitter going forward.
* Win the key moments:
Our team and especially our game-breakers need to win the key moments. Ablett, Chapman, Hodge, Franklin, Riewoldt & Hayes have all shown in the past that they can step up at crucial times to ensure their team wins finals. We have had no player stamp their authority in this way and that needs to change. (I have purposely left out Collingwood players as they are in the same boat as us)
To ensure we win these key moments we will need our players to stick to our structures and game plans and especially concentrate when things get close. We can't afford to have past errors (think St.Kilda & Hawthorn clashes) rear their ugly heads as it can and has cost us close matches.... We need to be better than that.
Where does that leave us?
While it has been nice to get some confidence over the past 3 weeks with some comfortable wins (and we will probably have another one this week) I still feel there are some under-lying problems that could hold us back. These problems may be just in my imagination and we will step-up to the plate come finals time, but if they aren't I hope they have been noted and will be addressed sooner rather than later.
We have shown the ability in the past week to make the tough (and correct) call. I hope we can, if needed, make a couple more as I think our season may depend upon it.
) and he hasn't looked the same all season. I think I might be in the minority that thought he looked better than he had on Sunday, and one thing he hasn't lost is his capacity to nail a set shot.
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