Tom Williams up Forward

[bulldogsthru&thru]

With the forever going search of a power-forward, i thought the move against the Hawks to put Tom Williams forward poses an intriguing question. Does Tom Williams have a bright future as our power-forward? Should he change roles and become a forward or should he remain in defense??

I have always thought Williams had the right physique for a full-forward role. The question is whether he can adapt. I think there were promising signs for him on the weekend. Also with the emergence of tall defenders in Markovic and Mulligan we may have his spot covered in defense.

What does everyone else think?

[comrade]

Re: Tom Williams up Forward

He played like a crumbing forward, with both his goals pretty impressive snaps around the body from loose balls.

Personally, I think we’ve invested so much time into him as a CHB and he really showed good signs last year (and early this year, too) that he should stay down there. Now we know he has some goal sense, we can send him forward at times to disrupt defensive match ups, but for mine – he is a key defender first and foremost.

Let Jones, Grant, Cordy, Roughead and even potentially Panos develop as our tall forward options.

[Bornadog]

Re: Tom Williams up Forward

He played forward as he was taking on the resting ruckmans role. If we go into a game with two ruckman, I expect he will go back to CHB.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Re: Tom Williams up Forward

He played like a crumbing forward, with both his goals pretty
Let Jones, Grant, Cordy, Roughead and even potentially Panos develop as our tall forward options.

i think if we can get either Cordy or Roughead to develop as a forward then yes, i agree with you that Williams should stay at CHB. But i would like to see another tall key position forward line up alongside Jones. Whether Cordy or Roughead can become that is crucial to our success IMO. If they are too immobile, Williams may be our best option. At least we have these options up forward these days

[LostDoggy]

Re: Tom Williams up Forward

I'm not sure it would send the right message to the young forwards if they keep Williams forward. I'd expect him to only head down to the forward line if there isn't a match up for him, or if we plan to "expose" a lack of height in other teams' defenses. I didn't notice a change in defensive pressure with him down there either.

[always right]

Re: Tom Williams up Forward

I liked him up forward. Was able to play on instinct rather than having to focus on his opponent. Worth perservering with depending on the match-ups.

[Rocco Jones]

Re: Tom Williams up Forward

I liked him up forward. Was able to play on instinct rather than having to focus on his opponent. Worth perservering with depending on the match-ups.

I agree.

As most posters who pay ant attention to me know, I am very much against playing two pure ruckemen/pro part timers as 2nd rucks. The part timer failing can be a self fulfilling prophecy if a player is only given the chance to play the role once every couple of months. I would like to see Tom get a real crack at it and develop into the role. I thought he did well considering his lack of experience in the role.

Long term I probably see him as a key back but having a go at the 2nd ruck role won't mean he forgets everything he knows about playing down back, in fact, it might even be good for his development as a backman to understand the other side.

[Missing-Dog]

Re: Tom Williams up Forward

He could be our new FF post Hall.
Less pressure on him.
Hes an ok mark and kick.
Tall and athletic may be a better option!

[LostDoggy]

Re: Tom Williams up Forward

I liked him up forward. Was able to play on instinct rather than having to focus on his opponent. Worth perservering with depending on the match-ups.

Yes, I think Rocket and the MC wanted to see if he could be effective as a rotating tall/ back-up ruckman , in what was certainly a patched together lineup with Markovic out and Lake back in to get game time we went with a smaller more mobile backline . I,m sure that because the Hawthorn forwards cover a lot of ground and to try to give us a tall mobile target they moved Williams forward , if everything went to plan Williams would have dragged a player away from Hall and provided some dummy leads to open some space for BBB but Hall broke down and Williams had to work it out for himself . The fact that our once reliable source of goals from running midfielders slotting them from 40m after running into the 50 has dried up , Hall hampered by injury , Grant and Jones on a steep learning curve the decision was made to experiment . The fact that Williams only had 8 disposals but was able to create 2 goals and made 3 tackles give's Rocket and the MC something to work with . If you take Higgins and Giansiracusa out of the equation the forward line against Geelong could look like this

HF:.....Sherman...Jones...Howard
FF:...Djerrkura..Williams...Grant..

.

[Bornadog]

Re: Tom Williams up Forward

Yes, I think Rocket and the MC wanted to see if he could be effective as a rotating tall/ back-up ruckman , in what was certainly a patched together lineup with Markovic out and Lake back in to get game time we went with a smaller more mobile backline . I,m sure that because the Hawthorn forwards cover a lot of ground and to try to give us a tall mobile target they moved Williams forward , if everything went to plan Williams would have dragged a player away from Hall and provided some dummy leads to open some space for BBB but Hall broke down and Williams had to work it out for himself . The fact that our once reliable source of goals from running midfielders slotting them from 40m after running into the 50 has dried up , Hall hampered by injury , Grant and Jones on a steep learning curve the decision was made to experiment . The fact that Williams only had 8 disposals but was able to create 2 goals and made 3 tackles give's Rocket and the MC something to work with . If you take Higgins and Giansiracusa out of the equation the forward line against Geelong could look like this

HF:.....Sherman...Jones...Howard
FF:...Djerrkura..Williams...Grant..

.

Why would you take Gia out?

Also Williams kicked two plus he had a hand in a nice handball to Gia who put through a great banana kick from the pocket.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Tom Williams up Forward

Why would you take Gia out?

Also Williams kicked two plus he had a hand in a nice handball to Gia who put through a great banana kick from the pocket.

I,d prefer Gia went to the bench , DJ comes in to give us more defensive pressure , against Hawthorn Gia only made one tackle , yes he can be creative around goal but only one tackle gives an example of one stat that allowed Hawthorn to rebound , Williams made 3 tackles ,BBB has only made 1 tackle this season, on his performance Williams stays at FF , yes , Scarlett might give him the run around but at least it,s a competitive match up

.

[Bumper Bulldogs]

Re: Tom Williams up Forward

I'm not sure I liked the idea of Tommy at FF, I though against the Hawks we could have had him down back and Gilbee out of the square, after the Richmond game I thought it was worth a punt.

The side was down on ball usage but would have Gilbee given us a better miss match and he has shown he knows were to run, Gilbee had no impact down back so it could have bought him into the game (a little like Murphy last year when he started down back got his touch then moved forward) .......We'll never know as the coaching staff just rolled with the times.

[Rocco Jones]

Re: Tom Williams up Forward

I,d prefer Gia went to the bench , DJ comes in to give us more defensive pressure

I've seen you refer to players playing off the bench a few times. Do you realise that outside of the two players involved in subbing and others who get injured, everyone else spends just about the same amount of TOG. Have a look at the TOG stats. Outside of Bailey and Reid (due to his hammy issues) everyone else had TOG in the 80s% and a few in the 90%.

The difference between your 6th and 7th best forward options would be about 2% TOG, roughly speaking that's 3 minutes game time.

[kruder]

Re: Tom Williams up Forward

I've always thought Hargrave would be a great lead up forward.

He has nice speed, solid mark and is a lovely kick for goal.

[Missing-Dog]

Re: Tom Williams up Forward

One thing that did impress me on the weekend was Tommy's defensive workrate in the forward 50. He tackled, harassed, and generally put alot of pressure on Hawthorn's backs. Too bad some of the others weren't as willing to follow his example.