“this is now the best midfield in the competition”: Dal santo

[GVGjr]

Re: “this is now the best midfield in the competition”: Dal santo

I’m just waiting around for Danjul to see the description of English’s ruck craft as “superb”.

And Danjul and others should challenge Dal's comments.

[DOG GOD]

Re: “this is now the best midfield in the competition”: Dal santo

I'm not sure I agree with you. My biggest gripe is foot skills. Jack, Lachie, Dunks are average kicks. Libba changes this. When he's in the mix you have Bont, Smith, Libba with sublime foot skills. Do they track back? How many A grade mids track back? Seriously it's not a thing. Let's celebrate what we have.

So is it a mindset of the mids, when they are expected to slaughter the mids of Carlton, GC and NM, but more often than not get beaten by the lesser types ?

[Bulldog Joe]

Re: “this is now the best midfield in the competition”: Dal santo

I believe we have the potential to have a dominant midfield.

It is the responsibility of the coaching group to devise a game plan to exploit our advantages and the responsibility of the playing group to bring it on game day and execute the plans.

If we do that we should be right in it at the pointy end.

[Missing-Dog]

Re: “this is now the best midfield in the competition”: Dal santo

How many goals do we get out of those midfielders?!
Vs say the Tigers

[BornInDroopSt'54]

Re: “this is now the best midfield in the competition”: Dal santo

Go Doggies!

[mjp]

Re: “this is now the best midfield in the competition”: Dal santo

And Danjul and others should challenge Dal's comments.

It's not just that.

I still maintain the best midfields have BALANCE. The Lions had the fab 4 in Black, Voss, Lappin and Aker...but Hart was there as well playing a key role on the best opposition mid.

I think these discussions of the 'best midfield' are very focussed on ball-in-hand actions and not thinking about how to structure the side to win games of footy.

To me, we have too many inside mids, not enough outside mids and not enough small forwards (as in, we have none) to be a threat right now. It does sound cool to say we have 3x All-Aust (Bont, Macrae, Treloar) plus the best young mid in the comp (Smith) plus Dunks, Liber, Hunter etc but I wish we had some games so we could see them actually play together.

[jeemak]

Re: “this is now the best midfield in the competition”: Dal santo

We've only got two AAs in Bont and Jacko.

Agree with the rest of the post.

[GVGjr]

Re: “this is now the best midfield in the competition”: Dal santo

It's not just that.

I still maintain the best midfields have BALANCE. The Lions had the fab 4 in Black, Voss, Lappin and Aker...but Hart was there as well playing a key role on the best opposition mid.

I think these discussions of the 'best midfield' are very focussed on ball-in-hand actions and not thinking about how to structure the side to win games of footy.

To me, we have too many inside mids, not enough outside mids and not enough small forwards (as in, we have none) to be a threat right now. It does sound cool to say we have 3x All-Aust (Bont, Macrae, Treloar) plus the best young mid in the comp (Smith) plus Dunks, Liber, Hunter etc but I wish we had some games so we could see them actually play together.

Tend to agree but with Treloar we do have a bit more hurt factor than before. We will potentially need a couple of the players to modify their natural games though
I don't really care for the best midfield title as in reality we just need to be more effective and versatile than last year
If Smith improves and Treloar can somehow lift his game with the extra incentive to stick it up Collingwood plus having Martin assisting English we should have one of the better midfield's in the competition. Defending and scoring are more of the challenges for us

[mjp]

Re: “this is now the best midfield in the competition”: Dal santo

We've only got two AAs in Bont and Jacko.

Agree with the rest of the post.

Apologies - I had thought Treloar was AA in 2015 (his final year with GWS). Apparently not! :-)

[Bornadog]

Re: “this is now the best midfield in the competition”: Dal santo

Apologies - I had thought Treloar was AA in 2015 (his final year with GWS). Apparently not! :-)

He was in the AA squad

[Hotdog60]

Re: “this is now the best midfield in the competition”: Dal santo

I think our midfield most times are trying to read a losing ruck. If Timmy can square the ledger we may see more flair from the mids if they can go on the attack.
Martin may give some of that edge although I'm not expecting too much but if he can give us a similar thing to Rider this year it will go a fair way.
Timmy will grow into his role as time goes on but I would like to see Sweet carve out a spot because he looks a bigger and stronger unit to potentially take that number one rick role and let Timmy be a more mobile support.

[jeemak]

Re: “this is now the best midfield in the competition”: Dal santo

Apologies - I had thought Treloar was AA in 2015 (his final year with GWS). Apparently not! :-)

It wasn't until I checked his Wiki page after we recruited him that I did a double take and checked it out, as I'd assumed he'd made one final side.

He was in the AA squad

Yes, made the squad in 2019, 2017 and 2016.

[Ozza]

Re: “this is now the best midfield in the competition”: Dal santo

It's not just that.

I still maintain the best midfields have BALANCE. The Lions had the fab 4 in Black, Voss, Lappin and Aker...but Hart was there as well playing a key role on the best opposition mid.

I think these discussions of the 'best midfield' are very focussed on ball-in-hand actions and not thinking about how to structure the side to win games of footy.

To me, we have too many inside mids, not enough outside mids and not enough small forwards (as in, we have none) to be a threat right now. It does sound cool to say we have 3x All-Aust (Bont, Macrae, Treloar) plus the best young mid in the comp (Smith) plus Dunks, Liber, Hunter etc but I wish we had some games so we could see them actually play together.

I agree with this. We have to find the right balance.

Having the best midfield players can mean you can really get ahold of the weaker sides, but against the best sides we will need to get the balance spot on. I actually think Dunkley can play a key role here and be used not necessarily as a tagger, but as a more defensively minded mid some weeks, either he or Libba depending on the opposition.

[comrade]

Re: “this is now the best midfield in the competition”: Dal santo

I agree with this. We have to find the right balance.

Having the best midfield players can mean you can really get ahold of the weaker sides, but against the best sides we will need to get the balance spot on. I actually think Dunkley can play a key role here and be used not necessarily as a tagger, but as a more defensively minded mid some weeks, either he or Libba depending on the opposition.

I lik that role for Dunkley, but given the narrative around his trade request was about being the alpha dog in the midfield, do you think he'd relish more of a defensive role? Beats rucking, I guess!

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Re: “this is now the best midfield in the competition”: Dal santo

Y’all acting like Bev is some sort of normal coach and won’t have Treloar and Dunks coming off half back.