Analysis 2019 Midfield set up

[Bring back Bas]

I'm excited about the prospect of a back 7 of Talia, Keath, Doedee, Smith, Milera, Laird & Brown.

Take it to the 2019 Defence set up thread!! Only joking. That back 7 looks very exciting although I am not 100% sold on Keath (or Hartigan) yet. I would like to also play an eighth defender so that we can role some of those guys through stints in the midfield - something that we haven't done much of in the past. Preferably the eighth defender would be a marking type player (Cheney, Kelly, McPherson (is he this type or more of a running player? Jeffcrowe ), Pascoe, Francis, etc.). That would allow us to structure up in different ways to suit different game situations.

 

[TheLeftFist8]

Seedsman?

Our best outside midfielder.

I didn't add the wings/'outside mids' position.

 

[Jack is Back]

No wrong

Have you ever seen Greenwood take the footy and run with it ? It just doesn't happen as he can't get separation from the chases

Our speed or lack of in midfield costs us more defensively than offensively and it's very costly . What you do without the ball is at least as important as with because it's most of the time

I believe that THE MIGHTY THOR has not displayed his ability to break away from stoppages in AFL because he focusses on his role as a defensive inside midfielder. At the stoppages he is responsible for one of the oppositions most damaging mids, his role is to tackle this player or minimise the impact of the players disposals. Check his pressure acts which are through the ceiling. If he gets his hands on the ball he quickly blasts it forward.

He did display his pace when playing in the SANFL and he hasn’t lost this pace. He is slowly emerging into the Fully Awesome THOR. I said early this season that he is a fantastic contested mark despite little evidence of this in the AFL in 2017. Last year he would go for the spoil in marking contests. This year he has started to take contested marks (and there is so much more to come).

Providing he has a full pre-season, we will start to see Fully Awesome THOR in 2019.

 

[Jeffcrowe]

I believe that THE MIGHTY THOR has not displayed his ability to break away from stoppages in AFL because he focusses on his role as a defensive inside midfielder. At the stoppages he is responsible for one of the oppositions most damaging mids, his role is to tackle this player or minimise the impact of the players disposals. Check his pressure acts which are through the ceiling. If he gets his hands on the ball he quickly blasts it forward.

He did display his pace when playing in the SANFL and he hasn’t lost this pace. He is slowly emerging into the Fully Awesome THOR. I said early this season that he is a fantastic contested mark despite little evidence of this in the AFL in 2017. Last year he would go for the spoil in marking contests. This year he has started to take contested marks (and there is so much more to come).

Providing he has a full pre-season, we will start to see Fully Awesome THOR in 2019.

I've seen him with the ball in space and it doesn't back that up

So either he's not quick or he's exhausted and I think it's a bit of both

 

[feenix67]

I did some analysis on our midfield after being surprised by the stats posted by that Essendon poster who analyses who starts when in the middle.

During the 3rd quarter when we got pantsed, Greenwood and CEY collectively started at 3 centre bounces. Our setup was predominately Sloane (6), Douglas (5) and Crouch (7). Gibbs only started in the square twice.

We got one centre clearance for the quarter and it was by our ruckman who sharked his own tap. Not one of our midfielders got a centre clearance. I couldn't believe it so I went and watched the footage. Our midifeld setups (and techniques) are horrible. Crouch was continually blocked. Sloane was continually blocked and his exits were always covered. Douglas was simply reactive and got done a couple of times for talent. It was horrific.

Four things came out of that 30 minutes of footage for me:

1. Why the hell do we pick two inside mids and then not use them inside the contest at centre bounces?
2. Why do we persist on using Gibbs starting off the wing (generally the back of the square), especially when Sauce's hit patterns and Rory's running patterns always end up with the ball on the other side of the contest where Gibbs is of no use?
3. Why did our setups not change - not once - despite getting towelled up in the first four (of eight) bounces?
4. Despite rotations, why was our centre set ups dominated by 3 blokes, including Douglas?

Sauce wasn't the problem in centre clearance work - it was our lack of desire to make front position, our lack of ability to stay in the contest and block GWS' exits and our lack of a plan to free up Sloane and utilise Gibbs effectively in an offensive capacity.

In short - sack Campo.

Edit: the other thing I noticed is that we are obsessed with initiating body contact. Even when the other guy isnt. Not one of our blokes is trying to free himself up. They're all trying to get body and always end up being behind their opponent. We are far too concerned with the opposition player at centre clearances rather than having an attacking mindset whilst having positioning that covers off the regular exit paths of the opposition.

 

[Scorpus]

I did some analysis on our midfield after being surprised by the stats posted by that Essendon poster who analyses who starts when in the middle.

During the 3rd quarter when we got pantsed, Greenwood and CEY collectively started at 3 centre bounces. Our setup was predominately Sloane (6), Douglas (5) and Crouch (7). Gibbs only started in the square twice.

We got one centre clearance for the quarter and it was by our ruckman who sharked his own tap. Not one of our midfielders got a centre clearance. I couldn't believe it so I went and watched the footage. Our midifeld setups (and techniques) are horrible. Crouch was continually blocked. Sloane was continually blocked and his exits were always covered. Douglas was simply reactive and got done a couple of times for talent. It was horrific.

Four things came out of that 30 minutes of footage for me:

1. Why the hell do we pick two inside mids and then not use them inside the contest at centre bounces?
2. Why do we persist on using Gibbs starting off the wing (generally the back of the square), especially when Sauce's hit patterns and Rory's running patterns always end up with the ball on the other side of the contest where Gibbs is of no use?
3. Why did our setups not change - not once - despite getting towelled up in the first four (of eight) bounces?
4. Despite rotations, why was our centre set ups dominated by 3 blokes, including Douglas?

Sauce wasn't the problem in centre clearance work - it was our lack of desire to make front position, our lack of ability to stay in the contest and block GWS' exits and our lack of a plan to free up Sloane and utilise Gibbs effectively in an offensive capacity.

In short - sack Campo.

Edit: the other thing I noticed is that we are obsessed with initiating body contact. Even when the other guy isnt. Not one of our blokes is trying to free himself up. They're all trying to get body and always end up being behind their opponent. We are far too concerned with the opposition player at centre clearances rather than having an attacking mindset whilst having positioning that covers off the regular exit paths of the opposition.

That last comment points to a midfield coach completely out of his league. Our structures are such that we are neither attacking nor defending at stoppages. We aren't blocking the opposition effectively, while we let ourselves get blocked. We aren't trying to free ourselves up, which in turn lets the opposition get free.

It's also why we are completely useless when Sauce is down on form. Our midfield relies on a winning ruck to get that nice tap which we can grab and hack kick in a split second to no one. The ideal tap is that one that goes 1cm in front of our mids who can break free from their body contact at the very last second to gather it and slam it on the boot. When the ruck isn't tapping it our way, we resort to this bizarre body contact style while the opposition's midfielders systematically free themselves and get not just a hack clearance, but a clean, flowing clearance.

Our clearances when we do win them are far too often these rubbish kicks around the body, blind hacks, or short passes to no one. It feels like 80% of the time we get a center clearance, it's a hack kick that goes to 5-10m forward of the attacking edge of center square, which is exactly where the opposition parks an often uncontested defender. It's incredibly frustrating to watch us kick to this exact spot over and over again. Sometimes the kick goes more out to the wing, where again the opposition is ready to pounce.

Then on the flip side, the opposition is usually able to work the ball out of a stoppage with effective handball to a free outside runner who either precision kicks inside 50, or runs it up the field. We almost never do this; the times we get a fast break at clearance is usually from the player getting lucky on first possession after the hit out (eg. the player running in off the back of the square getting a clean ground ball or Sloane roving, weaving out of the pack and kicking long). We rarely are able to work out of stoppages using multiple players or chains of handball to distribute to outside runners, and often if we try we are easily intercepted.

This lack of clean distribution also affects our outside runners, who then only become effective on transition play because we can't get it to them at stoppages.

It's a rubbish structure and it's been this way for years. We made it to the grand final based on excellent D50 to F50 transition play with stunning long kicks and great attack from our half back line. But we have never been able to play that way while also gathering effective clearances and giving our forwards first look out of the center.

 

[feenix67]

This is the second ball up of the 3rd quarter and highlights exactly what I mean:

Look at our positioning, relative to Sauce's hit zone. Only Crouch is mildly in position but he is more intent on maintaining body on Ward.




Sauce wins the tap marginally, but Crouch has been beaten to it by Ward, despite being in a better position a second ago. Gibbs has followed Shiel and is completely out of position, which opens an exit route for Ward. Sloane is still worried about Coniglio.



Ward has gotten clear possession and Crouch isn't even in the frame (because Lobbe has done a nice job of blocking him to free Ward up). Gibbs has had to change direction in a pointless attempt to stop Ward. Sloane has never impacted the contest, despite Sauce winning the tap to his usual hit zone. Clearance GWS.




I could go on, but suffice to say, there is NOTHING good about this footage. There is a lack of system, our positioning is terrible and our intent is nowhere. How can Pyke look at this on a Monday and feel like he has an effective midfield coach?

The other thing to note is, look at the two GWS wingmen. Where are ours?

 

[JPetro83]

Perhaps Seedsman and our 1st pick have been offered to Carlton or GC to get up the draft?

If it meant getting pick 2 I wouldn't be complaining about that.

 

[MRB37]

In terms of raw numbers we're 12th for clearances from the square and 5th from clearances at stoppages.

 

[BRL121]

I believe that THE MIGHTY THOR has not displayed his ability to break away from stoppages in AFL because he focusses on his role as a defensive inside midfielder. At the stoppages he is responsible for one of the oppositions most damaging mids, his role is to tackle this player or minimise the impact of the players disposals. Check his pressure acts which are through the ceiling. If he gets his hands on the ball he quickly blasts it forward.

He did display his pace when playing in the SANFL and he hasn’t lost this pace. He is slowly emerging into the Fully Awesome THOR. I said early this season that he is a fantastic contested mark despite little evidence of this in the AFL in 2017. Last year he would go for the spoil in marking contests. This year he has started to take contested marks (and there is so much more to come).

Providing he has a full pre-season, we will start to see Fully Awesome THOR in 2019.

Not if he keeps that haircut! On Saturday, with that and the long sleeves, he looked like the Michelin man.

 

[feenix67]

View attachment 543537

In terms of raw numbers we're 12th for clearances from the square and 5th from clearances at stoppages.

It's the differential you have to look at - we're stone motherless last in that one for centre clearances. That's got to cost someone their job when we have Sloane, Gibbs and Crouch in there as our mainstays.

 

[Cap]

does Campo dictate how we setup or is he simply coaching to what Pkye wants?

 

[FAITH]

does Campo dictate how we setup or is he simply coaching to what Pkye wants?

people underestimate how much power Campo has at the club.

 

[VictorianCrow85]

Some great analysis in here thats been obvious for ages. Our center clearance work is the worst in the league imo and I'm usually more of an optimist than many in here so that tells you something. Numbers alone don't always tell the story as we do sometimes win a reasonable number of clearances but 80% are hack kicks forward where as our opponents have a much better blend of hack kicks and clean exits. The worst part in recent weeks is how often the opponents at stoppages around the ground tap backwards to a loose man who can then take his time to hit a good target with 0 pressure, it's absolutely killed us against Melbourne in particular.

 

[kulak]

View attachment 543537

In terms of raw numbers we're 12th for clearances from the square and 5th from clearances at stoppages.

Jacobs breaks even

Meanwhile, -33.4 for forward Josh Jenkins and his 96 centre bounces

ROFL

 

[Betts are off]

1 major thing i'd like too see this weekend and next week is Wayne get some real solid midfield minutes. His body/endurance looks up for it now. Love him off the HBF, but next year I think we are going to need to inject his pace and fancy footwork around the stoppages.

 

[Bazz_27]

So if people want campo out, the only way he gets called out is by the head of football and we all know he is incompetent so at the very best case we get rid of one of the two, the other scenario which is far more likely is we keep both