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- Aug 25, 2014
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My only issue with Austin is the continual investment into slow players over the last couple of years. Elijah is a fantastic pick up but one paced, Ollie is in a bad form slump this year but same thing for pace. Motlop is a natural small forward but lacks speed off the mark, Moir slow off the mark too.
I've really liked some of his pick ups, I just think we've gone a bit too far for balance in terms of speed around the ground. Something we really should be able to address in an off season if we play our cards right... Just need to have identified it as an issue like he did with the wings in 2022.
Might still win the flag this year anyway as our best is great, but the speed is definitely an issue for us.
I agree with most of this. The trouble is it’s hard to find the speedy players that are also tough enough to not be a liability in the contest. And that burst pace at stoppages is so hard to come by (e.g. LDU types).
Ollie is starting to become a concern for me. May just be second year blues but I’m not seeing what the stand out qualities are. Doesn’t seem to have natural ball winning ability, awareness seems a little lacking (gets run down once a match), is slow to move the ball on, and gets shrugged off in tackles. Cannot at all fault his effort, bravery or attitude so hopefully he becomes the player we need him to be. We have most of the pieces to be a premiership team so there’s no need to panic. However, we could get stronger if we can address:
We need a mobile tall key back to partner Weiters and allow him a bit more freedom and to let Gov play as a genuine third tall.
We need a lockdown small defender who excels in strong body work to quell the oppos best small forward.
We need to find another wing to partner Acres. The other wing is currently a liability and the oppo is working us over on that wing.
We need burst speed like you say, especially around stoppage. This is not easy to find though so we may have to back in our strong contested game and tweak around the edges with quick ball movement and dare and getting the selection mix right.