Bobby gets Back

[Year of the Dog]

Curious guys... what do we think the intention / strategy is with Murph playing down back?

Surely he will end up as the lead up fwd again before too long. Is handy down back, but certainly more value when on song and kicking goals.

Possibly doesn't get whacked around as much down back and the club are trying to keep him in cotton wool in the lead up to Sept??

Thoughts??

 

[always right]

Curious guys... what do we think the intention / strategy is with Murph playing down back?

Surely he will end up as the lead up fwd again before too long. Is handy down back, but certainly more value when on song and kicking goals.

Possibly doesn't get whacked around as much down back and the club are trying to keep him in cotton wool in the lead up to Sept??

Thoughts??

I imagine they are easing him back into match fitness without putting the enormous pressure on his body that comes from his twisting and turning when playing up forward. Looks to be a smart strategy. If they can help him build towards the finals he will be one of key weapons. He's the hardest match-up in our team for other sides by far.

 

[Runyon]

I am not sure what the plan is either but I thought his game yesterday was his best this year. If a return to form is just around the corner that can only be a good thing.

 

[bigbadbari]

If that was murphy's best game then his others must have been shite. Good at winning the ball at times but really bombed the ball to no one on far too many occasions and turned the ball over. I guess it is more eade's fault as it is obvious he is a forward.

 

[flight23]

yeah i thought he had some really basic turnovers by foot, he's easing back into it, the guys got a footy brain, so not that big a drama while we are winning, the next 2 weeks will be interesting for him and the match committee in regards as to where to play him

 

[#1 Dogs Fan]

The club is probably just easing him back into it. He should come good within the next month and then we should look at throwing him back up forward.

 

[Herfooty]

I think that that the match commitee are easing Bobby back into it and just allowing him to get a bit of the ball down back. I am sure he will be at CHF come September.

 

[gohardorgohome]

It's much easier to run forward with the whole ground in front of you as a backman, than to have to make U turns when playing up front. Also forwards often have to mark balls at their feet at top pace with a defender in close pursuit. I can feel a hammy twang coming on just thinking about that.

Playing as a defender is a perfect way for Murphy to regain match fitness and touch.

 

[tranquilli lace]

Didn't see the game on Saturday night, so curious as to what role he played against the Hawks? Is he coming into some form? I think he is going to be one of your keys come September - should be peaking around August, and hopefully not Friday night!

 

[Tortilla]

Didn't see the game on Saturday night, so curious as to what role he played against the Hawks? Is he coming into some form?

He has played in the backline the last 3 weeks.

 

[Morris Major]

I think it's been an excellent move in the last few weeks, especially now that we have Higgins injury-free (touch wood) our forward line can be a bit crowded.Bob Murphy is an excellent mark and a class player without a doubt, by adding him to the backline we can have him make some good passes when we're playing out of our defence. At times with guys like Lake and Morris they struggle a little bit with their decision making, and having Bob there would definitely help.

Now with Gia's injury Rocket might want to ease him back into the forward line, but who knows, he's so good down back they just might keep him there.

 

[stefoid]

yeah, I think eade is prioritizing attack from the back half at the expense of our forwards. Remember, he has trialled Welsh in defence too. I think we are searching for that extra tallish defender who uses the ball well.

Personally I think we could do worse than give callan ward a run in that position.

Also, it seems to me that Johno has been playing further from goal, so maybe he is taking up some of that lead-up-forward role that murph usually plays.

 

[dogwatch]

Starting to wonder if this is more than a temporary ploy ...

We have already shown the footy world the value of having 10 regular goalscorers - any one of whom could bob up with 3 or 4 on a given day. The opposition simply don't know who to man up on to stop the flow of goals.

We also have the regular midfield-forward rotations (esp Aker, Cooney, Higgins, etc) which must confuse the taggers.

With experiments like Harbrow, Welsh, Murphy I think Rocket is developing greater flexibility and unpredictability. I think Welsh is only ever going to be an occasional defender (eg if we need to drop a tall back as a spare man in defence in the last quarter) but Harbrow and Murphy, both proven forwards with excellent delivery, can now play in defence and provide some great inside 50s. But if things go pear-shaped (which they haven't for many weeks) then Eade knows he can switch his players around to provide a spark, shake a tag, create uncertainty or whatever.

So maybe he's thinking that other sides had worked out our defence. We have a good bunch of stoppers but did not have so much creative play from the back half. Most of it centred on Gilbee and other clubs sussed that out and started tagging him. But with Gilbee, Harbrow and Murphy all providing quality ball into the forward line it's much harder to stop us.

My tip is that Murphy, like Harbrow, will start down back for a while yet (maybe even in the finals) and might only get a run up forward if we need a mid-match shake-up.

Didn't Sheedy do this a few years ago ... get his whole side to be able to play almost anywhere?

 

[jeemak]

Ultimately Murphy will play up on the half forward line. And I think Harbrow is a chance to spend some time up forward towards the end of the season as well. While our spread of goal kickers is good now, adding Harbrow and Murphy towards the end of the season will only create more headaches for the opposition.

It works well at the other end too, who would have thought at the start of this year Murphy and Harbrow would be getting time in the backline, for any other reason than plugging a whole in a crunch?

 

[Gridlock'd]

So maybe he's thinking that other sides had worked out our defence. We have a good bunch of stoppers but did not have so much creative play from the back half. Most of it centred on Gilbee and other clubs sussed that out and started tagging him. But with Gilbee, Harbrow and Murphy all providing quality ball into the forward line it's much harder to stop us.

My tip is that Murphy, like Harbrow, will start down back for a while yet (maybe even in the finals) and might only get a run up forward if we need a mid-match shake-up.

Didn't Sheedy do this a few years ago ... get his whole side to be able to play almost anywhere?

Good point.

Everyone knows that we like to go through Gilbee when coming out of defence, so most clubs now employ a defensive forward to play on him, which can really effect his influence on a game.

By having the likes of Harbrow and Murphy down back, it gives us an extra attacking flair when coming out of defence and can also free up Gilbee.

But still not sure whether Murphy will stay down there or not. Does not really matter really, hes awesome wherever he plays.

 

[dogupya]

Another masterstroke from the coaches.

We are one of the highest scoring teams in the comp, with or without Murph.
However, we are also known for being heavily scored against as well.

Bob is a magnificent defender who reads the play amazingly well, his body positioning is first class making him very hard to beat. So not only do we get another pure stopper down back, we get one who just happens to be the most gifted player at our club.

I for one appluade the move and think it is a massive reason why we have been so hard to penetrate in the last few weeks. Bob is great a t mopping up, finding space and always finds the right option.

If you think back to what Osbourne did to us in the finals, he didn't even look like getting near it on Sat night, while Murph was running rings around him.

Along with Harbrow to defence and Picken into the side, the best coaching move of the year so far. This is not to say he will stay there, but whilst we are scoring heavily there is no need for him to be up there, he can be the one providing the drive from Half back and giving Gilbs a chop out.

We also seem to be bypassing half forward a bit more these days and using a longer kick into the forward line. Big Wil has been fantastic in the last 4 weeks and it seems that he is finding that confidence he has been lacking, not to mention his team mates are now supremely confident in kicking the ball to him.