Eagles lack of forward marking power: article in the Hun

[Vigour]

couldn't see a discussion re this article anywhere?:

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,23469379-19742,00.html

I think it makes a valid point, and bolsters the case for including McKinley and Kennedy, dropping Hansen.

and of course we miss Le Cras in this regard also.

 

[Prem87]

Thanks for posting this i was trying to find it on the Herald Sun website. I read it in the papers this morning and I just didnt realise how crap our forward line has been functioning. We are too reliant on our midfield and have been forever basically. Our forwards dont have structure and cant time leads and if we do their all outside of 50. I guess the counter argument that we can always say is that our forward line is always so congested, but Worsfold likes to man up lose players in theri anyways. Furthermore, our midfield got smashed last week and so supply was very little for the forwards so you really cant blame them for not taking any marks.
We really need to lift our game and change things around because what we're doing currently and for the past few years is not working. Our forward line is inefficient, ineffective.

 

[WCFaithful]

true but unfortunately the blame cant all be placed on the ff and hf. Its a team game and without a team effort it aint gonna happen anyway. Lets hope this weekend is a turning point for effort across the field and a much better delivery into the goal kicking arena

 

[Vigour]

....We really need to lift our game and change things around because what we're doing currently and for the past few years is not working. ....

yep. I know rain is forecast for this weekend's game, so people might say who needs to worry about this, but there is a pattern here and we need to think longer term!

 

[Lynch takes a mark]

Didn't see the article but nothing new - we NEED to start structuring like Collingwood and Geelong if we are going to get back on track.

2 tall forwards (Kennedy & Lynch imo) 3 smalls and 1 tagger (McKinley, LeCras, Wirra and either Scooter or Army doing the tagging) playing 3 talls deep with an unaccountable crumber in wirra will kill us this weekend because it just doesn't work.

Geelong get tremdous value from Johnson, Gamble, Stokes, Chapman & to a lesser extent Byrnes because they are natural forwards with goal kicking ability, Mooney takes lots of marks outside the 50 and moves it on quickly to 1 on 1 targets, Hawkins the same, doing a great job up the ground the past couple of weeks. Pies were 5 points away from a grand final with a similar set up (Davis, Thomas, Didak, Medhurst + 2 talls in cloke and rocca)

They rarely 'go tall' even when they have a huge run on in the midfield this is because talls just can't make as much space. it's no surprise that when Army was in the team late in 06 Lynch was taking more marks and kicking more goals than at any other time in his career, Army wasn't very good but he at least worked hard both ways.

Something needs to be done and soon

 

[Jimmy_the_Gent]

The gameplan is about bombing long to targets. At least that's what it looked like against the crows.

Of course these targets are going to struggle to hold one on one contested marks in a stationary contest or pack contested marks. The thing is we don't have crumbers.

And what's the deal with the article using 2 games as a sample space? That's a touch handicapped.

 

[Vigour]

....when Army was in the team late in 06 Lynch was taking more marks and kicking more goals than at any other time in his career, Army wasn't very good but he at least worked hard both ways. ...

yep, good point - defensive pressure in the forward line is part of the picture. to be fair, when Ash Hansen is up and going, he creates a lot of space too, but right now he's not giving that.

 

[Prem87]

And what's the deal with the article using 2 games as a sample space? That's a touch handicapped.

The article also talks about how we were ranked 13/14th for marks inside F50 in 05/06...so essentially things havent changed. We relied on our midfield not only to set up but to kick goals aswell, Judd was our 2nd
highest goal kicked during that time.

It is a long term trend that hasnt been resolved.

 

[bigburger]

Thats bloody embarressing. I hope Woosha is taking it upon himself to fix this cause if he doesn't where in for a long season. FFS bring Kennedy in and put Hansen in the goal square. Also RUN FORWARDS and create space. This last point especially is attributed to our slow midfield movement and also the crap disposal seen over the past two weeks. Its taking the confidents out of our boys in other teammates and their staying back in the packs thinking they will have to mop up.

 

[Alphanumeric]

The gameplan is about bombing long to targets. At least that's what it looked like against the crows.

Of course these targets are going to struggle to hold one on one contested marks in a stationary contest or pack contested marks. The thing is we don't have crumbers.

And what's the deal with the article using 2 games as a sample space? That's a touch handicapped.

I reckon if you go back and watch all the games we have lost in the passed 3 years it was because of the bomb it long into 50 game plan.

Unless we have a Brown, Franklin, Hall, Fev etc in our forward 50 this game plan doesn't work.

 

[wce4premiership]

That really is shocking, i had o idea it was that bad.

We don't have anyone of contested marking calibre barring seaby and hunter.

 

[Prem87]

CLUB
Contested Marks
Uncontested Marks
Total Marks
Average

Geelong
9
38
47
23.5
W Bulldogs
11
31
42
21
Adelaide
6
34
40
20
Sydney
9
29
38
19
Hawks
11
22
33
16.5
Saints
6
25
31
15.5
Tigers
12
18
30
15
Melbourne
7
22
29
14.5
Carlton
2
24
26
13
Kangaroos
6
19
25
12.5
Essendon
6
18
24
12
Freo
6
18
24
12
Collingwood
8
14
22
11
Port Adelaide
5
16
21
10.5
Brisbane
7
12
19
9.5

EAGLES
3
9
12​

6


(Sorry the table came out crap i hope it makes sense)

This table from article makes our case even worse We average 6 marks a game - 17 less than Geelong. If we are going to win the flag something has to change Fast!

 

[dogeatdog]

good article!! you would think the coaching staff are ahead of the trend and have plans in place to retify it!! looking forward to an improvement in this area

 

[ajl9470]

On last weeks effort it wouldn't matter how well the forwards were in position, no-one wanted to kick the ball, the amount of handballing to guys out of position was embarrassing. I have never in all my time as a eagles supporter seen such rubbish, with putting blokes under the hammer by handballing to them when they are clearly out of position.