Forward Structure 2010

[Silvagnis]

I was just taking a look at the first and third quarters in the win over Collingwood to look for a bit of play of involving Austin killing Davis with a shepherd.

The thing I noticed was Hampson showing good agility and nous as a leading forward in the first and third quarters.

Hampson blocked an opponent 70 out to allow Kreuzer to take an uncontested mark and run off to produce an inside 50.

Fevola had a quick snapp across his body to Hampson who expected it to go through.

Hampson doubled back, slipped over, but recovered to knock Maxwell over, held his feet, chased the ball, rode Maxwell's bump to maintain his speed and free up Waite for a snap by blocking Clarke and Brown. For a big man, Hampson showed speed and agility on a 30 metre sprint after he doubled back from the square.

Hammer was hunting the ball and the defenders with the speed and agility of a small forward.

I'm mindful of not pumping Hampson up because he is incredibly raw, but he holds his feet and doesn't go to ground, so we'll always get a contest.

Could be anything if he can learn to lead and clunk the marks.

Or take them on the chest on the lead.

SH weighted a perfect kick to Garlett after a mark, but McGrath was too strong and muscled his way to the front.

I hope that we'll be including both Kreuzer and Hampson in our planning for the forwardline over the pre-season to give us more options.

 

[BlueGibbs2011]

I was just taking a look at the first and third quarters in the win over Collingwood to look for a bit of play of involving Austin killing Davis with a shepherd.

The thing I noticed was Hampson showing good agility and nous as a leading forward in the first and third quarters.

Hampson blocked an opponent 70 out to allow Kreuzer to take an uncontested mark and run off to produce an inside 50.

Fevola had a quick snapp across his body to Hampson who expected it to go through.

Hampson doubled back, slipped over, but recovered to knock Maxwell over, held his feet, chased the ball, rode Maxwell's bump to maintain his speed and free up Waite for a snap by blocking Clarke and Brown. For a big man, Hampson showed speed and agility on a 30 metre sprint after he doubled back from the square.

Hammer was hunting the ball and the defenders with the speed and agility of a small forward.

I'm mindful of not pumping Hampson up because he is incredibly raw, but he holds his feet and doesn't go to ground, so we'll always get a contest.

Could be anything if he can learn to lead and clunk the marks.

Or take them on the chest on the lead.

I hope that we'll be including both Kreuzer and Hampson in our planning for the forwardline over the pre-season to give us more options.

Is there some good examples of a player who started out a bit weak in contested marks but then in later years turned it around? Right now all I can think of is Hampson clunking 1-2 out of many chances.

This is not a bag Hampson post. I'm just interested if someone improved out of site (development-wise) in the contested marking area? It is something people quite often label as a skill you have or don't have.

If he can turn it around, then we have a great FWD option.

 

[dumb]

henderson / setanta lead up chf's, with one staying at home. setanta was sort of doing it before he got injured. just so long as we have a taller lead up option this time around... not keen on fisher trying to do the job.

if we were plonking one of the rucks forward i'd go with hampson, mostly because kreuzer's amazing in ruck.

 

[murphster]

Wow, what an exciting year next year is going to be. I have not been this excited about an upcoming season for such a long time. Big adjustments will be made because of the loss of Fevola, but these adjustments will make our team even stronger in the long term. Next year is a season we sit back and enjoy our team. Our side will have so much unknown about them. Not just the forward line but the midfield and defence as well. Its so hard to put our best 22 on paper now. I have tried but each time I leave a few guys like Carazzo, Grigg, Scotland, Browne, or Armfield out. But this thread is about our forwards so ill talk about that.

Our team has a number of guys that could quite successfully take up a Key Position Post. Waite, Henderson, Ohailpin, are three KPF/KPD that have either done well in the position in the past or in Hendo's case is itching to make a Key Position his own.

Waite has played as a Key Forward before in the absence of Fevola and Whitnall and has dominated every time. Even last year he kicked 3 goals against Collingwood in round 8 and 3 goals against Freo in round 7. Waite was one of the leaders of our team in marks and is a very good kick for goal, kicking 10.2 for the year. Waite is such a fantastic agile forward and covers a lot of the ground. Waite would be an ideal CHF if we played him there all year! The problem that we have with Waite, is that when we take him out of defence, our defence doesn't look as strong. Waite does a fantastic job at CHB against great CHF like Riewoldt, Brown, and Franklin. The good news is that there are not many great CHF in the league. But Waite himself could be one of them. My suggestion (but I am not an expert, just a lover of the game) would be to use Waite as our first choice CHF, but to possibly move him to CHB in a game, if our defence is getting killed, or the other team is getting momentum. This would obviously lose a big body in our forward line but the answer to that I will explain further down.

Henderson - to be honest, I don't know to much about him. But I have been a big fan of Bluebears game by game analysis of him. From the photos I have seen he looks like a tank. Looks to have great upper body strength. Henderson came to Carlton seeking more opportunities as a forward and I think that it is at Full-Forward that we should initially use him. Henderson could be a great one on one full forward, similar to Bradshaw.

Setanta - Setanta is the final piece to this puzzle. I think he did such an amazing job midseason before Fev took him out in the Freo game, and he wasn't the same since. The way Fevola plays sharing a F50 with Fevola is nigh on impossible, unless your a small crumbing type like Betts. Setanta managed to be a second target, even if it was just for a few games, and succeeded where many other forwards before him couldn't - Hartlett, Edwards, Fisher, and even Kennedy couldn't share the F50 with Fev. Put him on the HFF or FP and I see Setanta playing a very similar role to the one Earl Spalding used to play for us. Crashing packs, making space, blocking for other forwards, leading up to the wings to provide a target, and chasing down opposition defenders are the traits our forward line needs but have in the past lacked. Setanta also showed last year that he now has a great set of hands. He is very tall at 200 cm and would be a nightmare for an oppositions third defender to pick up.

Our team also has a number of other options that could be used in the F50 at some stage if one of the above players get injured or Waite needs to move back to help out our defence. Kruezer and Hampson are the obvious ones, but also Austin and Thornton could be tried there. Fisher is also still on our list and I am sure will get named in our team at some stage of the season.

Kruezer is the most important of these options. In my opinion, Kruezer could be anything. Looking forward a few years, Kruezer could be the greatest ruckman since Madden, but if we moved him forward could also develop into the greatest CHF since Kernahan. What a dilemma to have!! Kruezer is a already a fantastic ruckman and has said himself that he sees Ruck as his preferred position on the ground. Therefore Kruezer as a ruckmen is the first option. But Kruezer is my answer to fill the gap if Waite does need to move back to help out the defence in a game.

So my first choice F50 would be

Waite - CHF
Hendo - FF
Setanta - HFF/FP

If Waite has to move back because our defence is getting smashed:

Setanta - CHF
Hendo - FF
Kruezer - HFF/FP

Agree fully on the big Setant, if he can finally string some games together he could be fantastic. Some of his marks on the lead and more importantly marks while crashing packs last year were senfrigginsational. If fit should get first crack at FF for an extended period, kicking should improve as our coaches seem to have improved everyones kicking out of site.

Hendo plays CHF first up with Waite as back up, Waite is coming back from a reco and will need time to recover his form, and will more than likely ping a hammy if worked to hard to early. Kreuser and Hampson can push forward when not rucking but both need to work on there leading by doing lots of 20mtr sprints over pre-season.

Other options for talls include T-Bird who is a great mark and his kicking has really improved tenfold, Austin not so sure about, same goes with Warnock, then we can not forget Fish who will be playing for his life, but as you can see there is no shortage of tall options to try and baffle the opposition with.

As for smalls again the list is endless, Eddie is an automatic FP selection, with Garlett another option. HFF can be occupied by plenty of options, based on pre-season reports Yarran gets first crack on 1 flank as his foot skills are sublime and hopefully after another full PS his fitness is now up to the desired level, if so look out. The other flank is rotational with players like Houlihan, Murphy, Judd, Gibbs, Wiggo, Fish and numerous others depending on opposition set ups. So we should look something like this:

Forward Line: Betts - Setanta - Kreuser/Hampson/Garlett

Half Forward: Yarran/Fish - Hendo/Waite - Houli/Judd/Murph/Gibbs/etc.....


Either way we will be unpredictable and that spells danger for opposition sides, just a shame we missed out on McGuire who would have given us even more flexibility. It may take time and patience but in the end we should be a better side post Fev.

 

[murphster]

Is there some good examples of a player who started out a bit weak in contested marks but then in later years turned it around? Right now all I can think of is Hampson clunking 1-2 out of many chances.

This is not a bag Hampson post. I'm just interested if someone improved out of site (development-wise) in the contested marking area? It is something people quite often label as a skill you have or don't have.

If he can turn it around, then we have a great FWD option.

Setanta has improved his contested marking tenfold, and is similar to Hampson in that he doesn't have a junior AFL background, time and practice make perfect.

 

[BlueFeaver]

IMO many are forgetting how Waite actually plays the game, as a result I feel he will not play that conventional CHF role:

My take on the Team
B: Joseph Jamo Thornton
HB: Russell Bower Robinson
C: Simpson Mclean Walker
HF: Waite Carlos Gibbs
F: Betts Hendo Houla

Foll: Kruz, Judd, Murphy

Int: Warnock, Yarran, Grigg, Carrazzo

Waite will not be able to play CHF in his first year back after a major injury, plus not to mention I feel we need someone who will make space and crach packs. Waite will be best used floating in and out of the F50......evens sometime going into the D50.

Carlos will be the crach and bash type CHF...........one of his greatest assetss is his commitment and his tank, this will allow him to use both of those effectively.

Most will say Robo in the back line...........when I first saw him play I thought what an awesome defender he would make. He has good pace and amazing courage! We need a tough as nails defender down back and I think in years to come he will be be feared.

Gibbs will get a tag next year as he is known as our qtr back, the strategy here is to hopefully allow him to work up the ground and link up for F50 supply.

Hendo is a gamble due to not knowing how he will play this position, but he is strapping young lad and will be great IMO.

I know many are saying they would love to see Kruz play FF, but I feel you need to put people in their most comfortable postions where you can extract the most out of them. If we played him deep in the F50 we would not be utilising all his great attributes......for me he is a ruck that is like an extra mid-fielder.

Exciting times!

 

[mediumsizered]

Is there some good examples of a player who started out a bit weak in contested marks but then in later years turned it around? Right now all I can think of is Hampson clunking 1-2 out of many chances.

Fev was very ordinary at marking in his early days. I remember watching him in 2001 & 2002 & wondering how good he could be if he ever actually learned how to mark the ball. At that stage he didn't seem to have his hands in the right position to grasp the ball. Of course hindsight tells us he overcame this & has become one of the strongest marks in the game.

I'm quietly confident that Hammer will eventually start holding his marks & then will become an extremely damaging player, both around the ground & up forward.

 

[murphster]

henderson / setanta lead up chf's, with one staying at home. setanta was sort of doing it before he got injured. just so long as we have a taller lead up option this time around... not keen on fisher trying to do the job.

if we were plonking one of the rucks forward i'd go with hampson, mostly because kreuzer's amazing in ruck.

Actually as effective tapwork goes Hampson actually has it over Kreuser at the moment, however Kreuser is better when there is a spillage and a second or third effort is needed.

 

[shell23]

HF: Chris Yarran Jarrod Waite Andrew Walker

F: Eddie Betts Lachie Henderson Matthew Kreuzer​

Others: Robinson, Garlett, O'hAilpin, Houlihan, Lucas (?)​

Love it

 

[Bluebear]

HF - Yarran - Henderson - Walker/Houlihan/Robinson/Garlett
F - Waite - Austin - Betts

Thornton, Bower and Jamison to start as the talls down back. Kreuzer to start in the ruck.