Fremantle's Midfield Strength.

[Takahashi Tank]

I could not find a thread on this topic so I apologize if I have missed one.

Duffield (ave 21) is not included as appears to be more of a defender (ala Shaw (ave 21) , Gilbert (ave 22) and Enright (ave 24) etc.

Barlow (ave 27), Broughton (ave 24), Mundy (ave 23) and S.Hill (ave 17) appear to be the top 4 followed by Pavelich (19), Palmer (ave 19) and Fyfe (ave 16). So in essence only 3 midfielders averaged over 20 this year.

I am curious how you rank the above midfield against the other most likely finalists for next year as this ultimately decides who wins Grand Finals.


Either way, all the best for 2011.

 

[docker_champ29]

I think that we were ranked 15th in the league for overall disposals last season so I wouldn't look to much in to that. We're just an efficient team.

 

[Clay Davis]

What is the point of this thread?

 

[docker_champ29]

What is the point of this thread?

To prove to himself that we're not a threat because he is scared.

 

[jmadrox]

two disposals from steven hill and you could have gone coast to coast at Subi twice. so i would rank 17 from him higher than 24 from broughton.

how do I rank it? i rank it as one of the top 3 midfields in the making. What about Morabito? Hill, Fyfe, Palmer, Barlow, Morabito, are still in their first few years of footy.

And like Champ said, we are just efficient.
Ranked 15th in Kicks Per Game
Ranked 13th in Handballs Per Game
Ranked 15th in Disposals Per Game
Ranked 14th in Marks Per Game

Kicks Handballs Disposals Marks
Fremantle Dockers 185.2 159 344.2 86.8
Opponent 204.2 183.1 387.3 96.4
-19 -24.1 -43.1 -9.7

Dee's ranked 5th in disposals, and came 12th overall...

 

[Nickos66]

Efficiency is king. Our gameplan is such that fumbling around with the ball and raking up big numbers is a waste of time when our backs/mids just pretty much run it out themselves and setup the attack.

 

[Takahashi Tank]

Not at all and to confirm the point of this thread...with all the many threads on key position player desires on this board, there seems to be very little discussion on your midfield. That is all.

Whether you believe it or not, if Collingwood does not go back to back, Fremantle and Hawthorn are the teams I am "not scared" losing to.

From the tone of the replies though, it seems you are obviously either very happy with your midfield and that it requires no discussion or that it is a subject that cannot be discussed with opposition supporters so I guess that is that.

Once again, good luck for 2011.

 

[jmadrox]

From the tone of the replies though, it seems you are obviously either very happy with your midfield and that it requires no discussion or that it is a subject that cannot be discussed with opposition supporters so I guess that is that.

Dunno bout the rest of the people on here, but i am happy. And for sure we dont mind discussing, what would you like to talk about(Specifically)? normally easties dont know or care or know about who actually plays for us.

 

[Nickos66]

Yeah I wouldn't worry too much about those immediately on the back foot in here.

Most people on here are pretty content with our midfield. Some think we could use a little more inside grunt but I don't really think there's a glaring deficiency there when the whole squad is up & firing.

 

[Takahashi Tank]

Thankyou jmadrox.

I guess what i wanted a discussion on is that if fremantle are to win a Grand Final soon it will be based around a strong midfield as is usually the case remembering that it would be a very different final compared to one in perth.

If your "window" is actually open now or close to, it appears from the above comments that your midfield is indeed good enough to win a final in melbourne next year or the year after.

Perhaps the continuing trend of Pav for midfield bursts and Tendai releasing Broughton may be enough combined with a Hill and/or Morabito improving.

IMO only, your midfield is the weakest part of your team (especially when playing away) but it seems by the effective stats highlighted that no concern is needed and all the excitement on this board is justified.

 

[Boppo]

Its a good question, our midfield has plenty of potential but last year it wasn't a killer squad. At various stages Hill was tagged out of the game completely, Palmer was ordinary, Suban and of course Barlow went down with injuries and suddenly our midfield was being propped up by Schammer and a handful of first timers in Fyfe, Morabito and Crichton.

I dont think other midfields would fear our developing squad but if we keep the efficincies up, a few defences might. If that makes sense.

 

[Selggad]

Our midfield has been a big weakness for a long time, demonstrated by our poor standing in the clearances. Last year saw a turnaround as we ranked 5th for the year whereas we have previously ranked around 15th for several years. This is due to the move of Mundy into the middle (1st in CL per game), Sandi's continued dominance (2nd) and good support from Pav (3rd), Barlow and Palmer (equal 5th). With the further development of Mora, Fyfe, Broughton, Suban and others, we should see further improvement in our clearance team and we defintely have the support of good running players to go with them (Hill, Mora and Fyfe again, Duffield). Also, Palmer was equal 5th for clearances per game but only played 9 games for a variety of reasons. With his fitness back up there and into the 2nd year after a knee reconstruction we are expecting a much better return from him in 2011. If Barlow can come back into something like his starting form by the middle of next year, our midfield is pretty potent. Also we can rotate Ibbotson, McPhee, Crowley, DeBoer Ballantyne, Crichton and Van Berlo. That is some reasonable depth. Whether it can go toe to toe with Collingwood or St Kilda at this stage is a good question, but I reckon we can match Geelong and the Bullies who I am tipping as sliders. Melbourne may be a tough team to beat in the middle next year with their youth and speed. Also North's though I think we have our nose in front of them in development. Carlton's mids I think are over-rated and without Judd they lose a lot of grunt. Hawthorn I think we can beat in the middle now, they seem to have fallen away there, though their KPFs are still the benchmark when they are on.

I guess I am saying I reckon our midfield should be top 3 - 5 next year.

 

[jmadrox]

Our midfield has been a big weakness for a long time, demonstrated by our poor standing in the clearances. Last year saw a turnaround as we ranked 5th for the year whereas we have previously ranked around 15th for several years. This is due to the move of Mundy into the middle (1st in CL per game), Sandi's continued dominance (2nd) and good support from Pav (3rd), Barlow and Palmer (equal 5th). With the further development of Mora, Fyfe, Broughton, Suban and others, we should see further improvement in our clearance team and we defintely have the support of good running players to go with them (Hill, Mora and Fyfe again, Duffield). Also, Palmer was equal 5th for clearances per game but only played 9 games for a variety of reasons. With his fitness back up there and into the 2nd year after a knee reconstruction we are expecting a much better return from him in 2011. If Barlow can come back into something like his starting form by the middle of next year, our midfield is pretty potent. Also we can rotate Ibbotson, McPhee, Crowley, DeBoer Ballantyne, Crichton and Van Berlo. That is some reasonable depth. Whether it can go toe to toe with Collingwood or St Kilda at this stage is a good question, but I reckon we can match Geelong and the Bullies who I am tipping as sliders. Melbourne may be a tough team to beat in the middle next year with their youth and speed. Also North's though I think we have our nose in front of them in development. Carlton's mids I think are over-rated and without Judd they lose a lot of grunt. Hawthorn I think we can beat in the middle now, they seem to have fallen away there, though their KPFs are still the benchmark when they are on.

I guess I am saying I reckon our midfield should be top 3 - 5 next year.

very well said. I agree. THe MF have been beaten considerably when away this year, but they also had some good wins. I dont count the Geelong final, that was boys against men in the end.

I also believe our current greatest weakness in the MF is the lack of big bodies. Mora is only in his 2nd year but is one of the bigger guys ( Excluding the Pav, Sandi and Mundy). Hill can get tagged out of games, but if we can get a few more people contributing in the centre, he will do much better.

I think we have a very different set up ( be it a strength or weakness, that is yet to be determined) to CW and Geelong, we dont have a real core group of midfielders, but many of the guys rotate through the centre. I think Broughton will have a break out year like Mundy did last year.

When Barlow is back to 100%, i'd feel a lot more happy with them though. Wont be an early comeback IMHO. When he does play his first game, you can bet ur a** it will be a home game and he will come out the the biggest roar.

The addition of JA has helped, but i have felt that we lacked a central target up forward. I like the way CW can score with so many players, but if we can get a little focus forward, it would go a long way.

 

[yakka man]

very well said. I agree. THe MF have been beaten considerably when away this year, but they also had some good wins. I dont count the Geelong final, that was boys against men in the end.

I also believe our current greatest weakness in the MF is the lack of big bodies. Mora is only in his 2nd year but is one of the bigger guys ( Excluding the Pav, Sandi and Mundy). Hill can get tagged out of games, but if we can get a few more people contributing in the centre, he will do much better.

I think we have a very different set up ( be it a strength or weakness, that is yet to be determined) to CW and Geelong, we dont have a real core group of midfielders, but many of the guys rotate through the centre. I think Broughton will have a break out year like Mundy did last year.



When Barlow is back to 100%, i'd feel a lot more happy with them though. Wont be an early comeback IMHO. When he does play his first game, you can bet ur a** it will be a home game and he will come out the the biggest roar.

The addition of JA has helped, but i have felt that we lacked a central target up forward. I like the way CW can score with so many players, but if we can get a little focus forward, it would go a long way.

I am curious to find out what a break out year for Broughton would entail. He is already in our top 5 best players IMO. Contrary to what people say our midfield is still developing. Barlow showed the whole midfield how easy it is to play in a midfield with the number 1 ruckman in the game tapping the ball down too you. Inside mids who can rack up high possies is what we are missing and in that regard hopefully Palmer can come back in good touch and Ibbo can take a giant leap. We've got heaps of exciting talent in terms of outside mids but if you compare our midfield to St Kilda, Geelog and Collingwood we are still a far way off. But as some one said earlier we can still match these teams and put up a fight which shows how efficient we are.

 

[Sailor]

I'm amazed, Freo rotate so many players through the middle that trying to draw on stats is a meaningless exercise. Not that I'm saying that we don't need to improve, we do. But I think most Freo supporters would say that it's shaping up pretty well.

On the subject of Hill, I note two comments simply saying that Hill can get tagged out of games. So can Judd, so can Ablett but while he can, he rarely does get tagged out. Notwithstanding the fact that we are talking about a second year player ... give me a break. The fact that he is being heavily tagged tells the true story. Oh, and how is the number 1 draft pick going?

Our midfield is young, we will have natural progression in that area but there are a heap of talented players in the mix and with generally good size and excellent skills.

All aboard.

 

[IAMJUNGLEMUFFIN]

Not at all and to confirm the point of this thread...with all the many threads on key position player desires on this board, there seems to be very little discussion on your midfield. That is all.

Whether you believe it or not, if Collingwood does not go back to back, Fremantle and Hawthorn are the teams I am "not scared" losing to.

From the tone of the replies though, it seems you are obviously either very happy with your midfield and that it requires no discussion or that it is a subject that cannot be discussed with opposition supporters so I guess that is that.

Once again, good luck for 2011.

Not sure if that means you are or are'nt considering those two teams a legitimate threat, but as we saw throught the year, Hawthorn on their day can knock off anyone. They rolled your mob r22 this year.

As for Fremantle, if we get even remotely close to winning a similair amount of the ball as our opposition, they're in trouble. You don't play us until late 2011, after that you will fear playing us come finals.

 

[Righteo]

It's undoubtedly the best midfield we've ever had, although in 2002-04 Bell, Hasleby and Pavlich was pretty handy.

Probably been stated ad nauseum but I think so much of the midfield's success next year depends on whether or not Palmer can get back to, and hopefully improve on, his best footy.

With Barlow uncertain to return early we need a dominant inside midfielder.

Also really hoping Fyfe, Broughton and Walters can get serious gametime in the middle.

 

[im_a_lazy_sod]

Maybe by saying that Collingwood are "not scared of losing to us" is due to the fact that it will be our home game and likely that we will beat them anyway so there is no fear of losing there - I dunno about the Hawthorn one though lol

 

[Takahashi Tank]

Just to clarify...I rate Fremantle and enjoy how they play and a loss to Fremantle (or Hawthorn) would be easier to take than say from St.Kilda.

I used the word "scared" as a nod to someone who posted that being "scared" of Fremantle was the motivation for this thread.

Back on topic it does indeed seem the consensus is that you do have the midfield cattle but are just needing them to get the experience and mature bodies which I guess answers my question as to if your 'window" is open now.

 

[theGav56]

We can run a midfield of Barlow, Palmer, Mundy, Crowley, MacPhee, Ballantyne and/or Pavlich etc if we need experience. At the moment you can't simply name our midfield. Too many options.

 

[se17enteen]

No point getting 10 possessions and only gaining 5m, give it to hill there’s 200m in only one possession.

 

[E Shed]

Mundy and Barlow are our prime movers. Palmer was our number 1 gruntworker.
Remains to be seen how the second 2 go next year.
Pav, Crowley, Broughton, McPhee, DeBoer setup in there at times.
Hill & Morabito are our young Ferraris
Fyfe and Ibbotson are doing endurance training and will be included in the midfield group this year. Fyfe has shown a talent for getting the ball out from in tight, Ibbotson is a bit of an unknown.

It's not up with the likes of Swan, Ball, Pedlebury etc yet but I see enough diversity and talent in the above to be at least competitive with most. Plenty of grunt, pace and class and of course the best big man in the game directing traffic.

 

[Clay Davis]

It's not up with the likes of Swan, Ball, Pedlebury etc yet

True, but no one thought anyone had a combination the likes of Ablett, Bartel and Selwood at the end of last year.

Like you, I think we have the right ingredients.

 

[prattsta]

It's not up with the likes of Swan, Ball, Pedlebury etc yet but I see enough diversity and talent in the above to be at least competitive with most.

Barlow, Mundy, Hill is right up there with Swan, Ball, Pendlebury. It's just the 'etc' that makes the difference. At the moment Collingwood has a really even spread of talent that's capable of rotating through the midfield, whereas Fremantle don't. Yet.

 

[SPEEDWAGON]

We would like to have the best midfield but there is more to the game. I think if we are close enough to them we can expose other advantages.

We have the best Ruckman - He has thrashed Jolly on every occasion he has played him

We have a better forward line than the Pies, Even with one of their rejects

Collingwoods defence is better than ours, they did pick up our best defender!