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This is ALL Pedlar's fault 
Roast How diabolical is our midfield?
- Thread starter Drummond
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Our midfield, and pretty much all over the ground reminds me of LLeyton Hewitt, or more recently, Alex De Minaur in the ATP tournaments. The top 4-ish teams have big servers and accurate, deep ground strokes, where they generate easy scores. We, on the other hand, have to scrap for every score with sheer effort and keeping the ball in court (analogous to I50's - of which we seem to generate enough of). We don't hit the lines, but keep the ball in safe zones well inside the baseline, to cover for our lack of talent back downfield, and our aversion to take any risks. We're often down two sets to love, before we start making the play, then wrestle back control, and sometimes even the game up, only to have the big servers / hitters kill us off in the fifth set.
No wonder we threw the kitchen sink at Gulden. We need to get a better mix of skilled outside runners in the midfield mix (much as Port have done), as it tends to hide the potential failings in other parts of the ground...i.e. you don't necessarily need stars up forward, if you generate clean, accurate entries. Hitting the scoreboard then means the defenders, etc. aren't always under the pump.
No wonder we threw the kitchen sink at Gulden. We need to get a better mix of skilled outside runners in the midfield mix (much as Port have done), as it tends to hide the potential failings in other parts of the ground...i.e. you don't necessarily need stars up forward, if you generate clean, accurate entries. Hitting the scoreboard then means the defenders, etc. aren't always under the pump.
SSSSSS
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Pardon the intrusion but I can't help but notice the parallels when we had our midfield woes with Tom Mitchell/JOM and yours currently with Crouch/Laird.
Clarkson persisted with the two slow inside mids who lacked any hurt factor to the detriment of the side. It took a shake up from Sam Mitchell trying to introduce pace and skill by adding Day + Newcombe into the mix and essentially binning these two stalwarts before our midfield started to make any progress. We've still got a long way to go and Sam has mentioned that adding a midfielder with X-factor + speed is a priority for our list moving forward (we have strong links with Bailey Smith).
I think in modern footy you can carry one slow midfielder but two is a death sentence (unless they're ridiculously good at generating clearances or hurting on the outside). Hopefully you don't take it the wrong way but I don't think Laird and Crouch are in the 'ridiculously good' category.
Crouch and Laird are good in congestion though, so this then clearly becomes to our advantage
JOM and Mitchell are doing OK at their new clubs, but also interesting not playing dead in the middle with similar types all the bloody time.
There is no reason we can't do the same with Crouch and Laird in different roles, and we don't even have to kick them to another club to make that change!
SSSSSS
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Daicos, Crisp and Mitchell at least has a good mix up for speed, skill and power to complement the inside grunt work Mitchell does.
I don't think JOM is featuring too much for Freo lately in the middle but they have a great midfield combo of Serong and Brayshaw who have the speed to play in a modern midfield.
I know Laird started his career off in the back half. I don't think Crouch has ever had much success outside the guts?
We played JOM and Mitchell off the HFF and occasionally rotating in for a CBA when Sam first started coaching the club. They weren't very good at the position.
JOM has been sub a lot from what I’ve seen
Kane McGoodwin
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Laird yes but don't think Crouch is anything but an inside midfielder.
Lleyton Hewitt won his first ATP tournament at 16. He won the US Open thrashing an all time great in Pete Sampras when he was 20. He went onto win Wimbledon and was the ATP player of the year in 2001 & 2002.
He was the youngest player to hold the no.1 world ranking until 2022 when Alcaraz was younger. He was world no.1 for 75 consecutive weeks, and in 2002 he was only the 4th player in history to hold the no.1 ranking for an entire season.
Leyton was a truly great player.
We are nothing like Leyton Hewitt
Yes, but if he had weapons, he'd have been elite - and that's what we lack. He won through more determination than anything else.
UcantCme
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and lacks any hurt factor, he’s lost power in his legs to burst from contests or penetrate with his kicking
he’s purely a contest / handball player
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UcantCme
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hoping that this latest injury with Harry gives him a real hunger to work hard and give it a real crack
he may not get to elite level but no reasons why he can’t have an impact at AFL level
Berry, he’s hit his ceiling IMO
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With Rankine and Rachele in the middle we look half decent.
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Even better with Gollant as a ruckman instead of ROB. Could you imagine how good it could be if we had someone like Gawn?
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Hmm, I wonder how long it takes Nicks to use the rest of my playbook?
The results currently aren’t showing, but I’m happy to see the midfield is evolving into a much more dynamic group. I think this has been the plan all along with the selection of Rachele and Soligo from the drafting and then playing them straight away in their first year, with some stints in the midfield.
The future likely midfield group in Rachele, Rankine, Dawson, Soligo and Pedlar/Berry is a better balance with better attacking options than the group we had at the start of the rebuild (Crouch bros, Laird, Sloane, Keays).
The future likely midfield group in Rachele, Rankine, Dawson, Soligo and Pedlar/Berry is a better balance with better attacking options than the group we had at the start of the rebuild (Crouch bros, Laird, Sloane, Keays).
This is for sale
So we will look very good with Soligo and an inform Dawson in there. Will need Pedlar in there to provide the explosive power and Berry back to his 2022 form to be the pressure beast.
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Quoting myself but this was obvious after round 2.
Robbing Peter to pay Paul...
We are patching holes in the midfield because we have failed to draft quality mids ...
We traded and drafted them for their scoring potential not to play midfield which many don't seem to understand either. If Rachele and Rankine can both turn into premier elite mids, so be it. But you can't rely on them to kick 5 goals between them every game if they are playing midfield. Plus midfielders who become goal hungry can turn into downhill skiers where they dont defend as hard as they should. One of the main criticisms of Boak and Gray during their midfield time at Port.
Both played midfield in their junior years.....
