Our midfield is struggling ...

[ScottMaginness]

I've seen a few posts calling for Sewell to be dropped. He strikes me as being in a better patch of form than anytime i can recall last year. If he's going to be dropped it is because there is a better option. He's not going to get any better spending time at Box Hill.

Some of the issues in mid-field clearances have been evident past couple of seasons. An over-reliance on Mitchell at centre bounces, players not able to pick up the ball cleanly quickly enough, and outside players either not positioning well or not getting to the contest in time. We have a player in best position to collect the ball as often as the other team, but too often due to pressure, tackling and fumbling that player either fails to break free or goes to ground and the spillage is collected by the other team for a clearance. And this happens time and again.

 

[Hawk88]

Compare our midfield to the other top 6 teams

Collingwood
Pendles, swan, daisy, ball, beams, Blair, sidebottom

Geelong
Selwood, bartel, chapman, Corey, Kelly

West coast
Shuey, Kerr, Selwood, masten, priddis

Sydney
Kennedy, goodes, bird, smith, hannerbery, jack, bolton

Carlton
Judd, Murphy, Gibbs, Simpson, Robinson, carrazzo,

Then us

Lewis hodge mitchell Sewell burger rioli whitecross

Looks good on paper but actually isnt that good depth wise anymore, burger and hodge can't play mid all game anymore and Sewell is battling. Rioli can't play midfield at the moment also, goes missing for 3/4 of a game.

It's won and lost in the middle

 

[Great 2008]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

Sewell was on his downward spiral two years ago, I called for him to be traded 2 years ago while he still held currency and in turn copped flack on these boards. He's now a liability in what is a bloody slow midfield thats incapable of winning a clearance. He's the least versatile of all players running through our midfield.

I called for Bateman and Ossie to go at the same time. Did not make any friends either.

 

[Willie_Rioli]

i only watched the first half (had to leave for work), and our midfield was absolutely sensational (particularly Sewell and Lewis, along with our back and forwardline), so what the hell happened the second half???

 

[Hawka_de_Haven]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

Lets do an honest assesment

Mitchell - A
Sewell - C
Rioli - D
Hodge - C
Lewis - C+
Burgoyne - C


who else we got?
Rucks?

Hale - C-
Broc - D
Roughead - C
Bailey - D

How can you provide a true assessment of players who have not played much this year??/

 

[Hawka_de_Haven]

I've seen a few posts calling for Sewell to be dropped. He strikes me as being in a better patch of form than anytime i can recall last year. If he's going to be dropped it is because there is a better option. He's not going to get any better spending time at Box Hill.

quote]


I agree with you on Sewel, he is palaying his normal game but simply is not as effective because others around him are perhaps not on their game. I thought he tried hard against the Swans but could not break the shackles, they simply tackled in packs and left little room to manoeuvre in when we had the ball.

Teams have woken up to the tactic in the centre where if we win the clearance we generally go the handball back to a running halfback so we can set up a fwd thrust. The swans fwds pushed up to counteract this tactic causing many turnovers. We need variation when clearing the ball not simply rely on Mitch or Hodgy to clear. We need outside runners to assist.

 

[Lethal44]

Our midfield is to slow, plan and simple.

Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell, Jordan Lewis, Shaun Burgoyne & Brad Sewell are all good players, but are a liability, when all are playing through the midfield together.

Liam Sheils and Brendan Whitecross are good young players and ready made replacements for one or two of the above players, but like them, pace isn't one of their strengths.

Answer- Issac Smith & Cyril Rioli need to rotated through the midfield more often and Brad Hill needs to be given more game time.

Also like to see Puopolo running around annoying the hell out of the Ablett's and Selwood's of this world.

Decent ruckman, would help too.

 

[spuddy_franklin]

I think mitchell sewell hodge are approaching the last years of there careers and i do believe we have a few replacements already Alex Woodward is a tough agressive inside midfielder. Tom Schneider is another one who I believe is a replacement for mitchell (still on our rookie list) but has started off 2012 on fire for box hill. Liam Shiels is another player is still young and is still coming along nicely so I don't believe its all doom and gloom but we do need some senior footy into schneider and woodward ASAP

 

[B&GBlood]

Our midfield is to slow, plan and simple.

Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell, Jordan Lewis, Shaun Burgoyne & Brad Sewell are all good players, but are a liability, when all are playing through the midfield together.

Liam Sheils and Brendan Whitecross are good young players and ready made replacements for one or two of the above players, but like them, pace isn't one of their strengths.

Answer- Issac Smith & Cyril Rioli need to rotated through the midfield more often and Brad Hill needs to be given more game time.

Also like to see Puopolo running around annoying the hell out of the Ablett's and Selwood's of this world.

Decent ruckman, would help too.

I am glad that Shiels, Poppy and Smith have been considered as part of our Mid' rotations. Please Savage who is no slouch.

Shiels is quicker than Hodge, Lewis, Mitch and Sewell, WhiteX I am not sure about, Sheils also has supper stamina.
Puopolo quicker again and Smith is a bloody rabbit but pretty much an outside player (does go when he needs to, but shouldn't have too)

We missed Hodge, Shiels and Poppy in the early rounds. People say Hodge is shot as a mid, yes fulltime his body isn't up to it. But Hodge is such a "good driver in heavy traffic" he must spend sometime in the centre, even if only for restarts, he can waltz through traffic and spot a pass better than most. Saw him do it across HB vs the Sainsts and thought that it was a good sign.

Don't give up on our mids, we made a classic mistake VS the Swans were we fought each other for the ball after halftime, leaving them with open players around the contest.
Against the Saints we did not do this, nor did we have the third man up in the ruck, keeping things even on the ground and we didn't get burned from the clearances

Getting Bailey back will give us some better first use, this will also make us look faster.

 

[Hawkwind]

There is no doubt that we are struggling in the midfield this year and there might a few reasons for this;

1. We have not had a settled line up in the midfield area i.e. Bailey out injured and bringing in Broc who will be OK once he gets more experience, but our midfielders had a good understanding with Bailey (look at last year)

2. We may need to tweak our setup as we tend to leave 1 and sometimes opposing mids on their own 5 to 10mts on the defensive side (look as Swans and Cats games) and this gives them time to set up and put our defenders under the pump.

3. We may need to stop being so reliant on Mitchell as he is usually well tagged. Perhaps consider rotating WX and Mitchell in their roles.

Just some thoughts, not saying these are the only reasons, obviously age and battered bodies must also be considered...

 

[H2F]

This farce in our midfield has to change.

If I was Clarko I would have dropped some big names already, but surely he has to now.

This game is a game played by a bunch of endurance athletes in the end. On any given day the players who want it more will win.

And that is what disappoints me most. Since 2008 when we climbed the mountain our midfield looks lethargic, low on energy and certainly low on commitment. We need enthusiasm back in there and players who have the big profiles but are lazy or don't want it enough anymore can be traded or dropped.

 

[seysearles]

If I was Clarko I would have dropped some big names already, but surely he has to now.

"Clarkson said it wasn't panic stations just yet for the Hawks and denied that wholesale changes would be in order."

 

[H2F]

"Clarkson said it wasn't panic stations just yet for the Hawks and denied that wholesale changes would be in order."

He is losing me by the minute.

Gee I truly loved this man. I feel genuinely sad.

You know what, maybe it was all Hardwick. Since Hardwick left we have turned to shit.

 

[Brown Blood]

He is losing me by the minute.

Gee I truly loved this man. I feel genuinely sad.

You know what, maybe it was all Hardwick. Since Hardwick left we have turned to shit.

Funny though the last time we lost to richmond was 2008!

 

[crazed tramp]

We need some hard inside Mids who have some nuts to win the clearances and contested ball pathetic effort today from a seasoned on ball division

 

[grizzlym]

Dimma, Clarko and Viney had something synergistic going as a coaching group: they not only added up to more than the individual components, they also challenged each other, had complimentary qualities/attributes and respected one and other. Clarko had the head coach embroidered polo shirt, but they were all kind of equal on a more fundamental level.

 

[Axle17]

The problem isnt that our mids are struggling, its the fact that we have no future mids full stop!