Our Midfield

[Mr Magic]

I think our midfield might be better than last night suggested. Sonsie looks a player, his second Q after a dreadful first was excellent, really surprised me how nippy he was round the ball and he tackled pretty well.

Ross will only get better, but needs to up the aggression when he is in the midfield, needs to be first to the ball a bit more but still tracking well.

MRJ with another couple of kg's of muscle and another solid preseason will be a player who can hunt the ground ball. We were slow around the ball last night, Cotchin did not have an extra gear you need in finals where the speed ramps up. Does not have another year in him and I would think he knows it. MRJ will improve that.

I think a dark horse for the midfield is Cumberland. There is a lot of Dusty about him. The aggression, the breakaway pace (would be quicker). Good size, great agility. Seems too good not to utilise him where we need him most. Would love to see him train as a mid and like Dusty he can play forward as well.

Prestia is still a star. Martin if he stays.

I thought Cotch was good last night. Him and Sonsie had little support

Banks might be the big hope next year

 

[Bird Man]

I thought Cotch was good last night. Him and Sonsie had little support

Banks might be the big hope next year

Banks will take a few years. like a Baker/Lambart

 

[tiger_tough]

Short and Bolton 43 center bounce attendances combined for 0 centre clearances. That's the game right there.

edit: Add in Dusty. 53 for 1. One center clearance between those 3

Time for Dimma to swallow his pride and focus on winning the ball first and foremost because our defence doesn't win it back like it used to.

 

[Grrr]

I thought Cotch was good last night. Him and Sonsie had little support

Banks might be the big hope next year

Cotchin had two great passes but the rest of the game he spend on the bottom of the pack scrubbing out 10m kicks. He wasn't bad and better than others and tried his guts out but he was helpless watching Neale and co. waltz around him.

 

[tropicaltiger]

we had 4 massive things go against us in our midfield planning and we still should have won by 3 goals...... so thats footy. credit to neale he was the difference.
1. neale got hold of us and he is the best extractor in the comp and we had no firepower in return. 2 and 3 bolton and dusty were a fair bit off, and they both had legit excuses under their circumstances. we rolled the dice as we should have. 4. prestia pings a string just when he's grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck.

 

[Wooden Robot]

Short and Bolton 43 center bounce attendances combined for 0 centre clearances. That's the game right there.

Pretty telling stat.
Mind you, none left over after Neale got 55 of them.

 

[Mr Magic]

Cotchin had two great passes but the rest of the game he spend on the bottom of the pack scrubbing out 10m kicks. He wasn't bad and better than others and tried his guts out but he was helpless watching Neale and co. waltz around him.

He kicked a good goal

 

[Mr Magic]

Short and Bolton 43 center bounce attendances combined for 0 centre clearances. That's the game right there.

Yeah, those two did not seem to have a influence

 

[Mr Magic]

we had 4 massive things go against us in our midfield planning and we still should have won by 3 goals...... so thats footy. credit to neale he was the difference.
1. neale got hold of us and he is the best extractor in the comp and we had no firepower in return. 2 and 3 bolton and dusty were a fair bit off, and they both had legit excuses under their circumstances. we rolled the dice as we should have. 4. prestia pings a string just when he's grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck.

What was Bolton's excuse?

Was he tagged in the midfield to and by whom?

May as well have thrown Baker in

 

[tiger_tough]

Pretty telling stat.
Mind you, none left over after Neale got 55 of them.

Ohh nah we don't worry about that, we prefer to just win it back after we get absolutely dominated out of the center over and over and over

 

[evo]

Short and Bolton 43 center bounce attendances combined for 0 centre clearances. That's the game right there.

edit: Add in Dusty. 53 for 1. One center clearance between those 3

Time for Dimma to swallow his pride and focus on winning the ball first and foremost because our defence doesn't win it back like it used to.

Yeah its a disaster. Been saying for years Richmond just wont prioritize centre clearances enough, hopefully this is the final wake up call.

Its all very well being the best at 'bringing the fight', but if the fight starts from the backline all the time your on a hiding to nothing.

Get Tarantula, get Hopper, ffs get ppl who can bloody rove. Nank won nearly every hit out and Neale still absolutely owned us.

 

[tropicaltiger]

What was Bolton's excuse?

Was he tagged in the midfield to and by whom?

May as well have thrown Baker in

it not every day your a dad and the 2 weeks of jangling nerves and overdue concerns and then being 1000k away with interupted prep and sleep and then getting a hard tag by a bloody good player didny actually have him cherry ripe.

 

[Mr Magic]

it not every day your a dad and the 2 weeks of jangling nerves and overdue concerns and then being 1000k away with interupted prep and sleep and then getting a hard tag by a bloody good player didny actually have him cherry ripe.

Yeah well sounds like the off-field could have been managed better, Who tagged him in the midfield?

Why was his partner and kid not in Melb, without going into personal details? With respect, unless his partner has a high flying career, the club should have helped his partner get over here so they could do their thing, I assume regarding pregnancy together, given his on field importance to the clubs prospects and well being

 

["The Roar Is Back"]

Yeah its a disaster. Been saying for years Richmond just wont prioritize centre clearances enough, hopefully this is the final wake up call.

Its all very well being the best at 'bringing the fight', but if the fight starts from the backline all the time your on a hiding to nothing.

Get Tarantula, get Hopper, ffs get ppl who can bloody rove. Nank won nearly every hit out and Neale still absolutely owned us.

Neale’s dominance was a result of others being able to easily block his direct opponent and their own opponent out midfielders are simply to small and easily knocked out of the road .

 

[evo]

Neale’s dominance was a result of other being able to easily block his direct opponent and their own opponent out midfielders are simply to small and easily knocked out of the road .

That was definitely a big part of it.

Many times we didn't even have someone standing close to him at the bounce. Bemusing to say the leaat.

Our centre bounce set up was a disaster all night.

Personally I don't know why we have persisted with Shorty in the midfield so much this season. To me he is a classic wing or half back.

Ross needed to attended more centre bounces last night and even Baker should have gone in there after Prestia went down. Baker experiment was highly successful in the past, I don't know why Hardwick didn't return to that well.

 

[Mr Magic]

That was definitely a big part of it.

Many times we didn't even have someone standing close to him at the bounce. Bemusing to say the leaat.

Our centre bounce set up was a disaster all night.

Personally I don't know why we have persisted with Shorty in the midfield so much this season. To me he is a classic wing or half back.

Ross needed to attended more centre bounces last night and even Baker should have gone in there after Prestia went down. Baker experiment was highly successful in the past, I don't know why Hardwick didn't return to that well.

deer in headlights?

 

[evo]

deer in headlights?

Hardwick? Nah I think he's just a stubborn campaigner sometimes.

 

[tiger_tough]

Yeah its a disaster. Been saying for years Richmond just wont prioritize centre clearances enough, hopefully this is the final wake up call.

Its all very well being the best at 'bringing the fight', but if the fight starts from the backline all the time your on a hiding to nothing.

Get Tarantula, get Hopper, ffs get ppl who can bloody rove. Nank won nearly every hit out and Neale still absolutely owned us.

Yep. It's a different game to what it was a couple of years ago where we could rely on wining the ball back majority of the time. We must prioritize clearance work in the off season.

 

[Rioli2Rioli]

Short & Baker are not top end mids and will never be that , Both are great at the roles they play so let them continue to do that and when needed make guest appearances in the midfield for some variety but end of the day we need some bulls that can rack it up 30 times a game to get the ball out to these guys like Baker , Short , Bolton & Sonise in the future


Midfield has lost us 5 close games this year when we get constantly dominated and putting pressure on the defence

 

[Grrr]

He kicked a good goal

He didn't play a bad game he just had little influence in the packs. Fought really hard but a lot of very scrappy possessions. Had little back up to be fair.

 

[Grrr]

Short & Baker are not top end mids and will never be that , Both are great at the roles they play so let them continue to do that and when needed make guest appearances in the midfield for some variety but end of the day we need some bulls that can rack it up 30 times a game to get the ball out to these guys like Baker , Short , Bolton & Sonise in the future


Midfield has lost us 5 close games this year when we get constantly dominated and putting pressure on the defence

To be fair Short has been pretty good but did not have the next level to go up that you need in finals when you play against the best. Will be better for it and a challenge for next year. Every time we knock him down he seems to rise up the next level so maybe.

 

[Rioli2Rioli]

To be fair Short has been pretty good but did not have the next level to go up that you need in finals when you play against the best. Will be better for it and a challenge for next year. Every time we knock him down he seems to rise up the next level so maybe.

Personally i believe that with Short playing as a full time mid we are not only getting a lower level of inside mid but also losing what short gives us on the outside as the secondary mid delivering into the foward line.

We need 2 x 25+ poss inside mids with Cotchin at the end and Prestia soft tissue issue's

 

[Marcel Proust]

Short and Bolton 43 center bounce attendances combined for 0 centre clearances. That's the game right there.

edit: Add in Dusty. 53 for 1. One center clearance between those 3

Time for Dimma to swallow his pride and focus on winning the ball first and foremost because our defence doesn't win it back like it used to.

That's a crazy stat

 

[juss]

Remember Short was thrown in the middle halfway through the year when we had no options. I dont think it was the original plan.

If longer term they want to try him as an outside mid, he's sure to improve in the role after a dedicated preseason working with the midfield group, rather than as a rebounder off the backline.

 

[Marcel Proust]

When the whips were cracking short wasn't good enough.

It's tough, not easy vs elite mids in finals.

The graham injury made it tough too