Opinion Premiership midfield

[Marksup]

Sheezel. Wardlaw. LDU. Xerri.

When you compare it to some of the great premiership midfields of the modern era, it’s hard not to see them being spoken about in the same breath.

From West Coast with Judd, Cousins, Kerr and Cox to Collingwood in 2010 with Swan, Pendles, Ball and Jolly and 2023 Pendles, De Goey, Daicos/Mitchell to the Hawks in the three peat with Mitchell, Lewis/Burgoyne/Hodge.

When you look at the star factor of LDU and Sheezel, the progression of Xerri to become one of the top handful best ruckmen in the comp. To top it all off we know what we have with Wardlaw when he puts on even more size and gets a good run at it.

It’s really hard not to see us comparing them to those great modern day premiership midfields.

We’ve won two games, but I can’t help but have the hairs stand up on the back of my neck knowing we forge ahead with this core group in the furnace as we surge up the ladder.

I can’t wait to breathe in that September air heading to the footy knowing that first bounce we will have those four guys setting the tone.

I’m getting ahead of myself and I couldn’t give two s****. I’ve never been so excited about having genuine top tier talent on our list.

Did I mention we have a 4-time premiership coach leading the way?

I need to have a cold shower and lie down.

 

[JGreezy]

Xerri, LDU and Sheezel would be in AA if they were on finals sides, this year. Forget development. And Wardlaw was the best of the lot in the 3 games after the bye.

And don't forget Colby McKercher. And if Powell, Jy and Phillips are your 5th-7th mids then you're doing well.

And Duursma isn't shabby. Oh, and we have another top 3 pick, this year...

 

[justroyal]

Remember when Lloydo said on multiple occasions
‘The last thing north needs is more priority picks and young talent. There’s better ways to help that club like more investment in staff.

 

[DocSholl]

We’ve won two games

I've quoted the important part

Lots of talent but until we start winning consistently and at the pointy end, this group can rank with the previous premiership midfields of Grima/Harris/Swallow/Wells, Cunnington/Ziebell/Bastinac and Powell/Phillips/JHF.

 

[LB2Snake]

I would remove this thread. I feel we have the makings of a great midfield, but it’s miles off as yet.


Edit……I am very superstitious.

 

[shintemaster]

Remember when Lloydo said on multiple occasions
‘The last thing north needs is more priority picks and young talent. There’s better ways to help that club like more investment in staff.

Cheers Lloydy. I'll take more talent thanks.

 

[R00StaR]

First let me say i admit i can be guilty of looking for trends when perhaps its just a purple patch. But in fairness to myself unless you're looking for them by the time its obvious its too late.

Ive been calling McKercher to take a wing for the next decade. But....Essendon's mid/ transition work lead by Merrett looked pretty damn impressive. For mine McKercher is a Merrett upgrade btw.

But the other thing of note is the ultra tall wingers they have. That extra height and marking power imo is a bonus when exiting defense. Goes along way to breaking the press. But then consider you have 2 x 195cm wingman with Scott/ McKercher tracking him into their forward line. They could easily be exposed once or twice a game.

Long winded way of saying it might be dangerous to back ourselves with 2 wingman not particularly strong over head. We have options, but perhaps McKercher is better in the midfield mix rather than a wing particularly if we still have Scott. McKercher and Goater on a wing each id feel a lot more comfortable.

 

[ferball]

First let me say i admit i can be guilty of looking for trends when perhaps its just a purple patch. But in fairness to myself unless you're looking for them by the time its obvious its too late.

Ive been calling McKercher to take a wing for the next decade. But....Essendon's mid/ transition work lead by Merrett looked pretty damn impressive. For mine McKercher is a Merrett upgrade btw.

But the other thing of note is the ultra tall wingers they have. That extra height and marking power imo is a bonus when exiting defense. Goes along way to breaking the press. But then consider you have 2 x 195cm wingman with Scott/ McKercher tracking him into their forward line. They could easily be exposed once or twice a game.

Long winded way of saying it might be dangerous to back ourselves with 2 wingman not particularly strong over head. We have options, but perhaps McKercher is better in the midfield mix rather than a wing particularly if we still have Scott. McKercher and Goater on a wing each id feel a lot more comfortable.

We should try and turn Biggie into a wingman.

 

[R00StaR]

I would remove this thread. I feel we have the makings of a great midfield, but it’s miles off as yet.


Edit……I am very superstitious.

Time enough for enough for countin when the dealin's done

In other words i tend to agree, plenty of time to consider their greatness after a couple of flags.

 

[R00StaR]

We should try and turn Biggie into a wingman.

piss take noted

Of course they need to cover the ground as well or be equally exposed by tank implosion.

 

[Liam Boy]

 

[Passmore]

First let me say i admit i can be guilty of looking for trends when perhaps its just a purple patch. But in fairness to myself unless you're looking for them by the time its obvious its too late.

Ive been calling McKercher to take a wing for the next decade. But....Essendon's mid/ transition work lead by Merrett looked pretty damn impressive. For mine McKercher is a Merrett upgrade btw.

But the other thing of note is the ultra tall wingers they have. That extra height and marking power imo is a bonus when exiting defense. Goes along way to breaking the press. But then consider you have 2 x 195cm wingman with Scott/ McKercher tracking him into their forward line. They could easily be exposed once or twice a game.

Long winded way of saying it might be dangerous to back ourselves with 2 wingman not particularly strong over head. We have options, but perhaps McKercher is better in the midfield mix rather than a wing particularly if we still have Scott. McKercher and Goater on a wing each id feel a lot more comfortable.

* have a bit of work to do before I'd be mirroring their midfield set up.

Sent from my SM-A908B using Tapatalk

 

[R00StaR]

* have a bit of work to do before I'd be mirroring their midfield set up.

Sent from my SM-A908B using Tapatalk

Its more about noting what they're doing and why they might be doing it.

People thought 190cm+ mids were too big until they weren't.

 

[Gasometer]

 

[amaz199]

Big wingmen don't really work. The Saints have tried it and all it does is allow teams to zone across those areas so that the ball doesn't get through. It's not really a good way to move the ball. They completely abandoned that structure today and just went crazy with Henry getting busy.

To score well, you just need numbers ahead of the ball carrier so that options are presented for an easy outlet. The key here is numbers, not a singular option with height. We won yesterday because there were numbers to the contest regardless of height. It overwhelmed Gold Coast.

Maybe *Essendon are trying to go taller because their disposal is hit-and-miss. A bit like their form has been for 20 years and long may it continue.

 

[JGreezy]

I reckon Goater would make a great wingman if he had a tank. But he doesn't and he hasn't had a good enough injury break to build it.

I wish that we drafted Freijah. He made it to pick 45...

 

[Cyber_punk]

It must be a weird feeling for a lot of North supporters. I've been following sine the late 90s so I missed out on that early period of seeing promising youth develop and have never seen a young core that I truly believe can be great until now. We had some good young talent come through in those 2009-2012 mini-rebuild/refresh years but not enough to be very confident of a flag in the way I am with this group. Watching all those St Kilda, Melboure, Carlton, G.C young teams get pumped up in the media, wondering if it would ever be our turn or we'd be a bunch of battlers forever.

If this group stays together and other clubs don't raid us we are in for some very special times.

 

[Ball Dont Lie]

It’s a very talented midfield bunch. The best thing is they all have slightly different traits which is exactly what you need in building a premiership team. As exciting as the mix is I couldn’t help but think Tarryn Thomas

26

Tarryn Thomas

Age

24

Ht

190cm

Wt

83kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.0

3star

K

5.3

2star

HB

5.7

4star

M

2.1

2star

T

3.3

5star

CL

0.9

3star

D

7.8

2star

K

4.0

1star

HB

3.8

3star

M

1.3

1star

T

3.2

4star

CL

0.2

2star

D

12.8

4star

K

6.2

3star

HB

6.6

4star

M

2.8

3star

T

3.8

5star

CL

0.4

3star

should be rolling through causing the opposition more damage than any of them. Shame he just never understood the opportunity he had.

 

[jay317]

**** me. Forgot we could have had Thomas in this midfield as well. Oppo supporters would be raging.

 

[Sphynx]

It must be a weird feeling for a lot of North supporters. I've been following sine the late 90s so I missed out on that early period of seeing promising youth develop and have never seen a young core that I truly believe can be great until now. We had some good young talent come through in those 2009-2012 mini-rebuild/refresh years but not enough to be very confident of a flag in the way I am with this group. Watching all those St Kilda, Melboure, Carlton, G.C young teams get pumped up in the media, wondering if it would ever be our turn or we'd be a bunch of battlers forever.

If this group stays together and other clubs don't raid us we are in for some very special times.

It’s more weird in that amazing midfields haven’t been a club trait of North for the best part of 50 years since the 70’s group.

With the utmost respect, our best teams since the Barassi sides were often built on hard bastards, not necessarily the best and most naturally gifted players. Not littered with Brownlow medalists.

Schwass and Boomer probably the closest to that level in talent.

What we have produced is a literal treasure trove of amazing, game breaking KPP’s in that same period. That’s what the club would be known for.

As well as a conga line of amazing medium/small forwards and flankers through the forward and back halves.

Forget comparing to other sides, but I think what we are about to watch unfold over the next decade from a midfield group will be spoken amongst us supporters for a very long time. Who knows where they will sit at the end of it, but I’m confident it’s going to be right there from a North perspective.

This side probably doesn’t have the likes of Carey, Martyn, McKernan, Archer, Pickett in it at the moment.

But that 90’s midfield (with respect to Stevo, Bell, Shagga, Rock, Simmo) were absolutely a few rungs in talent below this lot and they were littered with Champions.

 

[Harris 10]

It’s more weird in that amazing midfields haven’t been a club trait of North for the best part of 50 years since the 70’s group.

With the utmost respect, our best teams since the Barassi sides were often built on hard bastards, not necessarily the best and most naturally gifted players. Not littered with Brownlow medalists.

Schwass and Boomer probably the closest to that level in talent.

What we have produced is a literal treasure trove of amazing, game breaking KPP’s in that same period. That’s what the club would be known for.

As well as a conga line of amazing medium/small forwards and flankers through the forward and back halves.

Forget comparing to other sides, but I think what we are about to watch unfold over the next decade from a midfield group will be spoken amongst us supporters for a very long time. Who knows where they will sit at the end of it, but I’m confident it’s going to be right there from a North perspective.

This side probably doesn’t have the likes of Carey, Martyn, McKernan, Archer, Pickett in it at the moment.

But that 90’s midfield (with respect to Stevo, Bell, Shagga, Rock, Simmo) were absolutely a few rungs in talent below this lot and they were littered with Champions.

As a side note I reckon Schwass would’ve gone at 1 if he was eligible to go into a draft.

He was an absolute star.

 

[Sphynx]

As a side note I reckon Schwass would’ve gone at 1 if he was eligible to go into a draft.

He was an absolute star.

Absolutely.

I don’t see the comparisons that Robbo made between Colby and WS personally. They have totally different game styles and even strengths.

WS is actually more like Finn O’Sullivan in this upcoming draft, except WS was much quicker still over 20m.

Given FOS has been viewed as a potential number #1 pick for 2 years, fair to say you are right given WS was a more explosive version.

 

[cybercrab]

Absolutely.

I don’t see the comparisons that Robbo made between Colby and WS personally. They have totally different game styles and even strengths.

WS is actually more like Finn O’Sullivan in this upcoming draft, except WS was much quicker still over 20m.

Given FOS has been viewed as a potential number #1 pick for 2 years, fair to say you are right given WS was a more explosive version.

Hopefully it's true that richmond are keen on Smillie, FOS looks like a gun and exactly what we need