Toast Round 4 = Collingwood 77-72 Hawthorn

[gouki88]

When did it stop? When did they realise that rather than trying to find someone to get lower than Platten they could play Paddy Cripps on him and just push him out of the way to pick up the ball?

Lachie Neale is a successful short arse. Probably offset by his tree trunk legs

 

[manicpie]

When did it stop? When did they realise that rather than trying to find someone to get lower than Platten they could play Paddy Cripps on him and just push him out of the way to pick up the ball?

I'm a touch taller at 182cm and I was never named as rover, always Ruck Rover. There was even a rule that you had to be a bit taller to be a ruck rover

 

[manicpie]

That’s a good question. I’m not sure who started the trend towards big bodied mids or whether they just thought let’s get rid of the small blokes and play two ruck rovers. Probably a bit of natural selection in there as well.

I'm pretty sure it continued well into the 90's. I can't really remember when it started changing but heaven forbid if you were taller than about 175cm and dared call yourself a rover, you were a ruck rover and that's it

 

[FromTheBoundaryLine]

I'm a touch taller at 182cm and I was never named as rover, always Ruck Rover. There was even a rule that you had to be a bit taller to be a ruck rover

Yeah in ascending order it was typically rover, centre, ruck rover, ruck at the bounces.

 

[FromTheBoundaryLine]

I'm pretty sure it continued well into the 90's. I can't really remember when it started changing but heaven forbid if you were taller than about 175cm and dared call yourself a rover, you were a ruck rover and that's it

You could probably trace the change back by finding out when commentators started calling players midfielders rather than those old individual positions.

 

[manicpie]

You could probably trace the change back by finding out when commentators started calling players midfielders rather than those old individual positions.

Well that would be as recent as about the last 15 years. I thought it might have been early 2000's but I really don't know

 

[FromTheBoundaryLine]

Well that would be as recent as about the last 15 years. I thought it might have been early 2000's but I really don't know

Yep a bit more recent than I thought actually. I remember Cripps causing a stir with his size when he came on the scene so I reckon you are pretty spot on there.

 

[manicpie]

Yeah in ascending order it was typically rover, centre, ruck rover, ruck at the bounces.

Come to think of it. Centremen were also fairly short but most sides liked them a bit chunky. They were your modern day inside mids

 

[FromTheBoundaryLine]

Come to think of it. Centremen were also fairly short but most sides liked them a bit chunky. They were your modern day inside mids

Yeah and centremen were often the ones with the biggest tanks as they didn’t have a partner to change with like rucks and rovers.

 

[FromTheBoundaryLine]

Well the reminiscing has taken my mind off the second half of this match. Thanks

 

[Scud2]

I am undoubtably looking forward to a well deserved bye from footy this week.

I’ve earned it.

 

[JuniorB]

Yeah and centremen were often the ones with the biggest tanks as they didn’t have a partner to change with like rucks and rovers.

Barry Price.

 

[ElliottsMaggies]

Remember when rover was considered a position where you had to be really short. And that period when we were desperate for a proper really short rover like Platten. Francis came along and we were ecstatic that he was a 170cm short arse - not an over-sized bloke who was too big for rover.

Haha. Yep, the shorter, the better.

 

[ellesbells]

175cm Ronnie Wearmouth taking off down the wing at Vic Park rivalled a jet engine for noise from the crowd, it was like Beatlemania.

 

[Jen2310]

Just got home from Adelaide...

Probably less said about this game the better haha. Take the points and run, but there is lot of concerns about how we are playing atm.
If we played any other team minus norf and eagles, this would be a loss. Which it almost was...

We need to get better and quick, thankfully they now have a couple weeks to work on this stuff, and train more than they have had the opportunity to do so.

 

[Kappa]

I’m trying to understand why we look ‘lazy’ as some have called us.

We’ve played five games in just over four weeks (9 March-7 April), including games against contenders and three played interstate.

As the reigning premier, we get dealt this hand. Brisbane similarly have had it hard. But by any measure, we’ve been through a tough month. And coming off a shorter pre-season.

Fly keeps emphasising that we are fit, so is the cause of our lacklustre performances between the ears? Some sort of mental fatigue, not helped by months of being feted and fawned over.

If so the bye will help. The turmoil of this crazy first month of footy will also settle down.

Also looking forward to the evening out of the fixture, and the time when all those annoying clubs who’ve won three or four games finally get to play each other.

When that happens, all we have to do is win our own games, and wave at the other clubs as we climb past them on the ladder.

I wanna know why De Goey can slot them from 55 on the run on a tight angle but when he is running out of a contest they go 35 metres sideways to no one.

I wanna know why Darcy Moore went from superstar who intercepts everything to a guy who double punches balls into the danger area.

I wanna know if Sidebottom Howe Cox and Pendlebury are cooked or just easing into the season.

Unfortunately due to our start we can't really drop many more games for the rest of the season, the Port game is massive as winning it gives us a genuine shot at finishing 3rd/4th. Lose it and it's a long way back.

 

[loki04]

When did it stop? When did they realise that rather than trying to find someone to get lower than Platten they could play Paddy Cripps on him and just push him out of the way to pick up the ball?

What was Hawks midfielder heights in late 80s?
89 Gf had;

Tuck 188cm, Dermi 186cm, Dippa 186cm, Condon 186cm, etc weren't exactly all small. That's a great height mix imo and vs 170s would of been larger then ave.

Even the ruck Dear of 198 and 99kg is good size.
Had 5 or so 190 -193cm Flankers at both ends too.

Think Geelong of that era also had reasonable height and size.

 

[loki04]

Yep a bit more recent than I thought actually. I remember Cripps causing a stir with his size when he came on the scene so I reckon you are pretty spot on there.

He was very big though at 195cm.

I think really only Bont has come close to that size and even then he is only 192cm.

Pendles and Fyfe are 190cm mids but small compared to Cripps, to date he really was one out of the box and the 90s Kouta 191cm.

 

[sr36]

What was Hawks midfielder heights in late 80s?
89 Gf had;

Tuck 188cm, Dermi 186cm, Dippa 186cm, Condon 186cm, etc weren't exactly all small. That's a great height mix imo and vs 170s would of been larger then ave.

Even the ruck Dear of 198 and 99kg is good size.
Had 5 or so 190 -193cm Flankers at both ends too.

Think Geelong of that era also had reasonable height and size.

It was 170cm Platten vs 175 Bews in the rover spot. It was still during the time when we all thought you had to have someone who was properly short at the foot of the ruckman.

 

[sr36]

Yeah and centremen were often the ones with the biggest tanks as they didn’t have a partner to change with like rucks and rovers.

I think that was more that it was historically a position and they didn't leave the centre square.

 

[manicpie]

What was Hawks midfielder heights in late 80s?
89 Gf had;

Tuck 188cm, Dermi 186cm, Dippa 186cm, Condon 186cm, etc weren't exactly all small. That's a great height mix imo and vs 170s would of been larger then ave.

Even the ruck Dear of 198 and 99kg is good size.
Had 5 or so 190 -193cm Flankers at both ends too.

Think Geelong of that era also had reasonable height and size.

Those guys were ruck rovers and centremen. Platten was the rover

 

[loki04]

It was 170cm Platten vs 175 Bews in the rover spot. It was still during the time when we all thought you had to have someone who was properly short at the foot of the ruckman.

Sorry I thought the question was when did we start having big mids as a group not a sole position.

Teams mostly still have a 178 to 183cm type in their.

That Hawks 80s mix of mids imo is still replicated today.

 

[manicpie]

It was 170cm Platten vs 175 Bews in the rover spot. It was still during the time when we all thought you had to have someone who was properly short at the foot of the ruckman.

Mathews was also a short rover

 

[loki04]

That’s a good question. I’m not sure who started the trend towards big bodied mids or whether they just thought let’s get rid of the small blokes and play two ruck rovers. Probably a bit of natural selection in there as well.

My response was to that statement esque question, " not sure who started the trend to big bodied midfielders".

It was 170cm Platten vs 175 Bews in the rover spot. It was still during the time when we all thought you had to have someone who was properly short at the foot of the ruckman.

Those guys were ruck rovers and centremen. Platten was the rover

 

[sr36]

Sorry I thought the question was when did we start having big mids as a group not a sole position.

Teams mostly still have a 178 to 183cm type in their.

That Hawks 80s mix of mids imo is still replicated today.

When it's replicated today - it's more by chance than intentional like it was in that era.

Recently, we've had good mids ranging from traditional rover height like Prestia to Cripps in height, but who plays there is based on what they can do rather than meeting the specific height requirements for the role - like it used to be.

In retrospect, rather than trying to find a short arsed bloke as good as Platten we should have just got Millane to bully the crap out of him. It worked in the end though as we did find Francis.