- Mar 16, 2022
- 5,976
- 9,015
- AFL Club
- Collingwood
Now that it’s becoming clearer we won’t defend this premiership, what moves on the field should we make to set us up for next season?
The positional moves I’d make are:
- Moore fwd.
Let see what he can offer as a key forward partner to McStay. His form in defence hasn’t been great, Mihocek isn’t coming until next season and Kreuger has shown he’s a solid depth option but probably lacks the class to be a long term best 22 player in that role.
Moore showed a lot of promise in the role early in his career let see if he can deliver in some of that for the rest of the year. It would also give us another tactical option for next season and give our defence a chance to see whether they can adapt without him.
- Josh Eyre to AFL side as a key defender.
To replace Moore down back I’d bring Eyre in the side. He has spent more time forward in the VFL this season but moved down back last game and looked solid. He has decent defensive abilities, marking and a nice left foot.
Give him an opportunity to repay the faith we’ve shown in him by picking him in the ssp and see whether we have a key defender going forward.
- Josh Daicos half back.
We haven’t replaced Nick Naicos at half back. Why not try the next best thing there. He looked okay when moved to half back against Hawthorn albeit the game was over at that point. Also have him take all our kick ins for the rest of the season.
Hopefully this move can facilitate our transition game from half back and help open up the angles coming out of defence.
- Harrison wing.
To replace Josh I’d play Harvey Harrison on the wing for the rest of the season.
We already know what he offers as a small forward let give him to chance to build up his wing capability.
- Smit to second ruck.
Develop him to play the second ruck/fwd role next to Cameron. He’s shown enough in the VFL to show he’s ready for taste.
Gives him an opportunity to have a taste at AFL and see where he has to work to and gives us an opportunity to see how far away he is and whether or not he can contribute meaningfully to the AFL side next season.
- Lipinski full time midfielder.
I think he’s grown stale playing as a half forward flanker and doesn’t get enough opportunities to contribute as a half forward with our terrible ball movement.
Give him an opportunity to play as the midfielder he was meant to be when we recruited him. He’s had good games in this position with us before, let see if he can produce here consistently.
- Hill hhf/rotation
With Schultz and Elliott we have enough small forwards that excel deep so I’d play Bobby as the high forward that gives our wingers a chop out and give him the odd run in the centre bounce.
Give him an opportunity to get involved more in games so he doesn’t feel the need to over complicate every possession he gets. It would also gives us more speed up the field to hopefully facilitate our ball movement.
- McCreery to half back.
To add some line breaking pace to the back half I’d move McCreery there. Markov hasn’t backed up last seasons from there, we know what we get from Noble and we have more than enough small forward in the front half.
I think this will assist in McCreery’s potential transition to midfield as it will help develop his outside game as he doesn’t get an opportunity to ball hunt in the front half.
The tactics move I’d make are:
- Move to a more man on man system.
Atm the full zone is getting exposed way too easily. Opposition teams can do what they want to us. They can hog possession in their back half and get it over the back in their front half with ease.
We need to start manning up their free options so they can’t play kick to kick and need more accountability in the back half so they don’t have free options constantly streaking to goal. Certain players will still have license to zone and cut off passing lanes but atm our gameplan seems to complicated to follow so dumb it down for them.
Once we stop conceding 100+ uncontested marks and leaking goals like sieve then we can slowly introduce more zoning aspects.
- Go back to playing on at all costs and moving down the centre at every play.
We’re we’re at our best when we played with this mentality. Oppositions teams couldn’t contain us because our offence was relentless. We have now become a kick mark down the line side and have been incredibly easy to defend most of the year.
We need to give our players licence to play in the no fear way we played back in 2022 and the first half of 2023. At best we’ll become the unstoppable powerhouse we’re we’re in those years at worst we’ll become entertaining to watch and the team will have more fun.
Overall these are the moves I’d make to help salvage this season and set us up for the next season.
The positional moves I’d make are:
- Moore fwd.
Let see what he can offer as a key forward partner to McStay. His form in defence hasn’t been great, Mihocek isn’t coming until next season and Kreuger has shown he’s a solid depth option but probably lacks the class to be a long term best 22 player in that role.
Moore showed a lot of promise in the role early in his career let see if he can deliver in some of that for the rest of the year. It would also give us another tactical option for next season and give our defence a chance to see whether they can adapt without him.
- Josh Eyre to AFL side as a key defender.
To replace Moore down back I’d bring Eyre in the side. He has spent more time forward in the VFL this season but moved down back last game and looked solid. He has decent defensive abilities, marking and a nice left foot.
Give him an opportunity to repay the faith we’ve shown in him by picking him in the ssp and see whether we have a key defender going forward.
- Josh Daicos half back.
We haven’t replaced Nick Naicos at half back. Why not try the next best thing there. He looked okay when moved to half back against Hawthorn albeit the game was over at that point. Also have him take all our kick ins for the rest of the season.
Hopefully this move can facilitate our transition game from half back and help open up the angles coming out of defence.
- Harrison wing.
To replace Josh I’d play Harvey Harrison on the wing for the rest of the season.
We already know what he offers as a small forward let give him to chance to build up his wing capability.
- Smit to second ruck.
Develop him to play the second ruck/fwd role next to Cameron. He’s shown enough in the VFL to show he’s ready for taste.
Gives him an opportunity to have a taste at AFL and see where he has to work to and gives us an opportunity to see how far away he is and whether or not he can contribute meaningfully to the AFL side next season.
- Lipinski full time midfielder.
I think he’s grown stale playing as a half forward flanker and doesn’t get enough opportunities to contribute as a half forward with our terrible ball movement.
Give him an opportunity to play as the midfielder he was meant to be when we recruited him. He’s had good games in this position with us before, let see if he can produce here consistently.
- Hill hhf/rotation
With Schultz and Elliott we have enough small forwards that excel deep so I’d play Bobby as the high forward that gives our wingers a chop out and give him the odd run in the centre bounce.
Give him an opportunity to get involved more in games so he doesn’t feel the need to over complicate every possession he gets. It would also gives us more speed up the field to hopefully facilitate our ball movement.
- McCreery to half back.
To add some line breaking pace to the back half I’d move McCreery there. Markov hasn’t backed up last seasons from there, we know what we get from Noble and we have more than enough small forward in the front half.
I think this will assist in McCreery’s potential transition to midfield as it will help develop his outside game as he doesn’t get an opportunity to ball hunt in the front half.
The tactics move I’d make are:
- Move to a more man on man system.
Atm the full zone is getting exposed way too easily. Opposition teams can do what they want to us. They can hog possession in their back half and get it over the back in their front half with ease.
We need to start manning up their free options so they can’t play kick to kick and need more accountability in the back half so they don’t have free options constantly streaking to goal. Certain players will still have license to zone and cut off passing lanes but atm our gameplan seems to complicated to follow so dumb it down for them.
Once we stop conceding 100+ uncontested marks and leaking goals like sieve then we can slowly introduce more zoning aspects.
- Go back to playing on at all costs and moving down the centre at every play.
We’re we’re at our best when we played with this mentality. Oppositions teams couldn’t contain us because our offence was relentless. We have now become a kick mark down the line side and have been incredibly easy to defend most of the year.
We need to give our players licence to play in the no fear way we played back in 2022 and the first half of 2023. At best we’ll become the unstoppable powerhouse we’re we’re in those years at worst we’ll become entertaining to watch and the team will have more fun.
Overall these are the moves I’d make to help salvage this season and set us up for the next season.
