Why the fixation on trading for a power forward

[lachy]

I find it interesting the focus on trading for power forwards when the reality is no other team would trade a quality one and we already have one.

No I am not going nuts. Brian Harris has all the attributes of a gun power forward. His is quick, tall and strong, can take a pack mark and has played on power forwards of differing kinds over the last couple of years seeing their workrate and positions they run to.

He may be a great full back, but as good a season as he has had we still have one of the worst defensive records. With William, Everit and Wigt developing we have 3 tall defenders coming through already. Throw in Hargrave and Morris and there is no forward line that will stretch us in the upcoming few years for height.

Remember Alister Lynch was a full back and became a dominant power forward in the great Brisbane temas whose main aim was to get it to him quickly.

It may cost us a game or two this year having an inexperienced backline but as is already in evidence what we have now is not rock solid, so moving B. Harris to a power forward position is not going to weaken that area and his occasional brain explosion will not be that costly.

 

[jetter18]

I find it interesting the focus on trading for power forwards when the reality is no other team would trade a quality one and we already have one.

No I am not going nuts. Brian Harris has all the attributes of a gun power forward. His is quick, tall and strong, can take a pack mark and has played on power forwards of differing kinds over the last couple of years seeing their workrate and positions they run to.

He may be a great full back, but as good a season as he has had we still have one of the worst defensive records. With William, Everit and Wigt developing we have 3 tall defenders coming through already. Throw in Hargrave and Morris and there is no forward line that will stretch us in the upcoming few years for height.

Remember Alister Lynch was a full back and became a dominant power forward in the great Brisbane temas whose main aim was to get it to him quickly.

It may cost us a game or two this year having an inexperienced backline but as is already in evidence what we have now is not rock solid, so moving B. Harris to a power forward position is not going to weaken that area and his occasional brain explosion will not be that costly.

Agree totally, i have been wanting this to happen all year, throw in Marty Pask from Werribee who has been solid as a key defender then a defence is by no means short, and as stated we are not all that great defensively anyway so why not continue to attack by moving Harris forward, he did start as a forward remember

 

[mjp]

Agree totally, i have been wanting this to happen all year, throw in Marty Pask from Werribee who has been solid as a key defender then a defence is by no means short, and as stated we are not all that great defensively anyway so why not continue to attack by moving Harris forward, he did start as a forward remember

Pask is playing in the VFL Reserves. Give me a break.

 

[lachy]

Pask is playing in the VFL Reserves. Give me a break.

Agree with this mjp, but Williams, Everrit, Wight, Hargrave and Morris are all playing in the ones. Enough tall defenders for the remainder of the year and if he can get fit you can throw in a guy called Chris Grant to help orgnise and instruct.

 

[Ted's Robot]

Harris went forward for awhile against the cats, how did he go? All I can remember was that he was out marked by Egan? near the goal square. Wasn't the best of kicks to him. Did he do any leading? Does he have the smarts to play forward? I think he could do a Neitz and become a forward.
I would love to see him tried up forward, but we would miss him down back.

 

[mjp]

Agree with this mjp, but Williams, Everrit, Wight, Hargrave and Morris are all playing in the ones. Enough tall defenders for the remainder of the year and if he can get fit you can throw in a guy called Chris Grant to help orgnise and instruct.

The problem is, none of Morris, Hargrave or Everitt are actually tall defenders - they are running players (well, Morris is a lock-down player) who happen to be tall. People have been screaming blue-murder at Hargrave playing on opposition tall forwards for as long as I can remember. And Wight is as skinny as can be - would you seriously play him on a guy the size of (thinking this weeks opponent) Quentin Lynch?

Grant has but a few games of footy left - I am not counting on him for much of anything.

I dont disagree that trying Harris forward isn't a good idea - but give me a better backup plan. We are bleeding goals at the other end, and we move our best defender forward? Seems like pretty poor logic to me.

 

[angry steve]

^^^

Great post - agree 100%.

This year our backline has been absolutely leaking goals. It is very rare that we restrict the other side to under 100 points - even when we win easily.

Moving our best (and only "real") key defender to the forward line is definately not the answer....

 

[guse]

Pask is playing in the VFL Reserves. Give me a break

You are kidding aren't you, this guy has seriously put in a great year in the VFL, he has played on and beaten a lot of AFL fwds. Been bog a few times and in the best many times. What more does someone have to do for you guys to 'support' someone....he is playing as well as he can with the opportunities that present, which is in the VFL at present. I realise i might be 'trolling' but im sorry, i just wanted to share a view based on a player that keeps picking himself up after a few tough calls on him at Brisbane etc.

 

[lindsay_bulldogs]

How about we try it and then see what happens. Start Harris forward from the start of the game and see what happens who knows. Wight on Lynch I don't think so but Williams I would try first. If it doesn't work nothing lost move Brain Fade Harris (BFH) back to the back line.

Year is shot so may as well try something atleast we won't die wondering.

 

[murphy2bedabest]

now i have been saying this for awhile aswell, and have started many thread about this and think it would work and should start now, lets face we wont win the flag we might make the final and if we doing while moving a few things around great.

lets use the last 6 games getting out spine right harris to chf wight to fb williams staying at chb and if tiller plays this lets see what he can do and if he can by the end of the season kick a few goals and look like he will be a target up forward next year then great.

also we should put the acid on some player lets give skip and minson the next 6 week too show if they wanna be play for the dogs next year, maybe even giving faulkner a few roles maybe a run with role and tell him you have 6 weeks

and then what about grant darcy and robbins? will they get the tap on the sholder

 

[whythelongface]

^^^

Great post - agree 100%.

This year our backline has been absolutely leaking goals. It is very rare that we restrict the other side to under 100 points - even when we win easily.

Moving our best (and only "real") key defender to the forward line is definately not the answer....

So it is our backline's fault that we are averaging 100 points per game. Silly me for thinking that one of the main contributors to our poor "points against" was due to our poor clearance rate in the centre.

Our defence can only stop so many attacking moves - any team in the comp with our poor clearance rate would have the same amount (if not more) of points scored against them.

 

[mjp]

So it is our backline's fault that we are averaging 100 points per game. Silly me for thinking that one of the main contributors to our poor "points against" was due to our poor clearance rate in the centre.

Our defence can only stop so many attacking moves - any team in the comp with our poor clearance rate would have the same amount (if not more) of points scored against them.

No - it is not the backlines fault. It is the teams fault. But given your logic, we need as many good players as we can get in the back half because that is where the ball keeps going!

 

[mjp]

You are kidding aren't you, this guy has seriously put in a great year in the VFL, he has played on and beaten a lot of AFL fwds. Been bog a few times and in the best many times. What more does someone have to do for you guys to 'support' someone....he is playing as well as he can with the opportunities that present, which is in the VFL at present. I realise i might be 'trolling' but im sorry, i just wanted to share a view based on a player that keeps picking himself up after a few tough calls on him at Brisbane etc.

No offense Guse, but what I said is 100% correct. He has been playing RESERVES football at Werribee. That is a FACT.

My kids loved him at the Auskick day - it is not about not supporting him. He is playing reserves at Werribee - that is a statement of where is footy is. He is an adequate defender when given the right match up, but is too slow to cover fast leading players. He is not particularly creative and hence I cannot see him making it as a player.

He seems a terrific bloke, but he was brought to the club to provide depth and that is what he is doing. I am sorry to say, but he will always be the type of player a club tries to replace.

 

[whythelongface]

But given your logic, we need as many good players as we can get in the back half because that is where the ball keeps going!

Right so how did you come to that conclusion after reading my post??

 

[lindsay_bulldogs]

If the back line is not at fault for the score against then what difference would moving one player make. Maybe all our midfielders should simply start in the back line that way we can get the ball first hand. Let the umpire bounce the ball with no one not even the ruckmen in the centre. Could be our new tactic. Would definitely be a first.

 

[Anja_Nees]

Harris showed some promising signs as a forward in his early games. He was never afraid to fly for a big grab and played with more flare than he does as a defender. I think the cattle are there to fill in for him (with Wight and Williams coming on) but he is a rock in the backline. He's one of our most experienced and confident defenders and when Grant goes he'll probably be what holds it together.

I would mind moving him forward if we can't find another option, but I'd feel a lot better about it when the youngsters have had another season playing together and getting used to the backline.

 

[lachy]

If the back line is not at fault for the score against then what difference would moving one player make. Maybe all our midfielders should simply start in the back line that way we can get the ball first hand. Let the umpire bounce the ball with no one not even the ruckmen in the centre. Could be our new tactic. Would definitely be a first.

This is one of my points. Moving one player wont drastically weaken an ordinary Backline but gives the opportunity of having a power forward without having to trade for one even if one was available.

 

[Astro_]

This is one of my points. Moving one player wont drastically weaken an ordinary Backline but gives the opportunity of having a power forward without having to trade for one even if one was available.

Its definetly worth a try.

 

[kookadog]

I really like the idea, Nothing to lose.

 

[always right]

Harris went forward for awhile against the cats, how did he go? All I can remember was that he was out marked by Egan? near the goal square. Wasn't the best of kicks to him. Did he do any leading? Does he have the smarts to play forward? I think he could do a Neitz and become a forward.
I would love to see him tried up forward, but we would miss him down back.

He played as if he was playing full back. Played from behind wanting to see the ball coming in to the forward line rather than leading up to it. May have been difficult making such a sudden transition....a lot of defensive habits ingrained, but there was no evidence in that game that he would be successful as a forward. Worth trying again at some stage though.

Perhaps not this week.....need him to play on Lynch and with Hansen back in their side, I'd be playing big Tom on him. Perhaps play Shaggy up forward this week?

 

[angry steve]

Right so how did you come to that conclusion after reading my post??

I agree with you totally mate - ie. our midfield`s lack of accountability, willingness to run when the opposition has the ball and their inability to break-even (at best) in clearances is definatley the main contributor to conceding way too many points each game.

But my point is this: Moving Harris out of the backline and into the forward line is only going to exacerbate our problem of conceding lots of goals based on the fact of who is going to replace him: It would either be a). a "green" youngster or b.) someone who doesn`t regularly play in the backline in the AFL and has little experience playing down there.
As mjp says - because of the lack of pressure in our midfield, the ball is going to be in our backline much more often than our forward line and I would much rather have one of our best players in Brian Harris play down there in the position that he clearly has the most experience in playing.

 

[Butane]

I agree with you totally mate - ie. our midfield`s lack of accountability, willingness to run when the opposition has the ball

Not sure if anyone noticed this. But agains't the Cats in the first quarter we were running down the wing and someone pumped a low pass to Johnson in the 50. It was cut off by Paul Chapman running back it. 30 seconds later, Chapman had the ball at the other end on the ground on the opposite side of the ground and he kicked in to the goal square and Mooney marked it. My question is, who was on him!(Hargrave, miss match) and why don't we have any players that can run that hard.

 

[lindsay_bulldogs]

Not sure if anyone noticed this. But agains't the Cats in the first quarter we were running down the wing and someone pumped a low pass to Johnson in the 50. It was cut off by Paul Chapman running back it. 30 seconds later, Chapman had the ball at the other end on the ground on the opposite side of the ground and he kicked in to the goal square and Mooney marked it. My question is, who was on him!(Hargrave, miss match) and why don't we have any players that can run that hard.

I think you got the wrong thread? This is the Harris to the forward line thread not why are we unaccoutable dopes thread

 

[Butane]

I think you got the wrong thread? This is the Harris to the forward line thread not why are we unaccoutable dopes thread

Sorry, was just replying to the post above.

 

[W.Bulldogs_Aus_WC06]

Pods!!!!!!!!!!