Re: 2018 Rd 4: Carlton vs North Melbourne in Hobart
Reply #162 –
Height is only a variable. My 'argument' has been simplified to too many talls.
In reality, the argument is generally that the opposition have too many quick smalls. A subtle difference. One that highlights the fact that some of our talls, specifically Weitering, cannot mind one of the many smalls that we often come up against....and even some of the quicker talls. Basically, we usually need more 'small forward minders' in our side.
Weiterings lack of acceleration, speed and agility is more of a factor than his height and i have stressed that previously.
FWIW, this week i think the matchups work a bit better for Weitering. Would still have preferred Marchbank in the side instead of Oshea. Which BTW is listed as 197, not 193 as quoted earlier. Meaning his matchup with Atley has 8cm difference, which in itself isn't a huge issue, but almost always means that Atley will be quicker and more agile as a result. I know Oshea can play smaller than his size suggests, but have not had a look at that under the microscope of AFL footy much as yet.
O’Shea’s height is listed as 193cm on the club website, FootyWire, Wikipedia and in an article about his delisting by Port. However, I have seen the erroneous 197cm height mentioned from time to time.
Oppositions having too many quick smalls isn’t a problem for the defence, it’s all over the ground. Perhaps one of our most telling problems is the lack of a small forward able to run down defenders and win free kicks inside 50. Our lack of pace in the midfield enables opposition players to run through the corridor and deliver to their forwards’ advantage. The height/speed of our defenders is largely irrelevant when the ball comes in so quickly ... and it usually happens as a result of a shallow, misdirected forward 50 entry.
I’m not convinced that our defence is too tall/slow but there are other issues, such as lack of experienced midfielders (I didn’t think we’d miss Gibbs as much), that are more critical.