Re: 2018 Rd 7: Post Game Platitudes: Carlton vs Adelaide
Reply #48 –
That's a rubbish statement.
Yesterday I watched NBs at Frankston. Two players Weitering and JGM wanted the last defender role. It was basically a battle between them in the first half who could set themselves up in that role. But in reality, when JGM got his opportunity he was no good at getting to the contests, he was nearly always late, failed to read the play or was beaten. Weitering in the same role was basically dominant, as you would want a player of that calibre to be!
Nobody would make a claim JGM is slower than Weitering, or slower than any of the above. Worrying about speed is way way too simplistic, it's not just about speed, it's about decision making, reading the play and being committed.
Further, most of yesterday Frankston tried it on with a small player to leverage a pace or agility difference, it backfired because Weitering won out comfortably. He looks slow because he is a lopes along Rhys-Jones style, but he was always able to close on the smaller opponent.
The same applies to comparing Kreuzer and Phillips, Phillips is clearly faster than Kreuzer across the ground in a straight line, but Phillips gets to half the contests. Jones is clearly the fastest of the lot, but he's often trapped in no man's land by indecision or being outnumbered due to our utilities stranding him against many.
What we saw yesterday in Adelaide was the problem with a tall team if you only get 1/2 a game of effort out of the utility and small on-ballers.
Other than Daisy and Wright more often than not it was Kreuzer running past blokes like SPS, O'Shea or Mullet to pressure an opponent. When the medium/smalls raised their efforts to AFL standard we looked 300% better. I felt sorry for Fisher and Cripps yesterday, when Kreuzer, Wright or Daisy we not around the ball to help them they got almost zero assistance on the inside. Ed was quite good but being the 3rd or 4th hand on the ball he blanketed Gibbs and some others. Kennedy does not look fit, he's almost certainly carrying an injury.
He's certainly in a weird situation, he's winning lots of football, but those crucial moments he cooks it really hurts us! This role he is playing doesn't really suit him, not because he can't read the play, but because of his low efficiency he's running himself into the ground going backwards and forwards mostly at his own fault!
Also we need a couple of the younger guys doing the sacrificial stuff, Armfield style, at the moment they run along beside players in photo opportunities.