Re: Jack Silvagni - The Ultimate Medical Sub
Reply #40 –
I'd have to say I'd be a little skeptical about the height imbalance theory - I'd say it was one factor among several, a minor factor IMO. If you're swapping out 2 or 3 smalls for talls, then yes, no doubt, but not 1.
Listening to Voss post game, he mentioned desire, ground ball and contested ball. He said we lost too many critical battles, and were out muscled by a side with greater desire and work rate. He didn't seem too concerned when questioned about 3 talls, height balance etc.
I think Vossy has covered most of the reasons. Did he also mention over-using the ball and not providing opportunities for handball receives?
Our small forwards are great at putting pressure on opposition defenders and helping out in the midfield and in defence, but they're not troubling the scorers. When you have an advantage with your tall forwards, in terms of both quantity and quality, opposition defenders shouldn't be marking a lot of kicks inside 50; marking contests should be won by our talls or brought to ground. Our small forwards aren't capitalising on those opportunities and it's generally Charlie or midfielders that do the crumbing. In that context, playing Jack, Tom and Pitto is the best option ... but not necessarily an underdone Pitto.