CHB or 2nd tall defender

[Gershwin]

At the start of the season I'm guessing the List Manager thought:

Carlisle
Frawley

Roberton
Wilkie
Joyce
Battle
Clavarino
Highmore
Coffield

I think we have been exposed in this position all season. If Wilkie plays there we lose the dominance we have when he plays 3rd tall. He goes from someone who can dominate a position to a player that is struggling to play tall.

And the others? We were rolling the dice on Carlisle and Frawley. Both at the end of their careers and have been unable to eke out another year.
Roberton was always a long-shot.
Joyce and Clavarino just don't get an opportunity.
Battle, Highmore and Coffield are not tall enough and best suited elsewhere.

Just another problem that has to be addressed at the end of the year.

[B.M]

Agree

It would be my #1 priority for 2022

[skeptic]

Ditto

[Vortex]

It would be my #2 priority.

Our forwardi line is a disaster and desperately needs another key tall.

I'd be hoping one of Frawley or Carlisle can play another year and then go for the key tall back in the 2022 trade period.

Our forward line is on life support.

[bigcarl]

I think CHB is priority.

We’re OK for key forwards so long as Marshall doesn’t need to play first ruck. King will hit his straps and find some consistency. I’m pretty confident of that.

If the club decides Marshall is going to be our next No.1 ruckman when Paddy eventually quits, then, yes, we definitely need a physical presence up there to compliment King.

So I’d be looking first for a CHB and then for a developing ruckman (maybe Heath) and a really good mature bodied ruckman.

Though he’s been at the club only a couple of seasons it will be a very sad day when Ryder calls time. He’s a sensation.

[skeptic]

Going to edit my original response

We need to fix our spine. CHF and CHB.

I suspect who we can get will determine the priority.

Feel like it doesn’t bode well for Battle who may ultimately be too undersized for both spots

[Teflon]

Chol has been mentioned
Riccardi another in twos going ok
Could we money ball our KPD (I think Dougal out to CHB makes more sense) and spend on Bing up forward?
It’s going to cost ...,
On a side note saw an article Port interested in Billings /Dunstan

[B.M]

Don’t we have

King 202
Marshall 201/Ryder 197
Membrey 188

As the forwards
Yes we do need another after Ryder retires.

But the defensive end is seriously undersized, against any team with two key talls

[Teflon]

Don’t we have

King 202
Marshall 201/Ryder 197
Membrey 188

As the forwards
Yes we do need another after Ryder retires.

But the defensive end is seriously undersized, against any team with two key talls

No
What we have is:
An ageing ruck who we rely on too much
A part time forward in Marshall, 12 goals and not enough support provided (who will soon be needed more in ruck!)
A 202 cm second year beanpole we are asking to be Lockett now
A 3rd tall being asked to play second whose performances have actually been waning since last year (who I think will play much better when he gets to play on medium sized defenders)
We also have 1 true KPD and some undersized options we saw exploited against Port
So as we saw with the coverage going Georgiadis got from Dixon....we need
Another tall fwd option - Bing
Another KPD
How about come up with a suggestion instead of easy questions cause anyone can ask those that doesn’t show a lot of thought.

[Wayne42]

There are a number of clubs looking for quality Key Defenders , Key Forwards and Rucks, problem is there aren't that many quality talls up for grabs.

It's going to be interesting at years end as to which clubs get what they need and how others compromise.

I just hope Gags and Lberatore do a better job of at the end of the 2021 season in comparison to what players they brought in at the end of 2020.

[maverick]

Don’t we have

King 202
Marshall 201/Ryder 197
Membrey 188

As the forwards
Yes we do need another after Ryder retires.

But the defensive end is seriously undersized, against any team with two key talls

Agree
Get bing now
Give up billings and out first round pick
Billings they get because we don’t match their bid
Said it in another thread, pay the $1m a year and get Kelly from gws
He is a sandy boy, bring him home

No
What we have is:
An ageing ruck who we rely on too much
A part time forward in Marshall, 12 goals and not enough support provided (who will soon be needed more in ruck!)
A 202 cm second year beanpole we are asking to be Lockett now
A 3rd tall being asked to play second whose performances have actually been waning since last year (who I think will play much better when he gets to play on medium sized defenders)
We also have 1 true KPD and some undersized options we saw exploited against Port
So as we saw with the coverage going Georgiadis got from Dixon....we need
Another tall fwd option - Bing
Another KPD
How about come up with a suggestion instead of easy questions cause anyone can ask those that doesn’t show a lot of thought.

[B.M]

Didn’t Membrey take 14 marks two weeks ago and get coaches votes?

[B.M]

I think a key defender is more important than a key forward

So does the club, which is why they traded out Bruce

[Banger9798]

We've actually got a decent forward line if we can kick to it ok.
King, Marshall,.Membrey,
One of Wood or Battle to rotate through
Higgins and Butler and possibly Long as smalls with pace.

Bing would be a superb addition though

[older saint]

I don't get this fascination with needing another tall forward.
Richmond 2017,2018, 2020 Lynch Riewoldt and mediums or smalls.
WC were different with Kennedy, Darling and resting ruck in 2019

We have King (21 years old and less than 50 games, Membrey (26 I believe) and Marshall - best forward ruck in the league. Unless the plan is to play one of the King lads as a second ruck to me makes no sense to add another 200 cm forward, plus still need to find a back up ruck.

We have 2 glaring problems IMO- Skillful ball users through the middle - Dal Santo type, and another genuine big defender. These are the areas which should be the priority ;

If they all cost the same I would take a Kelly or Toranto before Ben King purely on a needs basis. IMO

[Bruce G McAbee]

We have to seriously consider someone to replace Ryder who probably only has one season left in him.

[B.M]

Before that we have to replace

Carlisle and Frawley

Who have none seasons left!

Clavarino and Joyce - no good

[Vortex]

I think a key defender is more important than a key forward

So does the club, which is why they traded out Bruce

Ironically our backline has performed relatively quite well this season and the forward line not so much.

The club didn't trade Bruce out, he walked because the club didn't want to pay him his asking price which clearly was a massive mistake and that decision could ultimately be the reason this list build faulters if a replacement isn't found before it's too late.

[B.M]

Would you have Bruce, King, Marshall and Membrey in the same forward line.

Our percentage is 80

Not much has worked really

[Vortex]

Would you have Bruce, King, Marshall and Membrey in the same forward line.

Our percentage is 80

Not much has worked really

I'd have those players all in the same side in a heart beat.

Members has been given the licence to go into defence when he thinks the game dictates and it has proven to be a master-stroke by Ratts and is also the reason Members stats went through the roof, especially marks.

It will also allow flexibility for RoMa to focus on ruck duties more when needed if the forward line is working well which would be real handy in the next year or so when Paddy retires.

Bruce leaving was a massive mistake in hindsight and so it's why I think fixing our forward line is the most urgent need, clearly scoring is our issue and the defence is one of the better in the comp and whilst we are in need of another key tall backman I think if we can squeeze another year out of Carlsile then that will give us time to chase the big forward first, then the CHB.

Recruiting strategy will be crucial from here .

[older saint]

Not sure this time last year anyone would have said losing Bruce was a mistake - even WB fans were saying why did we pay so much for this guy.
Good delivery into the forward line makes forwards look good. We don't have that as we lack quality ball users. This is the area we need to focus on and all of a sudden the forward line looks potent.

[cwrcyn]

Losing Bruce meant we got Jones.

[B.M]

That fwd line would be too top heavy

Need ground level players

[Vortex]

Not sure this time last year anyone would have said losing Bruce was a mistake - even WB fans were saying why did we pay so much for this guy.
Good delivery into the forward line makes forwards look good. We don't have that as we lack quality ball users. This is the area we need to focus on and all of a sudden the forward line looks potent.

At the time I wasn't too unhappy about losing him because of the players we bought in however now with the benefit of hindsight we probably broke even by robbing Peter to pay Paul however also with the benefit of hindsight we still don't have a full complement of players to take us to the promised land.

And the players we need to take us there are key spine players which is creating a significant structural weakness and as we know key AFL capable talls don't grow on trees. I'm of the belief we will remain a bottom 8 side until we find another key tall forward.

We have a CHB in Carslise but we aren't sure if he is capable of playing on. If he is then that allows us some breathing space in recruiting.

[Yorkeys]

Here's a brave prediction about Melbourne that have both a CHB and 2nd tall defender that are excellent. They will lose their finals because opposition coaches will neutralise their men's' defensive impact with tactics. See Clarko master class last week.

We have shown we can play wonderfully at times being a little less than tall in defence but its hard to maintain without a big mobile CHB. Nevertheless if its a choice I think we need another (second) contested marking forward as a priority. North and Suns are only ones that have significantly fewer points for than us. And Suns have the lesser King, don't they. Our fwd set up is pretty much dysfunctional and been costly this year.