It's all about the midfield (RudeBoy & Carey concur)

[RudeBoy]

OK, let's put aside the coaching issue.

Our major flaw all year has been the disappointing performance of our midfield group. Yesterday, Pendles and Sidey gave their all, but we didn't get much out of De Goey, Crisp, Greenwood or Aish. Even Treloar, was just OK. This is why our defence is leaking like a sieve, because they are under siege given our failure to control the midfield. Given the absence of Adams and Varcoe, we really needed these guys to step up, but unfortunately they've been disappointing. Perhaps we now know why the Roos were happy to trade Greenwood. He's a good tackler and probably does a decent tagging job, but for a guy of his experience he simply does not impact the game enough. Don't get me started on Aish. I reckon he was recruited on the strength of his surname. For a 3rd year player, he looks way, way, way out of his depth in the AFL. It's not surprising he wasn't even getting a senior game at the Lions. Can someone tell me why TF we gave up two 2nd round draft picks for him?

I still rate De Goey as a potential future star, but right now he's suffering a bit of the 2nd yr blues. Obviously, getting Adams and Varcoe back will help, but unless our '2nd tier' mids find some form, we will continue to struggle badly.

[scoobydoo]

Exactly

[Jez07]

De Goey shouldn't be playing. Every week he is having fluid drained out of his knee.

[RudeBoy]

[Woods Of Ypres]

we are missing the strength of Swan badly. He has copped a bit for his 'grubber kicks' but he has the physical strength to fend off and move the ball forward. every week we are smashed in the clearances.

[Collingwood Crackerjack]

[stui magpie]

Our midfield is the problem at the moment.

Looking forward however, what really concerns me is our lack of KPP depth. Apart from Moore we're thin.

Gault was a speculative late pick. A project player.

Wyatt and Cox are both speculative rookie picks.

The last tall player we got with a highish pick was Grundy.

Midfielders can come in and play pretty early, KPP's take longer as they need to put on muscle and learn how to compete against men. We should have tried to pick up some talls with early picks instead of stockpiling mids and half back flankers.

[qldmagpie67]

Agree with most of what your said Rude.
I think Aish is just struggling with expectation coupled with the physical demands of AFL
Missing Varcoe and Swanny are huge to our structure and experience levels in and around the midfield. It allows the opposition to really work over Pendles and Treloar
We miss Adams in and under work badly as well. A out of the square suggestion is why not give Maynard a run in the middle. He has body shape and aggression so he wouldn't be a bad fit. We just need bodies to at least make it a contest.
Another thing I've noticed is we are lacking 2 way running. I thought Treloar would really improve this and he's working hard but not having the dynamic impact I thought he would have.
Crisp & Greenwood have been at best only just fair and compared to last year you could easily say Crisp has been way down.
DeGoey to me looks slower and less able to get to contests. Maybe he's injured or something but he doesn't look the same player as 2015.
We desperately need all our mids at there best as it covers some of our defensive weaknesses.

[yin-YANG]

[neil]

[Dave The Man]

At the Moment it was very Overrated in the Pre-Season. No Depth.

Lose Varcoe and Adams and goes to shit

[Skids]

[ANNODAM]

[bally12]

DeGoey needs a spell. Looks tired and slow, and wouldn't be suprised if he's playing injured.
Remember a lot of our players are just kids and not yet conditioned and mature enough to play a whole AFL season.
From the outside looking in, DeGoey looks like he's developing well in his upper body strength, but needs to develop his core/hip/leg strength and work on his explosive running.
I'd also hate to think that the club has dropped the idea that he can be a marking option. I remember Buckley was a good mark when he came to us from Brisbane, and by his own admission his marking deteriorated because he didn't spend any time on it at training.

[thompsoc]

De Goey fumbles and gets caught too often and his kicking is standard at Collingwood.
I don't think he has great wide eyed vision.
His knee problem may explain his kicking.
But his kicking was ordinary last year.
His fumbling is the biggest issue.
Early days yet but he is not looking like a top 6 draft pick, more like pick 26.