The four pillars of the Magpies’ new midfield.

[BazBoy]

And on McCreery his tackling in forward line fierce
Maybe he tackles and spills ball free ????

[david975]

Was looking at the CFC site and notice that Mcinnes and Poulter are listed at 194cm and Tyler B at 192cm ...can anyone confirm how accurate this is...handy having having these bigger bodies in there...

[MatthewBoydFanClub]

In yesterday's paper Mick McGuane said he ranked our midfield 11th in the comp. Today he has ranked our forward line 17th.

I'm amazed there's another forward line out there worse than us. Who is it?

[MatthewBoydFanClub]

Sidebottom was quite useless last year.
Seems to have lost his tank.
Look forward to seeing him wind the clock back somewhat.
Thought his best position now would be a forward pocket.
But hey, I will wait and see if I am wrong.

The record book shows he came 5th in the Copeland trophy last year.

[#26]

In yesterday's paper Mick McGuane said he ranked our midfield 11th in the comp. Today he has ranked our forward line 17th.

I'm amazed there's another forward line out there worse than us. Who is it?

The Suns. Probably because Ben King did his knee.

[Pies2016]

Was looking at the CFC site and notice that Mcinnes and Poulter are listed at 194cm and Tyler B at 192cm ...can anyone confirm how accurate this is...handy having having these bigger bodies in there...

Poulter and McInnes is absolutely accurate. Tyler Brown would be very close, particularly if he’s had a bit of a growth spurt in the last year or two ( and that’s quite possible ) Begg has also had a growth spurt in the off season and is now on the 200cm mark. They all have to grow into their bodies of course and it’s a very prone time for stress related injuries from the rapid development.

[What'sinaname]

And on McCreery his tackling in forward line fierce

Maybe he tackles and spills ball free ????

Tackling isn't enough. Our ability to score is our weakness. We need forwards who will kick goals. McCreery needs to improve that as tackling alone wont get him a regular game.
6 goals in his first 3 games and 5 goals in the remaining 8

[Charlie Oneeye]

It also helps to have the forwards play as forwards in the general vicinity of goals.

With this new game plan, hopefully there will be offensive setups to give them opportunity to raise up Micks ladder.

[#26]

Begg has also had a growth spurt in the off season and is now on the 200cm mark. They all have to grow into their bodies of course and it’s a very prone time for stress related injuries from the rapid development.

It's good that we have a young 200cm project player on the go.

[PyreneesPie]

Cannot see how four types of mids is anything breath-takingly new . I think the club felt it was time there was some sort of pre-season report (certainly overdue) and the media as usual made a big deal out of it.

It all sounds the same as last season to me, except for Pendles spending a bit more time at half-back and Bruzzy being identified as a complimentary inside bull to Tay.
The one big difference would be that last year's debutantes have had another pre-season under their belts and are looking more confident, bigger and stronger because of it, which is exciting.

[masoncox]

Sidebottom was quite useless last year.
Seems to have lost his tank.
Look forward to seeing him wind the clock back somewhat.
Thought his best position now would be a forward pocket.
But hey, I will wait and see if I am wrong.

The record book shows he came 5th in the Copeland trophy last year.

And history shows we came second last and sidebottom was in the midfield that got thrashed most weeks.
And remember the outside with no cloths on drunken jaunt

[Rd10.1998_11.1#36]

And on McCreery his tackling in forward line fierce

Maybe he tackles and spills ball free ????

Tackling isn't enough. Our ability to score is our weakness. We need forwards who will kick goals. McCreery needs to improve that as tackling alone wont get him a regular game.

6 goals in his first 3 games and 5 goals in the remaining 8

Sounds alright to me for a first year player... By comparison, Henry kicked 7 goals from 10 games

[masoncox]

Sidebottom was quite useless last year.
Seems to have lost his tank.
Look forward to seeing him wind the clock back somewhat.
Thought his best position now would be a forward pocket.
But hey, I will wait and see if I am wrong.

The record book shows he came 5th in the Copeland trophy last year.

And history shows we came second last and sidebottom was in the midfield that got thrashed most weeks.
And remember the outside with no cloths on drunken jaunt

Sidebottom was 2 points clear 59 votes to 57 to Grundy.
And we all know that Grundy had a stinker of a year.

[LaurieHolden]

I do like it.

It is an indication of where we are.

We are not exposed if a regular clearance player goes down, and we expand our options and style by developing more players through there.

Our best mix needs to be identified. One day, it will be this group we will rely upon playing the best teams in Finals.

It’s also an indication that an over reliance on Adams isn’t going to help us improve either. While he remains an inspirational player, he’s injury prone and his ball use is “ open for interpretation “. The sooner we discover successful clearance options that don’t have a need to include Adams, the better we will be. By extension, that means we will have improved.

This became somewhat prophetic. With all due respect to Tay on his departure, "his ball use is “open for interpretation" still makes me laugh.

With Adams heading off to sin city, the four pillars becomes a rotation of six through JDG, Mitchell, Naicos, Crisp, Pendlegoat and Macrae. I'll happily take that mix up against any in the competition come season 2024.

One thing I'd like to see Macrae pick up where Taylor Adams left off with is tackling.
Tackle averages per game of these 6 are as follows ~

Mitchell 6.04 ;
Adams 5.10 ;
Pendlegoat 4.75 ;
Crisp 4.24 ;
JDG 2.94 ;
Naicos 2.94.

Macrae had 8 in his one appearance against Essendon in Round24. Not bad as the Sub.

Only the great Rupert 'the wombat' Wills betters that with 11 against WCE R19 in 2016. He leads this group on tackle average per game with 6.65.

One thing that I see firmly as part of this teams DNA is pressure. Tackles bring pressure and cause turnover; we score from turnovers.

[RudeBoy]

If Fin Macrae and Ed Allan can step up and play some regular senior footy for us next season, we will have a fantastic midfield with serious depth.