Can Gehrig play as a second option?

[hAyES]

The last few years Gehrig has been the clear-cut FF, but whenever he seemed to have an off day he would put less effort than he usually did, give away free kicks etc. We've seen even in these NAB cup games that he seems to lose focus if the ball doesn't come his way that often.

This year it looks like Kosi is the go-to guy (which he should be), and with Frase no longer being the first option we could see more of these off days from him and it could really cost our team.

Hopefully Fraser will be happy as the person that takes the number 1 defender, and can have his big days when he picks up their 2nd or 3rd best defender. If he can, it will go a long way toward us being right up there.

[saintsRrising]

The GTrain has also often played decoy roles..

He is team man through and through.

I remember one game not that long back when the game was clearly won...and he was on track fora record number of goals...but he kept passing the ball off to team mates in the last quarter when he could easily have had a few more shots at goal.

[hAyES]

I do believe he's a team man. Whenever he kicks a bag he always gives the credit to the midfield for getting the ball to him. Hopefully he accepts his role this season because it makes our forward line almost unstoppable.

[ctqs]

I wouldn't be surprised if he took over the role Hamill played. The forward there to run around, crash into opponents and clear paths for other blokes, create extra defensive pressure to keep the ball inside 50, and generally put the fear of God into anyone wearing an opposition jumper who goes near the ball.

[markp]

I wouldn't be surprised if he took over the role Hamill played. The forward there to run around, crash into opponents and clear paths for other blokes, create extra defensive pressure to keep the ball inside 50, and generally put the fear of God into anyone wearing an opposition jumper who goes near the ball.

Thought he showed signs of that against the tigers... he would seem to be a natural candidate!

[Armoooo]

I'm expecting Gehrig, Kosi and Riewoldt to all spend time as a decoy and as a target sometime throughout the year....
The unpredictability of our forwardline will be one of our biggest strengths this year

[ctqs]

I reckon I saw it then, too. Great way to take the pressure off him. Imagine the headaches he'd cause other teams by having the third best defender on him?

[evertonfc]

Hoorah!

I've been saying this since the moment Gehrig came back.

Kosi is our best option at FF. Roo is our best option at CHF.

Gehrig is no longer the player who kicked 100 in a season.

He can't smash quality defenders anymore, but Kosi and Roo can. However, Gehrig is too good for most team's 3rd tall defender - and you can't leave Gehrig unnatended, otherwise he will kick goals.

The G-Train can be a weapon this year, but we must use him right.

Apologies if this is incorrect, but I think it was plugger66 who said it couldn't be done and that Gehrig had to be played as the #1 forward...I'd be interested to hear what he thinks now.

[hAyES]

Kosi is our best option at FF for the sole reason that he takes contested marks. Put him in the goalsquare one on one like he was against the Cats and he'll kick 4 or 5 every week.

[markp]

Please god, keep us relatively injury free this season!

The potential of the season ahead is as tantalizing as I can recall.

[bigcarl]

Apologies if this is incorrect, but I think it was plugger66 who said it couldn't be done and that Gehrig had to be played as the #1 forward...I'd be interested to hear what he thinks now.

he said the other day that roo will play chf, fraser the leading ff and kosi playing a jonathan brown role in between the two.

sounds like a reasonable plan to me and all three are interchangeable in the other's role if it isn't working on a given day.

imo an aerially dominant forward line that could change the face of football. I call them the 3 Divas.

throw in c gardiner as a tall "medium" and a couple of little pipsqueaks like milne, schneider or a resting mid and it ought to be like shooting fish in a barrel for our forwards this season given even half decent supply.

many reliable and consistent avenues to goal

that is the key. no more kick-it-to-roo.

it is a team game and we have the resources to stretch the mediocre resources of our opponents to breaking point

[Otiman]

Just as we have Roo as #1 option, we will have C. Gardiner as #2 option. The same goes for Kosi and Gehrig.

By having two sets of options, we can take advantage of oppositions defensive structures, although this may mean having to kick goals from relatively tight angles as we work with more players in the 50.

[plugger66]

Hoorah!

I've been saying this since the moment Gehrig came back.

Kosi is our best option at FF. Roo is our best option at CHF.

Gehrig is no longer the player who kicked 100 in a season.

He can't smash quality defenders anymore, but Kosi and Roo can. However, Gehrig is too good for most team's 3rd tall defender - and you can't leave Gehrig unnatended, otherwise he will kick goals.

The G-Train can be a weapon this year, but we must use him right.

Apologies if this is incorrect, but I think it was plugger66 who said it couldn't be done and that Gehrig had to be played as the #1 forward...I'd be interested to hear what he thinks now.

What I said is that G will be leading forward out of the goal square and I have seen nothing to change my mind on that unless of course he cannot get fit or is out of form.. I never said he would be the number one forward. Rooy will continue his lead up role and Kosi will play in a similar postion to J Brown between CHF and FF.

[rexy]

Obviously a lot of people have C Gardiner pencilled in as best 22 now? I am still not sure my self, have yet to see him with Roo in the team, yet to see Schneider, and the interchange bench is obviously reduced in the H&A.

With the need for a large midfield rotation being more prevelant than ever and G, Kosi and Roo automatic selections as permenat forwards it will be interesting to see whether he is given a go round 1 or if he misses out due to team balance and has to wait for his opportunities?

Likewise with Milne, Is he to one dimensional, with Gardiner/Scneider now on the list could he miss out to a player who can rotate through the middle?

[gosaints]

What I said is that G will be leading forward out of the goal square and I have seen nothing to change my mind on that unless of course he cannot get fit or is out of form.. I never said he would be the number one forward. Rooy will continue his lead up role and Kosi will play in a similar postion to J Brown between CHF and FF.

I totally agree. Gehrig has always been dangerous on the lead and not so good at contested marks. Kosi could be the best contested mark in the league. I see Gehrig as the leading forward out of the square, Roo as the typical CHF and Kosi floating from the square out to the 50 and so on basically just monstering any backman who has to stand him.

With Charlie Gardiner as a mobile mid sized forward and the likes of Milne, Schneider and X.Clarke spending some time forward it really does look very, very dangerous.

[bigcarl]

Likewise with Milne, Is he to one dimensional, with Gardiner/Scneider now on the list could he miss out to a player who can rotate through the middle?

no, imo. he's still one of the best small forwards going around and i think there is definitely a spot for him as a specialist goal-kicker.

[rexy]

Likewise with Milne, Is he to one dimensional, with Gardiner/Scneider now on the list could he miss out to a player who can rotate through the middle?

no, imo. he's still one of the best small forwards going around and i think there is definitely a spot for him as a specialist goal-kicker.

Hope so for his sake, he is a favourite.

[BringBackMadDog]

From what I've seen so far this season, G is basically doing the body on body wrestling work drawing opponents to the contest allowing Kosi the freedom to come in late from the side of the pack to jump over the lot of them. This works well as G can barely get off the ground these days but he still is the strongest bloke going around and Kosi is a brilliant pack mark. If the opposition then start trying to block Kosi's run at the ball and allow G a one on one wrestle, he will beat 9 out of 10 guys with his strength. Top this off with the fact that both of them are also lethal on a lead makes them a headache for all defences in the comp

[Enrico_Misso]

From what I've seen so far this season, G is basically doing the body on body wrestling work drawing opponents to the contest allowing Kosi the freedom to come in late from the side of the pack to jump over the lot of them. This works well as G can barely get off the ground these days but he still is the strongest bloke going around and Kosi is a brilliant pack mark. If the opposition then start trying to block Kosi's run at the ball and allow G a one on one wrestle, he will beat 9 out of 10 guys with his strength. Top this off with the fact that both of them are also lethal on a lead makes them a headache for all defences in the comp

No question with Frase, Kosi, Roo, C Gardiner, Milne and Schneider we have a feast of talent up forward.
More so than last year.

But the big difference this year will be King/M Gardiner.

If they can give us first use out of the middle, our talented midfielders will be able to move the ball into the forward line quick enough to exploit this forward talent.

Whereas previously by not winning the ruck, our centre takeaways are not clean and that allows good teams time to get men back inside our 50.

[saints66]

I agree I think big Fraze should play a roll as a Hamill type player when he is not in form. However the sound of big Fraze running around yelling out "Choo Choo" then crunching defenders would result in to many free Kicks but what a laugh!