As much as we have a young midfield, and delivery into the forward line has been limited and not to the standard of the top teams, that’s an easy out for the forwards. I’ve never been one for that.
Our midfield group is a year or two away from being up and running, so the ball’s not going to come in as well as it does at Geelong or Collingwood.
Things will improve as the side improves and I think our forward line has accepted that. We’ve managed to get some okay results with scoring efficiency and marks inside 50 and I think we’ve made some ground this year as a forward group.
I look at Mark LeCras and Josh Kennedy and they’ve had terrific seasons, although they’ve probably had too much responsibility and they’ve tapered off a bit as a result.
‘Lecca’ is proof you can kick plenty of goals with limited opportunities, and I think people underestimate his work-rate. He works very hard inside 50 and he’s definitely got the ability to be a midfielder with a full pre-season training that way.
Josh is still a young kid playing in a difficult position and he’s probably looking for the finish line physically and mentally after kicking 32 goals in the first 11 games.
He’s tapered off, and I’ve had a chat to him about that, but I don’t see it as a big issue for him. The real positive I see out of it is that he’s going to play 22 games for the first time in his five seasons.
It’s exciting to think what could happen when those guys fire together, and then you throw in Andrew Strijk and Ashton Hams, who have come into the mix and added a lot to our forward line.
Quinten Lynch has had a so-so year and his form hasn’t been where he’d want it to be. I don’t think any footballer goes through their career without having a year where things just haven’t worked for them and I have no doubt he’ll have a good pre-season and get his head around having a better 2011.
Ben McKinley’s had limited opportunities this season, but 16 goals from 10 games is not a bad result. We’ve been trying some different things structurally this year that have seen Ben out of the side.
He’s got to keep working on his defensive pressure and his work-rate, but I think we’ll see him progress again next year. He’s a young player and he’s a very smart forward.
We haven’t used Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui up forward as much as might have been expected when they’re not in the ruck. We’ve concentrated on playing Nic more in the ruck, while ‘Coxy’ was injured earlier in the year and played less ground time. In the coming years I think you’ll see those two up forward a little bit more.
Ash Hansen has had a year from hell with injuries, playing just two games for two goals. He’s kicked some bags with Swan Districts and every time he was about to return he got injured. He just needs to get his body right over summer.
The views in this article are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the club.
