Looking at the various threads on the draftees and noting some criticism at times of the KPP slant adopted by the club got me thinking about what makes a premiership side and one thing seems clear most of em have a lot of good big tall players. To me that is the crucial thing we have lacked in recent times and it doesn't really matter how good a midfield is, without consistent marking forwards to give the ball to it just goes up the other end, and faster than ever theses days. So it follows that the best teams also have the most and possibly also the best KPP's. Take it a step further and one can say the best teams have more KPP's than they would appear to need according to the apparent philosophies of some of the critics who seem to me at times overly obsessed with midfielders. The best Carlton sides that I have watched had stacks of big blokes...(not logs mind a la Richmond but genuine big footballers) many of whom could have played KP if only some one else better hadn't layed claim to the spot. For instance Curly Austin and Des English as back pockets (what a luxury and a flag winning luxury at that and every line was the same) probably would have loved to shove Southby aside and played fullback themselves. I remember when Robert Walls was at CHF and Maclure had to play CHB because Wallsy was better but perhaps it was the competition for that spot that helped make Maclure a premiership CHFwhen he eventually got the chance. So all praise to the Carlton Brains who have drafted exactly right IMO. And Please no more talk about too many talls.

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carn the blues

I agree.

I think footy has come along way since then and its about speed and precision now.
Swans didnt have any abundance of KPP .. Leo Barry isnt what youd call a monster defender.Barry Hall is the only dominant KPP
WC dont really have a shitload of good ones either.

They both play to a gameplan (quite different game plans too)

Swans get back numbers to help out..
WC love running the ball and moving it fast.



If you control the midfield there is less pressure on your defence and the ball is more likely to be in your forward line allowing you to create scoring opportunities.

You need a spread

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I think that the 1999 Kangaroos, 2000 Essenscum, 2001-03 Lions & 2004 Port Adelaide sides would have easily beaten either the West Coast or Sydney on GF day due to their much superior key position stocks.

Thats very simplistic.
They all had ripper midfields too.
Port only has one dominanat tall.Cornes at CHB is hardly a power KPP.
Brissy were strong all over the park but it was their midfield that dominated.

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Tredrea not dominant?

Tredrea is the one im referring to.
Cornes is an oversized midfielder.

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Great teams win premierships.

Simple.

Like I Been sayin all year.......
Long Term in 2004 draft I'd rather be Hawks than Tiges,

2 Talls will play as Bookends and can dominate a gamefrom start to end.
2 Smalls will never do that - Deludio and Tambling

WE DONE GOOD!

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Its your ruckman that win you flags not your midfield . If you haven't got the ruckman to give you first use of the ball your midfielders wont get it to deliver it to your KPP players. The main reason why Sydney won this year was because of Jolly being introduced as a back up to Ball and they also had Goodes running around who is also quite handy in the Ruck, Port had Brogen and Lade and even big Primus even though he was injured most of the time. Brisbane always seem to plenty of ruckman.

Carlton will go better this year because we now have 2 quality ruckman and two to three guys who are comming through.

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All premeirship teams must have two good ruckman.

Balance.

You need to be strong all over the ground. Can't afford any weak links. Basically I think everone has been partly right so far.

You need a dominant midfield, a strong target up forward, run out of the backline, two ruckmen interchanging

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Exactly TBB.
If you cannot get the ball to the key position forward then he ain't going to kick you a premiership score. Just like a ruckman sets the play/tone and game up, the midfielder sets the forward up.

if you have nowhere to get the ball to then you cant kick a premiership score....

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How many flag sides can you name that had a shit CHF ?
Give me a real good CHF and definately two big ruckman and everything falls into place around.
Sydney are not a great side,but had two good ruckmen ( Ball and Jolly ) and Bazza at CHF.
The game has changed a lot,but the age old formula still stands up.

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All my dangerous friends

A lot of what many of you say is of course spot on and I also realise that what what I say is simplistic as well but bear in mind that I made the post with respect to who and what we have drafted rather than as an indepth review of what makes an entire team. Thats why I left the rucks out of it etc. Also I realise that you need a midfield, ( mosquito fleet take a bow)not suggesting a team can win (consistently) without it. As to Sydney..well the jury is still out but perhaps theyll only fluke one and Brisbane Michael,Leppitsch, Brown, Lynch pretty darn good KPP's for their midfield to deliver to almost got them four in a row.

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carn the blues