Lions midfield coach Simon Black says the depth in the Club’s in-ball division should give fans cause for optimism.
“Having some new guys in the group and more depth, fighting for positions in the team, it’s going to bring the best out of everyone and that’s going to be the challenge for our better guys, let alone our fringe guys,” Black told foxfooty.com.au.
“We’ve got to work through our best combinations to a degree. How much more will guys need to rotate through midfield to give others a chop out? Time will tell. Over the summer, we’ve given plenty of guys the opportunity through the midfield to show what they’ve got.
“But, that said, over the next month we’ll be working out our best combinations. That might take a bit of time, but whether we’ve got guys at half forward or half back, then coming into the midfield, how we squeeze them in is going to be a challenge for us as a coaching group.”
“As a midfield group, we talk about contested ball and clearances to name a couple. We talk a bit about our midfield versus the opposition midfield each week. As much as we can, we try to put it on our guys in terms of how we’re comparing in contested possessions.”
“We have to compete with anyone; it’s the strength of our side. I read somewhere the other day that ranked us the 13th best midfield in the competition. If that’s the case, we’ve got to be far better than that and that’s the challenge for our guys.”
Black rated the new faces in the Lions midfield:
Ryan Bastinac: “He brings a lot of composure. He’s got great skills by hand and by foot and he’s got a terrific work rate.”
Tom Bell: “He’s got high energy and high work rate. He’s a real competitor and he’ll continue to turn up. He was in the top five last year in red-time, so he had a big impact late in quarters. If he’s not our best runner, he’s one of our best two or three.”
Jarrad Jansen: “He’s a strong one-on-one player and he’s good overhead for his size. He played a bit forward for Geelong’s reserves, but he’s a good contested player.”
Ben Keays: “He’s got a high work rate and is a really good runner. He’s got high energy and a high work rate. He’s going to have to keep working on his skills. He’s got a neat left foot, but how he can adapt that to the speed of AFL will be a good challenge for him.”
Rhys Mathieson: “Rhys is a competitor. He’s got that good technique of being able to win a free kick — he’s got that down pat. He’s a really good ball winner. He can win his own footy and involve himself offensively really well. The challenge will be, like all the kids coming in, improving the defensive side of his game and not ball watching.”
