Can someone please explain to me why Mathews is still in the side?

[Robbo]

Jesus Christ. As you would probably know already, this is another Benny bashing thread. Now I don't want to hear this wank about his "tagging" abilities.

He's a liability - That's the bottom line.

What about that mark he dropped in the 1st quarter from the kick in? Schmidt and Laidlaw both would of swallowed that. Speaking of these two, why are they playing in the amateur comp when this hack is in the side week in week out?

He adds nothing in attack, and is so slow that he has to shunt to change direction like the Indian Pacific.

Reputation, reputation, reputation.

[573v30]

Ask the leadership group, they must have an answer...

[NMWBloods]

Well, he's really in because of his defensive ability. Did a very good job on Lockyer.

Gives us nothing in attack though.

Roos seems to prefer defence over offence, which means that our side is more geared to stopping opposition goals than scoring goals ourselves, and that has been a problem for a while.

[shaun..]

Yep he's doing his job when he and his opponent cannot be seen on the tele

[melb_blood69]

mathews shouldn't be in the side with kennelly out. it makes the back half too slow. with kennelly out i would rather see dempster in. need someone at lease capable at breaking the lines. everything piece of play was too slow. why won't someone in our team play on. no risk = no win

[Missy]

need someone at lease capable at breaking the lines.

At least.

[doctor swan]

hopefully he will join crouchy in retirement at seasons end.

[Captain]

He was one of the few that actually did his job.

[Robbo]

He was one of the few that actually did his job.

What's his job? Sabotaging us?

Roosy seems to love him though.

[dendol]

think people are remembering his dropped mark in the 1st quarter and basing his performance on that. Far from our worst last night, he had a job to tag someone out of the game and did it well. Roos (and everyone else) well knows his limitations - he gives nothing in attack but does most defensive jobs adequately.

[Robbo]

But simply tagging someone out of the game isn't good enough. In this day and age, players need to be able to do more than that.

He simply doesn't cut it.

[dendol]

there are still many effective pure taggers in the AFL who get a game every week. Most teams have one or two at most, but the problem with the Swans is that we have about 6 taggers getting a game every week.

[Robbo]

If you look at the better taggers in the comp like Baker, Stenglein and Rawlings, they are very good defensively but still offer something going forward.

[dendol]

True, but when your job is to keep the most damaging player of the opposition quiet, you're not really asked to give too much going forward. You are rated on your defensive job, nothing else.

[Robbo]

But is Lockyer Collingwood's most damaging player?