Can our BACK LINE win us a GF ?

[Auntie.Gerald]

am I being to harsh..........or did AJ have an absolute shocker yest ?

his delivery was terrible........ on many easy kicks he missed his target and or didnt sight the easy option

it was very strange in the backline yest............despite us looking very good for 3 of the 4 qtrs and seeing a solid start to the season we looked very ordinary in the backs in various stages where top 4 teams would have stripped us to shreds !

Marty had a few shocking passes and even Ted in the 3rd qtr before the goals started had a few bloopers under no pressure ?

if our backline can step up another level I think we have the midfield and I think that our forwards rotation will be very very very exciting by mid season onwards

[aardvark]

am I being to harsh..........or did AJ have an absolute shocker yest ?

His first quarter was very ordinary but I felt he improved after that.

[ScottH]

His first quarter was very ordinary but I felt he improved after that.

I thought AJ was one of the most reliable. Not sure where you and AuntyG are coming from.
Played well from what I saw. Reg was a different story.

[Triple B]

At the ground I thought AJ was more shaky then I've ever seen him.

I may get a different impression on the replay, but I thought he was well below his usual high standard. Everybody can have an off day and he's still the future...

[BSA5]

AJ's disposal was pretty shoddy, but every other aspect of his game was top notch. Not a shocker by any means.

[Triple B]

I thought he dropped a few easy marks as well, but could be mistaken. If so, I'll blame the new experience of sitting in the sun after 30 years in the Noble....

[Meg]

I thought he dropped a few easy marks

I think that some of the dropped "easy marks" were not as easy as they looked. The wind was very strong and I suspect that out on the ground the ball was swirling around.

[Lucky Knickers]

am I being to harsh..........or did AJ have an absolute shocker yest ?

He had a few poor turnovers with his kicks in Q1. Kicking not his strong suit anyway and think the breeze was pretty challenging at the start. Once he started hand-balling he was ok and then settled well. Certainly not his best game but wouldn't say shocker.

[wolftone57]

We cannot win a premiership if Reg continues to butcher the ball. Too many easy goals from our mistakes against Freo. Disposal out of the backline needs to be much better and the set plays from the kick in need to be quicker or run out.

[Lucky Knickers]

I thought that we got smashed out of the middle there when Freo came back. The mids had been doing so well in locking the ball in and not letting Sandilands knock it clear and just lacked a bit of concentration.
Hard for defenders when you are under the pump.
I think our back 6 work beautifully together. They are all very complementary and know each other well. They rarely panic and generally work the ball out really well.
In order to win and be top 4 we need to play 4 good quarters of footy. We're yet to do that.

[Triple B]

I thought that we got smashed out of the middle there when Freo came back.

In a word Barlow. I doubt we'll ever see him in a subs vest again, absolute gun.

I think our back 6 work beautifully together. They are all very complementary....

"Jolly good kick Reginald"

"Why thank you Martin. Nice tackle back there by the way after Edward made that splendid spoil, finding young Nicholas front and square"

[swansrule100]

We would be fine ted richards is a grand final specialist

[Dosser]

I thought that we got smashed out of the middle there when Freo came back. The mids had been doing so well in locking the ball in and not letting Sandilands knock it clear and just lacked a bit of concentration.
Hard for defenders when you are under the pump.
I think our back 6 work beautifully together. They are all very complementary and know each other well. They rarely panic and generally work the ball out really well.
In order to win and be top 4 we need to play 4 good quarters of footy. We're yet to do that.

Two things happened to change the game. As Trips has said, Barlow was one of them - when he came on just before half time, I thought it was going to be a lot tougher for us.

The other thing that happened was that our mids were roving to Sandilands at the stoppages, and that is why we were winning the midfield battle in the first half. After halftime, Sandilands simply bypassed our mids by smashing the ball long, thereby clearing it out of the contest and nullifying what had been working well for us up until then. I'm sure that if we had tried to spread a little more at the stoppages to counter this, Sandi would simply have tapped to his mids, but that is the problem when you are facing such a dominant ruckman.

[GongSwan]

I thought our back six held up really well under the pressure of the second half when the midfield wasn't dominating play. They kicked a few goals but, you can't stop them all. WSith the number of inside 50's they had in the second half, they probably should have won the game, but our back six, with a little help from the mids moving back, as good mids should, held up nicely. Still, I can see where people might worry about the match ups on CArlton, Hawthorn, Weagles, Pies, maybe even Adelaide, we will need to win some midfield battles this year, that's certain

[ernie koala]

IMO, our backline defend the ball coming in, as good as any in the comp.
But taking the ball out of defence is another matter, too many poor decisions and poor disposal by foot, often leading to turnovers.
And it often happens under little or no pressure.
Can't win a flag until our defence get better with the ball.