Our defence is interesting. Macca, Mal and Rampe have been doing a great job, Teddy, Grundy and Smith have remained as the backbone and Everitt hasn't been too bad but I have the impression that it is not quite as dependable as last year. Teddy and Smithy have been solid all year but Teddy was outstanding last year. Maybe Mattner is the missing link and the role he played is being missed more than is realised and while Macca has been killing it in Shaw's place they have different strengths and weaknesses. Likewise Rampe's strengths are not the same as AJ's. I think it is the synergy thing, and time needed to gel together. Makes you realise how advantageous it was for us last year to have had a backline that had been working together for years, with the exception of AJ.
I don't think the suggestion of putting Sam Reid in the backline at this stage, if he makes it back, would work. It would have to be at the expense of Everitt and not Reg. Its one thing to throw LRT from the forward line to the back line and have him slot in but he is a player with loads of experience, especially with the backline defensive strategies. Maybe next year?
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