Can our BACK LINE win us a GF ?

[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.

[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

[Melbourne_Blood]

Because in the scheme of things of it is not a true gauge of our ability. We played well above and beyond the call of duty for obvious reasons, which is not likely to happen on that scale ever again. If ever a side had nothing to play for, it was Geelong that day. I think it's great that we won but I wouldnt be pulling that win out as a measure of where we are at as a side. It's not a realistic indication.

[Q...]

Its all well and good winning a once in a blue moon game against a cat side with nothing to play for ( i dont want to belittle that win, ...

Then why did you?

[Danz4]

AJ is in our B22 backline imo, he played nearly every game last season and I hope it continues this year, positive youngster

[swanspant12]

Our forward line would look so much more bloody structured with ROK, Goodesy, Reid! make it happen horse @@@@@@@!

[GongSwan]

I assume ROK will take his turn in the forward line like all the midfielders do, such is the way forward lines operate today. But no one is going to put him at FF and leave him there.

[Melbourne_Blood]

Spot on

[Triple B]

ROK would probably pack up and leave if tehy asked him to play permanent full forward. He wanted to leave so he could get more midfield time, and he's pretty good at the stoppages where wqe need to harder, experienced players. Wins clearances for us, without clearances, the forward line is not much use

I doubt he'd be packing up at this stage of his career and I doubt even more that he'd find a home.

Since he was put up for trade 3 (?) years ago, we have unearthed an absolute elite clearance player (Joey), a young hardnut we wouldn't swap for the world (Parks), a midfielder good enough to win a B&F (Kizza) and the clearance king Jude is still going strong. In the forwards we have unearthed a potential GUN CHF/FF (Sammy), a , um, ahh......

He may well be capable of holding down a midfield spot still, but if he isn't prepared to play where he is needed for the teams sake, which atm certainly appears to be up forward, then I'm happy to help him pack...

[aardvark]

i agree when he does get clearance's he just blindly kicks the ball away, he needs to play on the forward flank like he did when he was the best in the league for it.

Dunno if anyone else has noticed but KJ is starting to do the same thing. Pick a target boys please.

[Cpt. Kirk]

Kennedy , jack , Parker , Bolton all capable of winning clearances. He should play where he is needed. He's a goal kicker, we need him to kick goals. IMHO of course.

i agree when he does get clearance's he just blindly kicks the ball away, he needs to play on the forward flank like he did when he was the best in the league for it.

[Melbourne_Blood]

Kennedy , jack , Parker , Bolton all capable of winning clearances. He should play where he is needed. He's a goal kicker, we need him to kick goals. IMHO of course.

[GongSwan]

ROK would probably pack up and leave if tehy asked him to play permanent full forward. He wanted to leave so he could get more midfield time, and he's pretty good at the stoppages where wqe need to harder, experienced players. Wins clearances for us, without clearances, the forward line is not much use

[Melbourne_Blood]

Full forward solution, ROK. Not the biggest but can mark, lead and kick truly. The younger boys should pick up the slack in the guts, so Ryano to see out his career kicking bags. Hes capable of being easily a 40 goal forward for us I believe.

[swanspant12]

We have a pretty good balanced backline and I seriously think in terms of our backline it is one of the top ones in the afl. Teddy, Grundy, Smith, Shaw, Mattner, Malceski and AJ coming through the system as well and developing very well our backline looks very good at the moment. Teddy and Grundy give us the height and spoiling over the key forwards, smithy and shaw our small mobile mopping up backmen and malceski the brilliant user off half back. Aj is so athletic and quick as well, to convert him from a forward to a key backman has been a credit to the swannys coaches.