Positions?

[Melbournehammer]

And re comparison to ted - I think this has been teds worst season as a defender. His kicking has been really poor this season.

It's why mal and shaw will leave much bigger holes than people expect. Reg and teddy and smith are all really simple players - they rarely take the game on other than to hand pass backwards to still players - a tactic which round 18 demonstrated didn't work against hawthorn but was further confirmed by the gf. If both mal and shaw go who the bloody hell provides drive of Hbf ????

[Melbournehammer]

Re Matt and scottee- reg got the call. It happened right in front of me - to the extent that mal walked over to him holding both hands in front of his face and waving them around like wtf were you thinking mark the ball.

I like reg and you can't have champions on every line. He is a good mark and plays better under pressure than when given time - which is where most of his changers seem to emerge - including when playing as the spare man and punching the ball into the corridor.

But let's be clear here - the whole problem with that play was Goodes playing on in the centre corridor by hand and turning the ball over. Goodes looks to hit buddy on the lead it may not happen.

[111431]

Why are so many on here trading Jetta? He had an absolute shocker of a game, so did most of the team bar about 3 or 4 guys. Despite less goals and blistering runs, his role this year has been super important to our team finishing top of the ladder. He delivers the ball better than anyone bar perhaps buddy. He ranks right up there for inside 50's in our side ( if not no.1) , his defensive game and tackling has improved dramatically, and his ability to weave through heavy traffic with composure is unrivalled in our 22. If we were trading players based purely on their performance on Saturday, we'd be left with 4 players. People talk about needing more elite kicks and then throw up Jetta as trade bait? Astounding ! The biggest adjustment that needs to be made from Saturday is in the coaches box and In the players attitudes and mental preparation.

fully agree

[Scottee]

I think Reg is very underestimated. He has excellent judgement of the ball in flight and the ability to very subtly edge out his opponent and take what looks like an easy mark. He is very effective against resting ruckmen. He is a key part of the best defense in the comp. He is several years younger than Ted and doesn't have any serious injuries. Occasionally he miss-kicks and sometimes when under incredible pressure he runs out of options and gets caught.He is a key player. It easy to criticise the backs because they are often the ones the goals are scored against but seriously, that was the most horrendous smashing that our mids amplified by a forward line that was being run off.Look at the stats and you see he had 9 one percenters, way above anyone else in the team.Yes, he stuffed up with the punch attempt but his mates weren't talking to him.
Its a waste of time to blame him, look to others like the mids and forwards who went missing.

[Ludwig]

Grundy - was inconsistent through the year.

His main fault is that he looses his direct opponent too easily, ball chasing maybe or just not concentrating.

Reg tends to have these brain fades more than most compared to say - Ted.

I would be happy for the club to push a player like Xav or Aliir up next year to take his place and get the experience of working with Ted.

He has seemed slower since his calf problem, which I don't think was fully healed. As we were already down on defensive talls I guess he had to play.

Some fair comments about Reg, although I thought he had a reasonable year all up, and was better than in 2013 when I thought he could have been dropped if not for the fact that we had no other options. Reg has a tendency to make a couple of glaring errors nearly every game: a fumble, a shocking kick or something like that which leads to a goal.

Ted and Reg have made a solid tag team over a number of years and it's hard to be too critical of a side that conceded the fewest points in the league. We know they will have to be replaced at some time in the not too distant future. Some, including myself, have suggested moving Reid to defence to ease to the burden on covering key talls. We all hope that Xav or Allir can step up and play footy at a high level, but only time will tell.

I think we have to look at every angle to transition to a younger and fortified defence, including the re-positioning of Sam Reid, retaining Walsh, giving opportunities to Xav and Allir if warranted, and putting our draft focus on KPDs. And we can all hope that AJ will get a bit of luck and finally get over his horrible injury.

[sprite]

Grundy - was inconsistent through the year.

His main fault is that he looses his direct opponent too easily, ball chasing maybe or just not concentrating.

Reg tends to have these brain fades more than most compared to say - Ted.

I would be happy for the club to push a player like Xav or Aliir up next year to take his place and get the experience of working with Ted.

He has seemed slower since his calf problem, which I don't think was fully healed. As we were already down on defensive talls I guess he had to play.

[Matt80]

I never in my life understand why defenders punch the ball when they are by themselves and able to mark. It introduces a throw of the dice where there should be certainty. Ours do it too often.

I played as an undersize fullback in amateur Sydney AFL (184cm, 86kg). I would often punch when I probably could have marked. You tended to punch more if your opponent was larger than you and if your defence was under siege. It also depends on your own confidence and how your team was playing. The runner would be out to you the moment you went for a mark only to lose your feet, let the ball get behind or have someone in front mark just in front of you.

Grundy was relying on a call from another defender which may not have come. The Swans were also under siege at that point of the game and that impacts your confidence.

Brian Lakes two contested marks on Tippett in the 3rd quarter was a prime example of a defender having the size 195cm and the supreme confidence at that point. I can guarantee you that those two marks would not have occurred if Tippett has won a couple of contested marks against him and the inside 50 count had reversed.

[stellation]

I never in my life understand why defenders punch the ball when they are by themselves and able to mark. It introduces a throw of the dice where there should be certainty. Ours do it too often.

It's the defender's role, frustrating as it is- unless you're Brian Lake, your default action is to punch the ball unless you're completely certain you can mark it uncontested- I guess in the heat of the game it can be hard to be 100% certain quickly. Reg's spoil was more frustrating because it seemed like he was relatively careless with its direction, yes he should have marked but lord knows why he spoiled to the middle of the ground- the only thing I can think of is that from memory the pack that the ball flew over was between him and the boundary (I don't think he mi@@@@ it, I think he tried to whack it where he did).

I'm pretty sure we saw Ted in the Richmond game back himself to take a mark in the goal square, drop it and Richmond get an easy goal- that's what the defenders are trying to avoid when they opt to punch.

[jono2707]

I never in my life understand why defenders punch the ball when they are by themselves and able to mark. It introduces a throw of the dice where there should be certainty. Ours do it too often.

To be fair, its pretty easy to judge when we're sitting on the couch or in the stands..... Not that I wasn't annoyed that it happened, but its not always 100% clear to a defender who's around and where they're coming from. Especially with the crowd noise.

[Conor_Dillon]

Reg had a pretty decent season...I wonder if that potential calf injury might have slowed him down at all in the last couple of weeks. Let's not go overboard with our criticism of him.

[mcs]

I never in my life understand why defenders punch the ball when they are by themselves and able to mark. It introduces a throw of the dice where there should be certainty. Ours do it too often.

ARRRRGGGGGHHHHH this annoys me soooooooooooo much! I know that its often a 'safety first' mechanism, but a bit of communication between team-mates wouldn't go astray. So often we do it when some talking and a bit of clever blocking/shepherding would allow for an easy mark to be taken. It cost us on Saturday and will cost us again unless we learn to communicate better and take the marks when they can be easily taken.

[goswannie14]

I never in my life understand why defenders punch the ball when they are by themselves and able to mark. It introduces a throw of the dice where there should be certainty. Ours do it too often.

Yep, although Reg is the worst offender.

[dimelb]

I never in my life understand why defenders punch the ball when they are by themselves and able to mark. It introduces a throw of the dice where there should be certainty. Ours do it too often.

[goswannie14]

So happy that someone else has said. Have been defending Jetta endlessly over at bigfooty. I just can't seem to understand how we single out one or two players like Reid and Jetta when everyone has been so soundly beaten. Just feels like scapegoating.

In my view Jetta has been just about our most improved player this year. While I don't know the coaching panels instructions I am confident it was that we don't expect you to kick the 80 metre goal - we just want you to get it franklin one in one as quickly as possible - so find a little space and move it on quickly.

I would have thought that he had the runs on the board over the course of the year to offset one bad game - as it must be for a lot of the team who collectively wre so poor

Pretty hard to criticise a guy who gets knocked out during the game and ends up with concussion.

Reid on the other hand is fast becoming the new Jesse White. Love whst he can do, just doesn't do it often enough.

As for Reg, punching the ball and giving away a goal instead of marking ......I would expect nothing less. Leo Barry lives on!

[Big Al]

Trade Jetta?? Piss funny. Talk about throwing the baby out with the bath water. If we traded everyone who had utter shockers our Rd1 side next year would just have Buddy playing all positions.