Rate a Season # 6 Craig Bolton

[AnnieH]

Rate away ...

[Triple B]

7 for me.

Was on 8 or 9 pace early on, the glue holding the backline together as he has in years gone by.

His drop in form in the last 2 months has been so alarming and dramatic I'd not be very surprised if it came to light that he carried an injury late in the season.

Very, very disappointing back end.

[reigning premier]

Seems to have lost a yard of pace AND intensity.... Let's hope the slide is arrested over the Summer.

7, but only just.

[swantastic]

I thought he was still very solid but he did slow down towards the end of the season.

[Lucky Knickers]

7 for me too.
I think he was absolutely exhausted for much of this season - Leo out, Tadhg unable to do much, Melcho missing and LRT struggling. Absolutely love the guy - just awesome the way he adapts to different opponents and is just so consistent.

[tez]

8/10. I felt he carried the backline, with the reduced contributions
from Leo,Tadgh & Eski Week in and week out he was there putting his
body on the line against bigger and heavier opponents. If he tailed off in
the last few games it would have been because he was buggered.

[Donners]

I think I'll go with a 7 as well. This was probably his best season as a clearing defender, but his role really needs to be as a one-on-one defender, and I don't think he was as good at that as previous seasons. With Barry on the way out, he really needs to recapture that defensive form of recent seasons.

[swansrule100]

carries the backline at times. Playing on people too big and strong for him. He needs support. If we could use him in a role like geelong have for Tom Harley it would be awesome.

A solid year

[liz]

His role changed significantly once Spida came back, freeing LRT up for the backline. After that, Bolts rarely got to play on the bigger forwards, and was rather used as the fix-it guy on medium sized or even smallish forwards, often quite pacy ones. I think he plays on those players because he's the best option the Swans have, rather than because it's the role that suits him the best. Indeed, despite being outsized by the big forwards, I think he generally does a bit better on them.

However, he has still contained some pretty talented forwards without necessarily getting the credit he does when playing on the bigger fellows. Not his absolute best season but still PDG anyway.

[2005]

Rating : 7

Tez and Lucky Knickers are spot on.
No Esky, Leo,Tadgh for periods meant no runners to work with .
Bolts just didnt get the support he has had in the past and was
just spent by pretty much after the break.
He done as best as he could though was found out a few times by seasons end by smalls and talls.
Still though a good season by a very good footballer and great bloke.

[Nico]

I was the one who rated him 10 because the rest of the backline fell down around him yet he kept up his consistency.

Kennelly was injured most of the year, but still played some good runoff footy but was very reluctant to tackle
Leo was inconsistent, loose and gave away numerous frees before he got injured
Dempster was traded to the Saints which reduced our defensive depth
LRT was ordinary
Ted Richards is lazy, slow and inconsistent.
Grundy is inexperienced
Malceski was injured and played only a few good games and was soft in the others

Bolton, Mattner and Bevan were the only ones for mine that gave us any hardness in the backline, and most times Bolton was moved part the way through a game to cover a player who was getting towelled up.

[573v30]

7/10

Still solid as the main backman but with constant changes to the backline with injuries to Malceski and Kennelly along with on-off performances from LRT, he had to shoulder a lot of the work against the opposition forwards and his performances waned in the 2nd half around the same time as the Swans' form slump. However, his possessions, marks and tackles were up from last year and he had a positive free kick count which is important for a defender.