our inability...

[dogs...]

to close a team down is a severe worry!

obviously in games we lost eg. carlton,st kilda,adelaide,sydney and also in games we've won eg melbourne,freo and port and even richmond we have consistently given the oopposition a chance to come back at us and get run-ons.

the most frustrating was against carlton was when it was painfully obvious 1 or 2 goals into that 3rd quarter and to think that if we won that game we'd be equal 2nd and everyone would be creaming themselves prematurely like a cats supporter really hurts.

although i think our midfield is top quality, we do lack that stopper which is strange considering that we have cross and west and the defence is often left under alot of pressure.

anyone got any solutions???

[Tassie Bulldog]

The only definite is never to play Cam Wight in the ruck again as Carlton kicked about 7 goals in the 10 minutes he was on the ball in the 3rd quarter.

Think that having Grant down back helps with his ability to read the play and create a contest (especially with a couple of tall backmen to assist this year instead of him being accountable) but as for a midfield stopper???????????

Think our only option is to put players behind the ball but that tends to sap our legs late in games when we occasionally do this.

Annoys me as well - never feel safe even if we are 4 goals up with 5 minutes to play. Strangely enough though, I never thought for one moment we were going to lose against Port last week even when they got within 3 points. I did however think we were gone against Richmond and Melbourne. Maybe we need to play with the same tackling intensity we did against Port as that has been lacking in previous matches.

[bradism]

The only definite is never to play Cam Wight in the ruck again as Carlton kicked about 7 goals in the 10 minutes he was on the ball in the 3rd quarter.


Can't blame Eade for trying though given that 10 minutes in the ruck was a turning point against Collingwood.

Wight is still developing, never is a bad word to use.

[lifelike_]

Annoys me as well - never feel safe even if we are 4 goals up with 5 minutes to play. Strangely enough though, I never thought for one moment we were going to lose against Port last week even when they got within 3 points.

My thoughts exactly. There was something about that game that made me think we're not going to lose this one.

However, we definitely lack the ability to shut down another team when the pressure's on. Apart from the Brisbane game (which was self inflicted so to speak), we haven't really completely stopped a team when they've applied scoreboard pressure. The West Coasts, Geelongs and Sydneys have shown that they can keep the opposition to almost no score, while they keep the scoreboard ticking over themselves.

Call me weird, but I'd much rather a 70-60 win than a 130-120 win.

[kookadog]

It's because we play attacking footy, unfortunately that means make a mistake and the opposition will score. I thought Eade was going to turn us around and improve our defence but he seems to of embraced the free flowing game. I think we are working harder when we don't have the ball, I think this will be the key, Building the experience in the young players and teaching them early on that the defensive side of the game is very important. We have to learn to keep up the constant pressure on the opposition to create turnovers.