Toast Backline

[SumTingWong]

What a great performance by our backline last night. Under immense pressure they really stood up. Rance was our best players by a couuuuuuuuuuuuuntry mile often having to play on 2 or 3 opponents due to our "gun" midfield not bothering to turn up yet again. 59 forward entries and only conceding 13 goals was a minor miracle in itself mostly due to the desperation of our backline. Cudos to Newman, who finally being played where he should finish his career, is back to near his best. Chaplin, Batch and Rance keeping Bellchambers, Ryder, Hurley and Crameri to just 3 goals considering the supply was an amazing effort.
If our midfield had the same desperation we would be a top 6 side

 

[Super Gusto]

Have to agree. They were fantastic. I thought we had an edge over you with our tall forwards but Rance and Chaplin stood strong. Plenty to work with.

 

[Roachy8]

What a great performance by our backline last night. Under immense pressure they really stood up. Rance was our best players by a couuuuuuuuuuuuuntry mile often having to play on 2 or 3 opponents due to our "gun" midfield not bothering to turn up yet again. 59 forward entries and only conceding 13 goals was a minor miracle in itself mostly due to the desperation of our backline. Cudos to Newman, who finally being played where he should finish his career, is back to near his best. Chaplin, Batch and Rance keeping Bellchambers, Ryder, Hurley and Crameri to just 3 goals considering the supply was an amazing effort.
If our midfield had the same desperation we would be a top 6 side

True - backline held on amazingly well considering...
They basically put the game winning margin on us in one 15 minute period where almost every forward entry resulted in a goal.
So for the remaining 7/8 of the game, our defenders were very good IMO.

Problem lies elsewhere...

 

[jko'neal]

Yep, they were awesome. Considering the ordinary pressure being applied further up the field, they were far too good for their opponents.

 

[Terry Tan]

Chaplin has been a great pickup so far. He's really reliable.

And Batchelor is a pure defender and should always be in the team. I don't know why they played softie Pettard instead of him early in the season.

 

[Dragonss]

Rance and Newman are starting to gain some form. The rest Newman had really helped him.

 

[Yelle]

And I thought our backline would be the area to let us down last night...

 

[Pounce]

The backline could of very well crumbled under pressure and given up. To their credit they didn't and did a good job of not allowing Essendon to blow us out of the water. Normally our backline is the thing we most worry about. The backline need to keep their form up, when they face West Coast.

 

[tunksy]

backline was superb wasnt supported by our midfield. we really need to instill a defence first mindset on our mids.

 

[NUFC Tiger]

IMO, the backline is the only area of the team that is working well at the moment. Ruck, midfield and forwards are still not playing close to their best. At least something is going well. Just need to sort out the rest of the team now. Imagine how good that defence would be if the midfield actually applied some decent pressure up the ground!

 

[Turka]

Chaplin has been a great pickup so far. He's really reliable.

And Batchelor is a pure defender and should always be in the team. I don't know why they played softie Pettard instead of him early in the season.

With you on Chappy and Batch...But while Ricky can have the odd howler, he is anything but soft...
I'm hoping we can use him as a defensive forward when he returns...He has shown he can nail plenty of tackles, and can also nail a goal.

 

[Spluff]

Huge game by the key backs. They've only really had their colours lowered once this year, due to Travis Cloke going man-mode on us, but this was a huge game. If our midfield had been anywhere near up to scratch the heroic efforts of our backs would have won us the game.

 

[jko'neal]

Awesome Again Did LeCras and Darling play?

 

[tigs2010]

Good bump. Fantastic again. Morris just blankets his opponents.

 

[Azzleberry]

Morris deserves some real credit for his role on LeCras