Best young defense ive ever seen

[Coledinho]

How can you spend so much time creaming over forwards in Jurrah, Watts and Wona when you have a defense like that

Colin Garland is Dale Morris like in his ability to get a spoil in. Plays tall and small and is uber quick. Gun

James Frawley is the smartest defender ive seen in a while. Would be close to AA for mine. Uses his body to perfection and reads the play so very well. Gun

Jared Rivers. Not quite a gun but find me anyone more tough and courageous. Really in some good form lately

Clint Bartram. HUGELY underrated by well everyone. Fantastic in the air, puts his head in and is a great decision maker. Gun

Joel McDonalds has been a handy contributor. Good disposal of the backline and provides the offensive side of things. Has Jack Grimes hunting for his spot in the near future though which is kind of scary

Cale Morton is looking damn good of a HBF too. Didnt know what his position would be in the AFL but this is it. Runs harder than anyone, is good in the air and has clean disposal. Gun

A 10 year defense of

Bartram Garland Rivers
Morton Frawley Grimes

Damn thats good

 

[Higgs Boson]

Most excellent post Coledinho. Great points all of them, and very well made.

 

[Coledinho]

Really shouldnt be drafting another defender for another 5 years. You need to fix the forward line though. It was very unorganised last night. Need a CHF, Bate to get the improvement boots on and a Aaron Hamill type mongrel

 

[Dez!]

Rivers is tough and courageous no doubt but f*** me he struggles to hit a target and all of his turnovers led to Lions goals last night.

I'm slowly moving towards the permanently replacing him bandwagon.

 

[DemonBlood]

I like Matty Warnock down back aswell.. free's up Grimes and Frawley imo.

 

[ThePuppetMaster]

Rivers is tough and courageous no doubt but f*** me he struggles to hit a target and all of his turnovers led to Lions goals last night.

I'm slowly moving towards the permanently replacing him bandwagon.

mate, he had the second highest numbers of effective kicks on the ground (or close to)

 

[Dez!]

mate, he had the second highest numbers of effective kicks on the ground (or close to)

He also cost us 2 goals with turnovers in the defensive 50 from simple kicks that he just butchered horribly.

 

[Coledinho]

mate, he had the second highest numbers of effective kicks on the ground (or close to)

When he took the safe option. When he tries to make a actual pass with a bit of risk involved he does tend to butcher it. Still he shouldnt be a rebounding defender.

 

[Sylvia Saint]

I bet Michael Voss regrets letting Joel Mac go (amongst other things!).

 

[Unleash Hell]

Joel Mac has been a great pick up.

J Grimes and T McNamara will also add to the depth of that young defence. There is a lot to like about it.

 

[KickLongTackleHard]

Frawley, Garland, Grimes are gems. Morton can play in any third just about - very handy. Bartram in career best form- finding alot of ball, most courageous player on the list but his skills will always let him down (Daniel chick?). There is always hate for Rivers but he's better than Warnock and isn't going anywhere unless McNamara comes from nowhere. Definately a good back 6 and fairly versatile, but we have seen this year that like all sides if your midfield and even forwards aren't creating pressure the defence will look ordinary fighting an uphill battle.

Kudos for the post Coledinho

 

[Coledinho]

Seriously think you underrate Garland around here. Will be AA one day. Hes Dale Morris version 2.0

 

[Deestroy]

I don't think Garland is overrated. A couple of years ago the popular opinion was he would be a gun defender. Only now is he finally over his injuries and showing what he can do. The best spoiler I've seen at the club with great closing speed.

I would have him as part of the top 3 at the back; Frawley, Garland, Grimes.

 

[master bate]

I think drafting another tall would be good insurance.

Bail deserves a mention. He's very very handy.

Strauss is the other small defender we are all hoping on. He's shown enough for a guy who has missed a fair bit of footy with injuries so far.

Cheney and McNamara are handy depth but it might be speed that stops them.

Someone like Tapscott or Blease might eventually end up as AFL defenders.

 

[Dez!]

I'd be keen to get T-Mac into the backline for Rivers, really want to see how he goes.

 

[demonfan9]

Here's a bit of a profile of our defenders for any non-Melbourne fans who might be interested:

James Frawley
21 years old, 57 matches. The cream of our crop. Strong key defender with excellent closing speed and agility, he has great competitiveness and aggression, but is also quite clever and loves to rebound. Most fans believe he is already our best defender and will be for many years to come.

Colin Garland
22 years old, 36 matches. Tall defender with a slim frame, he has good versatility and also has very good closing speed. Not the strongest body but has rangy arms which can get a desperate spoil in. Impressed in 2008 but missed most of 2009 with injury. Only just started to find his straps again.

Jared Rivers
25 years old, 104 matches. Started his career in great form before succumbing to a series of unfortunate injuries during 2007-08. Best suited to third talls and loves to zone off. His disposal can be shaky and he doesn't possess great physical attributes like Frawley/Garland, but he makes up for that in courage and competitiveness.

Jack Grimes
21 years old, 26 matches. A very special talent who plays like an experienced veteran despite his age. Was drafted as a midfielder but looks at home as a half bank flanker. He has courage, composure, footy smarts and tremendous leadership. A real class act, but his kicking can sometimes let him down. Would not surprise us if he captained the club one day.

Joel Macdonald
25 years old, 94 matches. Drafted this season after several years at Brisbane. He didn't start too well and was dropped for a few weeks mid year, but his last month has been very good. At 188cm he generally plays on medium-sized forwards, and loves a good hard contest. Will never be a gun but could be an important cog in our team.

Clint Bartram
22 years old, 76 matches. Finally starting to look comfortable at senior level after several years dogged by injury and form. Has become a reliable small defender who sticks to his man and is not afraid to put his small body on the line. He has divided many Melbourne fans over the years, particularly due to his average disposal, but you can't question his recent form.

Cale Morton
20 years old, 48 matches. Although I think he is best suited to a wing, he has spent plenty of time across the half back line. Has a very skinny frame but has good height and endurance, which makes him a versatile option. Loves taking a mark and running to space, but there are questions marks over his decision making in congested traffic. Will probably end up in more attacking positions throughout the rest of his career.

Matthew Warnock
26 years old, 50 matches. Currently out of the side but is generally a reliable full back. Does his job without much fanfare and can probably consider himself stiff to be on the outer at the moment. But it appears Bailey is content with the current balance we've got down back and doesn't want to mess with it. Still a handy insurance policy.

Kyle Cheney
20 years old, 14 matches. A small-medium defender, he hasn't been able to cement a spot in the side as yet. Has showed some good signs though, particularly his courage and marking ability (has been crunched going back with the flight many times). May need to add some strings to his bow to become a regular, so we'll see how he develops over time.

James Strauss
20 year old, 2 matches. I actually missed his only two matches so I've never seen him play. But from all reports he is a skillful rebounding defender who has a great kick. Drafted at pick 19, so there are some decent raps on him. If his kicking lives up to potential, then he will be a welcome inclusion into our backline in years to come.

Stef Martin
23 years old, 29 matches. The forgotten man at Melbourne, this kid has good promise but hasn't been able to nail down a position at senior level yet. I've always thought he played his best down back, but he's also been tried up forward and in the ruck. Has a very big frame, good agility, and is not afraid to back himself in a marking contest. But his career is almost at the crossroads unless he makes an impact soon.

 

[d33my]

great write up demonfan9.

nice work.

 

[Dez!]

Here's a bit of a profile of our defenders for any non-Melbourne fans who might be interested:

Stef Martin
23 years old, 29 matches. The forgotten man at Melbourne, this kid has good promise but hasn't been able to nail down a position at senior level yet. I've always thought he played his best down back, but he's also been tried up forward and in the ruck. Has a very big frame, good agility, and is not afraid to back himself in a marking contest. But his career is almost at the crossroads unless he makes an impact soon.

Martin shits himself in marking contests, he shits himself even if the defender is half his size.

Afraid of any form of contact.

 

[master bate]

Martin shits himself in marking contests, he shits himself even if the defender is half his size.

Afraid of any form of contact.

The thing is, when he broke into the side as a defender I didn't see him shit himself at all. He was a decent defender but I think the club decided that he didn't read the play well enough to play on the most dangerous forwards. That combined with his only average skills probably spelled the end of him as a defender.

I thought he wouldn't ever make it is a forward but would be a decent back up ruck, with more ability to go forward than the average ruckman. I was excited to see him play 12 or so games as back up ruck this year. He played one half decent back up game against Brisbane, then got injured and now has played only a handfull of Casey reserve games. I'm not sure what future he has at the club.

 

[demonfan9]

Martin shits himself in marking contests, he shits himself even if the defender is half his size.

Afraid of any form of contact.

I didn't see any of that when he played as a defender in 2008.

Perhaps that's the case when he played up the ground, but purely as a defender I thought he did quite well and was worth sticking with.

 

[Deefolt]

Really shouldnt be drafting another defender for another 5 years. You need to fix the forward line though. It was very unorganised last night. Need a CHF, Bate to get the improvement boots on and a Aaron Hamill type mongrel

Have you seen tapscott? and moloney also adds "mongrel"


waittttttttttttttt i just re-read what you said you want Bate to get more mongrel... ooh i see said the blind man