oooze said:
I think you will find that our backline is not over-rated at all. To say so shows your ignorance. It is a well-known fact that we have one of the best forward lines in the competition. White is much bigger and stronger than mr.stick figure josh fraser.
Just to say that the backline is overrated isn't to say it's no good. Just not as good as many people rate it.
Ferguson is a stick figure, and probably too weak to play on Tarrant or Cloke, while Rusling, Didak and Caracella would be too slippery for him. I can't see him having a strong matchup on anyone.
Nicholson is quite simply too immobile to play on any of our forwards. Travis Cloke would be the least mobile, and he simply ran away from Tom Harley and Cameron Mooney, who I think most would agree are at least AS mobile as Nicholson, probably more so. From there, it only get's harder, with Tarrant, Rusling and so on becoming even more difficult for him to match up with. However, considering that Tarrant is probably going to beat anyone on the lead, you might try him on Tarrant for the overhead contests, which Nicholson would indeed best Tarrant in. The danger will be that any of our forwards are perfectly capable of losing him on long leads to the wing, which in turn opens up space for the other quick forwards to lead into.
Rivers could be a good matchup for a few of our forwards, but the mail is that he could be used on Travis Cloke? That wouldn't be a great idea, as Cloke is significantly bigger than Rivers, and it's not like just applying pressure will get him to drop marks. To stop Travis Cloke, you have to get a fist on the ball, because otherwise he'll take anything that comes near him.Given that, losing that much size to a guy isn't a great idea.
This is how you should probably match up on our forward line:
Tarrant: Nicholson
Cloke: Ferguson
Rusling: Bizzell
Caracella: Rivers
Didak: Whelan
The key to your defense is going to be getting guys back into the leading space though, which is going to rely on heavy rotation, and with a forward line that's as quick as Collingwood's, that could be costly.