Cox and Ryan - number one defensive partnership????

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Aug 10, 2020
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When we were trialling Cox as a forward and he was occasionally clunking marks in between bouts of inconsistent form, I always thought he had the look of a KPD about him, very much in the McGovern mould. Who similarly entrenched himself when West Coast lost their two first choice KPDs.

JLo was development coach at the Eagles when McGovern started his career.
 
May 11, 2015
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I think people are letting recency bias discount just how exceptional Pearce and Hamling are.

The full-strength starting six down back is IMO pretty clear-cut.

Ryan Pearce Logue
Wilson Hamling Young

I don't think you can force Cox in there without it starting to look a tad unbalanced. But given bringing both KPDs back full time is going to be a slow and steady process, I'd say he's going to be seeing plenty of gametime regardless.

But why wouldn’t we play those six plus Cox off the interchange. Ryan and Logue are very comfortable playing off half back so there’s lots of flexibility on game day if the seven are all in the 22. Maybe even gives us a chance to rotate Logue into the middle or Willo onto a wing.

Do we honestly think there is a better defence in the league than these seven?

More importantly, Cox is 20 and Hamling will be 28 next year. If we even entertain trading Cox we need our heads checking.
 
Jun 12, 2018
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Hope we don’t undercut Cox or Ryan like we did Neale.
if cox finishes the year well give him a big contract!
even if we have some injury miracle we’re a top 4 team and he is squeezed out
a contracted KPP that’s under 25 Is valuable to us on the trade table.
It’s amazing how confidence has loosened him up.
His always had the skills but has lookEd rigid at times in the past.
 

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freodog

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With a number of Senior stars retiring at Adelaide this year, they’ll have cash to burn to find a Key back to replace Talia
 
May 11, 2015
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Seriously, Cox is going absolutely no where so long as we dont low ball him

Agreed - we shouldn’t underestimate just how close he and Ryan are. They bonded over beers in their first year and got to sit out a game as a consequence; and now they’re bonding in the back line.

I’m just surprised it’s taken so long to play Cox down back. We drafted him as an U18 AA defender and then proceeded to play him up front for three years...in hindsight it just makes no sense.
 
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Agreed - we shouldn’t underestimate just how close he and Ryan are. They bonded over beers in their first year and got to sit out a game as a consequence; and now they’re bonding in the back line.

I’m just surprised it’s taken so long to play Cox down back. We drafted him as an U18 AA defender and then proceeded to play him up front for three years...in hindsight it just makes no sense.
We had good defenders and Logue who played there when not injured.

Also both Tabs and Lobb have been injured a significant portion of time since Cox was drafted.

Not only that, it is easier to find KPDs than it is KPFs so it makes sense to see if Cox can play forward. I still think he would be servicable there as long as he sorted his set shots out.
 

mattis117

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Hamling could easily find himself outside the best 22. He and Cox are not like for like, but would be fighting for the same spot. I personally favour Cox for his marking and good disposal, though Hamling a great spoiler and can be better 1 on 1. Could come down to the opposition and who matches up better. Anyway, my starting backline round 1 next year would be:
Conca, Cox, Ryan
Young, Pearce, Wilson
 

_007_

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Hamling could easily find himself outside the best 22. He and Cox are not like for like, but would be fighting for the same spot. I personally favour Cox for his marking and good disposal, though Hamling a great spoiler and can be better 1 on 1. Could come down to the opposition and who matches up better. Anyway, my starting backline round 1 next year would be:
Conca, Cox, Ryan
Young, Pearce, Wilson
Conca over Logue??
 

wayToGo_

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Oct 24, 2015
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This is the other Freo 'triangle' where we worry about fitting in all our players and then come round 1 half our best 22 is in the stands with some random leg injury. A few months later we are back worrying about what happens to the current players when players in the stands come back next season. Rinse and repeat.
 

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Nalin

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Hamling could easily find himself outside the best 22. He and Cox are not like for like, but would be fighting for the same spot. I personally favour Cox for his marking and good disposal, though Hamling a great spoiler and can be better 1 on 1. Could come down to the opposition and who matches up better. Anyway, my starting backline round 1 next year would be:
Conca, Cox, Ryan
Young, Pearce, Wilson
Not sure why everyone believes that we can't fit our best defenders into the 22.
Our 7 main defenders on the weekend were: Cox, Ryan, Conca, Duman, Hughes, Wilson and Hill. That set-up kept Sydney to their lowest score since 1971
  • Pearce can be a better KPD than Cox
  • Hamling and Logue can both be better KPD than Ryan and better lockdown defenders than Conca
  • Is there anything Duman offers that Cox can't? Maybe Duman is more capable further up the ground?
  • As good as Hughes has been, Ryan has proven that he can play the attacking defender much better and across the whole game
  • Young and Hill sit on opposite ends of their careers
 
Aug 10, 2020
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Not sure why everyone believes that we can't fit our best defenders into the 22.
Our 7 main defenders on the weekend were: Cox, Ryan, Conca, Duman, Hughes, Wilson and Hill. That set-up kept Sydney to their lowest score since 1971
  • Pearce can be a better KPD than Cox
  • Hamling and Logue can both be better KPD than Ryan and better lockdown defenders than Conca
  • Is there anything Duman offers that Cox can't? Maybe Duman is more capable further up the ground?
  • As good as Hughes has been, Ryan has proven that he can play the attacking defender much better and across the whole game
  • Young and Hill sit on opposite ends of their careers
Yeah I can see the 7 being Pearce, Cox, Hamling, Ryan, Young, Logue, Wilson. I wouldn’t yet pigeonhole Logue and Young as full time defenders, stints in the midfield may beckon. Duman and Hughes may fit in fine over the medium term. Conca IMO pushes out Blakely as defensive mid.
 

Heart Of Purple

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I seem to be on my own here. But as much as I would like to upgrade Conca - He's the best small defender we have and his ball use is just as good as Hamling. If Hamlings not picked to play KPD, he shouldn't be picked. Logue and Ryan are more than capable of playing tall, so 2 KPD's is more than enough. Even Young's quite tall. I don't think we play Pearce, Hamling and Cox in the same backline - we could but put simply we have better options for that 3rd tall role (Ryan, Logue and Young all offer a lot more on the counter attack).
 

beetz

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Seriously, Cox is going absolutely no where so long as we dont low ball him

Disagree. Small chance he walks. I would imagine Crows have a fair bit of cash freed up over coming years with departures of Walker, Sloane, Lynch etc. Would make a solid pairing with McCasey
 
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Agreed - we shouldn’t underestimate just how close he and Ryan are. They bonded over beers in their first year and got to sit out a game as a consequence; and now they’re bonding in the back line.

I’m just surprised it’s taken so long to play Cox down back. We drafted him as an U18 AA defender and then proceeded to play him up front for three years...in hindsight it just makes no sense.

If Ryan & Cox had some frothies after the game on Saturday, I don't give a rats. They've earnt them.

Bromance.
 

Monument Hills

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I can imagine them all lining up at Envision Medical Imaging...
but Weber's gone so I don't envision them getting an injury again or at least only one that makes them a test by the following week
 
Oct 20, 2010
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So where do we start campaigning to get Ryan in the AA team?


He is obviously playing well enough to get there but Freo has a long history of guns being overlooked
 

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