'Our Good Young Backline'

[Tulip]

Is an illusion. Frawley and Grimes are the two that make it.

Warnock-worth having, performs alright under pressure. Not all too skilled.

Rivers-Did improve today, still looks fairly insipid

Garland-Has talent, adds nothing. king of the turnover.

Bruce-Stood up today, hope he keeps it up.

Hope I'm proved wrong and this thread is bumpable in a few years!

 

[whelan=legend]

We're ****ed without Frawley.

 

[Buddha117]

We're ****ed without Frawley.

Was thinking this after about the first ten minutes.

 

[AFL is Number One]

Grimes and Frawley are the standouts. The rest are very, very ordinary. Teams are starting to score very easily will with each inside 50 against us.

 

[stretcharmstrong]

How exactly did Bruce standup today? If you mean "gathered a heap of possesion and put his team mates under the pump with every single disposal", then yeah I guess he stood up. Him and Bartran were aweful again.

 

[master bate]

Was thinking this after about the first ten minutes.

So were our defenders. They were pretty tight for the rest of the game after a soft first quarter, but the damage had been done.

I agree our good young backline isn't all that flash at the moment if at all, but I still like our chances of creating something.

Grimes and Frawley have set a level. We need Morton to get to that standard if he's off a half back. We need Garland to find his best form and some size and then we need more class with guys like Strauss or Bennell.

 

[cannons]

How exactly did Bruce standup today? If you mean "gathered a heap of possesion and put his team mates under the pump with every single disposal", then yeah I guess he stood up. Him and Bartran were aweful again.

Unfair in my opinion, I thought Bruce was pretty good today.

I would also agree that Frawley and Grimes form the basis of our strong defence, but that has never been any secret. In fact, that's pretty much how all great defensive set-ups are, there are 1 or 2 stars and the others support them.

 

[stretcharmstrong]

Unfair in my opinion, I thought Bruce was pretty good today.

I would also agree that Frawley and Grimes form the basis of our strong defence, but that has never been any secret. In fact, that's pretty much how all great defensive set-ups are, there are 1 or 2 stars and the others support them.

I'll put myself out there and challenge you to watch the replay and come back with a rough estimate of the % of his disposals that could be said to have been to "the right option", eg. what % of his disposals were to a team mate that wasn't under immediate pressure. I don't mean to be argumentative, but I noticed it so many times today (and have done all year) that I am shocked that other people haven't.

 

[DonMare]

Grimes and Frawley are amazing. We sorely missed him today.

Warnock has the ability to be a great player, as does Morton and Garland but they didn't perform all that well today.

 

[Cudi_420]

Rubbish thread. Complete and utter Rubbish.

Our backline was not the issue today. Thorton ran forward and kicked two goals because the player he was on (which was often Miller) was too lazy to chase him forward. Thorton almost doubled his career goal talley today.

Our backline is VERY solid. The key forwards didn't win the game for Carlton today. Their insipid zoning and midfield tanks did. Scully and Trengove were taught a football lesson today. So was Watts, Jetta, Jones. I could keep going.

Our backline did and always have had complete confidence in their game. The game's we've lost this year haven't been because of our backline. It's been because of the rebounding off our forward line because of poor delivery to our forwards. Those quick turn arounds put IMMENSE pressure on the backline.

Our backline will improve in leaps and bounds after this year. And there really isn't a single player in there I would take out, including Rivers. They can have 10 clangers for the day. As long as they keep the forwards from scoring goals, they've done their job, which is what they did today. Carlton got a lot of shitty goals today, mainly because our midfielders and forwards weren't prepared to ran a little harder.

 

[trav_16]

I'll put myself out there and challenge you to watch the replay and come back with a rough estimate of the % of his disposals that could be said to have been to "the right option", eg. what % of his disposals were to a team mate that wasn't under immediate pressure. I don't mean to be argumentative, but I noticed it so many times today (and have done all year) that I am shocked that other people haven't.

I think your hate for the player has got in the way of your judgement.....soo many more worse players then Bruce today, I thought he was definetly one of our best

 

[Lord_Travis]

Can we stop the Bruce bashing please. He's near the end of his career, doesnt have the best disposal, but he's still a contributor to the team and will continue to be. He was in our best again today, and there's no point bitching about him because he didnt become a superstar like we hoped he would a few years back. If he deserves to be dropped, then the entire team bar 5-6 players do based on effort this year.

The issue today wasnt the backline, it was the complete lack of pressure from the midfield. 1st quarter there was zero pressure. Cost us the match. It got better as the match went on, but it was too late, and it still wasnt up to scratch. We had to battle to inch the ball forward, and then when it turned over they crisply shot it back inside 50. Midfield is the problem people, and it will get better with time.

 

[cannons]

I'll put myself out there and challenge you to watch the replay and come back with a rough estimate of the % of his disposals that could be said to have been to "the right option", eg. what % of his disposals were to a team mate that wasn't under immediate pressure. I don't mean to be argumentative, but I noticed it so many times today (and have done all year) that I am shocked that other people haven't.

You are totally disregarding the fact that he competed hard and tackled really well today (stats say he had 9 tackles, which is a very good effort).

In that sense, I don't think one should use disposals as the sole measure of a player's worth.

But on his disposal, I think you're going to be putting your teammates under pressure with your disposal in the wet weather anyway, given that players generally tend to select the first option when the ball is hard to handle and control effectively, rather than what could be considered the best option.

Further, I don't seem to recall too many glaring errors from Bruce, aside from the odd issue possessing the ball in the wet, and I remember him kicking pretty well early on in the game (his pass to Bate for instance, even though Bate dropped it).

Maybe I wasn't watching closely enough, but I do know that if you have pre-conceived notions about a player's shortcomings from previous weeks then you tend to amplify those shortcomings attached to his game, and I think that Bruce is one individual who receives unfair treatment in that respect.

 

[stretcharmstrong]

You are totally disregarding the fact that he competed hard and tackled really well today (stats say he had 9 tackles, which is a very good effort).

In that sense, I don't think one should use disposals as the sole measure of a player's worth.

But on his disposal, I think you're going to be putting your teammates under pressure with your disposal in the wet weather anyway, given that players generally tend to select the first option when the ball is hard to handle and control effectively, rather than what could be considered the best option.

Further, I don't seem to recall too many glaring errors from Bruce, aside from the odd issue possessing the ball in the wet, and I remember him kicking pretty well early on in the game (his pass to Bate for instance, even though Bate dropped it).

Maybe I wasn't watching closely enough, but I do know that if you have pre-conceived notions about a player's shortcomings from previous weeks then you tend to amplify those shortcomings attached to his game, and I think that Bruce is one individual who receives unfair treatment in that respect.

Yep I'll accept this, and to the guys saying I hate hime and 'stop the Bruce bashing', I don't hate him at all - sorry if it sounds like that. He has been a great servant for the MFC and from what I have seen and heard is a great bloke to boot, just frustrated that he cops no criticism, and coaching staff keep dropping Joel Mac when he should be left in the team for as many games as possible!

 

[LITTLE STINGA]

How exactly did Bruce standup today? If you mean "gathered a heap of possesion and put his team mates under the pump with every single disposal", then yeah I guess he stood up. Him and Bartran were aweful again.

I thought Bruce was his usual self. A lot of the ball with no real impact. I don't think you can have a go at his disposal after the way Moloney and Sylvia butched the ball. He was better than he was against Geelong.
We really missed Frawley would be an understatement.

 

[stretcharmstrong]

I thought Bruce was his usual self. A lot of the ball with no real impact. I don't think you can have a go at his disposal after the way Moloney and Sylvia butched the ball. He was better than he was against Geelong.
We really missed Frawley would be an understatement.

It's much better to "butch" the ball long by foot than it is to butcher it short by hand, which is what I am noticing more and more from Bruce. And Moloney is so bloody good in and under the contests that I am much more willing to forgive him his poor disposal, although I didn't think he was that bad today.

 

[Tempy Tiger]

Bruce was awful today. So many of his possessions were to team mates under the pump just because he didn't want to take the contact. I know he was credited with 9 tackles today but cuddles would be a better description. He could play a good role as a quarter back if we were a little stronger but when we are under siege he gets found out. He was wearing tracksuit pants in the warm up today, the only player on the ground to do so. I remember a game last year where he ran out to toss the coin wearing track suit pants. It just is symbolic of how soft he is, drives me crazy...

 

[d33my]

For mine, Rivers stood up today, and showed us why he IS selectable.
I think this thread is a bit of a knee-jerk, lets assess again at the end of the year shall we? so far we have had "OMFJIZZ THIS IS THE BEST BACKLINE IN THE COMP" to "COMPLETELY OVERRATED NOT AFL STANDARD"
Sometimes i think our early season performance was a bad thing because it all got our expectations too high...

Oh and Tempy, Brucey always wears trackies, rain hail or shine. Its his 'thing'. I think it would have zero impact on his ability as a player

 

[LITTLE STINGA]

For mine, Rivers stood up today, and showed us why he IS selectable.

I don't think anyone stood up today, it's why we got beaten convincingly. Apart from a good 3rd quater we were disgusting.

 

[d33my]

stood up is probably the wrong phrase. He keeps his spot is really what I meant. If hed had a shocker today he would have been gone

 

[Tempy Tiger]

It might be his 'thing' but it shows how soft he is. What today showed us is how important Frawley is to our backline.

 

[LITTLE STINGA]

stood up is probably the wrong phrase. He keeps his spot is really what I meant. If hed had a shocker today he would have been gone

I would agree with that.

 

[d33my]

Attack brucey's game all you want but to say that wearing trackpants is an indication of softness is ridiculous. He doesn't just do it when its cold, he does it ALL the time. its a routine for him.

 

[Fight For It]

I don't know how it makes him soft. He might have bad circulation, and does it to get his legs warmed up better before the start of a game.


I think Bruce has been improving continuously since I was on the 'get him out' bandwagon (about Round 3-4). Despite the constant accusations of being soft, he does get quite a bit of his own hard ball, especially today in the wet.

He doesn't use it well all the time, but quite often this is due to a poor set up by the midfielders ahead of him. The same thing happens to Grimes, which is why he turns the ball over a fair bit. Its all well and good to say that he should just bomb it long like Moloney, but if you have another look you may find that the long kick strategy (particularly with our current forward set-up with no deep forwards) results in a turnover just as often as the handpass to an under pressure player.

I don't think any player can really be singled out for today's performance, even though I usually am guilty of it

I think that there was a team-wide lack of focus in the first quarter, that effectively killed the game before it even started.

 

[d33my]

I think that there was a team-wide lack of focus in the first quarter, that effectively killed the game before it even started.

Agree. For mine, our consistent ability to 'not turn up to games' is as worrying as any single player's form...