'Our Good Young Backline'

[Flashhh]

Frawley is dominant.
Grimes is a star.
Warnock is servicable.
Bruce still contributes.
I can live with Bartram.

How Colin Garland escapes scrutiny and continues to get a game each week is beyond me. He is sh!thouse, there is no other way to put it. He gives away far too many free kicks, never even seems to be in the contest. His ball use is poor and he lacks awareness. He is a poor defender and can't attack so I don't get what it is that is keeping him in the side. It's like a cricketer who can't bat or bowl, he's not even a specialist fieldsmen. He is the 2010 version of Brent Grgic, tall, lethargic and no idea. Get him out.

 

[Tulip]

I thought Bruce was his usual self. A lot of the ball with no real impact.

I could agree with the disposal impact but I'm happy that he won his own ball today

 

[cannons]

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!

Fair enough, and I definitely agree on Joel Mac, he really should be in the side at the moment, not at the expense of Bruce in my view, but he should have played today.

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

Yeah, I was very hard on Rivers last week, but he was better today, and although 1 game doesn't make a player, he certainly took a step forward today.

 

[BlueJet]

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!

Think you're being a little harsh on a few of your players there.
Garland from what i've seen looks like he just needs a few games to settle a bit and Warnock always appears servicable. Rivers is fairly disappointing though after showing so much promise as a youngster he hasn't gone on from there (with injuries obviously taking their toll).

 

[Buddha117]

Frawley is dominant.
Grimes is a star.
Warnock is servicable.
Bruce still contributes.
I can live with Bartram.

How Colin Garland escapes scrutiny and continues to get a game each week is beyond me. He is sh!thouse, there is no other way to put it. He gives away far too many free kicks, never even seems to be in the contest. His ball use is poor and he lacks awareness. He is a poor defender and can't attack so I don't get what it is that is keeping him in the side. It's like a cricketer who can't bat or bowl, he's not even a specialist fieldsmen. He is the 2010 version of Brent Grgic, tall, lethargic and no idea. Get him out.

bad post.

he wears his opponent like a glove.

 

[demonfan9]

Given Rivers and Garland's inconsistent form this year, I'd like to see Martin given another crack in the backline. I thought he was very impressive when he played there in 08-09.

 

[Fight For It]

Martin is not needed in the backline, considering he can only play on a Gorilla, and so would be competing for spots with Warnock and Frawley.

I would ideally see Martin as a swing man who could head into defence when the opposition ruckman heads into attack, since he is a fair bit taller than our tallest defenders.


As far as Garland is concerned, I think his disposal is fairly good at the moment and should improve as the team improves (since it isn't one of his weaknessess). I think his main problems at the moment are a lack of fitness/speed to a certain extent from his lack of preseason/past season, and a bit of a lack of concentration/game awareness at points which can be attributed to the same reason.

As a result, he can lose his opponent on occasion, might not make the best decisions as to where to go for a defensive zone or to peel off his man, and gives away a LOT of free kicks.