Remove this Banner Ad

Roast Poorly skilled backline

  • Thread starter Thread starter mike123
  • Start date Start date
  • Tagged users Tagged users None

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

TheWoodsOf72 said:
Ried was the only one holding things together. We have had no structure for 4 years
Click to expand...
100% spot on. We have 1 class backline player. Brown is adequate or a bit better than that. Frost and Langdon battle. Williams is a good honest player with some dash but can be suspect by foot. Ditto Sinclair (although his kicking has improved). Ramsay is OK and may well end up pretty good. Maynard is a work in progress and so is Marsh.

I'd love to snag Hurley and find a smart creative quick small back. Varcoe might be part of the answer down back.
 
Reid is a very good user and really adds so much composure to the back line when he is fit and playing well.

Ramsay, Oxley and Maynard are all very good kicks the latter also very good decision makers, just need to see if they can all be great defenders.
 
All decent players, with the exception of Reid who is a star. Yes they have their deficiencies but still decent. The main thing we lack is a general for the backline directing players where to go etc. Someone steps up to this or get one through trading next year and suddenly our backline will improve.
 
Friday night confirmed that this is what is holding back from being a top 8 side this year. Varcoe will help but we need another Treloar coming off halfback.
 

Log in to remove this Banner Ad

rand corp said:
Reid is a very good user and really adds so much composure to the back line when he is fit and playing well.

Ramsay, Oxley and Maynard are all very good kicks the latter also very good decision makers, just need to see if they can all be great defenders.
Click to expand...

Reid when fit, is still an AA quality, gun defender, user of the pill. Compared to what we've had bringing the ball out for the back-line the last couple of years, Reid's ball use was a sight for sore eyes. If Hurley and Rance were the AA defenders last year, on last nights form, I rate Reid, on par, maybe better than those two guys, considering it's his first game back and the guys lost nothing.

A fit Reid is our best recruit, and improves our ball use out of defense immensely. I would also think he improves the unity coming out of defense.

In Ried - Out Frost, wow, that's about the best defender in the competition replacing one of the worst, poorly skilled, erratic, un-composed, fumbling defender in the league. That's a monumental improvement.

As far as other defenders improving ball use out of defense, I think Sinclair and Ramsay improves that, it's just that they haven't played much footy together, so need to gel it'll take about a month but if they stay injury free, a big ask for them, then that will see massive improvements with ball transition out of defense. Then there is Travis Varcoe, who is one of the elite ball users in our side, and the AFL.

Williams Brown Sinclair
Ramsay Reid Varcoe

That's a backline that could really gel, and our weakness may be a strength in a month or so.
Reid in for Frost is a massive improvement.
Next year we should be chasing Hurley hard and will have the cap space you'd think.
 
I will start by saying that I don't think a lack of skills in defence is the problem. We aren't much worse than most clubs other than the fact that we don't have a designated kicker type which I think Reid can be if we keep playing Brown and Frost in the lock down roles. The biggest problem is a lack of pace in midfield meaning our mids can't create separation on their opponent when we are trying to exit defence. The result is that our defenders are kicking to contests too often which results in turnovers. We are probably the most one paced side in the league outside our defence which is actually quite quick.

We need to focus on speedy outside mids in the next couple of drafts. Thank God for Treloar who is lightning. Can we use him in a more outside role? It would be worse for him but maybe better for the team considering our weaknesses.

On our actual defenders, here goes....

I don't know what's happened with Williams. He was an average kick before last year but really cleaned up his kicking to be very solid. It's like he has regressed back to his old self this year. Hopefully it's temporary.

Reid is an elite kick. Oxley and Maynard are very good kicks although Ox can kick blindly at times. Scharenberg is excellent too (frustrating!). Ramsay is a decent user and in my view will be the best of the small group as an all round player other than maybe Scharenberg who is an unknown. He can play and defend and has great potential. Langdon is usually a good kick but is well out of sorts right now. We have certainly progressed in this area.

Brown is a good defender but an average kick. Frost's skills are shizen. I still don't know what Sinclair provides as a backman. He is average or less at everything in my view, except for pace which I acknowledge is something we greatly lack.

Maybe there is something in this Pendles to defence thing when Varcoe and Steele come back. I stress that it can only be when those blokes come back because there is such a dearth of class in our midfield without them. It does seem a bit of a waste, though. Could we use Steele there and not Pendles because he's not as good a midfielder?
 
Last edited:
You need to ask yourself how much longer can we continue with this?

How many times can we sit back and allow Marley Williams to take kick ins when he is torching 15m passes to the opposition? It's laughable.
Sinclair has actually improved in this area and Ramsay is generally a decent enough kick.
Reid is a superstar, hands down.
Frost and Langdon are also just absolute shockers.

We need to either develop or recruit vi trade or draft some quality half back ball users because it's clear what we have at the moment is not going to assist in our pursuit for finals.

We simply cannot move the ball in from kick ins and transition it up the field.
 
HFF said:
You need to ask yourself how much longer can we continue with this?

How many times can we sit back and allow Marley Williams to take kick ins when he is torching 15m passes to the opposition? It's laughable.
Sinclair has actually improved in this area and Ramsay is generally a decent enough kick.
Reid is a superstar, hands down.
Frost and Langdon are also just absolute shockers.

We need to either develop or recruit vi trade or draft some quality half back ball users because it's clear what we have at the moment is not going to assist in our pursuit for finals.

We simply cannot move the ball in from kick ins and transition it up the field.
Click to expand...

Marley should never take kick ins I agree, but that's a different issue. I still think the biggest problem is a lack of pace and movement up the ground.
 
The Tigers at least had a plan.....take the kick at straight away. No hesitation.

We over think it and by the time we take the kick out all bases are covered.

It was better this week.....maybe Goldy is our only answer?!?
 
I see the problem as twofold. First, we seem to really struggle with our transition from the back half to the forward half. In previous years, we'd just hoof it wide to the wing and aim to win the clearance from the throw in. But Bucks seems intent on running it through the middle Geelong 2007-2011 style. The focus on endurance beast midfielders seems to support that assertion too. But we lack a plan where multiple players lead out, giving the ball user many options to choose from, and opening up the middle of the ground for players further back to lead into space. This is what Hawthorn is so good at, and in many cases, individual kicking deficiencies can be covered up by how well drilled the team is.

Secondly, we don't seem to have any real organisation in our backline. It feels like we were spoiled by having Maxwell marshall the backline for so long. There's a huge difference with him gone just in terms players failing to man up, letting an opponent out the back, everyone going for the marking contest, etc. I feel like Reid helps enormously when it comes to kicking skills, Ramsay is an underrated kick, Sinclair is okay, Aish and Varcoe can play off half back, etc. So the problem will improve over time. But I'm really sad that Scharenberg has been plagued by injury. He seems the right fit on so many levels, but has been unable to impact the team due to his knees failing him.

I wouldn't mind bringing back Goldsack at the expense of Frost or Langdon. Goldsack as the designated kicker isn't that bad. We all know he can bomb it, but he's a surprisingly sharp kick. Not always the best decision maker with ball in hand, but he has a boot that produces low, fast travelling drop punts.
 
I think long term we need to develop the following backline:

B: Williams/Sinclair Brown Oxley
HB: Aish/Pendles Reid Maynard

This kind of backline gives us a solid defence + good kicking skills + a couple of line breaking speedsters.

Maynard has to become the new Heath Shaw. His skills are good enough. Just does immature things atm. Needs to be given game time as frustrating as that is.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

I remember a shockingly slow and poorly skilled backline, the captain was a spud and half of them were off the rookie list

Won a flag I heard
 
It was hard to deal with our backline being poor by foot, but now they can't defend either.
 
The Royal Sampler said:
It was hard to deal with our backline being poor by foot, but now they can't defend either.
Click to expand...

Yep - There are Witches Hats. We will get a Few Almighty Floggings because of that.

Hate to see what Dogs and Hawks do to us:eek:
 

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

loki04 said:
Midfield made their job almost impossible the amount of free Saints players in space was mind blowing.
Click to expand...

So we have a:

  • Shit Midfield
  • Shit Backline
  • Shit Forward Line
  • Shit Coaches
Anything I missed?
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Remove this Banner Ad

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Back
Top Bottom