Small Defenders?

[bushie]

I was just having a look at the discussion on our best option for fullback on another thread.
Everyone was putting their best options along with their choice of half back and full back lines.
What struck me was apart from Parker and Hayden, who are our options as specialist small defenders?
Do we have the talent in our list to cover injuries to these two guys, both in the short and long term?
And just for an example. If Fez and Roger were injured, who would you play on Medhurst if we were playing Collingwood?

 

[Ysaye]

I was just having a look at the discussion on our best option for fullback on another thread.
Everyone was putting their best options along with their choice of half back and full back lines.
What struck me was apart from Parker and Hayden, who are our options as specialist small defenders?
Do we have the talent in our list to cover injuries to these two guys, both in the short and long term?
And just for an example. If Fez and Roger were injured, who would you play on Medhurst if we were playing Collingwood?

Grover or Thornton - they have the speed and would overpower him in terms of strength. Dodd, Duffield and Walker could also be serious options.

 

[bushie]

Grover or Thornton - they have the speed and would overpower him in terms of strength. Dodd, Duffield and Walker could also be serious options.

Point taken, but I doubt if any of them are long term small forward marking specialists. And apart from Meddy, I reckon Brad Johnson, Krakoer, Didak and co would give us a bath without a proper match up..

 

[YelloMit]

Mundy, Grover, Walker, Dodd, and even Crowley could play there.

 

[dominguez]

Duffield will be a very good player IMO. I also think that Medhurst would be too strong in the air for Hayden, if fit Thornton is tailor made for Medhurst.

 

[theGav56]

Medhurst is going to be no more dangerous than Collingwood's other small forwards in Didak and Thomas. And that is if he gets a game. I imagine that we would counter him as other teams have countered him successfully against us; play a strong bodied defender on him who will harry and intimidate him. Dodd, Grover or Parker would do that fine. Walker may even intimidate him! Alternatively, a rebounder like Hayden could have a field day as Medhurst would fail to chase at ever opportunity, if he didn't give away a silly free kick by trying to push his opponent under the ball.

 

[Ripper]

Bit of a non worry IMHO. Parks , Groves & Thornton can all play small really well.

I would play Grover on Medders. I still remember the job he did on Troy Longmuir first game back against us.

He made sure that there was absolutely no way that anyone would say that "We should have kept TLo" that day in between having a bit of a wrestle with Fev.

 

[bushie]

Bit of a non worry IMHO. Parks , Groves & Thornton can all play small really well.

I would play Grover on Medders. I still remember the job he did on Troy Longmuir first game back against us.

He made sure that there was absolutely no way that anyone would say that "We should have kept TLo" that day in between having a bit of a wrestle with Fev.

Fair enough, I am bored and trying to pick holes in our squad, that obviously aren't there.

I give up you lot win.

 

[sabre_ac]

Small defender is an obsolete position IMHO...

Most players around the 6 foot mark or a little taller are exceptionally quick and able to man up on the 175 cm goal sneaks.

 

[poshman]

Small defender is an obsolete position IMHO...

Most players around the 6 foot mark or a little taller are exceptionally quick and able to man up on the 175 cm goal sneaks.

Unless that goal sneak is either Jeff the wiz! Or Davey from Melbourne, and as we have one of those, we dont have too much to worry about!

 

[dominguez]

Fair enough, I am bored and trying to pick holes in our squad, that obviously aren't there.

I give up you lot win.

There are a couple of areas we need to bolster. We need another tall defender who can shut down a quality opponent, hopefully Haddrill will return to his best or Mundy/Johnson will improve that part of their game next year. It would also be nice to have a 185cm version of Hasleby and 187cm clone of Blacky on the list.

 

[Shaymuhz]

There are a couple of areas we need to bolster. We need another tall defender who can shut down a quality opponent, hopefully Haddrill will return to his best or Mundy/Johnson will improve that part of their game next year.

unfortunately for us hadrill is not the tall defender we need. he is only 188cm, which is only 1cm taller than grover and parker and 3 less than mundy and -4 than johnson. his decision making skills are poor and he fails to hurt teams on the rebound.

i would be reluctant to play soloman at fullback as his pace and reading of the play against quality opponents was exposed last year and he also was unable ot physically intimidate them.

as much as i hate to say it as i love mcpharlin at chb i think we need to move him onto the bigger bodied gorilla forwards and try to develop johnson as a rebounding chb in the same mould. however whether he can control the opposition chf remains to be seen.


the other option at fullback, if he wasnt built like nicole richie, would be scott thornton as he is 191cm, fast and can hurt on the rebound. i think it is the one weakness that can damage our prospects next season and i hope someone comes through

 

[theGav56]

Shaymuhz, I think you're throwing around a couple of red herrings.

• Haddril was tall enough when he last played to be a fine fullback. I also don't think your fullback should be doing a lot of rebounding.

• MacPharlin was rarely played at CHB this year, and was almost exclusively used at FB, after he was sent to the backline.

• There is absolutely no talk about Soloman being used at FB. In fact the chat has been that he will begin the season forward.

If all our defenders are fit, then we have a great range of tall, mobile men, who will improve with experience.

Hayden MacPharlin Parker
Mundy Johnson Grover

Leaves Dodd, Thornton, Duffield and Haddrill to be considered if match-ups and fitness allow.

 

[Shaymuhz]

gav, whether hadrill was a fine fullback or not is a matter of personal opinion - obviously we disagree on that point. whilst a fullback may not need to be an out an out rebounder they do need to be able to assess their options and hit a target in order the effectively clear the ball, something i believe hadrill struggles with. it would also be naive to pin our hopes on somebody who's played a combined total of about 5 games over the last two years.

i admit that throughout last season after mcpharlin was moved back he was played at fullback, however i was referring to his time at chb in the 2003 season, where i believe he played his best football and was in line for a.a before he got injured.

solomon was thrown in as he is the only 100kg defender on our list and some (although not me) may have considered him an option.

i'm not disputing the quality of our back six as towards the end of last season they proved to be one of the stingiest defences in the league, however, we were horribly exposed in the prelim when one barry hall took us apart. it doesnt happen often but it did show a weakness in our strong defence.

having said all of that, freo for premiers 2007

 

[dominguez]

If Haddrill doesn't return McPharlin has to be among our 3 or 4 most important players next season, especially considering Parker's form in the finals. Unfortunately McPharlin is susceptible to injury (I doubt that he would have played 22 games in any of his 7 seasons since being drafted), which will leave Grover, Mundy and Johnson to cover full back and centre half back if McPharlin goes down.

 

[theGav56]

i'm not disputing the quality of our back six as towards the end of last season they proved to be one of the stingiest defences in the league, however, we were horribly exposed in the prelim when one barry hall took us apart. it doesnt happen often but it did show a weakness in our strong defence.

Given that Hall is the best forward going around, that is going to happen occassionally. But our defence has made him look ordinary on just as many occassions as he has done well against us. The fact that we lost the clearances against Sydney had more to do with his good showing on the day than any deficiencies in our backline.

Given the relative youth of Mundy and Johnson, I think we have the solution within the development of the current backs, rather than having a gaping need. They need to be stronger and they need to be meaner. With them and MacPharlin we have class and poise in our key back positions. And with the versatility of the others we have depth.