- Nov 16, 2015
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- AFL Club
- Western Bulldogs
Great post. And great statistical insight.Also worth pointing out then that only 2 of Lynch's, 1 of Larkey's, 1 of Curnow's and 0 of McKay's goals were against Gardner.
Gardner has been very good this year defensively, and at this stage I'm not sure what else his detractors are looking for him to do. In a future line-up we'll probably see a lot this year, he'll be in a backline with Keath and O'Brien who both prefer to play a bit more attacking and hunt intercept marks. If you want at least one of them to have the freedom to play that way, Gardner playing a purely defensive role is exactly what we need - and he's played that role very well so far.
From 15 contested defensive one-on-one contests this year, Gardner's only lost 4. That puts him better than average for key defenders, and much better than O'Brien and Cordy (same as last year in fact). He's also top 5 in the league for spoils. And as already mentioned, is conceding very few goals to his direct opponent.
On top of that, he's still only 24 and has just barely played one season worth of games now. He's a great size, already has good speed and endurance, and is now starting to clearly add some strength (see him out-bodying Goldstein for a contested mark on the weekend, or sticking that tackle on Buddy). He's also now far more composed with ball in hand (16 touches for 1 turn over on the weekend). I suspect the intercept marking will gradually come - but again, as long as he's locking down whichever opponent he's playing on, he's got a safe spot in our best 22.
The improvement in his game has been evident to the eye, but quiet surprised how well his defensive stats are stacking up.
Lack of confidence is one of the biggest developmental setbacks a defender can have, so now he’s getting obvious results (that some unfortunately ignore) he’ll be more confident in his game and it should continue to grow and improve.