Thompson's decision making

[Turbocat]

To my mind , this situation was typical of modern football where coaches strive for miss matches that benifit their side. Johnson is a top player , Im not convinced we would have been better served by having Scarlett on Johnson. Johnson's size and skill set probably shows a weakness in our defensive structure, he plays as a key forward with the mobility of a flanker. Hunt proved to be a better match up , I would be suprised to see him get the job from the start next time.

Its not the first time we have tryed to engineer Scarlett as the running rebounder, he does it well , not great because he lacks the blistering delievery of a Hunt but he has excellent spacial awarness , more often than not he controls the out bound ball safely out of the defensive area. Others can bring the ball out and due to bad in play choices or skills turn the ball over.

I think Thompson probably had a focus the positives being created outwaying the goals being kicked. Johnson certainly carved TH up and the old Harley might have made a better fist of the job. Is Harley capable of of getting back there , only time will tell.

 

[bulletproof]

Delighted he has finally tried Mackie in the back half. I think I suggested that he be trialled there about 18 months ago. Happy to see him have such a good game, I think there is a bit of quality about the kid. I hope this game will give him confidence to really press on, become a regular and justify his rating as a top ten pick. Some players just take a little bit longer, I think he is one.

 

[GeeCat]

Delighted he has finally tried Mackie in the back half. I think I suggested that he be trialled there about 18 months ago. Happy to see him have such a good game, I think there is a bit of quality about the kid. I hope this game will give him confidence to really press on, become a regular and justify his rating as a top ten pick. Some players just take a little bit longer, I think he is one.

I'm as pleased as anyone about Mackie's performance on the general, but he was gifted alot of space to make things happen on Sunday. Pleasing that he made, for the most part, good use of the freedom in his role (particularly his disposal, which was an improvement from last week), but he won't be given that sort of leverage or granted that type of role every week.

Rather pessimistic, I know, but it's something I'd like to see him prove - that he can continue to be that creative when tighter clamps are applied.