Ignoring the fact that May has been very good defensively this season because apparently that seems to be what everybody loves to do Ben King wouldn't be talked up at all if he was plonked in that forward line up until last night.
Wayne Carey in his prime would've looked like a scrub with the delivery coming in.
Our biggest problem has been playing a one tall forward line, if we had McDonald/Weideman all season then it wouldn't have looked anywhere near as bad as it has. Bombing it in long is fine and all when you have the tall forwards to bring the ball to ground and lock it in, however when you play one tall it allows teams other tall defenders to zone off their opponents (mid-sized forward) because they aren't an aerial threat and we don't even get a chance to bring the ball to ground for the smaller forward line to pressure and lock it in because the player zoning off has intercepted the long ball in as there is only one tall target.
We played the right forward line last night unfortunately losing McDonald early but given the midfield decided to actually kick to space so the smaller, more mobile forwards could actually use that speed to beat their opponents to mark inside 50 that mitigated the loss of McDonald.
Having two tall forwards means it's a lot less predictable for defenders to zone off because they actually have to man the other tall target because it's not a foregone conclusion of where the ball is going.
This is also where Luke Jackson's development becomes so valuable and important, Gawn clunks everything in the contest and if we could have Jackson and Gawn rotating in the ruck and up forward it opens up a massive problem for defenses.
Also Rankine is a f***ing magician, I'm getting Jeff Farmer/Jason Akermanis vibes.
Wayne Carey in his prime would've looked like a scrub with the delivery coming in.
Our biggest problem has been playing a one tall forward line, if we had McDonald/Weideman all season then it wouldn't have looked anywhere near as bad as it has. Bombing it in long is fine and all when you have the tall forwards to bring the ball to ground and lock it in, however when you play one tall it allows teams other tall defenders to zone off their opponents (mid-sized forward) because they aren't an aerial threat and we don't even get a chance to bring the ball to ground for the smaller forward line to pressure and lock it in because the player zoning off has intercepted the long ball in as there is only one tall target.
We played the right forward line last night unfortunately losing McDonald early but given the midfield decided to actually kick to space so the smaller, more mobile forwards could actually use that speed to beat their opponents to mark inside 50 that mitigated the loss of McDonald.
Having two tall forwards means it's a lot less predictable for defenders to zone off because they actually have to man the other tall target because it's not a foregone conclusion of where the ball is going.
This is also where Luke Jackson's development becomes so valuable and important, Gawn clunks everything in the contest and if we could have Jackson and Gawn rotating in the ruck and up forward it opens up a massive problem for defenses.
Also Rankine is a f***ing magician, I'm getting Jeff Farmer/Jason Akermanis vibes.
