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Daicosian silk
Team Captain
- Sep 3, 2020
- 390
- 1,059
- AFL Club
- Collingwood
McStay coming back in to the side will help with the last partCaleb Daniel ain’t the solution (nor part thereof) to our lack of run & ability to move it from D50 and he would get mercilessly exposed down back defensively, as has happened at the Bulldogs.
Our zonal defence doesn’t mitigate his lack of height, it exacerbates it. If you play 1v1 man-on-man (which hardly anyone does anymore) you pick the guy that matches your height /weight /mobility etc and go and defend him. Even if you’re taken to the goals-square at least you have the best ‘physical match’ available from the oppo’s attack. If, however, you play a step-forward /next-man-roll defence, which we do, then you could roll across to guard or defend someone taller & heavier than you. One of the reasons why Noble was dropped end of last year bc he consistently became the weak link in a rolling defensive chain. Daniels likewise, would be a massive weakness in this style of system defence.
In any event, before you spend $750k /year on a non-key part of the rebuild jigsaw, Joey Richards could easily play a similar distribution role from half-back at one-fifth of the price.
Ps: our rebound D50 isn’t currently the issue, we’re still heavily skewed scoring profile wise in D50 transition goals.
What’s fallen away heavily is
i. leaking goals in transition (system defence from f50 to d50 is broken);
ii. getting destroyed at CB & losing clearance (Pendles too slow; JDG lacking defensive intent) and
iii. inability to gain or sustain territory (playing Coxless and with such an under-sized forward line means we don’t have a down-the-line marking option or presence to aerially contest & bring the ball to ground ..therefore getting stuck in our D50 with repeat entry after repeat entry).
The lack of marking talls also means we have only one route to exit our d50 and that is through run ‘n gun chaos style, either by hand or foot. Oppo teams know this and are shutting it down /pressuring us until we give it back. The lack of a get out of jail tall option (Kreuger can’t mark above his head; WHE is ok one-out but is a flanker punching outside his weight division, Reef is played for 30 seconds at end of games etc) is really hampering our ability to move the ball and control the ball.