Ford Fairlane
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- Feb 21, 2002
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Don't mark with your knee. 
Player Watch Welcome to Port Adelaide Brandon Zerk-Thatcher
- Thread starter Grave Danger
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Far more reliable than Rat, who can do all of the above at a far higher frequency.
BZT has been pretty reliable in my eyes. No defender is infallible to a mistake.
Esava impacts Aliirs game too. Just too much chaos.
Esava's main issue is that he doesn't have a defenders brain or instinct. He doesn't know when to leave his man and when to stay. He doesn't factor in where his team mates are and their position in the contest when deciding to launch. A perfect example is that contest where he crashed into Bergman. Bergman was always odds on to win that contest, but Esava ignored the cues and just came crashing in.
You can learn some of this, but some of this is also instinct. BZT is a natural defender, Esava is not.
The only way he will work as a defender is if he's asked to lock down on someone and not try and press up and intercept. Give him a job to do, and play one on one. He's actually good at that, and will have far less impact on Aliir and BZTs game if he sticks to his man.
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Agreed, which is why I think he needs to just focus on his own man. Put him on the Hawkins type forward, tell him to stick to him and be a pure stopper.
Aliir reads the play better than most, he's the one that can come across to help. Not the other way around.
Duursma had plenty of influential games for us. He was hit badly by injuries and never really got going again.
Jello_B
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- Mar 2, 2014
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Seems obvious. Pity we have a coach that can’t see obvious.
Might be some truth to him being unable to play with Esava
BZT, Bergman, Aliir as the only 3 tall backs for the rest of the year thanks
BZT, Bergman, Aliir as the only 3 tall backs for the rest of the year thanks
- Mar 1, 2014
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Yes, I posted something similar on the game day thread. For two games in row Zerk-Thatcher has been a far better player without Esava Ratugolea in the backline. Three talls in defence does not seem to work and hopefully Hinkley has received the same message.
- Mar 1, 2014
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The problem is Ken will want to play Esava to prove that his recruiting worked wonders. It seem that when we trade a player in he has to play regardless of his output. If they feel that they have to play Esava they could try him as a forward/ruck option in place of Jeremy Finlayson. Geelong used him in this role. Clearly we are a better side without Esava getting in the way in defence.
Good thing we gave up a first rounder for him.
- Mar 26, 2007
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Been absolutely outstanding 2 weeks in a row. Keeps this up and he's worth every penny.
PortAdelFC1997
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Agree. Needs to play within his limitations and rather than go for the high risk kick, go down the line.
Liked his game today , gave him a vote , marked strongly and covered the ground well . As did Allir and yes I’m thinking too it’s too clustered with Ratogalea there as well , he can be depth for a little while and keep working on his positioning , he’s taking too much of Allirs zone , he likes to run at the contest , not the the Rat is a bad player just he’s not making the balance right
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