I noticed at the game on Saturday we are using him as the spare man in defence when Sydney would drop a player back. The Lizard was their spare man and did a lot of damage.
Should Prior really be our spare man, considering he is a defence first player? I would much prefer it being Redman or Reid who are more likely to hurt the opposition going back the other way.
1 Like
When you bring in a player like Prior, you donāt bring in a defender, you bring in an attacking weapon because of his kicking. He is not being used like that.
2 Likes
I think people are underestimating how big an improvement his kicking is over lav, hepp and Kelly. No heās not Goddard, but he moves the ball on with relative urgency and kicks a ball thatās quick through the air and doesnāt sit up high for an easy poach.
I donāt necessarily like how often we go backwards and sideways but teams are definitely having a slightly harder time of forcing us long down the line than they were last year and weāre seeing fewer catastrophic errors or poor kicks to contests coming out of the back 50
Bit by bit his contest stuff and intercepting is improving but it still has a long way to go.
Assuming we we have 3kpd including rids up and flying I can see a future where we only play one of prior and Redman so we can accommodate another genuine attacking weapon like Johnson
12 Likes
I can be convinced otherwise but my view is you bring in a defender to defend. Then he kicks.
If he canāt defend he serves no purpose.
2 Likes
Tell that to Dayne Zorko.
2 Likes
This take is quite amusing given our current back 6/7.
We already have plenty of players who should be seen as our āattacking weaponsā in Redman, Martin and on occasions McGrath.
Priorās role is first and foremost to defend and then be the reliable outlet kick as required.
1 Like
Bachar Houli is a great example for mine. 1 on 1 defending I think he was weak his whole career. As a backline clearance player he was a weapon. Prior isnāt physically that type of player so for him the ability to defend is paramount but you can absolutely trade off defensive ability to gain attacking rebound off half back. All the best teams have the ability to quickly turn a defensive interception into an inside 50 attack. Its something we have struggled to do and struggled even more to defend against.
2 Likes
Hear you, but houli still wasnāt a bar door flapping open as soon as it was pushed. He might not have been great but he fit within the defensive system at Richmond and did his job
1 Like
ha - so itās not just me. Something I wanted to comment on for a while - it feels like our kicks move slowly and take too long to get to their targets.
Something we need to improve across the side.
Itās been a big problem for several years. Disco had no idea what good kicking looked like
3 Likes
I think heās ok as long as heās steadily improving , and he is
1 Like
CHAMP ALERT
CHAMP ALERT
CHAMP ALERT
Swift, precise use of the champ here. Brutal.
6 Likes
Id say weāve traded reduced defensive ability for significantly reduced turnovers by foot, rather than incisive rebounding. I think weāre ahead, but not materially.
1 Like
I would think a lot of that has been the foot disposal of Reid. Heās been a very attacking player with his ability to drill accurate kicks from inside D50. I also think McGrath, certainly prior to this week, was doing less kicking inside D50.
1 Like
Agreed, his ball use is exactly what we need, but heās still a defensive liability, lacks true competitiveness where he can be relied on to halve (or god forbid win) contests often enough to be a long term option, and to go with this heās in the Francis/Weid mould mentally where I really cannot see a world where he isnāt significantly held back by a lack of confidence. I believe Fagan specifically called this out when he was at the Lions.
Fast track Nguyen (Iām not saying theyāre identical types).
1 Like
New club, new team mates, new backline to gel with. It was always going to take a bit of time. He wasnāt a first 18 player at the Lions so it wasnāt like we were getting a premiership defender by any stretch. Has got better each game. Will never set the world on fire, but he fills a need and hopefully just gets better and more confident each week.
4 Likes
yeah agree with all that. really i think what weāre looking for in his present role is Michael Hibberd but both he and redman are a mile off that level honestly. we want someone who is a competitive beast, can play super tight, pinch hit tall and play small, all while still being dangerous going the other way. Then you have 3 talls one of whom can play a bit smaller, a lock down in mcgrath and 2 real attacking weapons who arenāt total defensive liabilities (roberts is one of them). i think thereās some prospect that clarke could be the hibberd guy weāre looking for and johnson/nguyen could could fill the other attacking slot. iām very open minded about the idea of trading redman
1 Like
Never going to happen.
Ever.
1 Like
close
I think what weāre looking for in his present role is Michael Prior.
Solid dependable defender. But will be depth when talented replcaement comes through.
Agreed with all of that too.
VERY early days but it doesnāt look like Clarkeās trajectory is to be defensively strong though from what I can tell. On very limited evidence he looks to be a Redman upgrade or at worst regen to me.
Plucking a 22 yo Michael Hibberd out of the MSD would transform our side, I really mean that.
Iād trade Redman for a 2nd and pay half his salary. Heās the definition of a guy thatās plateaued but whoās not so old that we couldnāt get anything worthwhile for him. I canāt remember the last time we traded someone in his shoes other than maybe Melk and Monfries and both of those hadnāt quite āgot thereā the way Redman has for us.
One last edit: Prior at least makes you recognise how important McGrathās lock down ability is. People kind of dismiss it because heās underwhelming going forward, but itās insane how reliable he is when the ball is kicked to his man. Imagine the best of those two put together, would legit win a brownlow.
4 Likes