He, along with Conor, have worked their way into the season nicely after slowish starts. I think the same thing happened last year with both of them also. That kind of improvement is encouraging, and hopefully sets up well for future years.
He’s always been a damn good reader of the ball, and now his decision making and disposal is on the up. Just bulk up a bit over the summer!
Agreed.
Keep in mind that last night’s game was played predominately in our forward line, so in theory our backmen shouldn’t see much of the ball. Sometimes, how a game is played should be taken into consideration.
For a backman to NOT have a good game and still come in with 12 kicks, 4 handballs, 6 marks and 4 tackles when the game was basically played at the other end of the ground is ok by me.
Personally, I hope Marty hardly sees the ball for the rest of the year because it is always down in our forward line.
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I’ve been really impressed with Gleeson since he earned his spot back in the team this season. Early in his career Bomber compared him to Mackie and I didn’t see it at all, as he’s progressed however I’m slowly starting to see what he was talking about.
I think the problem with the perception of Gleeson is that he came into the team very young and light and has mostly made steady progress rather than having a breakout year. We’ve become a bit used to the Parish, Orazio and McGrath types who seem to come on in leaps and bounds that when someone is more of a gradual improver we see someone who has plateaued or gone backwards.
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Yeah, I might do that. Hopefully it is a blind spot and I’ll be writing about Gleeson in the "I was wrong " thread in the future. And not the occasional Blitz habit of overrating performance and potential. I just think he’s big ordinary with significant defensive weaknesses and insufficient weapons. But a number of times people here rated his games and I haven’t. The one time I went back and reviewed in detail I thought I was right. So it’s obviously a difference if opinion and I’ll bow out of this thread.
Amazing what being dumped to the reserves for a few weeks can do.
Gleeson to his credit has returned from that early season axing and is now a valuable member of the best 22.
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He is only going to get more skilful with time and a couple more pre-seasons. He is never going to have the build of someone like Hurley., he’s just lanky. He will get stronger and learn his to use his body to his advantage and that will make him a better player for us. He’s improved this season.
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The whole backline is on a hiding to nothing with the way our midfield let their opponents prance around like dressage contestants.
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Hopefully that will improve radically after this seasons ends, some leave and others are drafted. And we get a good squad together.
I have no doubt that this is the case.
And pressure notwithstanding, the defenders job if he can’t beat his direct man is to at least impact the contest. And this is where I see him needing to improve. I don’t expect perfection, and I’d hate to be a defender in our set up with the lack of pressure from midfield, but the point remains that when you watch a good proportion of goals that we concede, Gleeson is often the guy who has made the last mistake.
It was Corey Enright.
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Corey Enright compared him to Mackie?
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Hmmmm.
Flame away, but the “last mistake” guy is Hurley way more often than Gleeson.
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I spoke to Bomber at a Crichton one night and he compared David Myers to Enright… and he wasn’t even drunk
Yep once the mids start forcing more long high bombs into the backline Gleeson will really start to come into his own (ditto Francis for that matter).
Hartley will not get exposed as much on the lead or with his opponent out the back of him either.
As it stands we rarely seem able to force the opposition into switching across the ground or kicking long out of defense or kicking long into their forward line. This really stood out in the dogs and crows games where both teams were able to waltz straight out of defense by picking free and easy targets across the defensive side of centre and then ran the overlap from there.
It’s been noticeable in our best games that we have been able to effectively and consistently prevent this.
Our small forwards are pretty good at applying pressure but our mid are hopeless at denying easy short options for the most part which really undermines a lot of the good work that tippa etc do.
I’ve got my fingers crossed that getting most of the snails out of the midfield will substantially improve our ability to defend the ground properly.
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… high?
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Marty is sneaking under the radar. he is one of the top intercept markers in the comp. I saw a stat where he is in McGovern, Carlisle territory in this stat. .
However, its pretty clear he is down in the area of intercepts from one on ones and ground balls. and probably will be until he bulks up, if he ever does.
Overall the league leader in intercept possessions is Lever, hence the multiplicity of clubs all in a later to get him…
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Until A Francis starts playing consistent senior footy.
Marty signed autographs and took photos after training today. Seriously one of the nicest people I’ve met - very friendly.
Always liked him but will now be cheering a bit more enthusiastically for him during the games.
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Marty is trying his guts out today.
Poor guy - sometimes looks like the weight of the world on his shoulders.
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He’s been our best player.
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