I was in a dissaray once, I fell asleep and it floated miles down the river-took me hours to get home.
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They have a got treloar any more, Grundy is overrated
you dont
Both Garbo, smart move by Rutten playing Wright against them
We need a big bruiser in the backline. Someone who canāt be outbodied.
I think that was the idea behind Stewart in the backline
Yes. He was doing well there, too. But he really is injury-prone. I donāt think heās ever really put together a full season.
Has a place in the best 22, needs a big body next to him to tackle the big boys, whether thats Stewart/Zerk.
Ridley and Francis can just peel off all day long for those intercepts
Ridley does well in packs for his size, but heās about 5cm and/or 7 or 8kg off key position size.
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If he can reduce the gap between his best and his worst output then we will be singing his praises. Itās entirely above his shoulders.
Iāve critical of the bloke. Logically he should be able to play like a Jeremy Howe.
Iām pleased and I hope he continues to make progress. He needs to get consistency being this far into his career now. As do a number of players really - Parish, McGrath should rack up 30 every week and be disappointed if they donāt.
Played a really good game. Hope he can keep stringing them together for the rest of the year (and beyond).
His kicking seemed back to its best as well.
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Francis was beautiful to watchā¦ Strong marks, great kicking and amazing leaps. I want to see more of that!
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You can tell when his confidence is up because his decision making, offensively and defensively, just becomes automatic.
With Stewart coming in for BZT and Reid eventually forcing his way in, Iām lid off about the backline.
Stewart and Reid taking the key posts both have the size and athleticism to take modern forwards. Whilst also have great rebounding skills.
Laverde, Francis and Ridley are a versatile group of 3rd tall/mediums
Hind and an in form Redman look great as smaller HBF options; we just need to find a guy who can reliably shut down on dangerous smalls.
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He canāt do that when heās in the last line of defence
In the Geelong pre-season game and then again on the weekend you could see that Francis has confidence, intensity and desperation.
I think truck wouldāve backed him in behind the scenes in the off-season and given him the licence to be an attacking defender.
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I think we will set up like this:
Lockdown defenders:
Reid & Laverde
Intercept defenders:
Ridley & Francis
Smaller defenders:
Redman & Hind
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Reid will be more than a lockdown defender, heās more Moore than Andrews.
Stewart will be in the 7 man backline as the FB, shutting down the FF - if his body ever gives him a go.
FB Redman (RebSmall) Stewart (RebFB) Laverde (shutdown 3rd tall)
HB Hind (RunānāGun) Reid (RebCHF) Ridley (high sweeper)
INT Francis (deep sweeper/Swingman)
All 7 good-great kicks of the footy and have the athleticism to cover smalls or talls.
Fingers crossed Tom Hird can develop as a Small defender/HBF and become that specialist small shutdown player and provide HBF depth
Thatās a mighty big backline:
Reid - 202cm
Stewart - 199cm
Francis - 192cm
Ridley - 192cm
Laverde - 191cm
You sure itās not too big?
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Bigger is always better.
Laverde and Ridley are mediums in my book and Reid and Stewart are super athletic for their height so I wouldnāt be overly fussed about being too tall; other than the lack of a genuine back pocket with Redman being suited to playing further up the ground.
And there arenāt any lumbering tall types in that list, all of them are very good at ground level
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