I was critical of Heppell early, and he does do the odd “take too much time”, but he’s been very good as the season progresses. His defensive positioning has improved significantly.
Surprised at Lav, would have thought his ‘contested defence loss percentage’ would be as high as anyones.
In fairness, I suspect Stewart’s defensive winning % is probably improving.
Overall, it backs up the story that Zerk is much stronger defensively. I’m glad I’ve been calling for his inclusion all year, backs up my call.
Based on Paul Peos’s stats, Zerk is only losing 11% of defensive fights. So he’s doing pretty damn well regardless.
(I really really hope I’m interpreting those stats right!)
I think the total number of what they count as contests is so small, that a few contest victories / losses can change the percentage quite considerably.
E.g. from memory, Zerk was at about 20 % before the last game.
Me neither. He doesn’t have the right to just walk back into the line up, he needs to be made to earn a spot in the 23. Needs some exposed form to assess his progress. Until then BZT stays in.
Watch how many times Zerk ends up on his backside in a contest.
It’s way many more than I’m comfortable with.
He’s got plenty to improve and still has time to do so.
There’s so much of ‘seeing what you want to see in this thread’, and using numbers with no meaningful statistical power to make a point.
I would have phrased my concern as Zerk is involved in too many mix ups with his fellow defenders when attempting to mark or spoil.
Not sure who is to blame, but it’s symptomatic of a backline that has played limited games together, or doesn’t quite trust each other.
Or it’s Zerk trying too hard.
PS - my main concern is developing quicker and better decision making from Zerk when he has the ball.
The last 2 weeks opposition teams have been happy to have the ball kicked to Zerk, which is a worry
yeah i think he certainly lacks confidence with ball in hand. the unforced handball error to langford was a shocker. he’s a little slower than we’d all like but he’s brave in the air and disciplined. He’s got something to work with if he can sure up his skills.
i do wonder whether we should send ridley to cameron just to get into his head and make him question whether he needs to follow him around. i also have concerns whether stewart has the tank for him
zerk to hawkins i’m happy to see. hawkins can’t hurt zerk for pace and zerk is smart enough to play in front and not get tangled in a wrestle.
