From last year’s backline we had lost Kelly, Gleeson & McGrath.
All smart footballers.
Replaced with Saad.
Much as I like McKenna & Saad I’d call them instinctive rather than thinking footballers.
Sunday we put two smart footballers in Hooker & McGrath back in defence.
I think Guelfi and Heppell held their width and timed their runs well to provide outlets.
Although this lack of transitional running is still my biggest worry in terms of being genuine top 4 there was some improvement.
I think putting JD on the ball at times also asssisted this - he might not mark but he at least crashed packs and created more chaos ball than Stewart as a relief ruck.
The result doesn’t matter BombDoe because we all treat losses as feedback and we learn from them and just make sure we improve each week until we become great posters.
If it’s taken 4 rounds with 2 losses for the coaches to concede that they probably had the mix wrong, then so be it.
One think I believe Stringer has benefited from training midfield, is that he is applied more pressure inside 50, and did more grunt work in the packs when it was congested.
So even if that’s all the fruit it bears, it was worth it, because it’s something that was sorely lacking from his Bulldog years.