The counter to this explained very well by @ivan, is that Ridley should take 1 of the best forwards as it takes him to the ball, and he’s so good at reading the play that he will intercept anyway.
The risk of having him play on a lesser opponent is that the opposition will use that person to drag Ridley away from the areas that we want him.
if only we had a good stopper of small forwards in our team…
I am amazed with how ■■■■■ our backline has been gelling recently that the million dollar man hasn’t coped any flak. It’s been 14 days without any comments here which is very unusual. How do we think he has been performing ? I don’t think he does a lot offensively . Seems to want to do a dinky little kick or handball most of the time he has the ball. I guess Fletch has spoilt my idea of a full back who takes the kick outs and can kick well over 60 metres.
I think he’s been alright.
At NM his good was very good, his bad was absolutely awful. He hasn’t been absolutely awful that I can recall. His bad has just been serviceable.
I really doubted his acquisition but I’m very happy to be proven wrong so far.
I’d rather someone else taking the massively aggressive kicks - I’d be keen to see his updated 1v1 contest stats but I can’t find that OG thread
nvm found it, can we have a bump @Paul_Peos 
edit 2 nvm
He has been really good. Better than I expected him to be
Ridley has really struggled these past few weeks
Lav is very hit and miss
We would be absolutely screwed without McKay
Fwiw he’s actually gotten slightly worse since the last post in there, currently going at a 38.5% loss rate for the year (15 lost of 39 total)
Yeah I just updated the stats (I can do it myself)
Looks pretty grim, rated second worst in the comp still loss % wise only infront of NM
Our backline not functioning as well as it was early in 2024 also corresponds with our midfield starting to get absolutely pantsed in the clearance game…
McKay is going fine, all things considered.
He was better on his own than with Ridley. Hopefully that changes.
Yes something has not worked overall after Ridleys first game back when Ridley was bog
Coincides with our mids and forwards not applying as much pressure as they were earlier in the season.
I’m away from the forum for an afternoon, and somebody wants to talk defensive 1v1s!!!
Weirdest segment. Offered no context as to why his form dropped. Just showed a heap of good marks when he was in form.
The only stat that really matters there is 1vs1 loss %.
GOOD! He needs a wake up call and to play with some controlled agression.
He’s roaming around emotionless playing with zero presence.
He’s the biggest bloke on the field! Let them know you’re there Ben!
He was shocking on ANZAC day, need to bounce back quick as the season is getting away from him…
Ben McKay has beaten Collingwood more times at Essendon than he did in six seasons at North Melbourne.
Back to his best tonight. Well done Ben
Welcome back to form, mate. Some fantastic clunks tonight.
6 intercept marks. That’s what we need from his guy.
