Three things you've learned. Round eighteen 2021 v Gold Coast Suns

[Mantis]

Re: Three things you've learned. Round eighteen 2021 v Gold Coast Suns

1/ When our defenders aren't fully supported by our midfield & forward pressure they can be horribly exposed. The inability of our defenders to actually defend isn't where we need it to be.

2/ Cody Weightman is like the little brother who wants to be included in everything. The number of times he was in the way of a ''key'' forward was concerning.

3/ That was the best & worst of the Bont all in 2 hours. His kicking is off the boil and it seems like he's trying a bit to hard to kick it perfectly, rather than just to our advantage. Loving his power and confidence around the ball, just toyed with Rowell on occasions.

[azabob]

Re: Three things you've learned. Round eighteen 2021 v Gold Coast Suns

2/ Cody Weightman is like the little brother who wants to be included in everything. The number of times he was in the way of a ''key'' forward was concerning.

The other part of Weightman's game he can work on is when he is totally out of position is rather than flying to try and impact the contest learn to make contact with the body - this way he can stay in the contest if the ball comes to ground.

[1eyedog]

Re: Three things you've learned. Round eighteen 2021 v Gold Coast Suns

I don't think so. Ugle-Hagan and Naughton are by far quicker and better pressure players than the alternative options, particularly now that we have what I would hope are established small forwards in Weightman and McNeil (who I'd play every week from here on). It's just a matter of establishing chemistry with one another and trying to ensure they don't all fly for the same ball, which is really a Naughton problem as much as anything.

They also all pose different strengths and are vastly different players to one another. Naughton as a contested aerialist and also further up the ground in the territory between 40 and 80m out, Bruce one on one, Jammara as a lead up player and English under the high ball. They're all (mostly for Nauhgton) beautiful kicks to one another too.

I think that their height should be considered a feature, not a bug. We lose nothing by playing all of them.

At this stage of his physical development Marra really struggles to stick tackles or even break up play. He gets to a contest and snowflakes around it. It's ok it's what you'd expect given his stage of development. He'll need at least two more preseasons under his belt before being able to make a meaningful impact in this area. If we play Marra, English and Bruce in the forward line Naughton, McNeill and Cody really need to pick up the slack once the ball hits the ground. As Gary points out it's something we need to consider.

Bruce would be low on the rung of the best one on one key forwards in the comp. His strengths are his timing on the lead, his ability to create space and his amazing work ethic. He can only really out mark inferior opponents, pretty much crumples up like a slater whenever he gets the ball under pressure in open play and is just as likely to falcon a ball as he is to mark it.

Critical player in others ways for us though.