ThePsychologist wrote:
Crusader wrote:
ThePsychologist wrote:
Touhy Miller Russell
Yarran Bower O'Keefe
Roll that back six out on game day and we'll all need psychologists, nevermind Ratts' mental state.
Yet you don't explain your reasoning or suggest a better option?
My reasoning is as follows:
Trading will be extremely hard and we will have late picks so for many improvements we will have to look within.
Couldn't agree more with you here, but you've introduced four new faces into the six defenders and retained, arguably, the worst two out of the ones we have.
Jamison is as good as any defender in the league. Yes, he plays a bit shorter than 193cm, but he is the one with runs on the board as a defender, not Brad Miller who, at best, was a stop-gap for a side conceding 20 goals week in, week out.... I like the part where he comes for nothing, but the Gold Coast are the ones with the extended list - and therefore the luxury of stockpiling.
I like what i've seen of Touhy on TV, but he's not ahead of Armfield, Ellard, Davies or Joseph. Absolutely, throw him in the mix with these guys during the preseason, but he's a long way from being considered as a stopping option for the likes of Le Cras, Didak, Davis, Stokes and Rioli to name a few.... It's not all about charginig off the last line at pace. You've got to get it first.
Yarran hasn't got a defensive bone in his body. Again, he would look good running past for a handball, but the deepest we would want him to go is centre wing.
The stories I'm hearing about O'Keeffe are all good. Tough, skilled, smart. All good... Get him to put together 20 weeks of work and we might have something, but like Touhy, he's not ahead of Armfield, Ellard, Davies, Joseph or even Russell - and Russell is a netballer; a corral-er.
My alternative:
FB: Armfield Jamison Bower
HB: Davies Waite White
C: Lucas GIBBS Simpson
Jarrad Waite has got all the tools to be the best in the business at CHB. The temperament deserts him all too often, but i'm backing him in to sort that out... A weekly viewing of his histrionics in Sydney a couple of weeks ago would be enough to straighten any man out.
What I like about Marcus Davies is that he plays a hard man's game. I think, and i've only seen a handful of minutes from him, that he might have that little bit of 'thug' in him that galvanises a group of defenders..... Similarly, Armfield is as hard as a cat's head. Forget the bounce that cost us. If he leaves that out of his game, then he loses all that's good about him.
Simon White is as sure a defender as i've seen in navy blue. He lacks a bit of pace, but what i'm looking for is a guy that collects marks from opposition kicks. Armfield, Bower and Waite provide plenty of run from the back, but if you want more, his spot would be the one to change.
Bower needs to beef up. We just can't afford to have him pushed around so easily by the big forwards... Bradshaw did it to him last year, but he was on one leg at the time, so he must be close... I'm yet to meet a Maori that can't add muscle in a hurry and sustain it.
I've put the centre line in there because we want the ball in these hands when we're going forward. GIBBS is the playmaker. Simpson and Lucas are the link between rebound and attack. For mine, the centre line picks itself.... Scotland is the incumbent winger, but Lucas is the future. Big, quick, agile, skilled... he's the one for me.