bluechucky wrote:
Campo
Stevens
Houla
Simo
Scotland
Walker
Davies
are all outside players
Kouta is our number 1 inside player, but he's used all over the place.
Blackwell is supposed to be a ball magnet, but he's supposedly too slight to play against bigger guys.
Waite is a tough nut, but inconsistant and is used as a KPP as we have none.
I'd love to see Betts played in and under - recon he could handle himself and be a slippery customer.
We've got no hard ball get players outside of Kouta - this is where we are getting thrashed.
You're right but its slightly different in my mind. We do have a few in & unders but for various reasons they are often not a worthy back-up. Johnson is an in & under and in only 1 game this year the two have worked well together - Hawthorn. At the time Johnno's role was to stop Mitchell. Bentick is also good at this, very tough in tight, but he's only in his second year of footy so we can't expect too much as yet. To me, AB is next in line and will eventually replace JOhnno but of course he has to work for it.
Our lack of backup is a real problem. Against the Tigers, Coughlan beat Kouta handsomely, and with Kouta not getting it, those outsiders were caught well away from the flight of the ball. It was pretty hard to watch actually, Stevens and Campo to the sides of the packs whilst Richmond would either line up front / back of congestion, when at front they would run it in easy and when at abck, they would do their ring a ring a rosy handballs until they got someone clear.
From watching in the 2's, Davies and Simmo also try inside but just don't have the stature yet. Everyone probably knows I like Simmo but its mainly for his contested ball gets at the lower levels. Stevens does this too, but I gyuess we haven't noticed it much of late. Those outsiders really need to get their fair share of contested ball to back-up Kouta and Scotland & Campo in particular disappoint me.