Walsh wrote:
GWS didnt lay 79 tackles against North did they? They came out firing as they knew they could push our midfield around and thats what happened - I said pre game we are going to get hammered in the midfield and lose the game -- wasn't an excuse either just a glaring and obvious fact. Just don't have the talent get your head around that!
Great diversion. Yes our midfield is struggling but our problem all year has been defensive structure when we don't have the ball.
We have no idea how to defend. Our offensive kickout structures are abysmal. Our defensive kickout structures are abysmal and our ability to prevent the opposition transitioning off turnover, stoppage or stop plays are abysmal.
Everyone can see it. media commentators, ex players and basic supporters who watch the game. GWS average 95 marks per game. They had 138 last night. They pulled our pathetic zone apart like most other teams have this year. IMHO, the reality is now hitting the players. They are playing with one arm tied behind their backs with poor system and no answers coming from the coaches box. What has changed? What have we done to improve our defensive work in 14 rounds of football? @#$%&! all.
But no, you keep kicking Paddy Dow and the other players who you hope will take the heat off the real issue.
Problems with defensive structure is overrated. Defence is always going to come under pressure when we don't control the football and butcher it. If we lose clearances as we have then it will ping into our forward 50 with one or two disposals. What is defensive transitioning going to do exactly. Getting hands on the ball and executing to AFL standards and winning one on one contests more often than not along with scoring heavily from turnovers is what is going to stop supply and win games. The way we set behind the ball is more important than defensive transitioning.