Rank our Defence

[Stripes]

This thread is a mirror image of the Midfield thread but, of course, focusing on our defenders.

Please rank our defenders from 1st to last.

Here is my order based on defenders 'importance' but not necessarily form -

1.   Newman - our general in defence, directs defensive team, bleeds for the club, beautiful disposal, sets up play
2.   Deledio - Newman's deputy, amazing natural ability, our best player based on skill, sets up play
3.   McGuane - Our best tall defender imho, has speed and excellent spoiling ability, experienced and improved disposal
4.   Moore - another underrated midsized defender who can play tall and small, one of our most experienced players
5.   Astbury - still raw but with a massive upside, tall, quick and lovely by foot
6.   Connors - Showed a huge amount last season and improved attitude, great footskills, me curial,
7.  Thursfield - great spoiler but lacks the attacking games required in to-days football
8.   Tuck - played in the midfield and defence this year, strong, great ball winner
9.   Farmer - Hinted at playing more in attack next season but farmer showed glimpses of form this year, great long kick, hard at it
10. Gourdis - wonderful athlete but questions about his footskills, elevated because of his improved decision making and confidence but still needs to show much more advancement to cement a place in the team.
11. O'Rielly - played 3 games in a good first season but still has a long way to go
12. Grimes - IMO will become a good players but still very raw
13.  Rance - lacks polish and defensive skills, great athlete, played forward and back but juries out
14. Butcher - Amazing prospect, mid sized natural defender with wonder ball skills, marking ability and decision-making skills, new recruit keeping him down the list
15. Dea - great physic for a young player, injury and inexperience still needs to be overcome



Thanks

Stripes

[wayne]

I was wondering who Butcher was...

Butchelor 

[Fruity Morgan]

McGuane at 3, poo we are doomed! 

[MADTIGER2010]

I like Mcguane. He has bulked up to 95kg and is a very good stopper at 192cm. People forget our defence has been hit with more balls than any other club in the last 3 years due to our midfield struggles. So Mcguane is one of the better 1 on 1 stoppers in the afl. He has been our full back for the last 2 seasons mainly, while he shared this role with Thursty in 2008. Moore did fill this role in the centenary game when the other two were injured as well as sharing a role on Franklin in 1 game. Mcguanes long kicking is pretty good but sometimes his short kicking gets cut off. But Moore has the same problem with short kicks too. That was only really a problem for Mcguane in 2010 so it's more about confidence. Once he removes those small errors from his game he'll be right. Here's my back 6  

FB: connors mcguane newman
HB: deledio astbury gourdis
INT: webberley
EMER: farmer moore dea batchelor

I'd like to see Gourdis in Round 1 as the 3rd tall and Webberley as an extra small defender from the bench to allow Deledio to go into the middle for spurts. Gourdis is 193cm so has good height and a good leap, while Astbury(195cm) and Mcguane(192cm) will play first and second tall. Carlton have tall forwards Henderson(196cm) and Waite(194cm) while they'll use a third tall either O'Hailpin, Kruezer, Hampson who range between 199 and 200cm. I think Webberley is the skillfull type who will fill Deledios role nicely when Deledio goes into the middle for 5 minutes a quarter. Farmer would battle for Connors spot in Round 1 I think.

[mat073]

OMG Stripes.....Did you watch any of 2010? Mcguane had a horrible year where he took a massive step backwards.

Moore has superior foot skills and Thursty definately has greater defensive capabilities than Luke Mcguane.

I only hope that the reports of Luke putting on 6 kgs are correct.

[wayne]

I only hope that the reports of Luke putting on 6 kgs are correct.

Dan Connors interviewed Luke on one of the Christmas videos, said he was bigger and hadn't been doing much running yet, just pumping iron.

[Francois Jackson]

Mcguane our best defender. I think you have had your pudding spiked over xmas if you believe that to be true. He is a dud.

Farmer not sold on one bit

the rest i agree with.

[Stripes]

I thought having McGuane and Moore near the top would get some banter going 

You have to remember though this is not about whether our defenders compare to other defenders in the league or whether they are up to it but rather how they compare to each other.

Which tall defenders are better than McGuane and Moore? This is why we are trying Gourdis and why the emergence of Astbury is so important too.

Stripes

[Fruity Morgan]

I'm sorry, but I just can't agree with yr assessment of McGuane.  He is slow, his decision making is poor, his skills are below par and he is the last RFC player I want to see with ball in hand.

[Coach]

McGuane at 3, poo we are doomed!  

 

I'm sorry, but I just can't agree with yr assessment of McGuane.  He is slow, his decision making is poor, his skills are below par and he is the last RFC player I want to see with ball in hand.

Agree with a fair bit of that but he's not slow. He's quick at top pace but not agile. He's also undisciplined which undoes some of the good things he does.


McGuane one of the best defenders in the league   And Jordy was one of the AFLs best contested ball winners.

[Stripes]

[quote author=Big Sexy link=topic=12326.msg217286#msg217286 date=1293619492
McGuane one of the best defenders in the league   And Jordy was one of the AFLs best contested ball winners.
[/quote]

Where did I say he was one of the best defenders in the league but rather he is our best tall defender. If you disagree then that's fine but name the tall defender we have that is better than him at the moment?

This is exactly my point - McGuane would not be my first choice as our full back but other than an undersized Moore, he is our best. This should prove to us all that we are still miles away in terms of tall defenders and is why the development of players such as Astbury, Gourdis and even Rance is so crucial to our future success.

Stripes

[Coach]

Where the stuff did I say it was you that said he was one of the best defenders in the league? Read the whole topic and you'll see that someone else said he's one of the best stoppers going around.

Kelvin Moore is better. Always has been. Madtiger can tell himself all he wants that McGuane was taking on the #1 forwards in 08 but it was Moore. I taped half of those games and Moore was the one playing on the likes of Franklin, Brown, Fev etc. I'm sure he can got an revisit some of the threads on those games and he'll see people talking about the goods jobs Kel did too. I'm not saying Moore is a superstar but he is a better player than McGuane. The way I see it McGuane needs a stuffing good year next year.

[Stripes]

Where the eff did I say it was you that said he was one of the best defenders in the league? Read the whole topic and you'll see that someone else said he's one of the best stoppers going around.

Kelvin Moore is better. Always has been. Madtiger can tell himself all he wants that McGuane was taking on the #1 forwards in 08 but it was Moore. I taped half of those games and Moore was the one playing on the likes of Franklin, Brown, Fev etc. I'm sure he can got an revisit some of the threads on those games and he'll see people talking about the goods jobs Kel did too. I'm not saying Moore is a superstar but he is a better player than McGuane. The way I see it McGuane needs a effing good year next year.

Fair enough. Thought you were talking to me. 

The only reason I would put McGuane above Moore is his size, spoiling ability and reach compared to Kel. McGuane is also younger. This is why I gave the ranking I did.

[Coach]

Where the eff did I say it was you that said he was one of the best defenders in the league? Read the whole topic and you'll see that someone else said he's one of the best stoppers going around.

Kelvin Moore is better. Always has been. Madtiger can tell himself all he wants that McGuane was taking on the #1 forwards in 08 but it was Moore. I taped half of those games and Moore was the one playing on the likes of Franklin, Brown, Fev etc. I'm sure he can got an revisit some of the threads on those games and he'll see people talking about the goods jobs Kel did too. I'm not saying Moore is a superstar but he is a better player than McGuane. The way I see it McGuane needs a effing good year next year.

Fair enough. Thought you were talking to me. 

The only reason I would put McGuane above Moore is his size, spoiling ability and reach compared to Kel. McGuane is also younger. This is why I gave the ranking I did.

Fair enough man. All good

[Stripes]

10. Gourdis - wonderful athlete but questions about his footskills, elevated because of his improved decision making and confidence but still needs to show much more advancement to cement a place in the team.
11. O'Rielly - played 3 games in a good first season but still has a long way to go
12. Grimes - IMO will become a good players but still very raw
13.  Rance - lacks polish and defensive skills, great athlete, played forward and back but juries out
14. Butcher - Amazing prospect, mid sized natural defender with wonder ball skills, marking ability and decision-making skills, new recruit keeping him down the list
15. Dea - great physic for a young player, injury and inexperience still needs to be overcome

These last 5 are the players I'm most keen to see rapid improvement in. I'm no sure whether Rance will make it as a defender as he seems to panic under pressure and do the 180 degree turn too frequently running out of defence.

I would love to see Gourdis become our FB. With his athletism and closing speed he has the potential to be a fantastic defender but the old mail on his desposal and decision making skills has returned to haunt him over the preseason after shaking this off later in the 2010 season.

Dea is a delemia for me. He looks strong but has he got the required skills etc to make it. I just haven't seen enough of him and he still lokks all at sea in the brief time he spent on the ground this year. I understand this is expected for a first year player but I hope he makes it.

O'Rielly looks to have the passion and will leave no stone unturned but will be have the skills and decision-making skills - I think the lad will make it but its more a belief than a probable fact.

Grimes is the player I'm most interested in as he has all the attributes to be a great tall for us. I hope he gains the skills and education he needs to entrench himself in the side and this year gains the required onfield time he needs to uncover his potential.

Stripes