Yes lets drop the quick & agile ruckmen for the slow lumbering lump of a ruckman on the quickest ground in the country.
Balta was non-competitive against the Crows' young ruck O'Brien and didn't use his athleticism in the air nor at ground level. The week before he was non-competitive as a key back. His future potential is so far above Soldo it isn't funny but Noah's been poor in recent weeks. Needs a spell. We've been smashed in the guts. No point worrying about speed on the outside at Docklands if we can't win the footy in the first place. Butler is quick too but this year he can't get his hands on the pill so he's been a passenger.
If you think Balta’s been poor the last couple of weeks, what word would you use to describe Garthwaite’s last 3 weeks?... Non-competitive is way too kind.
Embarrassing is a word I would use.
But let’s keep playing him...
If we had an alternative 2nd key defender option ready to go then Garth wouldn't be playing. Unfortunately, we don't, so Garth has to play alongside Astbury. St Kilda's forward line is based on talls with Bruce, Membrey and even Parker as their 3rd tall. We can't afford to go short and expect Grimes and Broad to fill in those roles.
Seven changes this week....
Balta will go back to the twos....
Chol to get another game.....
The latter two make sense but changing a third of the team would be massive. It would mean Garth will be dropped and we'd be going short in defence or someone like Broad goes out. On top of that it would also mean Dimma is bringing Weller in to play against his old side
.
Something like this:
In: Cotch, Edwards, Astbury, Lambert, Soldo, Bolton, Weller.
Out: Higgins, Butler, Menadue, Ellis, Balta, Rioli, Garth/Broad.