I thought Blight was pretty solid, keeping McKay really quiet is a big tick for a first gamer. Miller also did pretty well on Curnow, meaning that we effectively neutralized the most dangerous pair of key forwards in the game! Trouble is their small & medium forwards had a birthday instead of the twin towers ...
Daniel Rioli is a terrific HB when he has the ball in hand, but his actual defensive work on his opponent is just average. He has a tendency to over-commit, looking to attack when the ball is still in dispute & getting caught out of position. When he holds back his natural desire to attack & stays in the contest his tackling, agility & anticipation make him a really good defender. He loses his ability to negate when he tries too hard to win the ball & sprint off down the wing. Short is similar, that only leaves Vlaustin & Broad to hold us together at ground level & today neither of them were fantastic. Vlaustin was by far the better of the two & Broad is too slow to play on the super quick small forwards.
Then we have Baker trying to play small forward & midfield roles? I'd let Baker play as a small forward, but then the speedy Mansell needs to go back & try to damage a few small forwards ... wrecking ball style ... lay some bone crunchers ... bust some arses ...
We really do miss the versatility of Grimes, who could combine small & tall traits into his game.
