I think Williams is best suited to running with the ball, if he must play, keep him on the hbf, not bp. Use his speed and delivery, minimize his need to defend deep 1 on 1.
With Cotters out I don’t think we will win.
If we get Fog back, the loss of Cotters won’t be critical. If Fog’s not right, the next man up would be Binns. He isn’t far off Cotters in running power but his lack of experience and defensive intensity could be exploited.
Williams does his best work with the ball in hand and has produced moments of brilliance running off halfback. He is vulnerable when one out and closer to goal, particularly early in games when umpires are more likely to pluck frees. If our defence is well set up, Williams isn’t as vulnerable and can hurt the opposition with his run and creativity.
I guess that it boils down to whether we value rebounds from defence over stifling the opposition forwards.
Just get Jack to give him a clip again ... not that I'm advocating violence
Actually, Jack could put a bit of work into Blakey and keep him accountable. Sydney's defence is under-sized and will struggle against our three talls and Martin. If Blakey is busting a gut trying to defend Martin or one of our talls, as well as trying to help his teammates, he's not going to be taking off on too many runs down the ground.
Sometimes I think that supporters worry too much about opposition players and don't think about how difficult it will be for the opposition to stop our blokes running amok.
All of our defenders and our defensive structures stood up very well to intense pressure last week. Apart from Petracca, all of the Melbourne forwards were well beaten.
I would be inclined to go with the same seven this week unless there’s a compelling match up for Williams AND he’s completely fit.
That's the point isn't it. Same as it's always been.... It's never a case of one setup gives you a greater advantage every occasion. That comes down to individual circumstances, strengths and weaknesses and match-ups in individual games.
In these situations you will gain in one area but you will lose in another. That's the balance that the coaches have to determine.
It also depends on how the individuals themselves are playing and what the opposition does.
Pitto and De Koning weren't outstanding but they limited Gawn's influence and that gave us an edge around the ground. De Koning was also involved in the tactics to keep Lever out of the play. If either of them have a shocker, we're behind the 8 ball.
Another midfielder might have given us more run but at the cost of allowing both Gawn and Lever to run amok.
Ollie Hollands comprehensively outplayed Ed Langdon who, until recently, was the wingman every team wanted. Yes, Langdon got a few possessions in the second half but he did nothing with them.
Ollie is in his second season and he has a lot of development ahead of him. That doesn’t detract from the fact that his first quarter was outstanding, and was an important factor in our five goal lead, and his game was his best yet in navy blue.
Enjoy his success and look forward to continual improvement but don’t focus on the few errors he made, no more than Crippa, Walsh, Weiters and our other seasoned campaigners made.
