Our Loose Backline

[Dave The Man]

Suns Kicked just about all there Goals this Afternoon from Player Marking the Ball with no one near them.

Not been just in Today's Game has been Happening quite a Bit this Season.

Leppa needs to get the Backline to be more Tight

[Johnno75]

Justin Longmuir says hello. Freo conceding less this season then they did at any stage during the Lyon era.

[Quincy]

I think we have to have Leppa as a general coach for motivation to tell his jokes but get someone that knows what they are doing to organise our defence. Gosh I lost count of the goals kicked on HOWE today.

[Dave The Man]

[RudeBoy]

Our backline will be much better once/if Roughead returns. Later in the year Dean might get a few games as well.

[Damien]

[Haff]

They had first use all day. Hard to consistently defend without at lest something close to 50:50.
I did note this last week that our back 6 are not as settled as they once were.

[Pies2016]

[VicParkTragic]

I was hoping today they’d go more one on one in the backline especially when the ball was coming in from just outside 50m from a mark. The time Casboult took the mark by himself uncontested in the crowded forward line made me wonder why the defenders didn’t pick up a player each .
I don’t get footy tactics but you’d think a bit of pressure from any defender would make it a bit harder.

[Quincy]

You can tell even by the votes we give after each game. Mids and forwards get them but our defenders are not carrying out their part of the bargain. It is time that McRae gave them a rocket. They are not actually playing like defenders atm. Checkers would probably be our best defender if we moved him there but we badly need him in attack where he is our best forward by a mile.

[Rd10.1998_11.1#36]

I get that the back line can be frustrating but does anybody remember how we struggled to kick 10 goals prior to this season?

An Attacking game plan doesn’t help defence

Or do you want to go back to the prior system?

[perthmagpie]

My gut tells me Leppa is teaching them a new style of defense. At times our defending of high balls looks awful. It’s affecting Moore and Howe’s games. But I am assuming after only seven games of this new game plan it will get fixed as the season goes on. It is gifting the opposition five goals a week.

[neil]

Play an attacking brand of football then you can leak goals.
Play defensive then its hard to kick goals
To be good at both you need more skill and experience than we have at the moment

Seven weeks into a season with a new coach and new tactics and a list with a lot of holes in it and people are surprised when things are not perfect

[Pies2016]

^ ^ ^
Yep. There’s no doubt about that and it looks there more to it than just “ guarding space “.
Richmond we’re so well drilled in defence and they would guard space but shift the defence collectively to all guard the same space but shift it accordingly while holding the same pattern. ( there’s a few roll overs involved in that too ) It only takes one defender to not play his part and it opens up a huge hole for an unmanned forward to drop into. The Eagles did it very successfully for years and I think it was once called the Weagles web or whatever. I do remember that it took them two years to get it right. It also requires immense pressure from downfield in order to keep the opposition from using the ball cleanly and efficiently. These days, you can’t have a dominant defence without a hard working midfield.
It’s also another reason why you don’t see many switches of players from end of the ground to the other in modern footy. The strategies and structures are so complex, it’s difficult to play your part elsewhere if you’ve trained at the other end of the ground all pre season.

[Quincy]

Yes good points all round. Guess another problem is that Howe cannot defend tall, strong players. Moore at times has been using his pace to create some spoils etc. Maynard out of form is not helping. Noble is running well but probably not defending well. I agree that while our midfield is poor, we will struggle to defend. The forward line is working pretty well. Checkers is now worth more money than Grundy and Moore. He will command a huge contract going forward.