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Garland to the Forward Line

hells bells
in Melbourne Demons

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Not sure about Judy up forward to be honest. I just think he's too good a backman and his physical attributes too important in defence, with his exceptional pace and leap.

As an aside though, and I've brought this up many times in many different threads, how do people feel about trialling Rivers up forward?

We all know he's an exceptional reader of the play and a strong pack mark, but his lack of pace has made him look suspect in defence of late. I think he's too good a player to leave out of the side, and with Warnock, Frawley, Martin and Garland looking good as the core of our backline for the next decade, he needs to find some more tricks, and quick. It doesn't help his cause at all that he's the oldest, slowest, and most injury prone out of our defensive tall stocks.

His ability to read the play and general footy-smarts are something we could definitely use from a tall forward (see Miller, Bate etc), and his contested marking is up there with the best on our list. If there is one thing that is probably against him in regards to a shift forward, it's that his kicking can look a bit awkward at times. We haven't seen him forward at all in his career, so who knows what his set shot is like?

I'm probably beating a dead horse here, but i think he could give us something as a forward option. Might as well try it out, this season is all about 'list management', and at the moment Rivers seems to be falling out of favour in defence, so why not?

If it fails, at least we tried.

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