16 minutes ago, Wrecker45 said:

I liked when the reporter asked Goodwin how we could set-up best for Lever and Goodwin would have none of it and said we need to set-up best for Melbourne.

We have probably paid overs for Lever but now he is at Melbourne he is just another cog in the wheel and we need to see him as that. We've moved on from the single player saviour days.

And yet the club forked out the currency as if he were one  (sps )

Goodwin talks a lot if krap at times. Why gey player X... costing $2vNth  ..only to negate his best by playing him as Y ?

Lever CAN play footy...why is he even at Melbourne ?

Let's face it, the guy plays the easiest position of the ground. Unaccountable sweeper without a direct opponent.  He should be dominant with other people to do his defending and others to attempt to clean up suspect disposal.

11 hours ago, A F said:

 He struggled in the first half. It looked like nerves, 

I had that thought yesterday. i wonder though if it is a function of him putting really high expectations on himself and feeling the pressure of comimg accross as the stsr recruit. A couple of times his body language after a mistake suggested he gets very down on himself.

He looked good in the JLT , but seems to lack confidence, and it’s showing in his decision making.

Looks like a skinny kid at times.

He’ll be good but we did pay overs for him.

Loves a good pump fake in the face of an opponent as well. Already seen him do it at least 4 or 5 times.

Maybe we paid overs, but let’s revisit this in a year or two.

i keep thinking of Alex Rance’s first 3-4 years. His disposal was average at best, and he struggled as a one on one defender. Now he is easily the best defender in the league and the Tigers would not have won a premiership without him.

 

13 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

He’ll be good but we did pay overs for him.

I don't know how you can conclude that. When you "buy" a player, you aren't paying for his first three games or even his first season, you're paying for the balance of his career. Lever is 22 so he's still 5 years off the finished product. 

If short term payoff is the only thing that matters, pick 11 and half a mil for Mitch Clark was an absolute bargain.

Kane Cornes had us finishing top of the ladder, 3 weeks later he’s picking holes. 

Whatever 

So many more headlines they could run with, honestly! Like, Is Richo under the pump at the Saints? 

Lever was second for intercepts yesterday behind Hibberd. Yeah, big headache! 

I’d say a captain of a club ( Easton Wood) without a tackle in the first two rounds requires a couple of Panamax more than we do.

3 hours ago, Gorgoroth said:

I’m not overly worried about levers positioning etc, but his kicking is horrendous, and he panics when he shouldn’t and strolls along when he should panic.

Thats usually Lewis.

Although he ...lewis...was calm in the end of last quarter.

Hes only 22 and his upside will pay dividends in the end. Be patient grasshoppers. 

To early to call if we did pay overs.

I’m not worried by his poor defensive efforts. Our whole team, except Oscar, has gone backwards this year in defensive efforts. 

I worry that offensively he has had zero impact. But since the same can be said for Hibbo and Hunt, I’m going to put it down to the change in game plan and utter chaos we’ve seen down back this year. 

Really need to sort out the defensive structures before we can judge Lever. 

Going from playing on the third defender to the second is a shift and he is struggling. I do hope we help him and that back 6 allow him to stay closer to the spots he needs to be to cut off footy and help Oscar.

And Hibberd and he need to work on how they pay together.

7 minutes ago, rpfc said:

Going from playing on the third defender to the second is a shift and he is struggling. I do hope we help him and that back 6 allow him to stay closer to the spots he needs to be to cut off footy and help Oscar.

And Hibberd and he need to work on how they play together.

As always spot on with your assessment.

I feel, Lever's arrival has 'disrupted' our defense eg Hibberd has played 'out of position' and Hunt dislodged.  This week, Hibberd  said: "the inclusion of Sam Frost...will allow him to play his more familiar run-and-carry style, rather than a deeper defensive, one-on-one role."   http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2018-04-06/frosts-return-to-freeup-hibberd 

Both Hibberd's run-and-carry style and Lever's interceptor style mean they play off their man and are not really accountable (and both rarely tackle).  I don't think we can afford both players doing this (especially if Hunt comes back with his own run-and-carry style) even with a zone defense.  Too much 'defending' is being left to Nev and Oscar.  Smart coaches will exploit it, mercilessly.

Yesterday, I didn't notice much talking nor backing up among the defenders.  Almost like each was doing their own thing without much synergy.  Opp coaches are becoming very good at isolating our defenders and our guys need to start talking and helping each other.

I know our defense is a work in progress and Goodwin etal are experimenting but hopefully, the back 6 settle quickly and they learn to work together.  We have three very challenging games coming up and Clarkson and Worsfold are very clever tacticians.  

 

3 hours ago, binman said:

I had that thought yesterday. i wonder though if it is a function of him putting really high expectations on himself and feeling the pressure of comimg accross as the stsr recruit. A couple of times his body language after a mistake suggested he gets very down on himself.

I hope not, because that's the sort of body language that they've tried to erase from Jesse's game. But you could well be right.

It just takes sacrifice @Lucifer's Hero - Hibberd and Lever have to develop an understanding that at a particular contest, one is beating a bloke and the other is killing the contest. They both are looking for contests to kill and it is putting stress on the others. Good players figure it out and they are the best talents we have had in the backline in a generation really.

And I don’t want to paint the NM as some sort of failure either - it may be the beginning of it working: Lever-Hibberd (or Levberd as the kids call them) had 19 intercept possies between them, up from 10 last week, and that is with the team getting 10 less against NM (69) than against BL (79).

Tom McDonald to the back line if Weid improves and grabs a spot prior to Tom's return.

Swinging T Mac into offence when circumstances demand.

32 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Tom McDonald to the back line if Weid improves and grabs a spot prior to Tom's return.

Swinging T Mac into offence when circumstances demand.

I still believe we have a dearth of athletic kpds to take the likes of Brown, Buddy, Lynch etc. 

Maybe Tmac goes back for them, or we give Keilty or Petty a go,  form dependent.

Edited April 8, 20187 yr by Guest

6 minutes ago, Stretch Johnson said:

I still believe we have a dearth of athletic kpds to take the likes of Brown, Buddy, Lynch etc. 

Maybe Tmac goes back for them, or we give Keilty or Petty a go,  form dependant.

we seem to be one defensive tall short in the backline when we play the likes of Norf and GWS who have a multiple tall forward approach.

On the other hand will be interesting to see how we structure ourselves against Richmond who play a small forward line.

The ease of some of those rebounds were again worrying yesterday but luckily they did not hurt us that much.

2 hours ago, Jaded said:

I’m not worried by his poor defensive efforts. Our whole team, except Oscar, has gone backwards this year in defensive efforts. 

I worry that offensively he has had zero impact. But since the same can be said for Hibbo and Hunt, I’m going to put it down to the change in game plan and utter chaos we’ve seen down back this year. 

Really need to sort out the defensive structures before we can judge Lever. 

 A bit of common sense, the whole backline has been out of sorts. 

 

I actually thought he was good yesterday, gave away one of the worst frees I've ever seen paid on Goldstein, but was busy and got better as the game wore on.

Granted, for two first rounders and 800k a year, his first three games as a collective have been totally underwhelming. But it's way too early for the vultures to come out. 

Just watch, Lever will be BOG in a final one day and Kane Cornes types will write how "it was great for Lever to show up those who doubted him." That's the media for you.

There are the vultures

...and there's the underwhelmed.

I'm a latter. 

Not seeing the value to date. He's experienced and capable. He ought to be leading the way and impacting.

He's not...and I'm underwhelmed.

Be interesting to see how we employ Lever next week. Rance is dominating Hawthorn with his intercepting.