This is a genuine request for other people's opinions and insight.  Hopefully it doesn't crash the internet!

It seems to me that most areas of our list are now quite well stocked for now and for succession.  We have many tall forwards, many small forwards, a variety of the running half-back types, many inside mids, a gun mature ruck and a young ruck, one outstanding winger and an list of options to experiment with for another winger or winger/forward.

The part I'm not convinced is settled is in defense.  Specifically, in the near future or in the event of any injury - one tall defender and one small defender.

I can see that there are options including Tomlinson, Smith, Hore, and Petty for the tall, but I'm unclear which can fit as a genuine key defender rather than as a looser (not loser) role.  Petty certainly has fans on here and I'd be keen to hear from them. 

Nobody can walk up and replace the deep character of Neville Jetta but someone sooner or later will need to take over his more material role on field.  The list of options seems even shorter (figuratively and literally) for this one, despite the gap appearing more imminent.  Like Petty, Lockhart has a few people solidly in his corner.  After that it seems we have to talk about either attempting to develop some of our younger midfielders to be disciplined, or making the role a top priority of the 2021 draft.

So, what are people's thoughts on the need for and best means of filling the future gorilla-keeper and ferret-herder roles?

Good topic, but when and why did we start spelling "defence" the yankee way with an "s"?

Thanks LG great summation of area's of concern, we do have Tomlinson who looked at home in the backline and a proven CHB in TMac and I also lean towards Petty as our tall full back insurance, barring further injury.  Nev Jetta is a different kettle of fish, I like Lockhart and desperately want him to succeed, Chandler is training as a small back, I like Marty Hore in the side and maybe Jordan, Sparrow or Nieta can rotate through the back line until one stands out for us.

i think we might be more looking to emulate the geelong model of using mobile talls as defenders rather than genuine 'smalls'

like us, they like to play a 7 man defensive set-up

if you look at their grand final team, they had: taylor and henderson as kpp, then henry, stewart, blicavs, kolodjashnij (plus the option of tuohy) as mobile tall defenders, plus bews as their sole 'small' defender

sadly i think nev might be cooked while lockhart does not, to me, look the answer as a small defender

in the last round of the year we had may and lever as our kpp, then tall flankers in tomlinson , hibberd, smith, and rivers, while salem was the only bloke smaller than 6 foot in our set-up

in terms of depth, petty is the obvious one as kpp defensive option, although t mac is an option here, while jetta and lockhart could potentially provide lock-down small defender options and bowey is seemingly going to be groomed for the smaller rebounding type

fwiw i don't think our defence / defense was settled the entirety of 2020 - in addition to the 7 we finished the season with, we also had jetta, lockhart, harmes, and o mac playing through it at various stages

the beauty of what richmond and geelong have is that they're all predictable to each other in terms of how they will play

25 minutes ago, Wobbly Bob said:

Good topic, but when and why did we start spelling "defence" the yankee way with an "s"?

Before y'all go shoot'n me down, gotta get yo teach on about where I been at all day.  I gots all them words all up in my face and it ain't pretty.

By which I mean to say - good pick-up.  I've been reading and taking notes on a pile of writing today that is all in 'American' so it must have infected me. 

It's important that we all monitor these things and purge them with bursts of hideous stereotype before the letter 'u' becomes critically endangered.

Personally, I don't think these are major areas for concern and I am quite happy with the way our list looks structurally at the moment.

Small Defender:

Jetta is in his last year 2021. Will hopefully play around 6-12 games. 

Lockhart is Jetta's immediate replacement. His fans oversell his capabilities and his detractors undersell. He has been doing better than average in my opinion and am happy going into 2020 with him getting the most game time of the options while also realising that he isn't going to beat his man every single week.

Bowie will be training as a defender (as mentioned in the Jason Taylor interview) which I am extremely happy with. I don't know about his lock down skills, but with his pace, agility, aerial ability and disposal skills, he is well placed to make the defensive area of the ground his own in the long term whilst also being able to push up the ground too.

I don't have much of an opinion of Chandler, but happy to continue his development opportunities for another year to see if he had what it takes.

We also have a number of other smalls on our list now who could fill the role if they don't make it in their preferred positions. I'm thinking Laurie, Spargo and Pickett.

In summary, our first choice is probably a bit past it. His replacement is ok short term, and long term we should have it well covered.

Tall Defender:

May, Petty and Lever are my choices for tall defenders. Petty should be ready to play OMacs Gorrila minder role next year and will release Lever to do what he does best.

This trio should be our defensive team for the next 4 - 5 years.

Smith should not be getting a game unless injury occurs. I pulled my hair out on multiple occasions in 2020.

Tomlinson is a utility and will provide depth in this part of the ground or wing position.

The areas we are lacking in my opinion are

1. The wing. Which hasn't been sorted out this trade period. Tomlinson can play the role but doesn't excel. Vanders plugged the gap last year, but certainly is not ideal.

2. Backup Ruck. If Max goes down we are not in good shape. I was stocked that we traded Preuss out for a great return, but now we don't have a backup number 1 ruck.

I view Jackson as more of a second ruck and wouldn't want him thrown in their for long periods while he is developing.

As I said to start. I'm actually quite happy with our list structure and feel that we can cover the holes well enough to push hard this year.

 

PECKING ORDER TALL BACKS

1. MAY

2. LEVER

3. TOMLINSON

4. HORE

5. PETTY

6. SMITH

 

Hoping Petty will eventually go to number 3 and take that CHB role.

 

PECKING ORDER SMALL BACKS

1. SALEM

2. HIBBERD

3. RIVERS

4. LOCKHART

5. JETTA

6. BOWEY

7. CHANDLER

 

Hopefully Bowey will eventually be 2nd or 3rd choice small back in the coming years.

 

i'm not nearly as high on hore as others - dropped multiple times in 2019 and injured the entirety, more or less, of 2020

same goes for lockhart; even at the end of 2020 it was jetta that was brought in when hibberd was injured, not lockhart

Jetta is a unique player, so strong one on one and in the air for his height. I don’t think we should be looking for nor expecting his role to be taken by a small in the future.

A medium type with pace is the most likely to take over the lockdown jobs, whilst also providing some aerial value and versatility in the zone. Short term that should be Hibberd, longer term it could be Joel Smith. Otherwise we need to recruit for that role.

3 talls, 1 lock down medium, 3 runners is how I’d set up.

I see Lockhart, Bowey and Chandler fighting for a spot to add to Rivers and Salem. If they’re good enough we can play a 3rd running flanker. Rivers’ size and Salem been good enough one on one allows it. Lockhart short term, Bowey long term if it works out.

The 3rd tall battle is between Tomlinson, Hore and Petty. I’d like Petty to nail that spot, if not I think Hore will push for it, we’d lose some height but a competent all round defender like Hore provides more than shaky talls.

All that said, Hore, Smith and Hibberd could all switch between roles and then the depth and make up of the backline changes entirely. 

I’d be recruiting a key defender and be on the look out for quick 187-192 lock down type to develop.

4 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

I’d be recruiting a key defender and be on the look out for quick 187-192 lock down type to develop.

Sparrow...

for mine talls will start the year as May, Lever, Tomlinson in the side and Hore, Petty, Smith TMac in the magoos. but by the bye i think we will see Petty go past tomlinson or push him back to a wing and see Hore playing regularly too.

for smalls Rivers, Salem, Hibberd, Lockhart (7th) to start in with Nietschke, Chandler, Bowey and Nev in the 2s but same deal, by mid season Hore in for lockhart or hibbo potentially helping shift salo or riv up the ground.

Bowey will play games, nev will probably get between 5-10 games but shouldn't be too many more and nieta probably gets a debut but i'm not sure how much more of him we'll see.

So ideally i'd like to run a

Lever-May-Hibbo

Salem-Petty-Rivers

Hore