What a fun day Sunday was. Love the attacking game style - it matched the talk we had heard all pre-season.

But it made me reflect that we might need to re-calibrate our expectations for our defence this season. The reality is that we are going to get exposed a number of times each game when we turn the ball over / certain risks don't come off. Our defenders are going to look helpless and even hapless at times compared to what we are used to. I'm not Lever's biggest fan, but he has copped it from a lot of dees fans here since Sunday. When it's about his disposal then that's fair enough but I think when it comes to one on one defending / guarding space / have the defence setup when the opposition counter attacks - we're going to look very different this year. Lever, Petty, CJ, Disco etc are all going to be under more pressure than we're used to seeing for our backline and their opponents are going to get better looks than what we've come accustomed to. So let's keep that in mind we're critically analysing the game / who has / hasn't performed etc.

Interested in others thoughts.

We had 15 goals kicked against us which is usually a winning score.

Early games are usually high scoring, except for the Blues. I'm sure our defence will need some tightening up. Ask again after round 6.

It's a big change from contested/warfare under Goody, will take a little getting used to as a fan seeing spare opposition players floating about.
But on the flip side this is also helping us create.

The way the game is played now will increase scoring too.

Rick was had a shocker in the 1st half missing spoils, kicking and his defending positioning was off a couple of yards.

We all understand we have a completely different game style involving much more run and dare which is going to lead to mistakes etc.

In his defence he was much better in the 2nd half, i also take into account he was playing injured last season when he should have been rested.

This lead to a loss of confidence through through his marking intercepting game and ability time cut out danger coming into F50.

I expect this to get better game by game and we all understand the ball is coming in alot quicker than 3 or 4 years ago.

Teams are more gun hoe and taking the game on where the entries are fast and flat through the air.

Let's give him a month to settle into this mode of footy.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by YesitwasaWin4theAges

From what I've seen the open style is very much in fashion and the rules favour it too with fewer boundary stoppages and the boundary-hugging tentative advance now coming with its own new risk.

I suspect that many defensive units will have to reassess what they can really protect. Instead of a full arc resembling the 50m line, pinching the edges a bit to create a more elliptical shape (a bit like the ball come to think of it).

It might mean giving away a few extra shots out wide, and will also backfire sometimes if the opposition can get their sharpest ball users into that space and then delivering a final piercing kick, but all up lets say it gives away 2 goals 4 behinds, but prevents four goals two behinds, thats a big win.

Even before Rd 1 - many of us were trying to explain that if we don’t keep up high intensity in our ability to run off the HB with the ball in hand - and we get timid and inert - we are going to get flogged. 7 goals in 15 mins type stuff.

The reason why it’s about what we do when we get the ball is because the best defence is an offence that can move the ball away from vulnerable areas quickly.

So I think that fans already calling for Lever to be dropped and CJ to be shipped back to Dingley should temper their nonsense while this group gets used to playing like this regularly for 120 minutes.

15 minutes ago, rpfc said:

Even before Rd 1 - many of us were trying to explain that if we don’t keep up high intensity in our ability to run off the HB with the ball in hand - and we get timid and inert - we are going to get flogged. 7 goals in 15 mins type stuff.

The reason why it’s about what we do when we get the ball is because the best defence is an offence that can move the ball away from vulnerable areas quickly.

So I think that fans already calling for Lever to be dropped and CJ to be shipped back to Dingley should temper their nonsense while this group gets used to playing like this regularly for 120 minutes.

Thanks rpfc I watched 360 last night and Gazza agrees he said that with the faster ball movement the pendulum has swung back towards the forwards, leaving defenders a bit stranded and more one on one which lends itself to higher scoring. So it’s not just our defence but all defences are going to be under the hammer as the mids can’t get back quick enough to help out their defenders. It is going to be very interesting to see what tactics teams use to try and slow the game down, kicking accuracy will be the decider.