Best 22 in 21

[ElwoodBlues1]

Hi ElwoodBlues1 - I agree you need to be flexible to match your opponents but i disagree that 8-10 are required.

I believe 7 -8 players to choose from should be sufficient. If you look at all the top teams their backline is stable every week and the mix of players is able to cover the opposition no matter the make up of their forward line. If you look at Richmond Nathan Broad/Grimes Balta are just able to do enough against talls to get the ball to ground/mark or even match up on smaller players.

I agree that some of our current defenders aren't flexible enough to match up on most types. Plowman plays better on the smaller types as he is not very good overhead. I think if Marchbank is ever able to play a full season he will assist with our match ups.

Gday Tragic, I think Grimes and players like Broad, Vlastuin, Balta can play on a greater range of opponents, think I remember Grimes even playing on Eddie Betts in one game. Our blokes are not as flexible and I think we need a slightly larger pool of players to choose from to get the matchups right. ie Marchbank isnt going to be able to handle a Rioli, Castagna, Butler type or a Tom Lynch but I could probably put Tom Williamson on a small quicker player and get a better result. I'm also including players like Stocker, Oscar McDonald(if drafted in), Casboult, Newman as part of my backline group. You need injury backup as well as the ability to rotate players who are performing poorly on the day. Zac Williams is half back flanker by trade and he may have to go back at some stage depending on our needs so thats why I think we need about ten players in the mix with a core of say 5 players who are regular starters down back.