Best 22 in 21

[DJC]

Can you play three small defenders ie Docherty, Saad and SPS whose preference is to play loose/attack and not defend?
I thought Gresham, Higgins and Lonie all played well in the community game and the degree of difficulty will only increase with the Tiger small forwards. Imo two out of our three have to give preference to defending..

Like all of our defenders, Samo, Doc and Saad are made to look bad by lack of defensive effort up the ground and rebound entries from poor delivery into our forward 50.  How many times did the Saints score after gaining possession on halfback?

I think that Samo, Doc and Saad all defend reasonably well (and Saad’s defensive work is better than I thought), but they are playing to instructions and within a structure that relies on rebounding and retaining possession.  Williamson is another rebounding defender so four of our seven first line defenders are primarily less defensively orientated.

Williamson spent a fair bit of time on the wing against the Bummers and I would prefer to see Samo spending more time there.  Fewer rotations mean that the opportunity to spell defenders on the bench will be limited.  I would like to see our defenders “rested” up the ground and, depending on match ups and game situation, more defensive players like Newnes, Silvagni, McGovern and Newman spending time in the backline.