It's amazing how much better our forward line looks with a couple of genuine marking targets. Cox's hands are so sticky, you can see how confident the Freo players are to kick it to him. Jones and Apeness made a couple of really good contests as well. It made me think how much better our forward line would look with Hodor resting forward when he comes back. He's twice the player Jones is, so that's exciting.
I'm a big CamMac fan, but it's clear that if we're asking him to play as a KPP he can't fill that role even as well as a workman-like big man like Jones.
Ballas and Matera were both handy yesterday, but I can't help feeling that we're not quite getting enough out of both of them combined. If there are other big blokes up forward, I'd be inclined to pick CamMac in lieu of a small forward (he plays much more like a small anyway).
I still think our best forward combination for scoring goals has Tabs, Cox, CamMac, Walters, Matera and Banfield. The problem with that set-up is that we have virtually no defensive pressure if we don't score. A good backline will cut through our forwards like butter, and then run straight through the middle of the ground running the other way.
But as for the backs v forwards, our backmen were wonderful yesterday. Pearce and Hamling are a great combination of talls, and Wilson and Ryan are both great with the ball in hand, and steady enough in defence to make scoring difficult. On a couple of occasions Ryan got stuck on Tex and held his own for strength, which was unexpected. We've looked a bit discombobulated in the backline the last few weeks, but when there is good pressure from the middle, our backs do a really good job of reading the play and moving it out quickly.
I still reckon our backs would towel up our forwards.
