You're a hard mark, Shopper. They are missing their general in Pearce.
I rate our back 5 (and visiting midfielder). They will hands-down be considered the best defensive unit in the league in a year or so and, in terms of points conceded, they are among the best now.
What burns my buns are the cheap ones out the back that Richmond, St Kilda and Carlton got, over and over - where all Freo dudes flew and no-one purple was left goalside of the contest, leaving the oppo midgets to just waltz home to goal.
It's pretty basic football but it is not completely the fault of the backs. It is a symptom of the way Lyon coaches. He demands numbers at the contest. Everywhere.
We win around-ground stoppages, for example, because we have numbers at the ball, but then we can't clear effectively or even at all - our dudes handball it to someone 30 cm away instead of out of trouble, because we never have numbers outside.
Incidentally, another reason I think Carlton got up was because Hughes fatarsed their goal-kicking Curnow. With him out, Carlton had to stop bombing it in and run it in instead. When they were bombing, Ryan and Hamling just dominated in the air. When they ran it in, we were too slow to react.
Too slow to react also in realising we were better off with Brayshaw and the Bakery in the middle. Not Old Man Mundy, who needs a goddamned rest, and Fyfe, who is the modern game's best forward, or Walters, who is the modern game's best small forward.
