Gwilt vs Dawson

[BigMart]

Have we found a new Full Back????

IMO Gwilt and Zac are in direct competition....with Jimmy the far more appealling....

This is why...

Although Zac is 195cm (Gwilt 188) and a good lead spoiler, he is not strong one on one and loses his man when the ball is in the air....Gwilt attacks the ball and holds his ground OK

Both are quicker than they look...

Gwilt is much more versatile, if beaten Zac can go fwd for a contest, but really is only stop gap at best...Gwilt can play HBF, Wing, HFF and has played midfield in the VFL...\

Gwilt is better at ground level

Gwilt is a better decision maker and kick (the most notable difference) makes less errors....with Blake and Baker alongside of the FB it would be nice having a good kick on the last line...

if Gwilt is beaten by a moster, Sam Fisher can go back and we still have a good attacking option across HB (Gwilt) to take his place....

Gwilt can also go fwd if we are over-sized in the back half....

My preferred back line

B: BLAKE -- GWILT -- BAKER

HB: RAPH -- SAM F -- SAM G -- (DEMPSTER/GEARY)

Back ups
Zac Dawson, (Geary/Dempster), Miles

Other options rotating
Gram, Ray, Goddard, Dal Santo, Peake

[SainterK]

But we have no depth in our defence

Stocks are looking healthy



PS - Thanks to Pwoit for the emoticon

[casey scorp]

Gwilt is our next best kicker after Goddard!

[shmic_s]

I got shot down for saying this a couple of weeks ago in another thread.

Gwilt has a solid body and gives us more attacking options than Dawson.

Blake and Fisher can take a tall. And Fisher has the ability to run the majority of CHF off their feet.

Only downside is if a resting ruckman drops forward for the opposition, this is when we would most miss Dawson, but i believe Blake would be up for the task.

Gwilt, Fisher, Gilbert, Gram and Raph can all provide great run and skills from the back half.

[supersaints]

I know I will probably get canned for this but I reckon the backline has functioned a bit better since Zac has been out...... He makes me nervous when he takes his eyes off the ball against the bigger forwards. Id have him push weights for a couple more weeks and play in the twos.

[noob]

I feel more confident with the backline we had last night. Last night i think Gwilt showed raph how to run out of defence. Looked controlled with the ball, rarely fumbled and looked to take the game on without taking too long with the ball. Also he was very direct in his decisions not having second thoughts on his options. IMO i don't think its essential to have dawson back. We've got 3 talls in blake, fisher and gilbert as it is. Gwilt has just added a bit more too. Although i think raph can still be important.

[Con Gorozidis]

horses for courses. different players. zac better on tall traditional fwds over 195cm. gwilty battles on stay at home talls.

either way gwility is in the starting 18 without question regardless of match-ups.

so the debate to me is not zac v gwilt. the debate is when and under what circumstances does zac player - and against which opposition players.

for example against a geelong team with ottens and/or hawkins in it then wed need zac in the 22 for sure at the expense of someone else.

[SaintTom]

With Gwilts ability to run off his man and create counter attack off the half back line, as well as being an adequate 1 on 1 defender, I think that there isn't a place for Zac at the moment unless he destroys people in the 2s and gets his confidence up. We had no passengers last night in any facet of the game, and that's not something I believe I'd be saying if we had Zac in the team. Zac playing well is in our 22, no doubt, but Zac hasn't been playing well. If we need a top notch straight out defender, we can use Chips. Gilbert can still run out of defence, and it looks like Gwilt will be able to too.

[Dan Warna]

Dawson adds structure to the team.

He doesn't get the points for polish, he gets the points for spoils, standing in front of his man and getting cannoned into, for running into space and blocking up, for that hand in trouble that knocks the ball on etc.

He's a quality old fashioned team player, hence why RL picks him.

We have polish in the back line, but blake and Dawson are the workmen that die for the team, that take a bullet to allow gram et al to run free.

required personnel and in our best 22.

That said the Hun gave the 'fro' 5 votes and well earned.

[Milan Faletic]

horses for courses. different players. zac better on tall traditional fwds over 195cm. gwilty battles on stay at home talls.

either way gwility is in the starting 18 without question regardless of match-ups.

so the debate to me is not zac v gwilt. the debate is when and under what circumstances does zac player - and against which opposition players.

for example against a geelong team with ottens and/or hawkins in it then wed need zac in the 22 for sure at the expense of someone else.

Excellent post, Con

[maverick]

Very good thread, I agree with the BM.
I don't think there is room in the team for both currently, and I think Gwilt is a better option, his drive from deep in defence, not just last night, has been excellent this year.

Only with the Cats playing Pods, Mooney and Hawkins does Dawson become a chance for mine.

No other team has the quality of talls forward to worry about.

[linz]

Gwilt IN Dawson OUT

[BigMart]

Geelong will never play
JPod, Mooney, Hawkins/Ottens in the same fwd line....two slow, and not enough fwd pressure....they would be a liabilty if the ball hit the ground....where it spends 70% of the time....

they also need to fit in
Johnson, Chapman, Varcoe, Stokes, Byrnes - they are not going to have an 8 man fwd line.....

fact is small fwds are more of a worry than tall fwds against us due to our zone and coverage....

Gwilt is able to play on both - flexibility....

and he can KICK!!!

not many of the saints can....

[jays]

gwilt is a gun loved watching him play the other night killed jpod, if it was between him and dawson thats a no brainer

[lefty]

Gwilt is a gun.

He's tall, quick, and he is the second best kick in the team.

Imo, Blake had a very ordinary night.

[Solar]

horses for courses. different players. zac better on tall traditional fwds over 195cm. gwilty battles on stay at home talls.

either way gwility is in the starting 18 without question regardless of match-ups.

so the debate to me is not zac v gwilt. the debate is when and under what circumstances does zac player - and against which opposition players.

for example against a geelong team with ottens and/or hawkins in it then wed need zac in the 22 for sure at the expense of someone else.

agree with this

nice little situation right now with the backline. Against a smaller backline we can include baker, geary, dempster etc. with gilbo and jimmy able to play small. We are able to use chips as a pure key back if needed and still have the run from jimmy, raph and gilbo. I believe this is the backline rossy has tried to develop.

Keep them all fit and we have a nice blend come finals.

BTW is jimmy one of the better left footers to kick on his right? Almost natural!

[bigcarl]

Blake had a very ordinary night.

blake is a gun and the cornerstone of our defence i think, but, yes, gwilt was superb.