Dougal Howard ranked #1

[Annoyedsaint]

Wasn't it the Essendon game last year - Spud's game, where he was either suspended or injured?

The result without him was a disaster.

Hanging your hat on that??
Really?

[shanegrambeau]

Wasn't it the Essendon game last year - Spud's game, where he was either suspended or injured?

The result without him was a disaster.

Hanging your hat on that??
Really?

I think we are taking a lot for granted, that's all.

Now I realize there is a 'beyond-the-pale' threshold, and maybe that is getting pretty close. Do you think he has gotten worse in terms of what he brings? I notice the mistakes, but all involved players do stuff like that. I also notice some of the little things he does. Just small stuff like pretending to try to keep it in play but seeing it over the boundary etc., I know it is probably standard AFL stuff you'd expect, but I think there is a side that might be overlooked.

I am not a huge fan, but I think we would be worse off without him given the lack of replacements.

Having said that, I wanted Marshall to become a centre-half back! And Battle a ruck-rover follower!

[D.B.Cooper]

Howard is not Harris Andrews, Sicily, McGovern etc and yes he bites off more than he can chew sometimes with his handball and running himself into trouble with ball in hand.

But right now he is the best tall option we have.
Van Es, Adam’s or Highmore are not currently viable options to replace him.

Howard is a C-B grade tall defender who largely does his job.

Our biggest issue is not our defense.

[Saints58]

Its very difficult with Dougal as Battle is a liability with his lack of speed, the really bad mistakes in giving away frees cost us goals and really poor decision making plus he is always at least 3-5 cm smaller then his opposition player (not his fault but other players of his height do well not him)and gets out marked a lot.

He does do a few good things like he used to be a good intercept marker don't know what has happened there and teams now isolate him with a bigger player.

This all accumulates in Dougal having to do a lot more work and worrying about Battles man as well.

When we had Carlisle and Dougal we had a really potent KP Defenders.

Its time we played Cordy there he has over 100 games as a KPD and played in a GF in that position so has to be better then Battle plus has size on him and is 2cm taller at 195cm.

We could Play Battle as a forward in replace of Hayes, or Membery he has experience there and would really help the young guys in that area and cover a team need.

[Annoyedsaint]

Wasn't it the Essendon game last year - Spud's game, where he was either suspended or injured?

The result without him was a disaster.

Hanging your hat on that??
Really?

I think we are taking a lot for granted, that's all.

Now I realize there is a 'beyond-the-pale' threshold, and maybe that is getting pretty close. Do you think he has gotten worse in terms of what he brings? I notice the mistakes, but all involved players do stuff like that. I also notice some of the little things he does. Just small stuff like pretending to try to keep it in play but seeing it over the boundary etc., I know it is probably standard AFL stuff you'd expect, but I think there is a side that might be overlooked.

I am not a huge fan, but I think we would be worse off without him given the lack of replacements.

Having said that, I wanted Marshall to become a centre-half back! And Battle a ruck-rover follower!

He is 100% worse than when he first came across from Port and it showed at the time as they were pretty disappointed to lose him.

Now has lost all ability & agility. Could run and kick on occasion previously, but the last 18 months has been diabolical.

Whether it’s leg or hip injury, or simply just fallen away, it’s happened with quite a few players. The only one to buck the trend recently is Sinclair as he’s got older.

Howard is an awful player and only height is saving him currently.