Zac Dawson

[RodKeoghsLoveChild]

Over the last 3-4 games he has lost alot of his drive from the backline.

He doesn't back himself and only had 3 touches against Essendon.

He is getting beaten 1 on 1 which is the most worrying sign.


The kid is not on his own as our backline looked terrible last game, but he has been looking fairly shaky recently.

[Spinner]

Over the last 3-4 games he has lost alot of his drive from the backline.

He doesn't back himself and only had 3 touches against Essendon.

He is getting beaten 1 on 1 which is the most worrying sign.


The kid is not on his own as our backline looked terrible last game, but he has been looking fairly shaky recently.

Never really offered a great deal of 'drive' but nonetheless has dropped form over the last couple of weeks.

With all the media, and from coming a long way back he has definitely been overrated, but that is not to say he hasn't preformed. I think we are finding out that he is more one dimensional than anything.

[Pazza]

I think Essendon got it right match-up wise down there.

Having Neagle start there and then seeing Ryder/Bellchambers rotate from the ruck down there stretched your backline and made Dawson's game even harder than it was.

[perfectionist]

Over the last 3-4 games he has lost alot of his drive from the backline.....

It seems that you have quickly forgotten the game against Hawthorn - last week!

Here are the player reports from FanFooty:

Buddy Franklin
Tried to tire Dawson out by running up the ground but that didn't work... 19 disposals including 13 handballs but no score... lost a tooth in Q4
Franklin also had 3 marks.

Zac Dawson
Minded Franklin
Dawson added 11 possessions and 4 grabs.

No doubt he didn't get a kick in the previous two games. Oh, that's right, he was out suspended. Geez.

[saint66au]

Over the last 3-4 games he has lost alot of his drive from the backline.

Including the two he was out suspended??

Wasnt alone in being beaten..Max and Blake likewise had pretty forgettable games

Our defence was shown out as being cumbersome...we'd have matched up better if Lloyd and Lucas had played. Against Monfries and his midget mates we struggled bigtime. Having the ball blast in there cleanly time and time again didnt help either

[DWOODROW]

Well why not [put Zac at fullback where he was playing his best footy. Couldn't do an worse than Max.

[BringBackMadDog]

Who did Zac play on?? If it was Neagle, then he hardly got beaten, Neagle got 2 fairly cheap goals. It seems that all of the damage done was by the small forwards and mids dropping into space.

Dal got caught guarding thin air three separate times whilst his direct opponent waltzed into space.

They also found easy targets along the 50 metre arc. I think the biggest problem was our mids were slightly off the boil and we got beat across half back (for the first time all year)

[SainterK]

Zac, Ball, Max, Roo.....I wonder who's next?

The TEAM effort has got us to 19 wins to date, and the TEAM effort has also resulted in our 1 loss.

[saint75]

Zac, Ball, Max, Roo.....I wonder who's next?

The TEAM effort has got us to 19 wins to date, and the TEAM effort has also resulted in our 1 loss.

Thank god!!!! Finally, some sanity prevails!

Not sure what the problem is with some of our supporters, but to try and pick out individual players and lay the blame at their feet is ridiculous. The team was flat and didn't play well for 2 quarters, end of story. Why don't some of you so called supporters comment on how brilliant that comeback was in the last quarter! 43 FREAKIN' POINTS we were DOWN BY!!! How many teams do you think are capable of coming back from that large a defecit at the beginning of the 4th quarter?

[borderbarry]

I hope noone is going to suggest that Zac had a good game. Like many others he was found wanting.

[Stillwaiting]

Zac, Ball, Max, Roo.....I wonder who's next?

The TEAM effort has got us to 19 wins to date, and the TEAM effort has also resulted in our 1 loss.

Finally a decent response, do not understand why ppl think it was individual players that were poor, as they all were for 3 quaters. Zac played well last week, not so well tis week, it happens.

[Thinline]

Zac, Ball, Max, Roo.....I wonder who's next?

The TEAM effort has got us to 19 wins to date, and the TEAM effort has also resulted in our 1 loss.

Finally a decent response, do not understand why ppl think it was individual players that were poor, as they all were for 3 quaters. Zac played well last week, not so well tis week, it happens.

Bit unfair. Selectors have to pick best 22 individuals to make the best team. The Zac AND Max balance question is perfectly valid. There's gonna be tears at some point.

[Stillwaiting]

Zac, Ball, Max, Roo.....I wonder who's next?

The TEAM effort has got us to 19 wins to date, and the TEAM effort has also resulted in our 1 loss.

Finally a decent response, do not understand why ppl think it was individual players that were poor, as they all were for 3 quaters. Zac played well last week, not so well tis week, it happens.

Bit unfair. Selectors have to pick best 22 individuals to make the best team. The Zac AND Max balance question is perfectly valid. There's gonna be tears at some point.

Probably will happen and I would hate to see either miss, but even ignoring this result, the backline is to big. I just hope those tears are not max missing a flag. This team also has king, roo gards and kosi so it is a big side. It will be difficult to get the structure right without a very unlucky player

[reincarnated]

Zac has defensive issues that will be continued to be masked should we win and continue to

[adobe]

Zac has defensive issues that will be continued to be masked should we win and continue to

An average player lucky to be drafted into a good team . Will be found wanting in the coming weeks

[matrix]

this is where i see us having probs matching up on blokes like Dickdak

and this is where selections may seem 'not right' to us depending on who we play in finals.

[reincarnated]

Zac has defensive issues that will be continued to be masked should we win and continue to

An average player lucky to be drafted into a good team . Will be found wanting in the coming weeks

Lucky enough that the other 17 players on the park have a fair idea of what the coach wants and know how to carry it out

Granted he is doing ok however the ball doesn't come down to his area nearly as much as any other side

This being said Reincarnated has seen that when it does Zac does get beaten 1 on 1 easily

[QuestionOfAccuracy]

Having the ball blast in there cleanly time and time again didnt help either

Thats the key. There was no pressure on the Essendon midfielders up the ground. If any team allows easy delivery into the forward line it doesn't matter who you've got in the back 6 they are going to get exposed.

At the same time Zac didn't have a great game...a couple of spoiling attempts weren't very strong against Neagle. Secondly, his job was never to get possessions and give us drive, he hasn't done so all year really.

[spert]

19 wins, one loss,,finals here we come.

[PJ]

Lucky enough that the other 17 players on the park have a fair idea of what the coach wants and know how to carry it out

Your right Ross wouldn't have noticed him with those other 17.

Boy is he a clueless coach. Someone should send him an email and he might say "Oh my god the others are covering his obvious deficiencies".

[widereceiver]

When we grabbed Zac for zip...
for zip...
I was informed by my Hawthorn barracking friends we had been dudded and he would take up a valuable spot on our list. I was not too excited. (Neither with Ray, for the same reasons, different friends)

In the absence of Max for most of the year he has done a bloody good job. He has shown poise under pressure, he's a good kick and he's fitted in with RL and Sos's game plan remarkably well - he's even goaled when we needed it the most, for those of you with enfeebled memories. He's no Max, yet, but then Max is no longer the Max who should have been All-Australian in previous years.

I didn't see last week's game, unfortunately. I know, though, because it's a uniform view in the media as well as here, that the whole team put in a shocker and yet nearly pulled off a win.

Some of the crap in this post suggests there is a lot of pulling off going on here as well.

Instead of potting individual players why not concentrate on the whole team performance? Is it because we have been training hard in order to taper? Is it because we fluked the 19 wins in a row and are now being found out as a dud team which can't beat a team out of the eight? Whatever the answer is, it is unlikely to be provided by any of the geniuses I read here.

If you must bag individuals, I am more concerned about Chips, our former B & F, who has been well below par for the last few months. Failing that, have a crack at Blake, or Raph. Raph's indigenous, you know, and has been a scapegoat forever. Since John Howard's prime ministership, we'd hardly notice.