Constructive look at DalSanto !!

[Eastern]

Yes, Dal got towelled up by K. Cornes last night. He wasn't the 1st and won't be the last high profile player to fall to Cornes. We also need to take a close look at the ammount of blocks, shepherds etc that were put on by other Port players on Dal. This made Cornes' job so much easier.

I think we need to look at Dal's better games this year and look at the difference between what hapened around him and what hapened last night. The thing that really stands out for me is that Dal plays a whole lot better when he gets protected. Steven King is the master at looking after the ball carrier (Dal is a ball carrier), Gardi is very good at looking after these blokes too. Last night we had Rixy in there and he was out of his depth just competing with Lade & Brogan, Lenny was busy getting the ball himself. Joey was a servicable outside player, Harvs battled manfully and we fell away after that.

Our midfield just doesn't function anywhere near as efficiently as it should without King & Gardiner. Kosi is getting better at protecting the ball carrier but he aint there yet.

Elite ball carrying midfielders need protection from those around them (look at Geelong of 2007). Protectors don't necessarily need to be ruckmen because you need at least 4-5 who can perform the task.

Elite players like Dal need plenty of protection because they are targeted every week (Johnson will go to Dal next week and rough him up). Given protection they can be superstars, without it they struggle. We need some guys around the ball who are prepared to sacrifice their own game to protect our elite midfielders.

Dal has all the tools, he just needs a few mates around him to help him out !!

[satchmo]

Well we did do the nose, but he is a witch !

[Richter]

We play too many taggers with no other tools in their kitbag - we know that Blake and Leigh Fisher can do lock down roles - but it takes all their limited talents to do it - no room left to protect our ballusers and they aren't good enough to win ball for themsleves. Thus oppositions know - shut down Dal and double team Roo and you nullify St Kilda.

IMO better to have players who can play a bit and tool them up with defensive skills. This means that Birss>Fisher,Blake. Not really sure about Dempster yet.

[The_Dud]

exactly, plus you have to look at the facts that the two games he's been "plastered" were against 2 AA taggers, Ling and Cornes

look at the way Geelong look after Ablett, or West Coast look after Kerr....

and if Dal is getting tagged out of the game, then move him to the goal square, cos he's a very good mark overhead and reader of the play, plus he can kick a goal

if the players aren't gonna look after him, then Ross needs to show some creativity

[Mr Magic]

I wonder how well Dal's shoulder actually is?

[Eastern]

I wonder how well Dal's shoulder actually is?

Had heaps of strapping on his knee too !!

[Winmarvellous]

Agreed he has to be looked after better, but I honestly don't rate Dal Santo as an elite player in the competition. His best is breathtaking, but his consistency is nowhere near up to standard. Just my opinion.

[fugazi]

Burn him anyway!

[skeptic]

it seems to me that unless Dal is single handedly winning us games, then he's underperforming

[derby Street]

Good post Eastern - the most relevant post being our inability to provide blocks in close (and it doesn't just have to be King & Gardiner) When we are playing well everyone is doing the small things - blocking, running to shepherd/block chasing players, tackling, tap ons. I accept that everyone can't play blinders each week but surely they can all do the small things that will help our skilful players get and use the ball.

Another point is that our taggers do not get enough of the ball - they simply aren't good enough. Taggers these days do - Ling,Cornes,Kirk,Stenglein, Carr (although down this year) etc

[matrix]

i have a diff opinion on tagging.
ive tagged before, was the stop man when the time had come to basically shut someone down.
a good tagger gets hardly any touches of the footy while keeping his opponent to half a dozen touches at the MOST.

with k.cornes on the weekend i think williams just put cornes on dal and said get more of the ball than he does.
if he was in a total tagging role he wouldnt have got 30+ possessions.
and anyway why the hell would u put k.cornes (one of ports great midfielders who gets plenty of the footy) on someone as a tagger???

in regards to the block and shepherding of our mids........i dont think we do this at all, and that im afraid is not good enough teamwork.

[BringBackMadDog]

I do agree with with your OP Eastern to a certain degree, we don't protect the tagged players enough.

The thing that does irk me about Dal's game at the moment is that his defensive side is just terrible, it's one thing to be tagged out of a game that happens to the best of players, but its another thing when the tagger destroys you offensively, at one point in the game Cornes had 18 possies to 4!!! Ling also racked up disposals at will.

If Dal is going to get the pill, he should damn well make sure that his direct opponent has no influence on the game.

[BAM! (shhhh)]

i have a diff opinion on tagging.
ive tagged before, was the stop man when the time had come to basically shut someone down.
a good tagger gets hardly any touches of the footy while keeping his opponent to half a dozen touches at the MOST.

with k.cornes on the weekend i think williams just put cornes on dal and said get more of the ball than he does.
if he was in a total tagging role he wouldnt have got 30+ possessions.
and anyway why the hell would u put k.cornes (one of ports great midfielders who gets plenty of the footy) on someone as a tagger???

in regards to the block and shepherding of our mids........i dont think we do this at all, and that im afraid is not good enough teamwork.

It's that shutdown +get touches that sets Cornes, Ling and Brett Kirk (and Sewell's learning to do this too) apart from the rest of the world of taggers.

These guys are more than capable taggers that begin their game that way, are able stoppage winners and smart enough to time their running off.

Don't be fooled by Cornes high possession count, or Ling's to think that any opponent they face isn't as thouroughly covered as if they're facing a Stephen Baker, who plays a much mroe traditional tagging role. If anything, they're harder to shake, because a tagger will be swapped if they're failing to keep their man from the game, you don't get away from these elite defensive mids unless you're out and out beating them.

It also makes it harder for a coach to mvoe the player being tagged... if you move Dal to the backline against Geeling, do you really want Ling in sight of goals? If you move him to the forward line against Port, Kane Cornes is more than able to play as their playmaker.

For mine, Dal needs to be stapled to the clearances the same way Hayes is, only occasionally being rested forward. Dal's greatest strength is his ability to see the game in motion and sum it up. He doesn't benefit from the extra time in defense, he's not good at quietening his own opponent except by winning mroe head to head ball, and we need to get him up and running if we're to improve, regardless of everything else going on... his clean disposal is a huge missing link between the two 50 metre arcs.

[spert]

It's pretty simple -NDS is not playing to his capabilities, and his defensive game is non-existant, which means his taggers become extra attacking players for their team. He is out of form and needs a run in Casey to get himself focussed on team football. Until he lifts his workrate, he is just a good ordinary player.