The calls for Furner to be sacked last year i thought were a little premature as the team was struggling without Campo. But considering the review they had which was supposed to provide some support to start moving the team in the right direction. I personally think our defence has gotten worse and a lot of the players are playing at a lower standard than last season. I thought we were looking good at the start of the season but i think having players like Campo and White along with the other experienced players like Shillington, Berrigan and co allowed the defence to get by. But with the injuries we have had has shown how frail the defence is. Attitude and structure of defence comes down to the coach.
I could not imagine a Stuart, Bellamy, Macguire or Hasler coached side putting out a defensive performance like that regardless of the personnel available. When you look at say a Hasler coached team the structure is different. Hasl;er usually goes with 1 strike backrower, (Pritchard at the dogs, Williams at Manly) and a defensive worker in the middle and on the other edge (Stagg and Haletau at Dogs and Watmough and Stewart at Manly). He also does the same with his centres Matai (Manly and Jono Wright (Dogs) are more defensive centre whereas Lyon and Morris are more attacking. And what do you know when you look at those teams Lyon defends beside Stewart and Matai beside Williams to allow a good defensive player to run the defense on that edge.
Maybe if Furner selected his team with a defensive structure in mind we may be able to keep teams below 30 points per match and then it would be alittle easier to win games. I think our best available team is something like:
- Dugan
- Ferguson
- Wighton
- Croker
- Lee
- McCrone
- Williams
- Shillington
- Berrigan
- Learoyd Lahrs
- Papalli
- Kennedy
- Fensom
This would allow Kennedy to run the left sided defense and Wighton to run the right. Both are very good young defenders and at least our structure would be working towards something.
I remember when Kennedy debuted Shillo was quoted as saying he was a great defensive player that ran good lines. Sounds like a player we need in the team at the moment!