right, well when you're doing 30-50 tackles a match - a shitload of them on your own line under pressure due to drop balls, you're going to be pretty tired, too.
if he were missing such tackles at minute 5 or 10 in the match, then it would be a different story. this isn't the case, though.
as i said before, criticism at the moment on individual players is a little pointless. they are being asked to do far, far more than they should have to do in defense because no-one seems to care about retaining possession. our biggest problem is retaining possession, not that Zeb is missing tackles, or that Mullen can't organise, or that Roberts is a dud, or that Buderus is too old, or that our backs suck, or any other number of reasons you care to name. the simple fact is, we're dropping too much ball. week after week after week we drop way too much ball to win a match of football. most of the individual criticisms that the emos peddle out after every loss are simply due to too much drop ball.
honestly, where is the criticism for House not wrapping the ball up in a tackle for the Roosters 3rd try (or for McManus' lack of positioning on that play)? in fact, McManus had an absolute shocker against the Roosters compared to his usual standard. dropped high balls, caught out of position... it was a lousy day for him. what about Houston not even laying a finger on the ball runner for their final try? totally misread the play there. the answer is simple - House is immune to criticism around here and Zeb is fashionable to criticize at the moment. the truth of the matter is that they were both tired as f**k and couldn't get to their men. it all happened in the last 20 minutes of the game. picking out any of these individual moments is nonsense, we shouldn't have been in those positions in the first place if we were playing good football. the blame, first and foremost, is on the drop ball. when you're an 80 minute player that has been tackling all day due to your teams lack of ability to retain possession, you get bloody tired in that final 10 or 20 minutes. mistakes will compound themselves late in the game through fatigue. it's not rocket science.
but no, apparently Zeb is the one that needs to lift, because he isn't doing enough playing 80 minutes and doing the work of 2 blokes in defence. his tight functioning on our left edge in attack is useless. the bloke has to lift his game. JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
