No wonder why they said Naughts was on fire this preseason kicking bags
To who ever thinks Gardner has “flicked a switch” over the preseason is laughable. He’s still going to be a below average player this year. That position is the weakest link in our chain, even more so then a good small forward. If Keath gets a longtime injury we are in trouble.
Is this matchup confirmed?
I'm not a believer in Gardiner at all (as i've said several times Cordy should be in the team instead), but to directly blame him for an opposition forward for kicking a bag (except for the Hipwood one) just isn't true.
For anyone who can bare watching it again, the elimination final is a pretty good example. Max King often was directly matched to Bailey Williams or Easton Wood even though we had all of Keath, Cordy and Gardiner playing. Our structures and zone defence often doesn't consider cm's but rather closing space.
FWIW if Naughton had our A grade midfield kicking to him with our defensive zone setup then more likely than not he's going to kick a bag. Our defence (both talls and smalls) are so reliant on midfield domination and slowing the play down up the field.
