Western Bulldogs defender Liam Jones has come under the microscope for too often getting “caught in no man’s land” during Friday night’s 43-point loss to Brisbane.
The Dogs strong run of form ended at the hands of the red-hot Lions, who breathed fresh life into their season at Marvel Stadium as Eric Hipwood got off the leash for a career-best six goals, while Joe Daniher added 2.3
Luke Beveridge’s side was also soundly beaten around the ball (-15 contested possessions, -18 clearances) as the game was played predominantly in its back half including losing inside 50s (64-45).
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Despite the plethora of ball coming back there, two-time AFLW All-Australian defender Ruby Schleicher was critical of how often Jones got “sucked up to the ball” or generally found himself in the wrong position.
“Joe Daniher stays back and he gets caught in no man’s land. He doesn’t know whether to go or not,” Schleicher said on Fox Footy Live watching back a replay of Daniher getting out the back on Jones.
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Schleicher showed other vision when Jones pressed up effectively to impact the next contest.
“Here’s a good example, you see Jones makes the right decision … comes forward and it turns into a Jamarra-Ugle Hagan goal. That’s what we need to see more consistently,” she said.
However the star Magpie thinks Jones ultimately wasn’t consistent enough in his judgement of when to go and when to play more accountable.
“There were too many times he was caught in no man’s land and ball watching. There were even numbers ahead of him, so he didn’t have to go and impact, but was caught neither here or nor there. He needs to shut down on that at the moment,” Schleicher added.
“The Lions had 21 marks inside 50 – 16 of those uncontested. It’s from those situations we saw where he’s too far off his man and allowed Hipwood or Daniher too much space to get to work inside 50.”
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Former Hawthorn sharpshooter Ben Dixon concurred, saying it’s “as rattled” as he’s seen Jones, the Dogs’ premier key defender.
However Dixon noted: “It’s pretty daunting when (Brisbane is) moving the ball like that and you’ve got Daniher and Hipwood there, I’d be twitching too if I was a defender.”
Brownlow medallist Gerard Healy added: “He got caught out by a couple of their turnover kicks and that put him in no man’s land.”
The loss denied the Dogs a chance to climb into the top eight, sliding to 6-7 to remain in 11th place on the ladder.
Beveridge’s side will look to bounce back against Fremantle next week at Marvel Stadium before the Dogs’ mid-season bye in Round 15.