As long as the team puts together a quality all round performance, win, lose or draw, us fans should be happy and not too critical. We still have to remember, were working with a fairly new spine, with new players here and there.
Through more game time we'll only see improvement. Tonight's match could be a huge confidence booster and stepping block for the season ahead. As combinations settle, and players figure out what works to their strengths and what doesn't, we'll see a new brand of footy.
I really hope Hoffman plays out of his skin and just backs himself to choose the right option. Throughout his time at fullback, he often shaped to pass, but just looked tentative and reluctant to actually pass it. This always appeared to be a confidence thing. I reckon, at times this wasn't a true indication of his ball playing ability, because in almost all instances, his outside men were always too flat to offer any opportunity for a pass.
One thing I'd love to see, is our players playing deep and running onto the ball. Not only does this create more time for the halves to pick their options, but it creates more space to play to as the defending team often don't move up in a perfect line.
For instance, when the defenders push up and the attackers are flat, it is easy to maintain a straight defensive line. However, if the attacking team having multiple options deep, defenders have to move up more which can create attacking opportunities through poor defensive reads such as a player rushing up too far by himself, or even just one player becoming lazy and not keeping up with the rest of the defensive line.
A deep attacking structure poses more of a threat than a flat one, as it is harder to defend against. Flat defence just requires the defensive team to slide with the attacking team. However if players are deep and there are multiple options running onto the ball with speed, the defence has to make a decision, and quite often, can make the wrong one. They can either go for the decoy runner, leaving the fullback open, or can even hold back in anticipation for the fullback to get the ball, which allow the hole runner to sprint through a gap.