Zac Dawson is a player that fans love to hate. As a young boy at Hawthorn he was much maligned by fans as a player that would never make it.
The pummelling he took at the hands of Anthony Rocca in round two of 2006 will be forever talked about and remembered by footy fans.
When Dawson moved to St Kilda, he was chastised again, not to the same extent but the crowd held its breath every time Dawson took possession of the ball, waiting for a mistake that could result in a goal.
Ironically, Dawson’s performances in the grand finals of 2009 and 2010 were some of his best, where the congestion suited the gangly defender, who played very tight to his opponent, and spoiled the ball into dead territory.
Indeed, only people within the inner sanctum of the St Kilda football club truly understood the value of Dawson and the importance he had to their back line. As a key defender Dawson allowed Fisher or Goddard to play as a rolling off loose defender, generating a lot of drive for the Saints.
He also took the best or second best forward, allowing Sean Dempster, Jason Blake and Raphael Clarke to play on small forwards and third talls, while James Gwilt took the other key position forward.
In 2011 the Saints had 100 points scored against them only three times for the year, in 2010 only four times and in 2009 only once.
Their defense in this period was regarded as one of the best in the competition, which strangled opposition teams out of the contest. Dawson was a pivotal part of this defense, and his defection to the Dockers at the end of 2011 weakened it considerably.
St Kilda have leaked over 100 points on six occasions in 2012, nearly every second game. Although there is no doubt that the injuries to Gwilt, Fisher McEvoy and Stanley, which lead to Blake’s injection into the ruck has severely impacted on its defense, Dawson would have been very valuable to the Saints this season.
The Saints have been monstered by key forwards this year, which continued against the Kangaroos on Sunday afternoon with Drew Petrie kicking four. Four players have kicked five or more goals against the Saints in 2012, one in every three and a half games.
Kurt Tippett (Adelaide) kicked five against the Saints in round 12, Jack Riewoldt (Richmond) kicked eight in round 10, Dean Cox (WCE) kicked five in round eight and Buddy Franklin (Hawthorn) kicked five in round six.
This undersized St Kilda defence could greatly use the help of Dawson, whose Dockers under new coach Ross Lyon have only conceded more than 100 points on four occasions in 2012. Only Michael Hurley of Essendon has kicked a bag of five or more goals (6) against Fremantle this season, a game in which Dawson was out injured.
Dawson’s departure from St Kilda may have appeared initially as one which could have been easily covered, but in a game of inches, the Saints appear to have given a couple of hundred metres when letting Dawson walk free. This, combined with injuries to key players, has seen their defense become a shadow of its former self.
NeeDeep
Roar Pro
Sorry James, but your articles always seem to have a negative undertone towards St Kilda and at the same time, seem to be aimed at pumping up the tyres, down at Freo. That's just how it comes across - bit like, "nanananana, we got your coach". Please, have him with pleasure. I'm much happier with the new Saints. And beware, if he can walk out on a club where he had a decent dose of success, don't be surprised if he hauls up the anchor and sails of into the sunset on Freo, if the going gets a little tough! On Zac, I'm not bothered that he left St. Kilda either. I also think it's a lot unfair that people haven't got over the game where he was "monstered" by Anthony Rocca. So what - he was a kid, who got left out like a shag on a rock by his teamates and the Magpies exploited it on "one" night and that's history. Has his loss hurt the Saints? Not in the least. Has his arrival at Freo made a big difference to their defecne? Wouldn't have thought so. Just my opinion. Michael Johnson as I said in the previous post is the players who's numbers are way up on last year and if the Docker's defence is playing better this year, it is perhaps more due to his more "permanent" role in defence, instead of all over the gorund trying to be "Selley's, No More Gaps" - when he could actually get a game. In summary, it's not so much Zac's arrival (or departure). Purely, it is the sudden realisation at Freo that Johnson can play that link man role in the backline and be very effective because he does use the pill quiet well. Credit Ross Lyon with that one if you like, but it's probably more down to the fact that Johnson's off field stupidity had put him in the dog house and Harvey never got around to fully bringing him back into the side in a "settled" manner. The role Ross has got Johnson playing is akin to Sam Fisher at the Saints. Strangely enough, Sam Fisher has missed a number of games this year, through injury. Maybe that's what the Saints have been missing down back, more than Dawson! Anyway, I'm a big fan of winning well, when the opportunity arises and in a season where percentage may be very important down the stretch, I'm liking 12 goal wins over sides like Essendon, 4 point losses to Adelaide, classis tussles with Richmond and even Freo, etc. With the very average form of many of the Saints stars in the midfield, there is plenty to look forward to over the next few months. And it certainly beats the living suitcase of strangling a game death and sneaking off with the 4 points, or getting an unlucky break in the shadows of the winning post and dealing with that frustrating feeling that you outplayed a side for pretty much the whole game, but came away with nothing but criticism about how boring your game plan is. Good luck to the Dockers - I like to see the battlers getting a crack at it and the likes of the Saints, Bulldogs, Freo and so on, who have been starved of recent success are the sides I love to see doing well. So, please understand also, that I'm not a Freo basher. Freo have some great kids coming through and I just hope they get to play there own game, with flair, pace and gusto, rather than having it flogged out of them.
JamesBett
Guest
Raph Clarke said they were at a press conference two weeks ago. if Goddard is being forced to be accountable, it is because he is getting tagged, rather than by choice
Kel
Guest
Disagree. They may have said that at the beginning, but I think the styles are worlds apart now as they get a grip on the SW gameplan. The backline plays nothing like they did under Ross, double fisted punches are no longer heralded, and taking the game on is encouraged. Watters has said the opposite with BJ, that he wants him to play more accountable this year.
jamesbett
Roar Rookie
Kel the players themselves have said that the press under Watters is very similar to the one under Lyon, but they have increased the amount they play on. Watters talked about against Adelaide, North Melbourne and Richmond that the game was played at a pace that was far too quick for his liking, and has endeavoured for much of the season to have either Goddard or Fisher loose behind the ball. I agree the gamestyle is very different and is prone to being scored against, much in the same way that it makes them far more likely to score heavily this season than under Lyon, however, whether Zac would have been exposed or not, him playing for the Saints would have created a flow on effect whereby Blake Clarke/SImpkin, Dempster can play on lesser forwards
jamesbett
Roar Rookie
I am far from a St Kilda basher needeep and in fact if you care to notice i talked about how Ross Lyon was only a bounce of the ball away from 2 premiership cups, and the Saints of the last four years have been excellent teams. I would also like to point out the Fremantle's midfield has been without Fyfe and Morabito for much of this year, and has been without Hill for three games, and Barlow, Mundy, Mzungu, De Boer and Pearce have punched above there weight for much of the year. Meanwhile St Kildas midfield possesses the class and brilliance of Hayes, Dal Santo, Montagna, Goddard when he plays through there, as well as the emergence of Armitage and Steven and the tagging of Jones gives the Saints a major advantage in that area. Riewoldt and Koschitzke alongside Milne, Schnieder, Saad have a far superior forward line to the Dockers, which gave them the artillery to belt the Suns that the Dockers simply don't have. I do agree that the positive game style of Watters has given the Saints far more scoring power, that is plain to see. And i don't see how you can say that Dawson hasn't helped the Dockers or hindered the Saints. Dawson going to the Dockers has freed up Johnson to play as a loose defender rather than having to be majorly accoutable and more to the point, his resurgence can be largely attributed to Lyon, whose demands and expectations has seen him "pull his finger out" as you said.
NeeDeep
Roar Pro
I support Kel's comments. James, you seem to like sticking it to St. Kilda for some reason, whilst lauding Fremantle's new and improved game plan, coaching staff, and all things purple. I recall you may have recently written an article declaring the Dockers decision to axe Harvey and get Lyon on board was the right thing to do. At the time they were 6 wins, 5 losses and a lot of the comments were saying how good they were going and they had 3 away wins - 2 in Melbourne - and things were great. Nobody responded to my comment that the other win by just 7 points over Gold Coast, showed the flaw in the Lyon game plan - ie. if you don't put teams away, they can pinch games, as Gold Coast nearly did. On the other hand the new St. Kilda, free of Ross's Boa Constrictor have belted the Suns, twice, by more than 15 goals. Now Freo are 6 wins, 7 losses - how are we travelling? Freo on the flip side to your article, have lost all their attacking flair and given they are a young pacy side playing on the wide expanses of Subi oval and in mostly fine weather,it is staggering that they have broken the 100 point barrier just once this year - the round 1 win over Geelong (which says something in itself - good attacking football will allow you to beat anyone, when well exectued). St. Kilda on the other hand have played 13 games and scored over the 100 mark on 8 occassions and have lost twice by 4 points, once by 8 points, to the Dockers by 13 points, West Coast by 5 goals and the Hawks by 35 points. All the while playing some very attractive footy - ie. the Friday night clash with Richmond, even though the Tiges won, was an absolute joy to watch, given its open and hectic ball movement, high marks and the skills on display. I don't think Zac Dawson's departure has hurt or helped the Saints and I really do doubt that his arrival has helped the Dockers much. Personally, I think the fact that Michael Johnson has pulled his finger out and got back to playing some genuine football that he is capable of producing, has been the biggest turn around in Freo's defensive half. He's cool, calm and never gets flustered. Yep - he makes the odd balls up, but he does "take the game on", which is something Zac doesn't do, all that often. The injuries to the Saints key defenders as you point out, is the bigger problem and also the fact htat other than Lenny Hayes, the Saints midfield has been very average - Dal Santo, Montagna, Goddard when he goes in there, etc. So, lots of upside for the Saints, down the track and I think that says more than Zac Dawson heading West.
langou
Roar Guru
We at the Dockers have missed him the last couple of weeks. Again, some of our fans have not taken to the bloke but he leads the club for 1% by a fair margin. Really handy bloke to have
Kel
Guest
Have to disagree. St Kilda players are emerging from a heavily zoned and very strong press style of footy, and are struggling with the concept of having to play on a direct opponent again. Zac would be as horribly exposed as the rest of them at the moment. Tough lesson Watters is teaching, be accountable.