WITH defensive pressure in the midfield becoming such a critical part of the game, players who tackle strongly and with intent are going to be looked upon favourably at selection this season.

Teams move the ball so quickly now as they try to expose opposition defenders, so slowing the football down when it’s coming into your defensive 50m zone has become critical, and tackling is a big part of that.

We were laying 50-55 tackles per game last year, while the best sides were up around 70-80 tackles every week.Tackling was always a focus, but there’s no question the game’s gone to another level with the amount of tackling.

It seems to be the way of the future, so when Scott Selwood lays 16 tackles in the WAFL on the weekend, the match committee takes notice.We saw just how important it is to slow forward delivery through midfield pressure in round one, with Lions Brendan Fevola and Jonathan Brown finishing the game with 19 shots on goal, for a total of 8.9 with two out-on-the-full. It’s tough when you’ve got two wonderful forwards like that - they’re going to get you at some stage - and I thought Darren Glass and Eric Mackenzie toiled manfully.

As a strategy we were able to force Fevola wide, and I don’t think there’s any player in the competition that can stop Brown for a whole game. Eric did well for three quarters, but he just became that match-winner in the fourth quarter.

The whole team was working on slowing up the delivery to those forwards and limiting the impact they can have. The whole team takes responsibility for their impact.Once again, it’s so important that the footy is coming in slowly. Looking at last year’s top four sides, they, along with the Sydney Swans and Brisbane Lions, set the benchmark for defensive pressure.  

The Saints bring the most absolute pressure and they seem to be the best at getting the footy back off you. They bring such a defensive attitude to their game.

The Western Bulldogs lifted their tackling through the pre-season and set a new benchmark for themselves, so those top sides are showing that defensive pressure through the midfield is where the game is won.They’re measures that we need to improve on as a relatively young group.

The more we can slow the footy coming into our defensive 50m then the more opportunity we’ll have to win the footy back. As I said, it’s going to have weight at selection.