While his fall has hurt the Blues,a lack of spark and all-round commitment from Williams has been of greater frustration,heading into Sunday’s clash against Adelaide at Marvel Stadium.
Brisbane Lions triple-premiership hero Jonathon Brown delivered a scathing critique of Williams’ 11-touch displayagainst Greater Western Sydney last Saturday,when onOn the Couch he declared Williams was “one of the laziest footballers going around at the moment”.
That he had only one tackle against the Giants,oneagainst West Coast heading into the bye,and noneagainst Sydney a week earlier - all defeats - highlights a lack of effort. It is also one reason why the Blues,since round seven,have been the easiest team for opponents to take the ball from their defensive 50 into their attacking 50.
Close observers say it is unfair to only single out Williams as,for instance,there were six players who failed to log one tackle against the Giants. But the question has to be asked - did the Blues do their necessary due diligence on him before taking him as a restricted free agent?
The Giants never considered him an elite midfielder because of his lack of elite application and questions on whether he could gut run all day. That answer has been clear this season,as coach David Teague all but admitted on Thursday when he said “we think he can get fitter and he’ll become a good player for this football club in the long-term”.
Carlton’s Adam Saad.Credit:Getty Images
Teammate Liam Jones,the man who transformed himself into a key defender at Carlton and is now in the leadership group,defended Saad and Williams when questioned byThe Sunday Age,declaring the Blues’ overall defensive issues had impacted on the pair.
“Definitely Saady in the last year or so has turned into a strong defensive player … we know what he can do offensively. But I think we have probably been forced,as a team and as defenders,to defend a little bit more than what we would like to,” Jones said.
“In terms of losing games,the ball is coming into our area a lot,which has probably not allowed them to play to their strengths as much as we would have liked. But I have lost no confidence in them.”
Williams averaged almost 24 touches per game with the Giants in 2019,and had 25,including 16 contested possessions,and six tackles in the wet against the Magpies in that famous preliminary-final win. Yet only twice this year has he logged double-digit contested possessions,and his best tackle counts were against Collingwood,Fremantle and Port Adelaide,when he had four on each occasion.
He managed 11 matches last season,averaging 17 disposals,including three rebound 50s,in shortened quarters but this season has only lifted that average output to 18.7 in 10 matches.
Robert Walls,the Blues’ 1987 premiership coach,says Williams hasn’t been “value for money”,while former Saints star Leigh Montagna has questioned whether a player on Williams’ pay would want to be a hard-nosed defender.
Regardless,Jones says the Blues will continue to look to Saad and Williams to help ease the pressure engulfing a club that is mired in its longest premiership drought.
“They are great players,the more we can get the ball in their hands,the better we will be,” Jones said.
“You can see some of the kicks Saady has done to big Harry (McKay) this year and the same with ‘Zaccy’ - they are going to help us,moving forward. Defensively,we all need to improve and offensively we know what they can do.”