Defensive pressure the goal for Jones

CARLTON defender Liam Jones has been urged to tighten up on his direct opponent as statistics show he has conceded more goals than any other backman this year.

Jones leads the unwanted “Reverse Coleman” award after Round 4, having had 21 goals kicked on him by direct opponents this season.

Richmond’s David Astbury (13 goals) sits second, with Gold Coast’s Steven May and West Coast’s Tom Barrass (both 12 goals) equal third according to Champion Data.

Recast as a defender after managing just 16 goals from 17 games across two seasons as a forward, Jones finished ninth in Carlton’s best-and-fairest last year despite playing just 12 games (conceding 31 goals).

However, the 27-year-old’s form has not been what it was last season and he has come under increasing pressure given fellow Blues defenders Sam Docherty (knee), Sam Rowe (knee), Caleb Marchbank (ankle), Ciaran Byrne (quad), Alex Silvagni (hamstring) and Tom Williamson (back) have all been missing.

Carlton great Robert Walls said Jones needed to change his positioning in a bid to bounce back to form.

“Liam Jones got a lot of pats on the back last year and I just thought ‘hang on, just be careful’, because I just thought it was a bit of an over-reaction,” Walls said on Fox Footy this week.

“He’s got to go back and just play shoulder-to-shoulder on his opponent.

“He’s playing 10m in front and he’s getting lost. Good teams will expose him and exploit him, which they’ve done.

“He’s just lost the ability to play tight on an opponent and that’s the No.1 thing you should do as a defender. “I hope he does that.” Jones is due to play his 100th AFL game on Saturday afternoon against West Coast at the MCG.

For the record, Sydney superstar Lance Franklin leads the real Coleman Medal race with 17 majors.