Ok, hopefully the title got you reading, but here's my 50 cents worth as to why we should ditch our policy of playing our best available side this week and rest up Gawn, Hoges and Salem.

I think last week Roosy stated how he would be playing his best side each week of the NAB Challenge because he felt we needed the confidence that comes from being competitive.

But the Port game just changed that. We now know we are going to be competitive this season, it's just a matter of whether we have most of our star players available each week and are committed on the day/night and our coaches aren't out-thought etc.

The three listed above for a rest are, IMO, the three most important to our line-up for Rd 1.

Gawn, as we saw on Sat, is clearly now among the best six ruckman in the league - Goldy, Nic Nat, Sandi, Jacobs and Mummy are the others - and realistically, he now should monster any ruckman he's up against - the exception being when he's up against the Fab Five big boys at NM, WC, Freo, Adelaide and GWS.

He's mega fit (it's almost like watching Mottram run against the Kenyans in the sprints at the moment) and he's now had two practice matches - one internal against Spencer. So what point is there to take another risk in a game that is not for premiership points against a ruckman like Minson and Campbell, both of whom will try and negate him and potentially hurt him. A rest will help stop the hype about him (at least for a week) and he can still play our last practice match against St Kilda and be perfect for a shot against Mummy in Rd 1. A rest will also allow Spencer (assuming his foot's right) or King (to get a development run). Spencer dominated the Dogs in our MCG win last year and needs a good hit out against a ruckman (Minson) who is more his standard. And our midfield needs to get used to occasionally not winning the tap - it will happen a bit against Mummy, no matter how well Gawny goes against him.

We all know without Hoges we don't have a key forward - although Pedo did well against Port. So why again would we risk him. We need to beat St Kilda because it's our last practice match and this week we are heading to Craigieburn where the surface is never going to be as good as an AFL venue. If we beat the Dogs and he gets injured in the process, are we going to say great, we beat the Dogs. There is now just no need for us to pick our best side and this is the last chance we get to rest anybody. It also gives Weed a chance to play - even though he clearly is a while off being ready to dominate at this level. 

The final player I want rested this week is Salem. He copped a couple of knocks late in the game against Port and he's our key man down back because he can split a defence apart with his kicking - just like Hodgey does at Hawthorn. His absence will allow Wagner, who was a revelation when he got on in the second half against Port, to have a real go. He may even play on Stringer, if our heirarchy wants to test him out to see where he's at. He's got the pace to go with him and he spoils well, we may as well find out if he's ready to play Rd 1 or whether he's someone who will need a handful of VFL games before being promoted.

Sure you can make a case for T-Mac being rested too, but he may as well get used to being under seige after the unusual situation of not having to do much in the second half against Port.

Viney can also be eased back a bit this week - sharing time with Nat Jones and Vince, assuming they're back. We also need to give Neal-Bullen a rare go in the middle after his omission last week.

I guess my overall point of contention is that we got a glimpse of where we are at against Port. We now are one of the quickest sides in the comp - just two years ago we were clearly the slowest - and as a result we can play a forward press that has a chance of working. So just like Hawthorn and the otehr top sides, we can afford to play the safety before Round 1 game properly and save our stars and test out our fringe players and in the Weed's case, our future.

The following week against St Kilda, we go back to our best side and we attempt to make sure the Saints know that they no longer have the  wood on us. Another week off and then the real stuff begins.

 

  

   

  

 

Let's play our best team, no experiments, and try to WIN WIN WIN as much as possible.

 

These boys need the sensation of WINNING.

Booooo

Yeah nah.

Damn clickbait making me think three of our best are unavailable. 

Deliberately provocative thread title. I'm not going to read the rest of your post now!

 

 

19 minutes ago, Ted Fidge said:

Let's play our best team, no experiments, and try to WIN WIN WIN as much as possible.

 

These boys need the sensation of WINNING.

This^^^

don't flirt with form

I like the way you think bUt I am not sure that the players would share your sentiment. I agree about playing NB and maybe even Hulett but I am not sure how the rest of the team (or Goodwin) would respond if told that we are seriously trying to win without Gawn, Hogan and Salem?

27 minutes ago, Deespicable said:

Ok, hopefully the title got you reading, but here's my 50 cents worth as to why we should ditch our policy of playing our best available side this week and rest up Gawn, Hoges and Salem.

I think last week Roosy stated how he would be playing his best side each week of the NAB Challenge because he felt we needed the confidence that comes from being competitive.

But the Port game just changed that. We now know we are going to be competitive this season, it's just a matter of whether we have most of our star players available each week and are committed on the day/night and our coaches aren't out-thought etc.

The three listed above for a rest are, IMO, the three most important to our line-up for Rd 1.

Gawn, as we saw on Sat, is clearly now among the best six ruckman in the league - Goldy, Nic Nat, Sandi, Jacobs and Mummy are the others - and realistically, he now should monster any ruckman he's up against - the exception being when he's up against the Fab Five big boys at NM, WC, Freo, Adelaide and GWS.

He's mega fit (it's almost like watching Mottram run against the Kenyans in the sprints at the moment) and he's now had two practice matches - one internal against Spencer. So what point is there to take another risk in a game that is not for premiership points against a ruckman like Minson and Campbell, both of whom will try and negate him and potentially hurt him. A rest will help stop the hype about him (at least for a week) and he can still play our last practice match against St Kilda and be perfect for a shot against Mummy in Rd 1. A rest will also allow Spencer (assuming his foot's right) or King (to get a development run). Spencer dominated the Dogs in our MCG win last year and needs a good hit out against a ruckman (Minson) who is more his standard. And our midfield needs to get used to occasionally not winning the tap - it will happen a bit against Mummy, no matter how well Gawny goes against him.

We all know without Hoges we don't have a key forward - although Pedo did well against Port. So why again would we risk him. We need to beat St Kilda because it's our last practice match and this week we are heading to Craigieburn where the surface is never going to be as good as an AFL venue. If we beat the Dogs and he gets injured in the process, are we going to say great, we beat the Dogs. There is now just no need for us to pick our best side and this is the last chance we get to rest anybody. It also gives Weed a chance to play - even though he clearly is a while off being ready to dominate at this level. 

The final player I want rested this week is Salem. He copped a couple of knocks late in the game against Port and he's our key man down back because he can split a defence apart with his kicking - just like Hodgey does at Hawthorn. His absence will allow Wagner, who was a revelation when he got on in the second half against Port, to have a real go. He may even play on Stringer, if our heirarchy wants to test him out to see where he's at. He's got the pace to go with him and he spoils well, we may as well find out if he's ready to play Rd 1 or whether he's someone who will need a handful of VFL games before being promoted.

Sure you can make a case for T-Mac being rested too, but he may as well get used to being under seige after the unusual situation of not having to do much in the second half against Port.

Viney can also be eased back a bit this week - sharing time with Nat Jones and Vince, assuming they're back. We also need to give Neal-Bullen a rare go in the middle after his omission last week.

I guess my overall point of contention is that we got a glimpse of where we are at against Port. We now are one of the quickest sides in the comp - just two years ago we were clearly the slowest - and as a result we can play a forward press that has a chance of working. So just like Hawthorn and the otehr top sides, we can afford to play the safety before Round 1 game properly and save our stars and test out our fringe players and in the Weed's case, our future.

The following week against St Kilda, we go back to our best side and we attempt to make sure the Saints know that they no longer have the  wood on us. Another week off and then the real stuff begins.

 

  

   

  

 

Thoughtful comments

We still haven't played with 90 Rotations yet

The pace will drop a little...

32 minutes ago, Deespicable said:

Ok, hopefully the title got you reading, but here's my 50 cents worth as to why we should ditch our policy of playing our best available side this week and rest up Gawn, Hoges and Salem.

I think last week Roosy stated how he would be playing his best side each week of the NAB Challenge because he felt we needed the confidence that comes from being competitive.

But the Port game just changed that. We now know we are going to be competitive this season, it's just a matter of whether we have most of our star players available each week and are committed on the day/night and our coaches aren't out-thought etc.

The three listed above for a rest are, IMO, the three most important to our line-up for Rd 1.

Gawn, as we saw on Sat, is clearly now among the best six ruckman in the league - Goldy, Nic Nat, Sandi, Jacobs and Mummy are the others - and realistically, he now should monster any ruckman he's up against - the exception being when he's up against the Fab Five big boys at NM, WC, Freo, Adelaide and GWS.

He's mega fit (it's almost like watching Mottram run against the Kenyans in the sprints at the moment) and he's now had two practice matches - one internal against Spencer. So what point is there to take another risk in a game that is not for premiership points against a ruckman like Minson and Campbell, both of whom will try and negate him and potentially hurt him. A rest will help stop the hype about him (at least for a week) and he can still play our last practice match against St Kilda and be perfect for a shot against Mummy in Rd 1. A rest will also allow Spencer (assuming his foot's right) or King (to get a development run). Spencer dominated the Dogs in our MCG win last year and needs a good hit out against a ruckman (Minson) who is more his standard. And our midfield needs to get used to occasionally not winning the tap - it will happen a bit against Mummy, no matter how well Gawny goes against him.

We all know without Hoges we don't have a key forward - although Pedo did well against Port. So why again would we risk him. We need to beat St Kilda because it's our last practice match and this week we are heading to Craigieburn where the surface is never going to be as good as an AFL venue. If we beat the Dogs and he gets injured in the process, are we going to say great, we beat the Dogs. There is now just no need for us to pick our best side and this is the last chance we get to rest anybody. It also gives Weed a chance to play - even though he clearly is a while off being ready to dominate at this level. 

The final player I want rested this week is Salem. He copped a couple of knocks late in the game against Port and he's our key man down back because he can split a defence apart with his kicking - just like Hodgey does at Hawthorn. His absence will allow Wagner, who was a revelation when he got on in the second half against Port, to have a real go. He may even play on Stringer, if our heirarchy wants to test him out to see where he's at. He's got the pace to go with him and he spoils well, we may as well find out if he's ready to play Rd 1 or whether he's someone who will need a handful of VFL games before being promoted.

Sure you can make a case for T-Mac being rested too, but he may as well get used to being under seige after the unusual situation of not having to do much in the second half against Port.

Viney can also be eased back a bit this week - sharing time with Nat Jones and Vince, assuming they're back. We also need to give Neal-Bullen a rare go in the middle after his omission last week.

I guess my overall point of contention is that we got a glimpse of where we are at against Port. We now are one of the quickest sides in the comp - just two years ago we were clearly the slowest - and as a result we can play a forward press that has a chance of working. So just like Hawthorn and the otehr top sides, we can afford to play the safety before Round 1 game properly and save our stars and test out our fringe players and in the Weed's case, our future.

The following week against St Kilda, we go back to our best side and we attempt to make sure the Saints know that they no longer have the  wood on us. Another week off and then the real stuff begins.

 

  

   

  

 

You are way ahead of yourself here 'deesp'.

Our team is far from right as the first half showed and I wouldn't think positions are settled yet.

No, i think we should stick with using maximum rotations and use as much of the list as possible this week then look at something like our round 1 team against the Saints for at least a half of the game, then a weeks rest to run into the season.

3 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

We still haven't played with 90 Rotations yet

The pace will drop a little...

I suspect that the weather had something to do with it last Saturday. The players had only been at it 5 minutes and they were all dripping with sweat as though they had run out oiled. I feel rotations will drop back next match, possibly to the 90 cap which will apply during the season proper.

I think the better players may miss this week or be highly managed.

I think Gawn rested a lot of he last quarter if memory serves me correctly? (I really do t trust my memory ?)

But we need to build on momentum.

Please don't call him "Hodgey" it sounds as if you like him. (urgh poos and wees)

I remember when the Ox had played a ripper shortly after returning from his third knee and we'd had a comfortable victory, Daniher was asked why he didn't give the Ox a rest and ensure he didn't get injured. Daniher's reply was simple. "I just like watching him play". The OP may well be right but where's the fun in that?

Gawn is already past Jacobs and Nik Nat is merely a show pony of the first order. Gawn's competitors for the mantle of the best ruck are Goldy, Mummy and Sandi.

2 hours ago, Gorgoroth said:

I think Gawn rested a lot of he last quarter if memory serves me correctly? (I really do t trust my memory ?)

 

Correct. Gawn was rested for at least the second half of the last quarter, but possibly even more.

Resting from what?

9 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

This^^^

don't flirt with form

It is not even that - I say don't flirt with structure. Hogan didn't have a great game but will take the best defender each week.  So you leave Hogan out and we can all say "let someone else step up" but I would rather we see two or three defenders be drawn to Hogan leaving someone else free ( or more like Hogan beating two opponents !) . The same with Gawn  - we have the likes of Viney having an armchair ride from Gawn - so we don't play Gawn and Viney then changes his game to sharking the taps from the opposition ruckman, 

 

We want our players practicing a game plan that revolves around our best players playing.

You will find that we will go in very similar with Jones and Vince.  It is all about match time 8 on the bench, I think this week will be more of the same a lot of rotations managing game time.  I reckon this is the best way to do it, I was surprised to see how low Ports Interchanges were.

No way, this group needs to win as much as possible.

I understand Despicable's argument, and although it's a goodie I think the argument for best team is better.  We should cut back to 90 interchanges, though, because we have to get this right before Round 1.

I think the OP is getting ahead of himself with our performance against Port. There is still a lot to work on, and Gawn, Hogan and Salem are pivotal to our structures and gameplan.

Players can get injured doing match sim at training, so I don't see the point of putting players in cotton wool at this time of the season. With extended benches in the NAB Cup, gametime will be reduced anyway.

 

The opening post is on the money. It is a long season and as much as you want to be at optimal performance for round 1, the other rounds are all also worth 4 points.

yeah one game in 6 months is too much.  best rest them up

and the quote "we now know we are going to be competative this year" are you for real?  so you expect us to be good based on that one practice match?

just like when we beat geelong away last year and then lost to bombers and Blues.  

Gee I hope the Dees do not have this soft, defeatist attitude.  what if they injured?  they could just as easily get injured in training - eg elliot, swallow, jones etc

 

we need to get this young team playing together at every possible chance, how many games has our best players under 21 played together?