1 hour ago, Nasher said:

20 possessions as a second string mid and a goal, and loses his place. Bloody stiff, but I can't see a way out of it. 

Welcome to the new MFC.

The beauty about having such depth now, as evidenced by these difficult changes, is that it gives us a much stronger foundation to target the A graders we still need to take the next step.

Like it or loathe it, just like GWS, we will need to move on some of our promising youngsters in the seasons ahead because draft picks alone won't get it done.

Please bring in Frosty and play him Full Back. Could save us millions on Hurley it turns out

4 minutes ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

Going to be interesting to see what happens with Dawes.

Thoughts on Frost down back? 

I haven't seen any of Casey the last two weeks but I would've thought Frost needs more time to establish form back there before coming up. It's probably the easiest position for his skill set, but I'm not convinced he's the answer to our tall defender struggles - short or long term.

20 minutes ago, DemonLad5 said:

Jetta and Tyson are In

Unsure on Pedo or Spence because it's in Alice and the 3 port rucks (Dixon,Trengove, Westhoff) will run Gawny ragged 

None of these 3 are rucks 'DemonLad5', they're all makeshift...a perfect game for us to get ascendancy in the middle and set the game up.

Roos loves Dawes, he will play

I didn't mind the Watts-in-the-ruck idea. A bit left field, but it got him up and about and in the play, where he proved damaging. He's also credited with 8 hitouts, so he wasn't completely outplayed. It also allows for a third man up scenario, which once again, isn't as silly as it sounds. Petracca managed 3 hitouts (!!).

As an aside, I find some of the comments here interesting. Often enough, Roos and co. are criticised for not trying things, but when they do ... 

The oh-so stylish Hunt always does a  memorable dash or two but his low disposal numbers continue to surprise .    I think Trenners deserves a final crack judging by his consistent Casey form .

In - Dawes/Pedo, Tyson , Jetta

Out - O.McDonald, Hunt, Michie/Wagner/Kent/Garland

Jetta to Wingard

Frost to Westhoff

T.Mac to Dixon. Very tempted to switch T.Mac and Frost. Dixon will be way too strong for Tommy.

Wagner/Garland to Young

At the other end I guess it will be Hombsch to Hogan, Stewart to Dawes/Pedo

O'shae to Kent , Pittard to Garlett. No idea who they play on Watts with Jonas to be suspended

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-05-22/demon-jack-trengove-puts-hand-up-for-senior-recall

 

OUT: OMac (omitted), Hunt (rested), Newton (omitted), Oliver (corkie)

IN: Jetta,Tyson, Pederson, Grimes.

If this game was in Melbourne Dawes would be a shoe-in but no way will he play his first game away up there. 

At least the AFL journo's are up to speed...

"NEXT UP
Melbourne travels to Darwin's TIO Traeger Park to face Port Adelaide next Saturday."

Might be a good time to give Gawn a rest; a little down over the last couple of weeks and we need him at his best for the Hawks in a fortnight.. 

 

8 minutes ago, Jesse Christ said:

Might be a good time to give Gawn a rest; a little down over the last couple of weeks and we need him at his best for the Hawks in a fortnight.. 

I reckon Max has earned one more match. More ordinary last week, ordinary this week, if he struggles again next week, I'd bring Spencer in. It might even be worth playing Spencer with Gawn. Rucks like having the position to themselves. It might make Max realise how important it is to remain consistent.

The other caveat in all of this is the potentiality of Gawn's finger/hand bugging him. It might will be deemed that Spencer and Pedersen can go against Port next week.

Nah I've made up my mind:

Out: Gawn, Hunt, Newton, Michie, O Mac 

In: Spencer, Lumumba, Tyson, Jetta,  Pederson 

Gawn and Hunt get a rest,  O Mac goes to the gym, Newton makes way for Tyson, Lumumba provides the dash, Pederson ruck relief and flexibility, and Jetta to kill Wingard again. 

 

 

 

5 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

Jetta and Tyson come straight back. Michie's now had three games and hasn't really taken his chance in any of them, so I suspect he'll be out for Jetta. If Oliver doesn't come up from his corked thigh that might be the spot in the middle for Tyson.

I'd be bringing Pedersen straight back as the second ruck/forward option too if he's ready. I don't want to drop ANB or Newton after one game each but they may be in the frame. I'd be looking at Harmes too, despite the four goals.

Harmes??? 4 goals 2 behinds 21 possessions and 4 tackles. 

No hope that he will be dropped 

Just now, bandicoot said:

Harmes??? 4 goals 2 behinds 21 possessions and 4 tackles. 

No hope that he will be dropped 

You might be right, but 3 of those goals were in junk time and he missed plenty of targets.

22 minutes ago, bandicoot said:

Harmes??? 4 goals 2 behinds 21 possessions and 4 tackles. 

No hope that he will be dropped 

 

21 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

You might be right, but 3 of those goals were in junk time and he missed plenty of targets.

A lot of the commentators make this mistake too. They look at the goals or the possessions, almost as if they didn't watch the game. For example, Barry Hall gave Harmes the two votes today. What a joke. Bugg and Stretch were far more consistent throughout the game. Credit to James for his offensive running in the fourth term, but as I said in another post, let's see him hit the scoreboard consistently when the heat is on. 

I think Harmes will be safer than Kent, but neither will be dropped.

Dunn or Frost in for OMac

Tyson & Jetta in.

An easy game for Gawn by resting him forward for half the match while Peder or Spencer ruck.  Or giving Gawn the week off & bringing Peder or Spencer in.

 

Wow, how tough is it going to be this week.

Roosy has already indicated that there might be 3-4 changes because of the six-day turnaround and that gives our super VFL stars Dawes, Grimes, Trengove, Salem, Vanders, Spencer and White a chance, although I can see only two of those getting a gig and it wouldn't surprise me if it was none.

The certain ins are Jetta and Tyson (providing his illness/soreness is minor). Jetta has a date with Mr Wingard.

Pedo is also a chance, but he is now battling with Dawes for that CHF/ruck spot and they are now under pressure from Watts for that role after his stellar game.

The fact that Port don't have a decent ruckman means that Spencil's only chance is if Gawn is rested and that is definitely a possibility given big Max has hit a wall the past two weeks.

The other issue is whether we play T-mac on Dixon or whether we again give the role to Oscar or bring in our 23rd man - Dunny.

It's going to be really hard, but I really hope we go for pace and smarts because that's what you need in the Alice and that's what caused them problems pre-season.

I also think it's time we bought back in some experience - Dawes, Grimes and Jetta will make us that bit smarter.

OUT: Oliver (cork thigh/rest), Newton (very lucky to jump queue today), Neal-Bullen, O-Mac

IN: Dawes, Jetta, Tyson, Grimes

B: Hunt T-Mac (Dixon) Jetta (Wingard)

HB: Vince (Gray) Garland (Westhoff) Wagner (Young)

C: Stretch Bugg Harmes

HF: Petracca Dawes Kent

F: Garlett Hogan Watts

Ru: Gawn (Spencer if sore) Viney Jones

Int: Tyson, Grimes, Michie, Kennedy

 

 

Should be a good game. They will test us with run and spread and their forward line looks dangerous with Dixon, Westoff, Wingard and Young. I would be keeping Michie, ANB and Newton in as we had great rotations through the middle with Viney not needing to be as dominant. In the heat you need fit runners and plenty of them. 

I agree Max and the coaches need a plan B. Watts was terrific today and they will be happy to have a plan C but he shouldn't be plan B. We also need an extra tall down back, so a resting ruck going back into the hole at CHB may help. Frost, Pedo or Spencer? or stick with plan A?

Don't drop any runners! 

IN; Lumumba, Tyson, Jetta

OUT; Oliver (inj), OMac, and anyone sore enough to need the rest.

7 hours ago, Moonshadow said:

Not a chance Gus will play next week. Doubt he'll play for the next month. Club has said extended break.

I wasn't implying that he would play next week. He will get at least 2-3 at Casey prior to seniors I reckon.

They won't bring Lumumba back in after missing three weeks.

I don't even think he trained much last week.

IN: Jetta, Tyson, Dunn, Dawes
OUT: Hunt, Michie, O,McDonald, Garland

What a perfect opportunity to jump Port by selecting two rucks?

 

Edited May 22, 20169 yr by jumbo returns

I think this is the week to give Gawn a rest. We need him firing for Hawthorn / Collingwood / Sydney.  The flight and game in Central Australia heat will take it out of him.  Meanwhile Spencer is well placed to step in and can handle the heat as he grew up in Townsville.