24 minutes ago, ProDee said:

Unfortunately, negative.  Jetta won't line up against the Saints.

Spencer won't play either.

This is the round 1 team:

B: Melksham - O.Mac - Smith

HB: Hunt - T.Mac - Vince

C: Lewis - Viney - Salem

HF: Petracca - Hogan - Kent

FF: Garlett - Weideman - Watts

FOLL: Gawn - Oliver - Jones

INT: Stretch - Brayshaw - Tyson - Bugg

EMG: Harmes - Spencer - Trengove

Thanks for announcing the team early Pro.

Hand over the lotto numbers when you have time.

2 minutes ago, Biffen said:

Thanks for announcing the team early Pro.

Hand over the lotto numbers when you have time.

You'd lose it within a year of winning it.

So no.

39 minutes ago, ProDee said:

Unfortunately, negative.  Jetta won't line up against the Saints.

Spencer won't play either.

This is the round 1 team:

B: Melksham - O.Mac - Smith

HB: Hunt - T.Mac - Vince

C: Lewis - Viney - Salem

HF: Petracca - Hogan - Kent

FF: Garlett - Weideman - Watts

FOLL: Gawn - Oliver - Jones

INT: Stretch - Brayshaw - Tyson - Bugg

EMG: Harmes - Spencer - Trengove

Agree. I think we lose if Spencer plays. Better off trialling him at the G'.

I'd also swap pedo for weid. 

Smith is a question mark in defense. We desperately lack good foot and decision skills down back. He only adds to this problem.  

Better off giving the role to trengove. 

On 3/13/2017 at 0:14 PM, ProDee said:

My biggest concern is still the midfield. which might sound surprising.  Potentially it's terrific, but unless some key components can take the next step then we won't be finals bound in 2017.

On the weekend the 3 highest rating players for West Coast were their mids in Gaff (145), Masten (125) and Mitchell (123).  Priddis and Shuey round out a very solid top 5 group of mids.  Melbourne's highest ranking mids were Oliver (123), Lewis (93) and Bugg (85).

Viney and Tyson need to take their games to a higher level and I'm not convinced they will in 2017.  Lewis and Jones can't afford to drop off (I don't think they will).  Salem needs to start stamping himself as a quality week-in week-out mid.  Stretch needs to elevate his game and Brayshaw needs to have more midfield minutes and not just be a 10-15 possession high half-forward.  Vince seems destined for a back-line role, which further robs the midfield; Bugg is little more than a run of the mill role player, and Petracca plays forward.

I'm as excited by our future prospects as the next supporter, but I have these nagging doubts whether 2017 will be the year all of these unknowns come together they way we'd like.  Oliver will become a genuine superstar and start making some serious inroads, but my concern is we're still short on the genuine midfield class necessary to play consistent finals-bound footy.

If the midfield pops it makes life so much easier for the back-line and forward-line.  A dominant midfeild will help cover the cracks we have down back.

Yep, I just wonder too whether our mids still need an extra 20 odd games in them before they can really take their game's to that next level. The level required to reach finals footy.

Viney (70 games) is in the right zone, as is Tyson (71 games). Oliver (13 games) will dominate this year and is one of those rare talents that doesn't need 50+ games under his belt before he starts to get on top regularly. But Petracca (17 games), Brayshaw (31 games), Salem (30 games) and even Stretch (27 games) may not have the necessary games experience to impact regularly enough in 2017. 

However, things can turn quickly and if you compare the amount of games the young Bulldogs had going into their top 8 season in 2015, there are some similarities. 

* Bontempelli (16 games) - Oliver

* Wallis (56 games) - Tyson

* Dahlhaus (71 games) - Viney

* Stringer (28 games) - Petracca

* Hunter (23 games) - Brayshaw

* Macrae (34 games) - Salem

While Libba (77 games) didn't play at all in 2015 and Daniel hadn't played a game. Let's compare Daniel with Stretch, except Billy is ahead in terms of experience.

Their younger kids were then supported by the likes of Murphy, Boyd, Wood, Morris and Picken. We have Lewis, Jones, Vince, Gawn, Hibberd, McDonald and Jetta. Admittedly, our elder statesman group is a little younger, but there isn't a lot between those two groups.

But as you say, if Dom (avg. 25 in '16) and Viney (avg. 26 in '16) can continue their 2016 form and improve upon it, Oliver, Petracca, Salem and Brayshaw will be able to go about their natural development and impact when and where required. 

Edited March 19, 20178 yr by A F

unavailable  garland  jkh  vandenburg king wagner frost hibberd

back 6 Jetta tmcd j.smith salem omcd Melksham

midfield 8   Jones  viney  lewis  hunt stretch oliver brayshaw tyson 

fwds 6 petracca  hogan  garlett  watts  Pedersen vince

ruck 2 Gawn Spencer

bench starters  oliver brayshaw tyson spencer

emerg harmes  kent  weideman

omcd and smith are the worries.

I guess we will know if Joel smith is playing as he will need to be upgraded to senior list 

I guess we will know if Joel smith is playing as he will need to be upgraded to senior list 

Joel Smith will be upgraded for Col.

Weid sounds like he isn't 100%, and they won't risk going in with an underdone tall (who doesn't provide a great deal yet)

Garlett, Tyson and Watts look like locks from the game on the weekend. Kent needs one more?

----------

FB: Smith (Membrey) - T.Mac (Bruce) - Melk

HB: Hunt - Oscar (McCartin) - Vince

C: Stretch - Viney - Salem

HF: Trac - Watts - Lewis

FF: Garlett - Hogan - Pedo/Spencer

R: Gawn - N.Jones - Oliver

I: Brayshaw - Tyson - Bugg - Jetta

E: Harmes - ANB - Pedo/Spencer

On 3/13/2017 at 0:14 PM, ProDee said:

My biggest concern is still the midfield. which might sound surprising.  Potentially it's terrific, but unless some key components can take the next step then we won't be finals bound in 2017.

On the weekend the 3 highest rating players for West Coast were their mids in Gaff (145), Masten (125) and Mitchell (123).  Priddis and Shuey round out a very solid top 5 group of mids.  Melbourne's highest ranking mids were Oliver (123), Lewis (93) and Bugg (85).

Viney and Tyson need to take their games to a higher level and I'm not convinced they will in 2017.  Lewis and Jones can't afford to drop off (I don't think they will).  Salem needs to start stamping himself as a quality week-in week-out mid.  Stretch needs to elevate his game and Brayshaw needs to have more midfield minutes and not just be a 10-15 possession high half-forward.  Vince seems destined for a back-line role, which further robs the midfield; Bugg is little more than a run of the mill role player, and Petracca plays forward.

I'm as excited by our future prospects as the next supporter, but I have these nagging doubts whether 2017 will be the year all of these unknowns come together they way we'd like.  Oliver will become a genuine superstar and start making some serious inroads, but my concern is we're still short on the genuine midfield class necessary to play consistent finals-bound footy.

If the midfield pops it makes life so much easier for the back-line and forward-line.  A dominant midfeild will help cover the cracks we have down back.

Agreed.  This week though we are not up against a "great" midfield. We should win in the middle and hopefully Max can get up and about and prove something against the Saints.

I actually think the key to our defence this week (we no doubt have major issues) is midfield pressure and pressure from the forwards.  I remember watching from the stands last year and when the Saints gained possession deep in our forward half you could see this unraveling in front of your eyes, it was hideous. If the same happens again we'll get beaten again.

We can win the midfield battle, and if we apply pressure across the mids and forwards (Garlett and Kent must play) then we can nullify their forward entries and cover up some cracks in our defence.  I think it will be a similar game to last year, hopefully we have learned from it

1 hour ago, GawnWithTheWind said:

Joel Smith will be upgraded for Col.

Weid sounds like he isn't 100%, and they won't risk going in with an underdone tall (who doesn't provide a great deal yet)

Garlett, Tyson and Watts look like locks from the game on the weekend. Kent needs one more?

----------

FB: Smith (Membrey) - T.Mac (Bruce) - Melk

HB: Hunt - Oscar (McCartin) - Vince

C: Stretch - Viney - Salem

HF: Trac - Watts - Lewis

FF: Garlett - Hogan - Pedo/Spencer

R: Gawn - N.Jones - Oliver

I: Brayshaw - Tyson - Bugg - Jetta

E: Harmes - ANB - Pedo/Spencer

Inside word or your opinion??

Can anyone tell me where White is in his preparation? He may be the rookie upgrade for Garland as a backman. He has played a bit more than Smith and may have played on members (unsuccessfully) last season. 

I think Pederson will play as a swingman forward and back.

5 minutes ago, Devil is in the Detail said:

Inside word or your opinion??

Rumblings more than confirmed inside word. We don't leak too much anymore

On 2/28/2017 at 7:02 PM, ProDee said:

Spencer won't play.

Goodwin isn't stupid.

I don't sethe correlation between Goodwins intelligence and Spencer playing or not!!

On 13/03/2017 at 0:14 PM, ProDee said:

My biggest concern is still the midfield. which might sound surprising.  Potentially it's terrific, but unless some key components can take the next step then we won't be finals bound in 2017.

On the weekend the 3 highest rating players for West Coast were their mids in Gaff (145), Masten (125) and Mitchell (123).  Priddis and Shuey round out a very solid top 5 group of mids.  Melbourne's highest ranking mids were Oliver (123), Lewis (93) and Bugg (85).

Viney and Tyson need to take their games to a higher level and I'm not convinced they will in 2017.  Lewis and Jones can't afford to drop off (I don't think they will).  Salem needs to start stamping himself as a quality week-in week-out mid.  Stretch needs to elevate his game and Brayshaw needs to have more midfield minutes and not just be a 10-15 possession high half-forward.  Vince seems destined for a back-line role, which further robs the midfield; Bugg is little more than a run of the mill role player, and Petracca plays forward.

I'm as excited by our future prospects as the next supporter, but I have these nagging doubts whether 2017 will be the year all of these unknowns come together they way we'd like.  Oliver will become a genuine superstar and start making some serious inroads, but my concern is we're still short on the genuine midfield class necessary to play consistent finals-bound footy.

If the midfield pops it makes life so much easier for the back-line and forward-line.  A dominant midfeild will help cover the cracks we have down back.

Gaff and Masten are the Eagles wingers. Mitchell racked up a lot of his touches away from the stoppages, rolling in to his spot at half back and using the ball. I think those rating numbers and the possession totals came from the Eagles outside ball use. So our mids weren't really beaten for the ball. We won the contested possession by 11.

The question I have is: is that because our midfielders weren't working hard enough to defend or is the problem elsewhere? Having Oliver + Salem (inexperienced centre square mids), a first up Dom Tyson and not tagging in the midfield it didn't surprise me that Mitchell racked up heaps of ball. But Masten and Gaff getting so much of it did surprise me when I'd say Stretch and Bugg are two of our better defensively minded mids - they run hard both ways.

I'd probably blame it:
50% on bad turnovers that left us horribly out of position and let the Eagles sweep the ball straight down the ground for scores
50% on a lack of midfield and forward line pressure of which some blame is on the mids and some (maybe more) blame is on the forwards. 

I definitely agree that our midfield has to carry the side now and Tyson and Viney have to step up and play consistently well. When they both played well last year the team was at it's best. 

54 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

I'd probably blame it:
50% on bad turnovers that left us horribly out of position and let the Eagles sweep the ball straight down the ground for scores
50% on a lack of midfield and forward line pressure of which some blame is on the mids and some (maybe more) blame is on the forwards. 

Agree with this - we turned it over going into our forward line far too much - we've got to fix this on Saturday.  Hunt played very well but he turned it over - a bit like JJ's GF game.  Tyson, Vince, even Lewis as other have observed - all turned it over.

Goodwin commented on our lack of fwd 50 pressure.  There's no way Spencer AND Weed will play versus the Saints IMO and that should help us with forward pressure, in theory Spencer should be OK with this because despite common opinion he's not slow, the main issue is he's not agile, there's certainly no issue with his commitment and aggression, that's why I wouldn't be surprised to see him play.  Garlett can help in this area - if he's switched on.

Edited March 20, 20178 yr by Fifty-5

How badly do we want it?

I think the boys will surprise with a relentless attack on the ball, and Goodwin will have them primed for a result in our favour.

The team I suspect we will see:

FF        Garlett         Weids     ANB/Harmes

HF       Watts         Hogan          Petracca

C         Tyson          Viney           Lewis

RR        Jones         Gawn           Oliver

HB        Hunt           Tmac           Vince     

FB       Stretch        OMac         Melksham

I/C     Brayshaw     Salem    Bugg      Spencer

 

12 minutes ago, Skuit said:

The team I suspect we will see:

FF        Garlett         Weids     ANB/Harmes

 

HF       Watts         Hogan          Petracca

 

 

 

C         Tyson          Viney           Lewis

 

RR        Jones         Gawn           Oliver

 

HB        Hunt           Tmac           Vince     

 

FB       Stretch        OMac         Melksham

 

 

 

I/C     Brayshaw     Salem    Bugg      Spencer

 

The reason I asked if you were from SA a while back is because you reverse the order we Victorians expect sides to be named.

We start at the top with the defence.

Your style is very off-putting and contrary to what we've had for 100+ years.

Others won't care and I could name them, but for me it's annoying..  

I wholeheartedly agree.

Teams should always be defenders thru to emergencies!

10 minutes ago, ProDee said:

The reason I asked if you were from SA a while back is because you reverse the order we Victorians expect sides to be named.

We start at the top with the defence.

Your style is very off-putting and contrary to what we've had for 100+ years.

Others won't care and I could name them, but for me it's annoying..  

My apologies. Hold the ALT and CTRL key and then press the down arrow.

The Horlicks brigade have made their preferences known to us.

I would like Hogan to begin at fullback and Tom Mac at Full Forward.

Just to throw them off dinner.

If we name Spencer it means we are in for a cage match. It gives the impression it will be a down to the bone, knock 'em down affair.

I dont want anyone (Weiderman) in for neatness or experience. I want the [censored] throttle.

 

11 minutes ago, Franky_31 said:

If we name Spencer it means we are in for a cage match. It gives the impression it will be a down to the bone, knock 'em down affair.

I dont want anyone (Weiderman) in for neatness or experience. I want the [censored] throttle.

 

Yeah, bring back this guy.

Dont lay that on me bub. You pick your team I'll pick mine. But stopping the G-train was IIRC the last time we won a final.

Could post this in any number of threads that relate to Watts but it is primarily about selections this week. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-03-21/watts-happening-no-clue-from-demons-coach

Goodwin makes an interesting comment about whether to go with tall or not so tall forward line this week.  That will determine whether Weideman and Spencer play.

Garlett, Watts, Kent, Smith in the mix.  No mention of Jetta so I would guess unlikely. 

Coach not particularly upbeat on Watts '..he is slowly improving...'  The troubling part of the club's preseason Watts commentary is there has been precious little public confidence in him. Not sure Goodwin's big stick of non-selection is the way to motivate him (or any player).   

He could just say Watts is in the mix and leave it at that.  Why add the 'slowly improving'... Can't see the benefit of Goodwin persisting with his public 'slow burn' of Watts.