Based on Plapp's report Kennedy will definitely play. King should but may not be risked.

2 minutes ago, martin said:

Based on Plapp's report Kennedy will definitely play. King should but may not be risked.

Not sure I agree with that. Not because Kennedy doesn't get a good write up, but I would have thought he was behind Melksham and ANB (both based on Plapp's comments) and Harmes (who didn't play as the held-over emergency).

23 minutes ago, bandicoot said:

Season over? You must have a rather pessimistic outlook on life. 

If we can tred water until Gawn and hogan are back then we can have a big push to the top 8 come second half of the season 

13 games left. We need to win 8/9 out of those 13 and rely upon others teams to to lose.

Of those 13 games they include WC in Perth, Adelaide in Darwin,  Swans at the MCG, Giants in Canberra and Bulldogs at Etihad.

Lose one out of the next two and it starts heading towards a mathematical impossibility.

The reality is that we need to decide how we are best going to go into next season with any form of momentum. If we happen to win enough to make the 8 that is great but it is now long odds .

The last two games of last season were debilitating from an ongoing membership viewpoint and cannot be repeated.

 

On an optimistic viewpoint our last three games... St Kilda, Lions and Collingwood are among our most winnable perhaps

Edited May 24, 20178 yr by Diamond_Jim

2 hours ago, Petraccattack said:

Do you wanna lose by 12 goals ?

Some here miss sarcasm. The point is that the players don't seem to find a regular diet of 4 points appetising without out something extra added to spur them along.

Edited May 24, 20178 yr by america de cali

In other news, how the fark are we such short odds against the Suns this weekend?

I don't understand.

 

 

Melksham for Salem is a straight swap for mine, given Melksham's VFL form. Not overly excited about him but based on form he has to come in.

I also like the idea of Kennedy for Kent, but I suspect Kennedy is on the outer with coaching staff as he hasn't played a senior game in a long time. 

Weidemann has to stay in the side, for structure more than anything. Given our lack of tall forwards at least he can provide a post to kick long down the line to. I know he and Watts aren't the strongest bodies in "down the line" contests but who else do we have?

Also don't mind the idea floated here on Demonland about giving Mitch King a run. He can play deep forward and give Pedo a chop out for maybe 20% of the ruck, whilst Tmac/Frost provide other support. Alternatively what ever happened to having a tall forward ruck out to the attacking 50 and let the actual ruckman, ruck the rest of the ground? 

Watts needs to play permanent high half forward to link our backs with forwards. He's no good in the ruck and loses his way position wise when he plays there. He can be a damaging forward when he plays there the whole time. 

Bull Smith surely cant come straight in given he has had 5 weeks out. Was he any good beforehand anyway? 

Be nice to get Joel Smith back too. He looked good in the pre-season comp and the 30 seconds of round 1. Oh and Gawn/Spencer, Hogan and Gus.

 

1 hour ago, Diamond_Jim said:

King coming in could be a possibility in place of Weideman

My only problem is that with his limited game time since coming back he may not have the tank for the Alice.

This season is practically over so it is time to see if King can come on as a replacement for Spencer next year.

As to the ever revolving trio of changes it is really neither here nor there. All have been given their chance and I doubt that any will show dramatic improvement although I still hold out hope for Stretch.

Melksham is the most disappointing simply because he was regular 22 in the Bombers team when they were an upper middle rung team. Would be interesting to hear why he was so often a regular pick for the Bombers and what if anything has he lost since coming across to us.

 

 

King is an under developed very average ruckman and if not for the ruck issues would be playing in the development league.  He is no way ready or does he have enough talent to play AFL

1 hour ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Not sure I agree with that. Not because Kennedy doesn't get a good write up, but I would have thought he was behind Melksham and ANB (both based on Plapp's comments) and Harmes (who didn't play as the held-over emergency).

Harmes, Melkshem, Kennedy, and Stretch are all ahead of ANB for the simple fact he hasn't fixed his delivery from midfield into the forward line - see the VFL report. We are already wasteful in that area and don't need him adding to the problem again.

Kennedy got a mention for his delivery into the forward half and is generally pretty clean with his disposal

8 minutes ago, stevethemanjordan said:

In other news, how the fark are we such short odds against the Suns this weekend?

I don't understand.

 

 

Because this season more than ever, nobody knows anything! 

2 minutes ago, Demons11 said:

King is an under developed very average ruckman and if not for the ruck issues would be playing in the development league.  He is no way ready or does he have enough talent to play AFL

You might be right. When the back up ruck (Keilty) has more disposal and tap outs than you then you probably aren't ready yet. Like that he is building though given he has been out so long and bigs do take longer

35 minutes ago, stevethemanjordan said:

In other news, how the fark are we such short odds against the Suns this weekend?

I don't understand.

 

 

Don't forget that odds are set taking into account the amount of money being held by the bookies on each club. With Gold Coast having so few supporters, there is always likely to be less cash backing them than us which would help shorten our odds. 

Out: Salem - Bugg - Wagner

Ins: Melksham - Kennedy - Harmes

----

FB: Jetta - Frost - Hibb

HB: Hunt - T.Mac - Lewis

C: Melk - Viney - Vince

HF: Hannan - Weid - Trac

FF: Kent - Watts - Garlett

R: Pedo - N.Jones - Oliver

I: Tyson - O.Mac - Kennedy - Harmes

43 minutes ago, stevethemanjordan said:

In other news, how the fark are we such short odds against the Suns this weekend?

I don't understand.

 

 

We're a better team than most here dare admit.

46 minutes ago, stevethemanjordan said:

In other news, how the fark are we such short odds against the Suns this weekend?

I don't understand.

 

 

Lady Luck setting us up and the punters for another loss. 

Edited May 24, 20178 yr by america de cali

1 hour ago, Diamond_Jim said:

13 games left. We need to win 8/9 out of those 13 and rely upon others teams to to lose.

Of those 13 games they include WC in Perth, Adelaide in Darwin,  Swans at the MCG, Giants in Canberra and Bulldogs at Etihad.

Lose one out of the next two and it starts heading towards a mathematical impossibility.

The reality is that we need to decide how we are best going to go into next season with any form of momentum. If we happen to win enough to make the 8 that is great but it is now long odds .

The last two games of last season were debilitating from an ongoing membership viewpoint and cannot be repeated.

 

On an optimistic viewpoint our last three games... St Kilda, Lions and Collingwood are among our most winnable perhaps

Correct.. we cant lose more than 4 games from here on. 

13 wins will be good enough for top 8. 

In fact, teams on 12 wins were able to scrape into the 8 in 2016, 2014, 2013. 

 

23 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Don't forget that odds are set taking into account the amount of money being held by the bookies on each club. With Gold Coast having so few supporters, there is always likely to be less cash backing them than us which would help shorten our odds. 

This, plus Gold Coast's last game was putrid, I know ours was bad but their's was significantly worse. Will be interesting to see if their rest makes any difference, normally you'd think that might help them with a bit of early energy, but it'll be hard to tell because we've started so badly in the last few games. 

1 hour ago, Diamond_Jim said:

13 games left. We need to win 8/9 out of those 13 and rely upon others teams to to lose.

Of those 13 games they include WC in Perth, Adelaide in Darwin,  Swans at the MCG, Giants in Canberra and Bulldogs at Etihad.

Lose one out of the next two and it starts heading towards a mathematical impossibility.

The reality is that we need to decide how we are best going to go into next season with any form of momentum. If we happen to win enough to make the 8 that is great but it is now long odds .

The last two games of last season were debilitating from an ongoing membership viewpoint and cannot be repeated.

 

On an optimistic viewpoint our last three games... St Kilda, Lions and Collingwood are among our most winnable perhaps

I've been thinking about this and without going into any analysis, it would appear that based on the current W/L ratio and the evenness of the competition, it's going to be quite possible to finish with 13 or 14 wins and be jostling for a top 4 spot. 10 wins might even snag you eighth possie this year.

One thing's for sure and that is that percentage is going to be really important this season and I'm glad that ours is reasonably healthy at the moment.

1 hour ago, stevethemanjordan said:

In other news, how the fark are we such short odds against the Suns this weekend?

I don't understand.

 

 

Because we're pretty good every other week. Last week was our disappointing week. Unfortunately that's been the trend thus far this year. On the brightside, it's better than previous years!

Based on the VFL report I hope Hullett, Kielty and King are given some consideration for selection. obviously only one of them could make it into the team but we need some talls and Weid needs a spell.  all 3 of those can ruck and then Watts and Pedo can spend more time forward

58 minutes ago, DubDee said:

Based on the VFL report I hope Hullett, Kielty and King are given some consideration for selection. obviously only one of them could make it into the team but we need some talls and Weid needs a spell.  all 3 of those can ruck and then Watts and Pedo can spend more time forward

Based on the VFL report I don't see any of these players being taken into consideration

32 minutes ago, Demons11 said:

Based on the VFL report I don't see any of these players being taken into consideration

Agree, and let's not throw Mitch King to the wolves just because we want to have a look at him - he's four games in after coming off a knee reco. 

Would love another option for Weids (who needs another pre-season or two) but unless they think Hullett is ready I just don't think we have any other options.  Hullett has played back anyway most of the year, only went forward in the second half last week.  

We will need a bit of run this week after a 6 day break and playing in 29 degree heat, which the GC will love.  There are a couple of no-brainer ins for mine - Melksham and Harmes.  After that, it's whom out of ANB, Stretch and Ben Ken we include and who goes out.  I reckon Ben Ken has been pretty consistent in the twos and his pressure and ability to win the ball could be handy (not so thrilled with his ball use).  

For mine, it's:

In: Melkshake, Harmes, Kennedy

Out:  Salem, Kent, Bugg (bit stiff, I know he kicked 0.4 but he at least got in dangerous positions).  Tempted to drop Wagner but think we'll need him at H/B with Salem out and he can also play a little taller than others

 

20 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

I'm leaning towards Harmes and Stretch replacing Salem and Kent.

Get Stretch to run off half-back and up the wings all day.

Harmes to provide minimal impact across half-forward which unfortunately is an improvement on the nothing Kent is giving us.

I'm not sure on Weideman. Given he's not impacting games it's hard to defend him on the "he's our only tall option" argument but I can't think of any exciting or obvious replacement.

Wagner's adding little but with Salem forced out I'd rather not make more changes than necessary to that part of the ground.

I would like to see weed as the get out kick. He is a good mark one on one but not in a pack. Would be better in the lead up the midfield forward as well.

The less body and congestion the better for him

 

My opinion is that we have a look at Hulett for Weid for a game or two. I just did not see enough from Weid over the last couple of games and I would like a look at Hulett in the team to see if he can bring anything to the table. 

Harmes for Salem and if you wanted to make a statement then ANB for Kent.

9 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

13 games left. We need to win 8/9 out of those 13 and rely upon others teams to to lose.

Of those 13 games they include WC in Perth, Adelaide in Darwin,  Swans at the MCG, Giants in Canberra and Bulldogs at Etihad.

Lose one out of the next two and it starts heading towards a mathematical impossibility.

The reality is that we need to decide how we are best going to go into next season with any form of momentum. If we happen to win enough to make the 8 that is great but it is now long odds .

The last two games of last season were debilitating from an ongoing membership viewpoint and cannot be repeated.

 

On an optimistic viewpoint our last three games... St Kilda, Lions and Collingwood are among our most winnable perhaps

But we know it doesn't work like this. We beat Adelaide in Adelaide which is a more difficult proposition than any of those "hard" games you've listed. 

We are capable of winning any of those games, just like we are capable of losing to anyone else.

19 hours ago, McQueen said:

I've been thinking about this and without going into any analysis, it would appear that based on the current W/L ratio and the evenness of the competition, it's going to be quite possible to finish with 13 or 14 wins and be jostling for a top 4 spot. 10 wins might even snag you eighth possie this year.

One thing's for sure and that is that percentage is going to be really important this season and I'm glad that ours is reasonably healthy at the moment.

Given that Essendon are currently tenth and have won 5 out of 9, there is zero chance that 10 wins will get you eighth this year.

13 wins should be enough to play finals, but it will depend on how badly the bottom few teams drop off towards the end of the year.