3 hours ago, Pates said:

Agreed, there was word that Gawn was training hard to put his hand up for the Dogs game but I'd be leaning towards giving him one more week to be sure. Bring Spencer in, he's had his VFL game to get a bit of match fitness.

Interesting to see that when the ruck taps start to become draws our ball winners are very good at digging it out.

I know he's not on the match committee but Jackson said Hogan was still a couple of weeks away. Who knows anymore!

Bugg had an ineffectual day and missed another soda which killed our momentum and started Collingwood's run. I'd like to see him dropped but we'll see, he actually gets himself in good spots but his goal kicking is deplorable.

He also started our run with 3 assists

Reckon Bugg's a nasty little irritant that bobs up at crucial times. 

Could be a Fraser Murphy. 

Love him in a final. 

3 hours ago, radar said:

Reckon Bugg's a nasty little irritant that bobs up at crucial times. 

Could be a Fraser Murphy. 

Love him in a final. 

I like him as a half forward but he is extremely wasteful.

At the moment he cannot nail a set shot from 35 straight in front.  It hurts and kills momentum.  

I think with the six day break against a team that's had a ten day break, it would be imperative that we bring in at least three or four new faces to freshen up the team for the run of games ahead. 

Gawn, Stretch and Wagner would all be good 'ins'.

3 hours ago, Stretch Johnson said:

I like him as a half forward but he is extremely wasteful.

At the moment he cannot nail a set shot from 35 straight in front.  It hurts and kills momentum.  

Playing a Puopolo type role but just doesn't get the runs on the board at the moment. If he can hold those marks he flys for and convert in front of goal he would instantly become a regular 22.

Gawn in. U don't play A graders in reserves.

He may not have the legs to play ruck all day so he plays more forward. 40-60 with pedo.

Wagner in. 

Out: bugg. Missing gimmes in front of goals are deflating n momentum changers. 

Anb. 

 

23 minutes ago, jacey said:

Gawn in. U don't play A graders in reserves.

You might if it's seen as part of his rehab...

I would rather us be conservative with Max rather than have him break down and if that means running him at Casey on managed time then so be it.

11 hours ago, dee-tox said:

Weird isn't it. Bernie tags Sloane and gets plaudits. Melksham does the same to Pendlebury and is in line to be dropped! Talk about unconscious bias! 

I will watch the replay today but did not note the tag. I noted he was playing deep forward in the last. If that was his role agree won't get dropped. 

1 hour ago, Blistering said:

I think with the six day break against a team that's had a ten day break, it would be imperative that we bring in at least three or four new faces to freshen up the team for the run of games ahead. 

Gawn, Stretch and Wagner would all be good 'ins'.

I expect the player management will come the second week not the third. Etihad v Domain need very different make ups. 

13 hours ago, Wiseblood said:

Going by what PJ had to say pre-game, Hogan won't play this week and may not play the following week either.

I'd only make a change if Gawn is ready to return.  I don't think Spencer changes the needle enough to bring him in, so if Gawn is ready then he gets a gig with someone like Harmes (?) missing out (I don't necessarily think it will be him, just an example).  

Otherwise I'd say we make no change.

I think today showed quite clearly that we really need a genuine ruckman. Probably for the first time since Gawn/Spencer went down we were really hurt in the middle and mostly explained our poor first half. If Max is not ready, then we should definitely play Spencil this week IMHO. 

11 hours ago, Petraccattack said:

 

In -  Gawn

Out - Neal Bullen (22 ineffective touches, constantly bad decision making)

22 p's - 13 contested and 6 tackle as a half forward.  Why would he get dropped? 

2 hours ago, McQueen said:

Playing a Puopolo type role but just doesn't get the runs on the board at the moment. If he can hold those marks he flys for and convert in front of goal he would instantly become a regular 22.

Yes but at least he brings them to ground. We got two goals from that yesterday.

3 hours ago, Blistering said:

I think with the six day break against a team that's had a ten day break, it would be imperative that we bring in at least three or four new faces to freshen up the team for the run of games ahead. 

Gawn, Stretch and Wagner would all be good 'ins'.

We have two 6 day breaks coming up.

18 June Dogs at Etihad

24 June Eagles at Subi

30 June Swans Firday night at the G

Player management will be critical

9 minutes ago, Demons11 said:

22 p's - 13 contested and 6 tackle as a half forward.  Why would he get dropped? 

He wont, it was a bad call. I watched the replay and his pressure was great, and he was involved in a lot of key plays in the final quarter.

His first half was horrible, but he turned it around big time.

8 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

We have two 6 day breaks coming up.

18 June Dogs at Etihad

24 June Eagles at Subi

30 June Swans Firday night at the G

Player management will be critical

Its actually three 6 day breaks, jnr.

Just to make things more complicated.

I would be wary of bringing Gawn back this weekend.  Etihad is notorious for being harsher on soft tissue, so I'd rest him for another week at least, and potentially the week after, so his first game back is the Sydney game on the MCG.  Same with Hoges.

Spencer is more than adequate for the next two weeks.

No-one's said it yet, but in our last 2 games our worst players have been both Lewis and Vince. Both stepped up in the second half against the Suns, but were horrible before that, and both reasonably ineffective yesterday. I know they offer more (in particular from Lewis) than just their playing ability but eventually we have to move beyond their leadership (younger guys providing this) and guidance. 

The usual names ANB, Harmes, Melksham, Bugg and OMac all played their roles very well yesterday and would be stiff to be dropped,but I wouldn't be surprised to see either Vince or Lewis managed for a game each over the next 3 weeks. 

39 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

Yes but at least he brings them to ground. We got two goals from that yesterday.

Too much is made of this "bringing the ball to ground" theory.

If you're a forward, mark the bloody thing and kick truly and all of a sudden 2 goals become more goals.

2 hours ago, big_red_fire_engine said:

I will watch the replay today but did not note the tag. I noted he was playing deep forward in the last. If that was his role agree won't get dropped. 

I have watched the replay. There was no way Melksham was accountable for let alone tagging Pendlebury. Viney spent more time near Pendlebury than any other player. 

IN - GAWN, GAWN, GAWN

out - who cares just get Gawn in 

Goodwin made two changes at half time that changed the game. Pedersen and T McDonald swapped roles, so McDonald did most of the rucking. He was no more or less effective in that role than Pedersen. But Pedersen going forward made a huge difference and made it much easier for Watts and Petracca to get into the game. To enable Pedersen to spend more time forward, Spencer should come in for one of Harmes, Bugg or Hannan (probably Bugg).

The other change was taking Melksham away from Pendlebury. Melksham had done an excellent job but it meant we were an attacking player short in the midfield. We looked much better with three attacking on-ballers instead of two. Which means I don't know what we should do with Vince, Lewis and Melksham. We can't play them all behind the ball. Which suits me, because I think Lewis or Vince are better up the ground anyway.

Nevertheless, assuming no forced changes, I would say Spencer for Bugg (or Harmes or Hannan) and that is all. 

25 minutes ago, McQueen said:

Too much is made of this "bringing the ball to ground" theory.

If you're a forward, mark the bloody thing and kick truly and all of a sudden 2 goals become more goals.

Our game plan is buit around locking our ball into our fwd half. If you can't mark it make sure it hits the deck where Hannan, Jeffy, Petracca, Bugg etc hae a chance to score. 

30 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Goodwin made two changes at half time that changed the game. Pedersen and T McDonald swapped roles, so McDonald did most of the rucking. He was no more or less effective in that role than Pedersen. But Pedersen going forward made a huge difference and made it much easier for Watts and Petracca to get into the game. 

Did something similar against the Suns as well, maybe it's a set play? Not sure if it's to throw off the defenders or the structures in the middle of the ground - maybe it's just happen to work out that way????

I'm nearly in favor of waiting until Gawn is 100% ready then bringing him back in (hopefully this week) and not making a change until then. The Dogs don;t have a ruck who can dominate like Grundy did, so might be better using the extra legs the current set up gives us?

29 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

Our game plan is buit around locking our ball into our fwd half. If you can't mark it make sure it hits the deck where Hannan, Jeffy, Petracca, Bugg etc hae a chance to score. 

I get that - my point is that Bugg is missing clear opportunities to mark the ball cleanly and goal. If he cleaned up these important parts of his role, the team would be much better off rather than scrapping for it when it hits the deck.

Big decision ahead if Gawn can impress on Goody that he's ready to go and that his "best on" last Saturday is indicative of where he's at.

Interesting to see some want us to ditch a small for him though on the fastest ground in the game!

To me they have to decide if Gawn can come straight back in and sounds like that's a yes.

And then it gets down to whether T-Mac or Pedo can do the back-up ruck role best and if they keep Pedo, then O-mac will go.

But my guess is that Pedo will be the unlucky omission. 

When you win, any exclusion is tough.

The guys pressing in the twos - Kennedy, Stretch, JKH, Wags and Weid will just have wait another week.

To be honest, our chance of beating the Dogs after their poor showing last week are extremely low.

However I like our chances the following week in the west.