I know Kent can play AFL footy. He knows it too.

The jump from Casey to Melbourne will get bigger the better we are.

I would give him another week. He looked scratchy and off the pace but so does Hogan and Max. nteresting to hear about the repeat sprints info, @Nasher - thanks for that. I would not have picked that.

I am also backed up by the improvement of Wagner, who wasn't great, but ten times better than last week.

If we can win get one off the SA teams and beat NM down in Tassie we will be shot to have a home final...

14 hours ago, rpfc said:

As much as I disliked Kents game - he looked a beat slower - like Wagenr last week.

Wagner stepped up from a F-rated game to a solid C so I assume Kent can make a similar adjustment. Stretch disappointed again. Smith has something about him I like but he didn't do much. Melksham works hard but has a bit of Simon Godfrey about him.

Keep Petracca in the middle please! He makes Lewis much better when he falls over and REQUIRES a powerful magician to help him get the ball out of the congestion.

 

Watts back please for Pedersen. I think we are tall enough but understand if MC see Watts as a small.

Tyson back for Stretch.

Unless multiple better players are coming back in don't see many changes. Ie if Watts and Tyson are ready not sure of the second out.

Maybe Stretcher would be the only out on form and Peds as the unlucky one.

Kent, give him another week to find his feet.

Smith, people can't seriously see him as an out. Footy dept have rushed him and Hoges back in for a reason, they see them as vital to get games into them after so long out. Vital for a finals campaign, incredible journey for a bloke who had played half a qtr of AFL before the weekend.

 

 

7 minutes ago, leave it to deever said:

In all fairness to the guy hes played about 4 games for the season. Hes been out for 6 weeks and struggling with a life threatening illness. Hes out of form thats all and was rushed back in. His father died as well. The mental challenge for him at present is huge. He has chased in the past. Not making excuses.....just laying out the facts. Yes it was a poor game but it was no worse or better than Gawns. He will improve next week as I'm sure you want him too. You'll see. What a season this has been. If we could just dump the Darwin game.

To me, its irrelevant that hogan only had 10 touches. he couldve had 20 for all i care, he didn't chase or have any 2nd efforts. Dont get me wrong i loved hogan in his first season but don't get caught up in the name guys. How discouraging would it be for the rest of the team to see hogan jog/walk when he should be busting his arse off. 

and gawn has been off but he is trying. hogan is running around with no intensity or effort. you cant compare the two. 

 

To be honest, its good to hear that im not the only one that has this view. id put him at casey until he demonstrates consistent defensive pressure and fixes his body language. we had our best wins without him because guys like pedo come in with spirit 

They couldn't drop Pedo and leave Kent in .

That would be a travesty.

16 hours ago, DemonAndrew said:

No way Hannan gets dropped

Key player at the moment as he can rotate thru the midfield

With it being in Darwin one key tall must go; Pedo draws the short straw

As much as it pains me because I'm a MASSIVE Pedo fan, we can't carry all of Hogan, Watts, Tmac and Pedo, and it's obvious Tmac is the new Gary Ablett Senior. 

If Tyson and Watts are fit, I would drop Pedo and Melksham

I know they won't actually drop Melksham, but I can't deal with him as a footballer. He is awful! 

3 minutes ago, Biffen said:

They couldn't drop Pedo and leave Kent in .

That would be a travesty.

I agree in a way, but it's a team balance thing.

If they wanna shuffle the deck chairs, they can drop Kent and bring in JHK or BenKen, but both are as ordinary as the former at AFL level. 

Kent was super rusty and his goal kicking is pathetic at the moment, but he actually worked harder than he did before he got dropped, so that's a start. He must know he is on thin ice, so I would give him a couple more games until Jones and Viney are ready to come back, and see how he goes.

Re: Hogan- he is very short of a run, you could see that. Needs time on the ground to get going. Lets give him 3 more weeks before we start having a go at him. Same for Gawn, both are running in concrete at the moment.  

Edited July 10, 20178 yr by Jaded

2 minutes ago, Biffen said:

They couldn't drop Pedo and leave Kent in .

That would be a travesty.

You're correct and i noted above Peds might be an unlucky one, its so difficult to pick. Will depend on who is back and Kent would be ahead of PEds to go out. But does he get another chance to find his sea legs.

I try and stay away from these threads as this year it is difficult to see who comes out and we tend to over think some of these things.

18 minutes ago, Jaded said:

As much as it pains me because I'm a MASSIVE Pedo fan, we can't carry all of Hogan, Watts, Tmac and Pedo, and it's obvious Tmac is the new Gary Ablett Senior. 

If Tyson and Watts are fit, I would drop Pedo and Melksham

I know they won't actually drop Melksham, but I can't deal with him as a footballer. He is awful! 

Kicked the winning goal...

3 minutes ago, rpfc said:

Kicked the winning goal...

Another victim of "did one really awful thing syndrome" I think (turnover when we were in control of the ball going forward).

Casey have a bye this week coming so not much use to us for playing some of those who may need a run.

If Watts does not play what do some think of the Weed in place of Pederson.

My thinking is that he could be an X factor in a game that whatever one says will be hard to win. He has also shown at Casey that he can go into the ruck which may serve to get him into the game. Something which he was unable to do at AFL level in the last few games of his recent stint.

14 hours ago, JV7 said:

Just realised we play Adelaide on a 6 day break they have 8.. On all of our recent three 6 day breaks the opposition has always had the maximum break possible.. [censored]

Don't worry about a six day break just had a 9 day break, with heaps of changes 

38 minutes ago, Nasher said:

Another victim of "did one really awful thing syndrome" I think (turnover when we were in control of the ball going forward).

Come on, you know me better than that. I don't jump on players for one bad thing. He is consistently poor with the ball in hand. Has been all year. Granted his tagging has been ok, but with no Jones and Viney we can ill afford turnover merchants running around the midfield. 

I know they won't drop him, but for a "senior" player he is very poor and in my opinion he isn't best 22. 

44 minutes ago, rpfc said:

Kicked the winning goal...

As did Lewis of sorts and he was still pretty poor. 

As I said above, his disposal and decision making is ordinary at best. He isn't best 22 in my opinion. 

14 hours ago, DemonLad5 said:

Playing TIO Stadium, small ground, no way we play 4 talls.

IN: Watts, Tyson

OUT: Stretch, Pederson

Could easily replace Kent with BenKen.

MCG 160 x 141m

TIO 175 x 135m.

By comparison, Subi 176 x 122m.

TIO is quite a big ground.

Kent a definite out for me

18 minutes ago, Jaded said:

As did Lewis of sorts and he was still pretty poor. 

As I said above, his disposal and decision making is ordinary at best. He isn't best 22 in my opinion. 

...and Lewis was pretty poor?

Do you really think Lewis was 'pretty poor?'

How did we win when one of our better players was 'pretty poor'?

I know Lewis has been down on what we expect of him and he made 3 awful mistakes yesterday with the footy but he responded on the weekend - he was better and provided enough out of the middle with ANB, Oliver, and Petracca for us to win.

I am not about to let warped perception drive the judgment of his game.

15 hours ago, The Swimming Dee said:

I did forget about that. In the 1st or 2nd quarter he lost a contest by slipping and going to ground.

Another habit of his is over committing to the contest when going for tackles. The player with the ball just pivots and he might get one hand on them. 

The shirking of contests though is unforgivable. He has done it on many occasions this year.

Kent has been around for some time now. I don't see him as a best 22 player or developing into one.

He looks so wooden and overweight.

But on a positive, kents celebrations when teammates kick goals is second to none. Quite possibly one of the best celebrators in the league - a very underrated stat!

I'd drop "fumbles" Lewis , "Chip kick" Vince and "Over run " Kent before anyone else.

Lewis' last minute smarts don't earn him a reprieve.

Why is Vince still on Kick outs? It's Hibberd,Hunt or Frost until Salem is back.

Kent is 10kgs overweight-there I said it.

 

Arguably our worst four yesterday were the inclusions - Smith and Hoges underdone, Kent off the pace and Jeffy (quiet, but effective when he got it). The same could be said about the week before, but the decision to keep Wags proved a master stroke in the first half yesterday.

I have one certain in - Kennedy-Harris. Apart from being 23rd man, the history of the Darwin game tells us that indigenous players lift and they love having the crowd behind them. Remember Jeffy in Alice Springs six weeks ago. 

A hard choice deciding who goes out for JKH, but it probably comes down to Stretch or Kent, although the latter deserves another go - he surely can't be that bad again and if he is, then you sort of know he's done for the season.

The only other changes will be forced by injury or either Watts or Tyson passing fitness tests.

Watts, if fit, presents a selection dilemma because we have to decide if we can afford to go bigger up forward than we did against Carlton, given it's Adelaide's counter-attack from the likes of Smith and Laird and Cameron that is their main weapon. That means that cult hero Pedo may miss for balance and the fact that it gets a bit dewy in second half up there (queue guy that reckons that's a furphy up in Darwin and that any slipperiness is caused by perspiration of players).

The Crows have their key bigs (Tex, Jerka and Maureen) plus Eddie, but fortunately we now have some major flexibility with Hibberd, Smith, Nev, Wags and even Hunt all capable of manning bigs via our zone. And we still have the option of sending Hoges down back to stand McGovern or Tex (please no Hoges on the ball Goody, he doesn't yet have the smarts for that role).

Highlight will be Bernie v Sloane part II. Will Tex get reported for wiping out Bern?

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Nasher said:

Another victim of "did one really awful thing syndrome" I think (turnover when we were in control of the ball going forward).

one awful thing? Milkshake was poor, 6 clangers but only 3 contested possessions, 50% efficiency. he does try hard in his defence but his decision making is terrible

I'd certainly drop him for Tyson.

Pedo out for Watts reluctantly

Luckily Adelaide's midfield is fairly garbage. Send Bernie to Sloane like in round 8.

We are 6-1 away from home this year. I'm actually pretty confident about this game

Edited July 10, 20178 yr by DemonLad5

1 hour ago, Biffen said:

I'd drop "fumbles" Lewis , "Chip kick" Vince and "Over run " Kent before anyone else.

Lewis' last minute smarts don't earn him a reprieve.

Why is Vince still on Kick outs? It's Hibberd,Hunt or Frost until Salem is back.

Kent is 10kgs overweight-there I said it.

 

Frost doing kick ins? A bit early for drinking isn't it?

2 hours ago, Freak said:

To me, its irrelevant that hogan only had 10 touches. he couldve had 20 for all i care, he didn't chase or have any 2nd efforts. Dont get me wrong i loved hogan in his first season but don't get caught up in the name guys. How discouraging would it be for the rest of the team to see hogan jog/walk when he should be busting his arse off. 

and gawn has been off but he is trying. hogan is running around with no intensity or effort. you cant compare the two. 

 

To be honest, its good to hear that im not the only one that has this view. id put him at casey until he demonstrates consistent defensive pressure and fixes his body language. we had our best wins without him because guys like pedo come in with spirit 

The lack of second efforts through the game might be put down to a lack of match fitness. Its the incident where he just gave up and I think left it to Garlett that disappointed me. I would have hoped it would have been a lesson learned from an identical moment earlier this season.

In that game, the same thing happened in the pocket and Hogan simply stopped, again Garlett fought on and managed to push the ball towards another player in or near the goal square and a goal resulted.

He was match fit in that game and I would have expected that with the follow up review last time, he would have him pushed himself on this deja vu occasion, even if his fitness was limiting his second efforts overall.

 

 

1 hour ago, Jaded said:

Come on, you know me better than that. I don't jump on players for one bad thing. He is consistently poor with the ball in hand. Has been all year. Granted his tagging has been ok, but with no Jones and Viney we can ill afford turnover merchants running around the midfield. 

I know they won't drop him, but for a "senior" player he is very poor and in my opinion he isn't best 22. 

I don't think he is best 22 either

7 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

Frost doing kick ins? A bit early for drinking isn't it?

A 30 metre run and a 45 metre floater gets us half way up the ground.