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Changes vs Western Bulldogs

Featured Replies

6 hours ago, DV8 said:

Outs from:  Smith, Lewis, Fritch, Melksham, Spargo, Garlett

Fritsch out? Are you on drugs? He is so good ... an absolute find.

Agree with Smith + Lewis out.

Agree with someone else's reference to ANB as a momentum killer. Dropped marks, turnovers, missed shots for goals at crucial times. 

 

 

 

 

 
8 hours ago, Nasher said:

What was wrong with Lewis other than the stray elbow?

Fresh air kicks to avoid picking up the ball

Turnovers

Edited by dino rover
Spelling

 

With Casey playing in 'heavy' conditions as well, it will be a case of wait and see during the week to see who pulls up OK in terms of recovery.  

The only real fresh player is Bernie who didn't play this week.  He has to come in for Lewis who should get a week off to help him recover.  If Smith doesn't get up then someone else will need to come in as I am firmly in the camp of not playing Vince and Lewis together in the back line. Probably Hannan.

I was chuffed for Frosty and his first game back last night, and I think as soon as Kent and AVB get some miles back in their legs ANB will come under serious scrutiny to hold his spot.

10 minutes ago, grazman said:

With Casey playing in 'heavy' conditions as well, it will be a case of wait and see during the week to see who pulls up OK in terms of recovery.  

The only real fresh player is Bernie who didn't play this week.  He has to come in for Lewis who should get a week off to help him recover.  If Smith doesn't get up then someone else will need to come in as I am firmly in the camp of not playing Vince and Lewis together in the back line. Probably Hannan.

I was chuffed for Frosty and his first game back last night, and I think as soon as Kent and AVB get some miles back in their legs ANB will come under serious scrutiny to hold his spot.

Good to see. A measured response. 

Honestly, 37 scoring shots and winning a game in horrendous conditions by 9 goals and some of you are calling for multiple changes?  Go and headbutt the nearest wall and think again.

Sheeeet, it’s hard to please some people.


Would love to inject even more spread and speed onto the G against the doggies.

Out: Smith, ANB

In: Baker, Kent

Out. Smith

In. Josh Wagner

Don't think Kent is ready so anb can run his 15k again.

37 minutes ago, juzzk1d said:

Would love to inject even more spread and speed onto the G against the doggies.

Out: Smith, ANB

In: Baker, Kent

Inject more spread but you drop our best and hardest distance runner and pick a bloke who only runs one way?

 
8 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

Joel Smith - thought he was ok down back but looked to be hobbling and was sent forward, where he did some good and some bad (getting in the way, what's new). Can't carry injured guys coming back from Darwin
Lewis - Same old, same older
ANB - needs a run in the 2's for his own sake, just no confidence right now
Melksham - another game without a tackle, just drifting around, needs a rocket put up him to get back to the form he was in a month ago

In:
Vince - in Lewis' role
Hannan - in for Melksham, playing up the ground using his run, his intensity at Casey today was excellent, a cut above with speed
JKH - in for ANB, couldn't be any worse
Baker - in playing wing/forward, move Harmes to half back as they did tonight

Not sure how may of the 4 should happen, and the safe option is probably just Vince for Smith, but there were 4 guys tonight and really for 3 of them over the last month who haven't been up to it.

 

Didn't watch the game but there is zero chance we make 4 changes when by the looks of the stats we absolutely dominated a team and if we knew where the big sticks were we should have won by 100+

I think Vince might come in for smith.

10 hours ago, Biffen said:

Since Queens Birthday our glaring weaknesses have been leg speed and defensive pressure.

Frost ,Garlett and Smith are pretty quick.

I thought Smith had a fair first half.

VDB got 16 tackles in the reserves.

Spargo goes alright but he has limitations.

Lewis had another mistake riddled game.

If Vince and Lewis aren't getting pushed out we are not moving forward.

16 tackles! What, was he driving a trail bike around the ground and flinging himself at everyone !


8 hours ago, bing181 said:

Lewis won't get dropped. Nor should he be.

Don't think there'll be many changes, apart from Tyson (big game today it seems) I'm not even sure who there is at Casey who's pushing for inclusion the way the likes of Stretch were. Perhaps Vince, but then for the whole season, people had been calling for Vince to be dropped so ...

Agree,whipping boy status being applied to Lewis is way over the top.

Lewis is the most over rated player on the list.  Sure he's got a history - but that's in the poos and wees. He is an exemplary pointer and we cleared Jack Watts to make room for that skill. He can make at least one glaring, goal conceding stuff-up per game and we dropped Bernie Vince to allow him room for that statistic.  Maybe we could drop Jones and Viney for his captaincy skills?

27 minutes ago, deanox said:

Inject more spread but you drop our best and hardest distance runner and pick a bloke who only runs one way?

Granted ANB is our best and hardest distance runner, but for me, I don't see how that translates into being warranted games?

It's all well and good to be able to cover the ground well and rack up the kilometres, but did/do you ever sit up and take notice of ANB's hard running and say to yourself "Gee, he worked hard for that possession?" or "Wow, look at that chase down tackle, he ran far to get to that contest"

Kent in his games he played with us actually played a very decent forward defensive role, and kicked 3 goals in both games he played in. He was doing quite well before he got injured.

11 hours ago, Biffen said:

Since Queens Birthday our glaring weaknesses have been leg speed and defensive pressure.

Frost ,Garlett and Smith are pretty quick.

I thought Smith had a fair first half.

VDB got 16 tackles in the reserves.

Spargo goes alright but he has limitations.

Lewis had another mistake riddled game.

If Vince and Lewis aren't getting pushed out we are not moving forward.

I keep saying it, Spargo is too short. If you are his size you have to be very good to make it at AFL level . He ain't very good.


1 hour ago, timbo said:

16 tackles! What, was he driving a trail bike around the ground and flinging himself at everyone !

That was in just 3 quarters as he was held back from the first.

As soon as he is ready I would say anyone of ANB, Harmes or Stretch may have trouble staying in the first 22.  Especially, ANB - really, really disappointing.  May run a lot and fast but has no impact on the game.

yanders was fantastic in terrible conditions,would love to see him staight back in the firsts to give a hard edge across half forward its something we lack.Doubt it will happen.For those who want fritter out,you are insane the most consistant promising player on the list

45 minutes ago, juzzk1d said:

Granted ANB is our best and hardest distance runner, but for me, I don't see how that translates into being warranted games?

It's all well and good to be able to cover the ground well and rack up the kilometres, but did/do you ever sit up and take notice of ANB's hard running and say to yourself "Gee, he worked hard for that possession?" or "Wow, look at that chase down tackle, he ran far to get to that contest"

Kent in his games he played with us actually played a very decent forward defensive role, and kicked 3 goals in both games he played in. He was doing quite well before he got injured.

TLDR ANB consistently does what’s asked of him, so her plays.

I don’t find ANB’s continued selection a mystery at all.

Goodwin emphasises the importance of good habits over and over and over and over.

ANB embodies those habits.

Surprise demotions when the basic stats sheet looks OK are habits based.

Until there are enough players who can be as good, or near to ANB on those habits, and are better where ANB is weak, he will continue to get selected.

What this shows is faith in the chosen strategy by the selection panel. This is a great thing* because it provides absolute clarity to every player on the list as to what they need to do so they are in consideration. Chopping and changing week to week or defaulting to raw talent over sticking to the game plan is a culture killer unless your list talent level is really high.

Collingwood in Malthouse’s final years had rules for talent and rules for others and it worked because of the volume of talent. Buckley wanted to move to a discipline and habits based philosophy as that’s more sustainable when the talent volume isn’t there - as is inevitable. It hurt Buckley and Collingwood for years when the talent retired or was cut, and almost cost him his job, but the worm seems to have turned now.

* assuming the strategy is the correct one!

14 minutes ago, old dee said:

I keep saying it, Spargo is too short. If you are his size you have to be very good to make it at AFL level . He ain't very good.

Gerard Healey would disagree......absolutely rates him whilst also acknowledging that he is only 18 with a lot of learnings & improvement to come.   Geez we “dump” on our players pretty early in the piece!!

did the ladder predictor and had us finishing 9th on 12 wins. no way in hell are we beating Adelaide in adelaide, geelong in geelong or west coast in Perth on current form. that's allowing for a win against gws as well which is a 50/50. our season is over and there's no real gain from these wins against poor sides now. 


11 minutes ago, Deestar9 said:

Gerard Healey would disagree......absolutely rates him whilst also acknowledging that he is only 18 with a lot of learnings & improvement to come.   Geez we “dump” on our players pretty early in the piece!!

Agreed. 

5 minutes ago, Dr.D said:

did the ladder predictor and had us finishing 9th on 12 wins. no way in hell are we beating Adelaide in adelaide, geelong in geelong or west coast in Perth on current form. that's allowing for a win against gws as well which is a 50/50. our season is over and there's no real gain from these wins against poor sides now. 

Current form? We just put in our most dominant performance of the season. The only reason this wasn’t a 100+ win was because the footy was a cake of soap.

We are good enough to beat any of those teams so long as we “bring it” on the day. The hard bit for this team seems to be making sure they “bring it” every week.

14 minutes ago, Nasher said:

Current form? We just put in our most dominant performance of the season. The only reason this wasn’t a 100+ win was because the footy was a cake of soap.

We are good enough to beat any of those teams so long as we “bring it” on the day. The hard bit for this team seems to be making sure they “bring it” every week.

have you not been watching any footy this year? we are good at beating the bad sides. (except for stkilda!) and got smashed against hawks, coll, richmond etc.  tell me who you think we will beat in the run homem 

 

I find ANB's missed executions frustrating as most but you cannot underestimate his work without the ball. You cant have a team of purebreds without some workhorses. You cant say you are a team built on behaviours without rewarding the behaviours. He once again led our distance covered at speed and many other repeat run acts. He does what the coach expects for all the time he does not have the ball (run as hard as you can for as long as you can) and that is likely the reason he makes errors at times with the ball. People should give up the gas on seeing him dropped. Aint going to happen this week and I suspect at any point in 2018.

Joel Smith went forward due to a hip complaint and he stayed on to assist our rotations. I would make no change unless injury (Smith for more run in Hannan/Kent/Baker) or stupidity (Lewis for Vince) or any who don't recover well. I did note that Harmes once again went to the half back as part of the rotation when Smith went forward and really looked the part. If we are to persevere with that then potentially whichever mid/small best deserves to play.

50 minutes ago, Dr.D said:

did the ladder predictor and had us finishing 9th on 12 wins. no way in hell are we beating Adelaide in adelaide, geelong in geelong or west coast in Perth on current form. that's allowing for a win against gws as well which is a 50/50. our season is over and there's no real gain from these wins against poor sides now. 

Disagree re wins against poor sides .confidence/morale plus finding team balance. I have not written off winning in Adelaide at all and WC without Darling and Kennedy are gettable?


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