3 minutes ago, Lord Travis said:

I'll be disappointed if Lockhart doesn't get a game. I like that he's being developed as a small defender and think he could be a good long term option for us in the backline. He offers good rebound run, tenacious tackling, decent kicking skills and is one of the few small defenders we have. With Jetta and Hibberd slowing down, Lockhart is the next in line but IMO is already superior to Hibberd. I'd be playing him and Jetta in the back pockets.

In 12 months time I'd love our backline to look something like:
Jetta May Lockhart
Salem Petty Lever

with Rivers on the interchange as the rotating option. That gives us two talls in May and Petty, a third tall type in Lever who can go intercept or lockdown, two medium with good rebound in Salem and Rivers, and two small to lockdown and rebound in Jetta and Lockhart.

Great post. I thik you may have trouble fitting Jetta in as he slipping with Rivers or even Jordan taking his place.

12 hours ago, rjay said:

I don't think we did either...it was essentially a dead rubber as 'Moon' said above.

It was hardly a dead rubber. Both sides were playing for the win and the four points, all of which are pretty handy if you want to play finals.

One team built a match winning lead in the first quarter and sat back. The other team never left the starting blocks.

1 hour ago, Grimes Times said:

Jetta, May, Lever

Salem, Omac, Hibbard

Langdon, Viney, Tomlinson

Melksham, Tmac, Jones

Pickett, Weid, Fritch

Gawn, Oliver, Petracca

Int  Brayshaw, Harmes,, Bennell, ANB

Em Vanders, Smith, Lockart, Bedford

Thats a pretty good team. Bennell 1st game, Pickett 2nd game. Not too many changes. All those emergencies are 1st drop for me at this stage. I hope it isnt far from the team picked.

No Hore and probably no vandenBerg going by the injury report, but Bennell seems a genuine chance.

 

9 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

No Hore and probably no vandenBerg going by the injury report, but Bennell seems a genuine chance.

How can you rule out Vanders and also say Bennell is a genuine chance? He very clearly says they'll be putting their hands up to play

1 hour ago, poita said:

It was hardly a dead rubber. Both sides were playing for the win and the four points, all of which are pretty handy if you want to play finals.

One team built a match winning lead in the first quarter and sat back. The other team never left the starting blocks.

Nah...the season was called off and no one knew whether another game was going to be played let alone finals.

One team had the comfort of home the other was stuck across the other side of the country when everything was turning to s....

I'm not overly concerned with that performance.

This week is a whole different story.

12 minutes ago, ArtificialWisdom said:

How can you rule out Vanders and also say Bennell is a genuine chance? He very clearly says they'll be putting their hands up to play

I said "probably no vandenBerg". That's not ruling him out.

From the article corresponding to the video: "Aaron vandenBerg (foot), who has also faced a tough battle with injury in years gone by, has been increasing his training loads and shouldn’t be far away from a return."

To me, that doesn't sound like he will be playing this week.

 

36 minutes ago, rjay said:

Nah...the season was called off and no one knew whether another game was going to be played let alone finals.

One team had the comfort of home the other was stuck across the other side of the country when everything was turning to s....

I'm not overly concerned with that performance.

This week is a whole different story.

Not sure if there is sarcasim intended in your response Rjay, but I'm tired of hearing that excuse for the performance we put in.  The team had just spent the whole summer apparently working their butts off to try and atone for 2019 and get back to being respected.  They had pleanty to motivate them and play for.  If we are going to be that mentally soft to get rattled by the COVID distraction (which I don't think they were), then how will we ever stand up in finals.

That said, I'm not overly pessimistic about our whole season based on that one game.  We were out played by a well organised, established top 4 team on their home deck and they got on top of us on the day, but I hardly think we were disgraced.  Rectifying our own game style isn't necessarily something which can be fixed overnight during match simulation and a couple of practice games.  I'm happy to see how we settle down over a decient block of games before I call curtains on our season.

One thing is for certain though - we have a pretty darn fit list to pick from and take the feild, so if they don't perform, there can be no excuses in that regard, unlike 2019.

Edited June 9, 20204 yr by Rodney (Balls) Grinter

16 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

 But some good experienced players are available and every game is a must win from here on.

what was it before round 1 then ?

10 minutes ago, Bay Riffin said:

what was it before round 1 then ?

So long ago I cannot remember!

Having our 3 small forwards  as Pickett, Bennell and Bedford  would be pretty exciting.  Bennell is the silky skills we need kicking the ball inside our 50m arc, Bedford and Pickett bringing the forward defensive pressure.  I hope ANB and Spargo become back up players.

My team

Jetta May Hibbard

Salem Lever Lockhart

Tomlinson Oliver Langdon

Petracca Weiderman Fritsch

Pickett TMac Melksham

Gawn Brayshaw Viney

Bennell, Harmes, Bedford, Jones

16 hours ago, WERRIDEE said:

I've changed the side due to the match sim.

B: JETTA, MAY, LEVER

HB: SALEM, SMITH, HIBBERD

C : LANGDON, PETRACCA, TOMLINSON

HF: PICKETT, T.MCDONALD, JONES

F: MELKSHAM, WEIDEMAN, FRITSCH

FOLL: GAWN, OLIVER, VINEY

IC: LOCKHART(BACK), HARMES(MID), BRAYSHAW(MID), BENNELL(FORWARD)

EMERG: O.MCDONALD, VANDENBERG, RIVERS, JACKSON

Looks a strong side but sadly as we all know that could mean a lot or very little....

Considering the overall experience of the side and our opponent id love to see Rivers given an opportunity. 

B: Jetta - May - Lockhart 

HB: Salem - Lever - Harmes 

C: Tomlinson - Viney - Langdon 

HF: Petracca - Weideman - Melksham 

FF: Pickett - T.Mac - Fritsch 

FOLL: Gawn - Oliver - Brayshaw 

INT: Jones (Back/Mid), Bennell (Fwd/Mid), Vandenberg (Fwd/Mid), Hibberd (back) 
 

EMG: Bedford - Smith - Brown - ANB

Bedford for Bennell if he doesn’t play 

7 hours ago, rjay said:

Nah...the season was called off and no one knew whether another game was going to be played let alone finals.

One team had the comfort of home the other was stuck across the other side of the country when everything was turning to s....

I'm not overly concerned with that performance.

This week is a whole different story.

That is the most rubbish view of that game I've seen congrats.

 

9 hours ago, dl4e said:

Great post. I thik you may have trouble fitting Jetta in as he slipping with Rivers or even Jordan taking his place.

Do you mean Jetta in 12 months time? I'm pretty sure over the last 5 years Betts average against Jetta is .3 of a goal a game.

Bennell, Jones, Salem, Weid all come in for mine. Vanders would be great on Cripps for those calling for a close tag, not sure if he squeezes into the team just yet though.

Better quality across the park compared to against WCE but it doesn’t really matter if we just bomb the ball inside 50 –need to be smart and we’re still missing the proper link up player at CHF. Go Dees.

7 hours ago, rjay said:

Nah...the season was called off and no one knew whether another game was going to be played let alone finals.

One team had the comfort of home the other was stuck across the other side of the country when everything was turning to s....

I'm not overly concerned with that performance.

This week is a whole different story.

Better to show some real character when it doesn't matter.  So when the heat really is applied you're well prepared.

But judging by your tone anything less than a proper victory against the Blues just won't cut it. 

There's a few things that need to happen if we're going to play finals (actually contending for the flag is a whole different matter)

Leg speed & quick ball movement

Proper ball skills especially accurate kicking to position & space. 

A functioning forward line (the biggie)

A connect between the midfield & the forward line.

Clean clearance work with a dominant ruckman

A defence that plays tight and doesn't leak goals.

We've got issues with all of the above so we'll need to improve immensely,  right across the board.

And do we possess a never-say-die will to win?  In every game we play?

As always,  we live in hope.

10 hours ago, dl4e said:

Great post. I thik you may have trouble fitting Jetta in as he slipping with Rivers or even Jordan taking his place.

Did you just dis' my pal Nev??

You didnt just do that did you???

Nobody disrespects Nev on my watch.

Grrrr.

 

 

*wistfully thinks of Nev........

 

 

 

(Super excited to see Rivers develop though, i think he will become known as a draft steal over the next couple of seasons.)

48 minutes ago, Macca said:

Better to show some real character when it doesn't matter.  So when the heat really is applied you're well prepared.

But judging by your tone anything less than a proper victory against the Blues just won't cut it. 

There's a few things that need to happen if we're going to play finals (actually contending for the flag is a whole different matter)

Leg speed & quick ball movement

Proper ball skills especially accurate kicking to position & space. 

A functioning forward line (the biggie)

A connect between the midfield & the forward line.

Clean clearance work with a dominant ruckman

A defence that plays tight and doesn't leak goals.

We've got issues with all of the above so we'll need to improve immensely,  right across the board.

And do we possess a never-say-die will to win?  In every game we play?

As always,  we live in hope.

Bennell to play in five different positions....fixed

46 minutes ago, Macca said:

Better to show some real character when it doesn't matter.  So when the heat really is applied you're well prepared.

But judging by your tone anything less than a proper victory against the Blues just won't cut it. 

There's a few things that need to happen if we're going to play finals (actually contending for the flag is a whole different matter)

Leg speed & quick ball movement

Proper ball skills especially accurate kicking to position & space. 

A functioning forward line (the biggie)

A connect between the midfield & the forward line.

Clean clearance work with a dominant ruckman

A defence that plays tight and doesn't leak goals.

We've got issues with all of the above so we'll need to improve immensely,  right across the board.

And do we possess a never-say-die will to win?  In every game we play?

As always,  we live in hope.

Agree with all that 'Macca'.

I will give them a let off for the WC game but was bitterly disappointed on the day.

We made the same mistakes, nothing had changed since the prelim...but it was a difficult situation, a very difficult situation.

Made even harder by poor selection.

So...we front up again on Saturday against a team on the improve but one we need to beat.

We don't win it and win it well then we have big issues, such as the ones you point out.

A functioning forward line is the biggie as you point out.

Can Tommy Mac hold down a key post? who is the other tall option? will we persist with this stupid bomb the ball game? it must be part of the game plan no matter what Goodie says, either that or can't get his message across.

The defence should be a key for us now with May and Lever fit,  but I would pull the trigger on Rivers ...we need kicking power. Smith and Hibberd don't bring it. We will go in with the coaches favourite though. Salem, May and Rivers give some decent disposal from the back half. Oscar is a decent kick but doesn't get much of it...I worry about Nev's lack of pace, he's getting caught out of position.

Imagine going in with Smith, Hibberd and Lever...heaven help the forwards.

Harmes in defence is another who bites off too much and is hit or miss with disposal.

 

 

11 minutes ago, willmoy said:

Bennell to play in five different positions....fixed

And toss the coin.

3 minutes ago, rjay said:

Agree with all that 'Macca'.

I will give them a let off for the WC game but was bitterly disappointed on the day.

We made the same mistakes, nothing had changed since the prelim...but it was a difficult situation, a very difficult situation.

Made even harder by poor selection.

So...we front up again on Saturday against a team on the improve but one we need to beat.

We don't win it and win it well then we have big issues, such as the ones you point out.

A functioning forward line is the biggie as you point out.

Can Tommy Mac hold down a key post? who is the other tall option? will we persist with this stupid bomb the ball game? it must be part of the game plan no matter what Goodie says, either that or can't get his message across.

The defence should be a key for us now with May and Lever fit,  but I would pull the trigger on Rivers ...we need kicking power. Smith and Hibberd don't bring it. We will go in with the coaches favourite though. Salem, May and Rivers give some decent disposal from the back half. Oscar is a decent kick but doesn't get much of it...I worry about Nev's lack of pace, he's getting caught out of position.

Imagine going in with Smith, Hibberd and Lever...heaven help the forwards.

Harmes in defence is another who bites off too much and is hit or miss with disposal.

Yes we need to display high footy IQ with the ball in hand ... either taught and/or Goodwin needs to extract the best from those with those talents (notably Gus,  Trac & Clarrie)

And our forwards need to work really hard to create targets ... we don't have too many natural forwards but they can at least have a 100% work rate.  No excuses.

David Williams-like is what is needed.  Footy hasn't changed that much in that area,  rjay.

High work rate = positive results.

48 minutes ago, Macca said:

Yes we need to display high footy IQ with the ball in hand ... either taught and/or Goodwin needs to extract the best from those with those talents (notably Gus,  Trac & Clarrie)

And our forwards need to work really hard to create targets ... we don't have too many natural forwards but they can at least have a 100% work rate.  No excuses.

David Williams-like is what is needed.  Footy hasn't changed that much in that area,  rjay.

High work rate = positive results.

Fritsch is the wild card....the opposition will know this, but if the forwards work as a team then it will create headaches for the oppo...

We sure don't need statues down there, spread and give options. Footy hasn't changed that much 'Macca'.

Gus, Trac, Salem, Ollie are the class with a bit of grunt from Viney and run from Langdon.

Maybe some added class with Bennell if luck goes our way. A fit Bennell and a young Kosi will be a handful.

...but Goodwin has to show he can coach, the apprenticeship has run long enough now.

I know a lot of the talk has (fairly) been on Bennell, but Weiderman is someone that I hope the club is lighting a rocket under. He is getting to an age where potential has to be turned into results or we look at options to replace him moving forward. I would like to see a forward structure that utilises TMac as the focal point but Weiderman tries to create the second option that almost demands the ball more. 

Now has to be the time for him to deliver.

Really hoping that Jackson is showing some dangerous forward work, competition for spots can always help in these cases.

18 hours ago, rjay said:

Nah...the season was called off and no one knew whether another game was going to be played let alone finals.

One team had the comfort of home the other was stuck across the other side of the country when everything was turning to s....

I'm not overly concerned with that performance.

This week is a whole different story.

nah ...  A good team plays to win no matter

Different if we had a go and lost. This is still a damaged team to continue to blame circumstance is  just pathetic.