36 minutes ago, Skuit said:

Seems I was the only one wildly frustrated with TMac today and pleased that Ben Brown was waiting in the wings. I did think that Tomald played reasonably well in round one (with steadily diminishing returns ever since), so now I don't know if it's confirmation bias or not. Out TMac and probably May. In Brown and Majak. 

Yeah I reckon you might be on your own there. 21 touches, 9 marks including 2 contested on a wet day. He was critical is us connecting defence and attack. Worked hard all day. No way he is dropped 

3 hours ago, GoingGoingGawn said:

Out - may jordon 

In - petty brown 

jordon a bit stiff after a solid first 3 games but was barely sighted today, if brown isn’t ready then jordon stays, melksham seemed to attend a fair few centre bounces which pushed jordon out.

 

tmac to play as the lead up chf which suits him and brown and fritsch to play deeper.

Jackson floating between ruck and forward and Gawn to float behind the ball and help out the backline with Mays absence 

Yes, l think this is probably pretty right. Maybe playing TMac in defence some of the time. It is no doubt tho a weaker side without May. 

9 minutes ago, DubDee said:

Yeah I reckon you might be on your own there. 21 touches, 9 marks including 2 contested on a wet day. He was critical is us connecting defence and attack. Worked hard all day. No way he is dropped 

I’m happy with his running and getting to multiple contests. I’m sure BB will kick more goals but I still think Tmac has a place.

7 minutes ago, DubDee said:

Yeah I reckon you might be on your own there. 21 touches, 9 marks including 2 contested on a wet day. He was critical is us connecting defence and attack. Worked hard all day. No way he is dropped 

Did you read what I wrote in my follow-up post? Acknowledged the value of first bolded part, questioned that of the second bolded part. Anyway, no point arguing contrary perceptions. Be well. 

 

2 hours ago, RalphiusMaximus said:

You don't change a winning side unless forced. 

May out

Petty or Daw in. 

Straight swap for another full back. 

I agree fully, but think Daw a big chance to come n 

 

TMac won't play defence and nor should he. Hasn't trained there all summer and what is clear now is that our structures and systems are what is making us a good side. 

Petty to take May's spot, with the only contender being Hibberd if the opposition is small and we don't need another tall.

Pressure IMO is on Melksham, Jones and Jordon, and to a lesser extent Jackson. Jackson needs to start holding his marks as the pressure on the talls mounts with B Brown and Weideman approaching selection. Melksham IMO didn't do much to justify his inclusion and IMO Sparrow's commitment once he got in as the sub was really impressive (16 pressure acts, our 7th highest despite being the sub).

So whilst I'd be OK with Petty for May, I'd also be OK with Sparrow in the starting 22 to replace one of Melksham, Jordon or Jones.

Let’s put TMac in defence. While we’re there, let’s bring back OMac and Frosty and we can go back to the trifecta of miskicks, brainfarts and spoiling each other.

It’s not going to happen.

6 minutes ago, Nasher said:

Let’s put TMac in defence. While we’re there, let’s bring back OMac and Frosty and we can go back to the trifecta of miskicks, brainfarts and spoiling each other.

It’s not going to happen.

I’m looking forward to Frosty finally hitting some Demon jerseys next week!

Out - Melksham, May

In - Sparrow, Petty

Lockhart the new sub. 

Possibly rotate Jordan if he needs a rest, but he is 20 and has done 3 pre-seasons so I assume he is up to it.

People’s obsession with dropping Jetta is getting silly. 
Please name his opponent today and what they did. Please also name what Jetta did wrong. 
He is going nowhere on current form. 
 

Massive challenge for Petty and Tomlinson and Lever to cover May. A huge loss especially with Richmond coming up. 

11 minutes ago, Jaded said:

People’s obsession with dropping Jetta is getting silly. 
Please name his opponent today and what they did. Please also name what Jetta did wrong. 
He is going nowhere on current form. 

gryan miers, kicked 1 early and then barely got a touch

jetta's position in defence has been important all year

Did Harrison Petty play in the VFL ? What was his form like? There is a lot of love around here for this bloke and I never really understand what others have seen that fills them with confidence that he can perform at the top level. 
 

edit: having read Lever’s comments, he says Petty played a half in the VFL. If Brown and Weed aren’t ready after a half of football, why would Petty be ready if he has only played a half.

I’d be more interested in seeing Daw given the nod to prove he has something to offer. 

Edited April 11, 20214 yr by Kick_It_To_Pickett

Hibberd for May.    Hawthorn aren’t tall up forward.  No other changes.  

5 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

TMac won't play defence and nor should he. Hasn't trained there all summer and what is clear now is that our structures and systems are what is making us a good side.

Pressure IMO is on Melksham, Jones and Jordon, and to a lesser extent Jackson. Jackson needs to start holding his marks as the pressure on the talls mounts with B Brown and Weideman approaching selection.

Goodwin was so emphatic in his “No” when asked about possibility of TMac going into the backline. That clearly will only happen in a disaster moment with in-game injuries.

On Jackson, he is so important for in-game tactical possibilities he would have to stink it up massively to get dropped. Jackson’s presence allows Gawn to play whatever role the team most benefits from on based on the in-game situation, be it deep forward, rucking and dropping into the backline, or rucking and hanging about down the line as a bail out. Also Jackson is so different as a ruck to Gawn with what he brings at ground level that it surely must cause headaches for opponents to switch how they play. Weideman or Brown or TMac or whoever else could spell Gawn wouldn’t create that degree of disruption for the opposition.

5 hours ago, Jaded said:

People’s obsession with dropping Jetta is getting silly. 
Please name his opponent today and what they did. Please also name what Jetta did wrong. 
He is going nowhere on current form. 

I’m certainly concerned with the clear lack of athleticism. So even if Jetta doesn’t get exposed like the Cats game, which I think he did against Toby Greene whom admittedly is a hell of a player, you can just see Jetta is a further step off the pace. Jetta was never quick, but was agile, and that seems gone now.

I think Jetta has done quite well to adjust and is playing more within his physical limitations this year. Last year he was still flying for marks or spoils like he did in his glory years, but he was almost never getting pulling them off and worse often spoiled a teammate. He’s stopped trying those this year.

Finally, he has very reliable disposal but he is super conservative, usually goes sideways or backwards, has almost no penetration on his kicks and therefore doesn’t provide any meaningful drive or offence.

In summary, I think Jetta is doing OK but there’s lots of writing on the wall and he’s just hanging in there. There’s no replacement banging down the door though, so until there is or Jetta gets exposed badly a few times he will stay in.

I have similar concerns with Jones, he has really dropped off physically as you’d expect given his age. Even though his skills and decision making has been pretty solid this year, he just can’t apply the pressure that a Sparrow or Jordon or Spargo can. I recall one time against the Cats he looked like he was running in treacle as a Cats player streaked away from Jones on the wing. Jones probably would never have been able to go with him even in his younger days, but it was a very laboured “chase”. There are more options to replace Jones than there are Jetta so it will be interesting to see what happens once he hits 300 games.

I think the obsession around replacing Jetta (and Jones to a lesser extent) is about not waiting until these pretty clear things have really hurt or even cost a game before pulling the trigger. Both those guys ideally should be depth and injury cover, not first choice 22 IMO.

Hawthorn coming back from the west will give us an advantage. 

Hawthorn's forward line really isn't strong or tall.

Suggest, Petty will get the call up over Majak, for the May replacement. Though they could go with Hibberd.

One change is enough for a winning side.

Jetts, Jones, Melksham need to get more involved if they want to stay best 22.

Hoping Jordon just had a bad day and will be up for the Hawks.

Sparrow medical sub again.

 

6 hours ago, Jaded said:

 Please also name what Jetta did wrong. 

Nearly killed a bloke in one of the most violent tackles seen in world sports. 

There is plenty of life left in the old stagers, Jetta and Jones. We'll need to manage their legs during the season i'm sure but on the evidence of yesterday neither of them should be dropped for the Hawthorn game

8 hours ago, Kick_It_To_Pickett said:

Did Harrison Petty play in the VFL ? What was his form like? There is a lot of love around here for this bloke and I never really understand what others have seen that fills them with confidence that he can perform at the top level. 
 

edit: having read Lever’s comments, he says Petty played a half in the VFL. If Brown and Weed aren’t ready after a half of football, why would Petty be ready if he has only played a half.

I’d be more interested in seeing Daw given the nod to prove he has something to offer. 

Petty only played a half because he was the emergency in case any of our talks got a late injury yesterday. From all reports he's been in great form in the practice games and I see him as being much more like for like with May than what Daw is. He's much more aggressive and will hold his position down neck more than Daw will, Daw's best back games for North came when he played more of the Lever role. 

I think Petty for May is the easy change, but I could also see us resting Jetta to get Lockhart in the team. Jetta has been playing well but will need a rest during the year, along with Jones. So it might be better for him to rest now and be right for the tigers small forwards, plus I think we'll be need to be getting games into most of our best 28-30 players during the season so there's no fade out later on

Hawks will likely have one of their rucks resting forward alongside Lewis and Koschitske (sp?), so Petty makes sense. If they want to go with speed, then Hibberd, but I think Petty will get the nod.

For mine, go with the same 25, with Jordon being the sub this week. It was a good week to play Melksham and Jones, given Geelong are old, but I don't think we can keep doing it all year. The same goes with Jetta, but we're winning, so happy to run with it.

11 hours ago, binman said:

What doesn't add up?

Obviously it happens that unforced changes are sometimes made to winning sides.

For example a clear best 22 player coming back from injury (like buddy or melk this week).

Or perhaps a player breaking team rules, or some other misdemeanour.

Or perhaps after a scrappy win against an easy beat.

Or just coz.

But as a general rule, coaches are loathe to make changes to winning sides. It has always been thus. A mantra if you will.

 

You've just pointed out why it is not a general rule haha. 

Coaches are not loathe to make changes to winning sides, just cautious. 

Melksham wasn't best 22 last year, yet took Sparrow's place after a win. 

I'm pointing out the sillyness of a comment like that and how short-sighted it is. 

There's always room for change, even after a win. And you've mentioned but a few of the reasons why there's room. 

Edited April 11, 20214 yr by JimmyGadson

11 hours ago, Skuit said:

In Brown and Majak. 

Double negative.  Brown not ready yet and Petty a long way ahead of Majak.

9 hours ago, Travy14 said:

Possibly rotate Jordan

*  Jordon