On 8/13/2021 at 5:15 PM, titan_uranus said:

I have to say I'm surprised. We know we want to play TMac, Brown and Jackson in the finals, but despite TMac being unavailable we're preparing for finals with a different looking forward line.

I accept Weideman may not be in form, but structurally I would have thought we want to keep rolling with the two key forwards (without wet weather anyway) for as much of the season as possible.

Of course, rewarding the players who went over to Perth and got the W last week isn't a bad outcome.

You/we don't know what's going on behind the scenes. Maybe Weideman has already requested a trade and we'd prefer not to play him as his head could be elsewhere, or maybe we simply don't see him in our best forward set up, even in a final.

10 minutes ago, A F said:

You/we don't know what's going on behind the scenes. Maybe Weideman has already requested a trade and we'd prefer not to play him as his head could be elsewhere, or maybe we simply don't see him in our best forward set up, even in a final.

Interestingly he looked pretty happy after the WC match.

4 minutes ago, bingers said:

Interestingly he looked pretty happy after the WC match.

That's very true. 

R22 there is no need to bring in Weid for 1 week to keep our traditional structure while Tmac recuperates.

 

Not bringing in Weids means the small forwards would want to kick goals, kick straight and bring defensive pressure.

Wouldn't be surprised if Pickett is a late withdrawal (Weids in), due to the effects of racism, the family loss earlier on, and being young in a long season, sapping him of some energy.

Then again, "soldering on" may be best, so as to not let the bigots overtly effect him.

After watching Betts, the bigotry does cause a mental toll. Get round him MFC, and help him play a blinder.

 

Edited August 14, 20213 yr by kev martin

I'd be very surprised if there are any late withdrawals. 

I also think they want to find a way to get Melksham's ball use into the side, even when McDonald is fit again. I'd say Sparrow will come out for him, but in the meantime, Tom will get another game and see if he can stake a claim for JJs position.