21 minutes ago, DubDee said:

Good points but with Port's fwd line being smallish and no Dixon, I reckon May, Tommo, Lever and Smith is too tall

The other way to look at it is, if the mids put on good pressure up the field the Power will struggle to bring the ball to ground with May, Tommo, Lever and Smith all intercept marking.

Ken Kinkley has advised that Clurey will play but that Gray will miss.

17 minutes ago, one_demon said:

I wonder if Goodwin won't pick Brown which gives him an opportunity to see if Weideman can back up last week's good game before he considers dropping McDonald.

Hopefully Goodwin isn't a coward

1 hour ago, Demon3 said:

Interesting that Robbie Gray wont be available for selection coming off H&S protocols.. Ill be really interested to see what they do with BB. Could 2 weeks off for him be a good thing , but will it halter his momentum, yet playing the same day you get out and having to fly is a bit of a concern.

Great dilemma to have.

Robbie Gray probably had covid - it can take 3-4 weeks in terms of full fitness recovery. BB so far is only a close contact (so hasn't had covid). He will still need to pass a negative test on Thursday morning to get out (so even if named in the team tonight, they won't fully know until tomorrow morning whether he is available - as if he was to test positive tomorrow, he faces another week in iso).

Just goes to show how good we are currently. With Brown, Salem, Lever and Petty all certain starters when fit it’s just a matter of signing them up!

Given the depth we have, and that we played as late as possible last year - I'd think we might see a few guys rested in the early part of the season. We've got the round 14 bye, so that gives us the last 9 rounds to have the 'A' squad together as much as possible, but in the lead up to the bye, I think they might help a few guys out, both by giving certain players a rest from time to time and then also giving others on the edge a chance at AFL level to see if they can grab their chance or at a minimum gain some confidence.

So this week I'd be leave BBB out again - it'd be hard coming of minimal training and none with the group. While I'd also be giving Tomo a spell. Lever to come in (naturally). 

Then over the coming weeks, give May a break (either for Petty or getting Tomo back), send TMac for a rest (to find form) when BBB is fully right, I'd even consider letting Gawn or Dogga have a week off - not at the same time! - and see how Daw looks at the top level again. Viney, Sparrow or JJ could come out for Dunstan with Oliver or Trac to play mostly forward for a week and Bedford in for a full game with Kossie, Sparrow or ANB having a rest (Chandler might come in too).

I know it's always better to have the best 22 run out, but we need to make sure they are all fit and firing at the end of the year, rather than in the early stages. plus we saw last year with Hunt, then Smith then Hibbo that you need players to come in and play their role with confidence should injuries hit.  

Weed will probable have a quiet game with Brown back. Then we’ll see people saying he should be dropped. 

let’s give him a few weeks and see what he can do. 

Are we going to be playing Finals this year for sure??

3 minutes ago, willmoy said:

Are we going to be playing Finals this year for sure??

Computer says, in all probability, yes.

27 minutes ago, adonski said:

Hopefully Goodwin isn't a coward

That's a bit harsh

1 hour ago, A F said:

Smith offers us flexibility and he has improved his positioning, but there's a question mark over his positioning and disposal/decision making for me.

The coaches are a fan, we all have our own views.

I'm a fan too, but i see your point  about his weaknesses, in particular his positioning.

I agree that he will keep his spot until Salem comes back and then it becomes a battle, in my view between Hunt and Smith and hiiberd for the final spot in the preferred defensive unit.

If that proves to the case Smith has few weeks to improve on his weaknesses, and make a strong case he is the man. 

Tmac and Tomlinson both at the airport. I imagine BB will fly In tomorrow morning?

In the pre-Covid days, the AFL required teams travelling interstate to arrive a day prior to gameday to ensure flight cancellations and delays wouldn't cause a game to be cancelled or postponed. That was changed during Covid. Are we back to the pre-Covid rules, and, if so, does that mean an individual player can't join a squad on gameday? In short, if B Brown doesn't exit his cocoon before tomorrow, will he be allowed to join the team on the day of the game? I'll add that I've just seen a tweet showing Viney arriving at Adelaide airport, so I assume that means the whole team, without Brown, is now there.  

39 minutes ago, DubDee said:

Good points but with Port's fwd line being smallish and no Dixon, I reckon May, Tommo, Lever and Smith is too tall

Look back to the GF last year. The Bulldogs had a small forward line and we had the equivalent of the 4 you have listed with May, Petty, Lever & Hibberd playing. I don't think we were too tall. We need the extra tall defender so Lever can zone off a smaller forward to take intercepts. If we drop a defender for Lever we need to keep Brayshaw on the HBF to keep our 7 defenders. He did a great job last week, but with Lever back we don't need him to play that role and he goes back to the wing. Looking slightly longer term Petty comes in for Tommo, Smith probably stays in, and mid-season Salem comes in for Hunt. For the many anti-Smith posters you will remain happy because it will give you a few more weeks to continue to critique his game 😄. 

1 hour ago, Sydee said:

A worse howler came from Jackson who dropped an absolute sitter uncontested 15 metres out which led to an easy goal - I'm not hearing anyone suggesting he gets dropped or suggesting he made a costly error  

The only player in our back six that put in a complete stinker was May - again there is zero commentary on him be dropped but if it was purely a question of missing spoils or giving your opponent 10 metres head start on the lead he'd be GONE this week. I love Steven May and think he is our best full back in a very long time but his most recent performance is one he himself would admit was well below the standard required

Accepting the mistake by Jackson, you are not comparing like for like. He is not being picked as a defender. Of course his defensive skills are part of his all-round game. No-one's suggesting anyone gets dropped because they missed one mark in one specific game.

Your criticism of May is unfair IMV. The reason those goals were kicked on him was largely because there was acres of space for Peter Wright to lead into and insufficient pressure on the kicker. Normally another defender would be filling that space. For whatever reason that didn't happen. He was not giving Wright 10m start. There was only one situation where a sizable gap occured and that was a case of May clearly stopping when he could see he  wasn't going to be able to make up the distance required tp spoil. May had the same number of marks as Wright and had 22 disposals to Wright's 10 (admittedly his disposals were inflated as I assume he took most of the kick-ins from Essendon's 10 behinds). Wright was working up and down the ground and played very well, he's very tall and a fantastic kick so on his day a tough opponent. No doubt Wright outpointed May but May did not have a 'complete stinker'. 

Interesting reading through this thread.

Goody has a habit of picking like for like type players firstly, ie role players playing the same or similar role.

Smith has been pretty good each week and no way he will get dropped, nor does he in any way deserve to.

Ben Brown should bean automatic inclusion.  He makes our team better and is a "proven" goal kicker.  He is not simply stuck in the FF role and gets around the ground.  Could he play Tom Mac's role better than he is currently?  Easy yes from me.

Tmac for BB is easy enough selection.  When BB is up the ground we have either Fritta or Weid operating in the forward 50 as the deep forward options.

Weideman could not be dropped after performance like that.  Has to be picked in the side.

If Lever is actually fit it would come down to Tomlinson/Hunt or even Rivers to get dropped.  I think Tomlinson will be the unlucky one to go.

Hunt had a shocker in round 2 but was solid last week.  Rivers has been on ok, as has Tomlinson so far but structurally our backline operates better with Lever in it.

Tmac for BB, Tomlinson for Lever.  

Selection will get tougher in future weeks when Petty and Salem are available.

We are unlikely to be so blessed with lack of injuries as we were in 2021.  Players will have to get dropped for lack of form at times this year...We can't simply go with our Grand Final team if they are not performing for long periods.

 

2 hours ago, Sydee said:

The only player in our back six that put in a complete stinker was May - again there is zero commentary on him be dropped but if it was purely a question of missing spoils or giving your opponent 10 metres head start on the lead he'd be GONE this week. I love Steven May and think he is our best full back in a very long time but his most recent performance is one he himself would admit was well below the standard required
 

If we're being honest I reckon May's had a poor start to the season in terms of what his opponent has done on the stats sheet.

Naughton - 4 goals/6 marks

Casboult (of all people) - 2 goals/9 marks

Wright - 4 goals/5 marks

Very unlike Steve May numbers and I suspect the absence of Lever has had a say in this.

On topic, I would say BBB won't be selected due to his last minute availability. Robbie Gray has been ruled out under the same circumstances.

In - Lever

Out - Tomlinson, Bedford (unused sub from last week)

 

Edited April 6, 20223 yr by Bring-Back-Powell

56 minutes ago, At the break of Gawn said:

Tmac and Tomlinson both at the airport. I imagine BB will fly In tomorrow morning?

Yep, he's not allowed to fly until tomorrow

10 minutes ago, Sydney_Demon said:

Accepting the mistake by Jackson, you are not comparing like for like. He is not being picked as a defender. Of course his defensive skills are part of his all-round game. No-one's suggesting anyone gets dropped because they missed one mark in one specific game.

Your criticism of May is unfair IMV. The reason those goals were kicked on him was largely because there was acres of space for Peter Wright to lead into and insufficient pressure on the kicker. Normally another defender would be filling that space. For whatever reason that didn't happen. He was not giving Wright 10m start. There was only one situation where a sizable gap occured and that was a case of May clearly stopping when he could see he  wasn't going to be able to make up the distance required tp spoil. May had the same number of marks as Wright and had 22 disposals to Wright's 10 (admittedly his disposals were inflated as I assume he took most of the kick-ins from Essendon's 10 behinds). Wright was working up and down the ground and played very well, he's very tall and a fantastic kick so on his day a tough opponent. No doubt Wright outpointed May but May did not have a 'complete stinker'. 

So let me get this straight - if you are selected as a defender in the team and drop a mark that results in a goal that is a big issue however if you are a ruck/utility and make the same error that's different. I honestly can't work that logic out 

On May if you could ask him directly I'm confident he would say his game was poor - the look on his face after the game said it all for me - he was clearly disappointed. He sets high standards for himself and the rest of the team. I suspect if Joel Smith's direct opponent had of scored 4 goals we wouldn't be discussing excuses for him. May's possession count is irrelevant he is primarily there to stop his opponent kicking goals

     

1 hour ago, Sydney_Demon said:

Look back to the GF last year. The Bulldogs had a small forward line and we had the equivalent of the 4 you have listed with May, Petty, Lever & Hibberd playing. I don't think we were too tall. We need the extra tall defender so Lever can zone off a smaller forward to take intercepts. If we drop a defender for Lever we need to keep Brayshaw on the HBF to keep our 7 defenders. He did a great job last week, but with Lever back we don't need him to play that role and he goes back to the wing. Looking slightly longer term Petty comes in for Tommo, Smith probably stays in, and mid-season Salem comes in for Hunt. For the many anti-Smith posters you will remain happy because it will give you a few more weeks to continue to critique his game 😄. 

Accepting the mistake by Jackson, you are not comparing like for like. He is not being picked as a defender. Of course his defensive skills are part of his all-round game. No-one's suggesting anyone gets dropped because they missed one mark in one specific game.

Your criticism of May is unfair IMV. The reason those goals were kicked on him was largely because there was acres of space for Peter Wright to lead into and insufficient pressure on the kicker. Normally another defender would be filling that space. For whatever reason that didn't happen. He was not giving Wright 10m start. There was only one situation where a sizable gap occured and that was a case of May clearly stopping when he could see he  wasn't going to be able to make up the distance required tp spoil. May had the same number of marks as Wright and had 22 disposals to Wright's 10 (admittedly his disposals were inflated as I assume he took most of the kick-ins from Essendon's 10 behinds). Wright was working up and down the ground and played very well, he's very tall and a fantastic kick so on his day a tough opponent. No doubt Wright outpointed May but May did not have a 'complete stinker'. 

I like your post overall, but I don't agree that Hibberd should be considered as a "tall" defender. At 186cm, he's 1cm shorter than Hunt and 2cm shorter than Rivers.  

34 minutes ago, Sydee said:

So let me get this straight - if you are selected as a defender in the team and drop a mark that results in a goal that is a big issue however if you are a ruck/utility and make the same error that's different. I honestly can't work that logic out 

On May if you could ask him directly I'm confident he would say his game was poor - the look on his face after the game said it all for me - he was clearly disappointed. He sets high standards for himself and the rest of the team. I suspect if Joel Smith's direct opponent had of scored 4 goals we wouldn't be discussing excuses for him. May's possession count is irrelevant he is primarily there to stop his opponent kicking goals

     

Agree many would jump on smith but the fact is we play a zone defence and that only works when everyone is doing there bit, unfortunately with Lever, Salem and Petty out along with Essendon getting some easy entries into there 50 the system breaks down. May plays from behind for that to work someone needs to fill the hole and that is usually Lever. I’d argue whoever is playing that role is more at fault.

Joel Smith’s athleticism gives him the ability to play small. Tommo has been solid - I don’t understand calls to drop him. I’d be dropping Hunt for Lever - he’s just not up to it and makes poor decisions too often. 

1 hour ago, At the break of Gawn said:

Tmac and Tomlinson both at the airport. I imagine BB will fly In tomorrow morning?

If he doesn’t that will tell the major story that the Wied/TMac combo goes around for one more week. If this match was on any other day after Thursday I wouldn’t have an issue picking him, but no training aside from at home, plus flying in on the day leads me to think the better way to go is have him cherry ripe for next round. 

Nightmare for selectors would be Tom having a big game with Weid playing solidly as well. 

Edited April 6, 20223 yr by Pates

2 hours ago, binman said:

I'm a fan too, but i see your point  about his weaknesses, in particular his positioning.

I agree that he will keep his spot until Salem comes back and then it becomes a battle, in my view between Hunt and Smith and hiiberd for the final spot in the preferred defensive unit.

If that proves to the case Smith has few weeks to improve on his weaknesses, and make a strong case he is the man. 

I expect Smith to come out for Lever, but we'll see.

They may decide Smith offers flexibility and it's Hunt that goes out.

Edited April 6, 20223 yr by A F

2 hours ago, one_demon said:

That's a bit harsh

massive grain of salt, old mate @adonskiis a bit of a joker

1 hour ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

In the pre-Covid days, the AFL required teams travelling interstate to arrive a day prior to gameday to ensure flight cancellations and delays wouldn't cause a game to be cancelled or postponed. That was changed during Covid. Are we back to the pre-Covid rules, and, if so, does that mean an individual player can't join a squad on gameday? In short, if B Brown doesn't exit his cocoon before tomorrow, will he be allowed to join the team on the day of the game? I'll add that I've just seen a tweet showing Viney arriving at Adelaide airport, so I assume that means the whole team, without Brown, is now there.  

On Gus and Gawny pod they said they're flying in Wed. 

Quite a conundrum. 

Smith's athleticism and leap have been impressive this season.

Tomlinson been solid, hasn't done anything to be dropped but still might cop it this week.

Hunt has butchered the ball a bit but still has a good run and carry (yes it can be off sometimes).

I don't know the answer. They may delay BBB this game but that only delays the decision a week and with Petty a few weeks away it's going to get even tougher for the selection panel.