2 hours ago, praha said:

Give him a rest. Dunstan in. 

Agree 100 and 10 percent agree!

No question.. Unleash Dunstan and see what hes got!!

Edited April 13, 20223 yr by picket fence

5 hours ago, binman said:

Sure.

But all the above does not go to your implication my two comments were somehow contradictory.

Thought it was pretty self explanatory tbh.

You think the backline is doing fine, but you also want to change one of the key components.

Doesn't make sense to me.

1 hour ago, Lord Nev said:

Thought it was pretty self explanatory tbh.

You think the backline is doing fine, but you also want to change one of the key components.

Doesn't make sense to me.

Give it a rest Nev. He said we’re in “ok shape” down back and, in his opinion, we’d be even better if Smith came in for Tomlinson. The statement makes perfect sense. You don’t have to agree with the premise. 

Edited April 13, 20223 yr by Ethan Tremblay

6 hours ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

Give it a rest Nev. He said we’re in “ok shape” down back and, in his opinion, we’d be even better if Smith came in for Tomlinson. The statement makes perfect sense. You don’t have to agree with the premise. 

E-T-H-A-N T-R-E-M-B-L-A-Y!!!!Man-Of-Reason!!!!!  I like it

14 hours ago, rpfc said:

GWS have the ruck, Riccardi, Himmelberg and Hogan. I can see them having May, Tomlinson and Smith for those three and Lever on the resting mid or coniglio to free him up. Might be Hunt out…

You mention Hogan. Just a thought... Where do you think Hogan would be now if he were still a Demon ? Not sure though if he has the attributes to be a Demon these days. His physic seems to be elsewhere rather than fully committed to training and being a better player. 

Seems to be enough whispers around about Tracc to indicate that he may not be named this week. Could be good to see some other players through the middle and a different look.

Gee if we win without Tracc this week and Brown and Salem, then a 5-0 start is amazing!

I watched last weeks game again last night

Rivers looks injured to me 

Smith in Rivers out

Last week we won with Oliver and Petracca both being role players with Petracca spending a lot of the game forward.  The week before Oliver ran amok when Petracca stayed forward taking one of Ess midfielders who tagged, with him and out of the action.   

We need Petracca cherry ripe for the next game vs Richmond so if his knee needs protecting then rest him.  But Petracca on the field even if he plays predominately forward, stops the op from going all out on Oliver.

Whether or not he plays this week we should still win.

Dees by 20 points.

Edited April 13, 20223 yr by Lucifers Hero

Petracca has had two quiet games (by his standard) the last two weeks. It has been easy to put that down to intensive tagging by the opposition, but perhaps he's been playing with a troublesome knee. If so, I'd like to see him rested to get his knee right. I think we have sufficient options available to do so, such as moving Brayshaw or Jordon into the midfield and then filling the gap that creates with Smith (if we need a defender) or maybe Laurie if we need a wingman (even if Laurie plays forward and Neal-Bullen moves to the wing. Alternatively, Jordon could remain on the wing and ANB could be a mid-fielder for a week).

It's nice to have some options. 

Petracca being quiet and playing fwd more in the last two games looked to be primarily about protecting his knee.  But there were other benefits.

If I read the tea leaves correctly there is a bit of early season experimenting with roles and tactics:

1) for the Ess game Goodwin said they had some strategies for Petracca's role if he was tagged and how he could best help the team.  We got our answer:  Neutralised McGrath.  Oliver and Brayshaw ran amok.  vs Port tagging Petracca and keeping him forward diminished Drew's impact despite his good stats at a time when Port could have done with him in the midfield.  In that game JJ and Viney took over as prime movers from the relatively quiet Petracca and Oliver.

2) Resting the mids fwd instead of using interchanges and playing fwds eg ANB, and other players eg JJ for longer in the midfield.

3) Reducing Petracca and Oliver's midfield time reduces the crash and bash toll on their bodies.  iirc this was raised as a concern of the club, by a poster who usually has good intel (sorry forgot which poster) once Jones and vandenberg left so we recruited Dunstan.

If my reading is correct how good is it to experiment while still winning games.  Pacing ourselves nicely in terms of ladder position, building momentum and tweaking the game plan tactics.

So some silver linings in Petracca not being fully fit/being tagged.

Edited April 14, 20223 yr by Lucifers Hero

1 hour ago, Kent said:

I watched last weeks game again last night

Rivers looks injured to me 

Smith in Rivers out

Pictures of Rivers at training yesterday showed no strapping on the knee. I think he'll be fine.

Petty to play forward , he has kicked goals before . Weid out, needs more reserves time . Maybe Smith for Hunt or Tomlinson .

Looking at the TAB odds  for 1st goal Petracca not mentioned . Dunstan to be given a go.

I was in the boat of just playing Petracca forward for majority of the game but now I think he needs to be rested.

This is the same knee that he did the ACL and I think we just need to give him a rest and back out depth and also the likes of Oliver, Viney etc to solider on.

I want a fit Petracca for the reminder of the year and if it means taking a week or 2 off then so be it.

We brought in Dunstan for this exact reason so let's see what he has to offer.

The other advantage for Petracca not playing this weekend (or anyone else who might be sore) is that because our previous game was a Wednesday night and our following game is a Sunday night (ANZAC eve), there are 17 days between those two. Missing this week provides a longer than usual break to aid recovery.

2 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

I was in the boat of just playing Petracca forward for majority of the game but now I think he needs to be rested.

This is the same knee that he did the ACL and I think we just need to give him a rest and back out depth and also the likes of Oliver, Viney etc to solider on.

I want a fit Petracca for the reminder of the year and if it means taking a week or 2 off then so be it.

We brought in Dunstan for this exact reason so let's see what he has to offer.

Agree with this but, Ive kinda run out of patience with Weeds and would prefer to see Smith return as a key forward. I think Petty gets one more at Casey. The following week will be the real headache with BBB to also return!

2 hours ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Petracca being quiet and playing fwd more in the last two games looked to be primarily about protecting his knee.  But there were other benefits.

If I read the tea leaves correctly there is a bit of early season experimenting with roles and tactics:

1) for the Ess game Goodwin said they had some strategies for Petracca's role if he was tagged and how he could best help the team.  We got our answer:  Neutralised McGrath.  Oliver and Brayshaw ran amok.  vs Port tagging Petracca and keeping him forward diminished Drew's impact despite his good stats at a time when Port could have done with him in the midfield.  In that game JJ and Viney took over as prime movers from the relatively quiet Petracca and Oliver.

2) Resting the mids fwd instead of using interchanges and playing fwds eg ANB, and other players eg JJ for longer in the midfield.

3) Reducing Petracca and Oliver's midfield time reduces the crash and bash toll on their bodies.  iirc this was raised as a concern of the club, by a poster who usually has good intel (sorry forgot which poster) once Jones and vandenberg left so we recruited Dunstan.

If my reading is correct how good is it to experiment while still winning games.  Pacing ourselves nicely in terms of ladder position, building momentum and tweaking the game plan tactics.

So some silver linings in Petracca not being fully fit/being tagged.

Agree about all the potential benefits of trac and Oliver playing slightly different roles. 

Last season I was def in the camp of wanting the club to use the bye period to rest key  players who were banged up and/or carrying niggles.

And was surprised they did not do so as it pretty standard practice.

They really only ever rested Salem (and maybe Jackson a game?), who had a calf issue iirc for a number of weeks.

But again iirc, he was only rested for the crows game and came back in for the next game, which was against the doggies.

Maxy was the best example of a player who was clearly playing sore who I thought could do with a chop out and a week's rest.

In the wash up of the season it became clear a key philosophy of Burgess and Goodwin was not to rest or manage players, even those with carrying minor injuries.

Resilience seemed to be the mantra 

No reason to think we will change that approach this year.

Indeed the evidence seems to suggest they are not - rivers for example clearly looks hampered as does tracc.

So I doubt trac, or anyone else for that matter will be dropped if they are sore or have minor to medium grade niggles.

Edited April 14, 20223 yr by binman

Hope for no changes love the team balance at the moment,and getting games into our 2nd tier players which improves our depth experience.will the teams be up tonight

2 hours ago, COOLX said:

Petty to play forward , he has kicked goals before . Weid out, needs more reserves time . Maybe Smith for Hunt or Tomlinson .  Dunstan to be given a go.

None of those will happen

Edited April 14, 20223 yr by one_demon

After listening to Gus and Gawny I think Petty is a genuine chance to return this week.

Also 100% in the camp of resting Trac if his knee is worse this week than it has been and would like to see Bedford get a full game.

Ins: Petty & Bedford

Out: Trac & Tommo

I think it’s time for Dunstan to check in. 

We would be silly to rush Petty back without more time into match fitness. One more week in the 2’s ain’t going to hurt to build some form.

Worried about Trac and the swelling and hope it’s not one of those we need go in and clean up the knee type of injuries.

3 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Pictures of Rivers at training yesterday showed no strapping on the knee. I think he'll be fine.

The only training shot of him I could find didn't show his knees, more an upper body shot.

I was looking to see if he had strapping, have you seen a full body shot?

I can't see them resting Trac unless rest is going to miraculously fix his ongoing knee swelling, which sounds like something he has battled with for a long time.

Even at 50% output, his presence means the opposition is very focused on him and it allows others to come into the game more.

He can also easily rest up forward and we can give ANB and Kossi more midfield minutes, or even Gus and JJ now that Lever is back in the side.

Given Brown is going to miss again, Trac up forward working with Fritta is definitely not a bad option and it's another weapon we can pull in games. 

 

Heard on the grapevine Trac is out this week. Precautionary measure 

Im not sure why some folks continue to think Petty would ever play forward given we’ve spent the last 4 years developing and playing him as a defender. 

It’s not exactly Goodwin’s playbook to swing the magnets on the board - in fact I’d say it’s the antithesis of his coaching philosophy.