Wiseblood

We were slaughtered in the last quarter, but you could argue Watts and our midfield broke even during the third term. As you say, big 6 weeks coming up and our midfield will need to adjust accordingly. We'll almost need to rove to their ruckman in the coming weeks.

Damn. Let's look at those next 6 weeks: Bombers - Have Leuenberger with Daniher pinch hitting. Hawks - McEvoy Crows - Jacobs and Jenkins North - Goldstein and Preuss Suns - Witts We then have the bye, followed by the Pies on Queens Birthday which Spencer may be ready to go for by then. The Adelaide/North fortnight scares me in terms of their potential ruck dominance, but the other three don't worry me as much.

This is something people are constantly bringing up. I'll preface my comment by saying that I would rather see Kent in the side than JKH, but... Kent was, from all reports, pretty poor on the weekend at Casey. He had the opportunity to go back, work on what was expected of him (which we assume is defensive efforts) and force his way back into the side. It sounds as if he didn't get close and played a very average game. You could argue that Goodwin was justified in dropping him if that's the response he gets. We need to send a message that you are in the side based on how you play your role within the side, not just on talent alone. We can't afford to gift games to players as it sends the wrong message.

Why?

Their role on the list isn't allowed to change over time? If Watts' role wasn't to play as a forward/relief ruckman, then he wouldn't be doing it. Clearly that is his role now for the club going forward, whether that be in the short or long term. If it wasn't then Pedersen would have gotten a gig or they would have gone with both Gawn and Spencer from Round 1. So while Boyd may have a few centimetres on him, he still plays the same role as Watts. Watts just does it better.

I've mostly seen a side dominate for large parts of the game using the above method, but I guess we all see things differently. And yes, I'm not happy with the brain farts we had against Geelong and Freo. Not much we could do about it last night.

I might be running with it as I didn't see it as a problem, but it's pointless carping on about it now I guess.

At the risk of being that loon? You've already got it sewn up with the above comment I bolded. Did you want Goodwin to go and shave Spencer's head, make him grow a beard and send him back out there to help the situation? Watts was stuck with the role as Spencer was injured. Or did you miss that? Goodwin and co. can't plan for injuries they can't see, and the only adjustment they could make was to have Watts ruck the majority of the game. And the next comment about re-structure is ridiculous. Why would they do that when we are just swapping one key forward for another? It would make little difference. Your stance on this makes little sense, but we knew that already.

Yes, it is hindsight, but I've said that enough. I won't change anybodies mind. And it's only a problem now as we've had injuries. If Gawn goes through the year as is AA ruckman again, which he would have done, then nobody cares about the ruck situation.

Re: Hogan - this was a tough one for us. You throw Hogan up the ground to that kick out contest and we win it, who do we kick to? Spencer going down robbed us a little of those structures that would have helped us. The one thing we did right with those kick outs is that we went the opposite side to Nankervis which allowed us some semblance of chance by bringing the ball to ground. Edit - just to add to this, Smith going down also robbed us of a target as well. He might not be the tallest out there but he can certainly play tall.

Nic Nat and Lycett were already injured and projected to be out most of the season. Our two ruckmen were super fit. Big difference.

Good Lord, John. Horrible call. He will never be our best player but he has shown terrific improvement this year and could become an important cog as a dependable foot soldier in the years to come. Can find the footy and makes tackles that stick. I won't disagree that he does make the odd mistake, and at the moment they stick out like a sore thumb, but he is doing far more right than wrong at the moment. I agree. Hunt and Hibberd provide the run, Jetta does the lock down role. It's a good mix.

It's only foresight as both have gone down injured. I can understand a few being slightly worried before the season, but it isn't something I'd call foresight. Again, if it doesn't happen then it isn't an issue. And for the record, I still don't see it as an issue. We could have a third ruckman thrust into the game next week who does down injured in the first 5 minutes. What then? Same scenario.

It's a moot point for us, dazzle. We're in Round 5 and we would still need to wait until the middle of the year to get another ruckman in, by which time Spencer will probably be back and Gawn won't be far away either. I'm not much of a fan of it as you'll have players coming in to system, mid-season, who have no idea about our structures and expectations. It will take a while for them to get used to it all and, to me, it's not worth it.

Of course it's a hindsight call, rjay. If Gawn and Spencer stay healthy then we don't have this discussion. They go down and suddenly we have 'gee, in hindsight, we're light on in the ruck division...'. We have two established ruckmen on the list and two developing. You can't plan for both established ruckmen to go down as they have. We don't know if Minson would provide us anything more in this situation than, say, Sam Frost. Minson couldn't get a run in a Dogs side that used key position players in the ruck instead. That's pretty telling. We just have to grin and bear it. Our mids are going to need to work extra hard around the stoppages as we won't be getting first use often.

Did he crack that crystal ball all coaches are supposed to have? How he couldn't see a potential collapsed lung coming for Smith is what really gets me angry.

JKH I get, and I'm disappointed for him, but it was slightly harsh on Smith. Would have loved to see him play out the game, but he didn't make it to half time.

Not a fan of the Hibberd choice I take it?

You keep farming this line as if you're some sort of brilliant tactician, yet I've failed to see you back it up. Tell us, coach, what we should have done.

That's not like you at all dazzle!

Nice save.

It's not, but thanks for the offer. Time to move on.

We happened to do that last year. Nice memory skills.

You must be new here.

Only when I have to be, Dan.