Team finalised

[Bleed Red Blood]

The Swans have made three changes for the match against Richmond at the SCG on Sunday, regaining star forward Michael O?Loughlin from a hamstring injury but losing another goalsneak Adam Schneider to the same injury.

Sydney also recalled Luke Ablett and Amon Buchanan for Jarrad McVeigh and Aaron Rogers, who were both dropped.

Those two were named on the interchange bench, along with Stephen Doyle and Jason Saddington.

Richmond has dropped David Rodan for the second time in a month and has resisted the temptation to bring back Joel Bowden after just one week in the VFL.

Rodan was dropped to make way for the return of Greg Stafford from suspension, with Stafford named on the bench to take on his former club.

The Tigers have also regained champion spearhead Matthew Richardson, following three matches out with a hamstring injury, with Ben Marsh the player to make way.

Rodan played his first 47 matches for the Tigers consecutively, before being dropped for the round four clash against Geelong, and is now back in the VFL after only returning for last week?s one point win over Hawthorn.

And Bowden will join Rodan in the reserves after he was only named as an emergency, after last week being dropped for the first time since round five, 1998.


SYDNEY v RICHMOND
Sunday, 1:10pm, SCG

SYDNEY
B: Mathews, James, Bevan
HB: Barry, C.Bolton, Kennelly
C: Maxfield, Kirk, Crouch
HF: O?Keefe, Hall, Williams
F: Goodes, O?Loughlin, Davis
FOLL: Ball, Fosdike, Bolton
I/C: Ablett, Buchanan, Doyle, Saddington
IN: Ablett, Buchanan, O?Loughlin
OUT: Schneider (hamstring), Rogers, McVeigh
EM: McVeigh, Powell, Rogers

RICHMOND
B: Newman, Gaspar, Hall
HB: Hartigan, A.Kellaway, Campbell
C: Chaffey, Johnson, Hilton
HF: Krakouer, Schulz, Fiora
F: Brown, Richardson, Fleming
FOLL: Ottens, Tivendale, Hyde
I/C: Stafford, Fletcher, Roach, Weller
EM: Bowden, Zantuck, Rodan
IN: Stafford, Richardson
OUT: - Rodan, Marsh

[liz]

Will be very interesting then to see what they have in mind for Bazza. Richmond fans certainly seemed to be expecting Zantuck to be recalled to tackle him.

[penga]

Originally posted by lizz
Will be very interesting then to see what they have in mind for Bazza. Richmond fans certainly seemed to be expecting Zantuck to be recalled to tackle him.

did i hear u say kellaway lizz???

[Mike_B]

I get the feeling that one of our named emergencies will be running through the banner around 1pm tomorrow - not sure who they will be replacing, but I just don't feel our named 22 will be taking the field.

[chammond]

Originally posted by Mike_B
I get the feeling that one of our named emergencies will be running through the banner around 1pm tomorrow - not sure who they will be replacing, but I just don't feel our named 22 will be taking the field.

Yeah, I'm staggered they dropped Rogers after just one game, especially with Richardson and Stafford coming back for the Tigers??

[NMWBloods]

Same!

[Sid]

I agree but i dont think it'll happen. I think we might have some trouble in the back line. Also will be interesting to see how our midfield goes.

[liz]

Originally posted by chammond
Yeah, I'm staggered they dropped Rogers after just one game, especially with Richardson and Stafford coming back for the Tigers??

Look at it another way though. Last week we had to match up on Lloyd, Lucas, Hille and Allan as tall rucks/forwards. This week its Stafford, Richardson, Ottens and the very green Schulz.

Last week we did this with Rogers and James sitting on the bench for most of the game, and Bolton taken out of a normal defensive role by his job on Hird. We weren't beaten by height but by lack of clearances and maybe even running.

With wet weather forecast for next week, doesn't it therefore make perfect sense to "go shorter" than the team named last week?

[chammond]

Can't argue with your reasoning, Liz, but it doesn't make me feel any better.

Last week we had Rogers in his first game running around the forward line like a headless chook and Heath James sitting on the bench. At the same time we had Leo Barry and Jason Saddington tied down with purely defensive roles on Lloyd and Lucas. Does this mean their running power is going to be neutralised again this week?

I guess with Marsh out, it means that Ottens and Stafford can't be up forward at the same time, so maybe Leo will be freed up?

My other concern is the message it sends by dropping Rogers. I've got no problem with giving Buchanan another chance, but Rogers has had virtually no opportunity - he was only on the ground last week for a few minutes, and half of that was playing out-of-position. Compare that with the other rookie, who was given nearly a full game on his debut!

[NMWBloods]

A "few showers" isn't the same thing as wet weather.

To me it looks like we are playing a game behind.

[Charlie]

Both Rogers and James were severely underutilised last week.

Jamesy had 8 minutes on the field. Eight! No reports of injury worries, the only thing I can come up with was that they were superstitious about his 13th game... Having done admirable jobs in the first four weeks, he's beaten once against Neitz and then apparently he doesn't get a shot on Lloyd? Not saying Barry didn't do well, because he did excellently, but why was he first option? Chammond - you make an excellent point with regards to the self-negation of Leo last week.

As for Rogers, really... what was the point of giving him a quarter and a bit, half of it in the forward line? With Hall, Davis, Goodes (please, Roosy, keep him in the midfield this week, he's bored!) and Schneider () all down there, he wasn't going to get any meaningful amount of supply. If he's being groomed as a defender, put him in DEFENCE!

As it was, it really was a wasted debut. I said to Mike B at the game, and I stand by it now, that a debutant should start on the field and be given as much time as possible. Rogers would have been better served playing in Canberra last week, especially considering he's only been given a 40 minute taste. At least we would have got a) plenty of game time and b) a position on the field where he would actually be involved in play.

McVeigh is another one. Dropped last week, reinstated at the last moment... now dropped again. He never got more than 70 minutes, as far as I can recall. Why not? Bevan has been on the field much more than he has been off, and he's getting feature articles. McVeigh is a natural talent who is going to get better the more he plays.

Good to see Buchanan again this week, but if its only another one week stint like the Geelong game (which admittedly was due to a withdrawal - O'Loughlin?), there's really no point. He, Ablett and Powell all have talent, but haven't been given the extended run to prove it.

[liz]

Originally posted by Charlie

Good to see Buchanan again this week, but if its only another one week stint like the Geelong game (which admittedly was due to a withdrawal - O'Loughlin?), there's really no point. He, Ablett and Powell all have talent, but haven't been given the extended run to prove it.

But surely these players on the fringe have to accept that they are only going to get chances when others get injured. It's then up to them to grab that chance and make themselves undroppable when the injured player returns. Of course it's hard if you don't get much game time but sometimes them's the breaks. At the top level of the sport, the coaches' job is to get the best team they can out there.

Buchanan, at least, should get a decent run of games this time if he's good enough. He is clearly the most obvious replacement for Schneider and we know he'll be out for a month at least.

[Charlie]

Originally posted by lizz
But surely these players on the fringe have to accept that they are only going to get chances when others get injured. It's then up to them to grab that chance and make themselves undroppable when the injured player returns. Of course it's hard if you don't get much game time but sometimes them's the breaks. At the top level of the sport, the coaches' job is to get the best team they can out there.

Buchanan, at least, should get a decent run of games this time if he's good enough. He is clearly the most obvious replacement for Schneider and we know he'll be out for a month at least.

Ok, but why did LRT get 16 games last year? He certainly wasn't in our best 22 for the first 8 or 9. It was because the club accepted that carrying him for those matches was in the best long term interests of the club.

Powell could benefit from that same attitude. He is, in my opinion, our next Leo Barry type player. Got the skills, the bravery... needs to work on footy nous a little, but that's something that for Leo, came with experience. But at the moment, he can't get a look-in. I'd much rather see Mullet get 15 games than LRT this year.

Ablett is lacking only in confidence. We saw his 'nothing to lose' attitude in the finals last year - he was probably thinking that after three years and six games, he was on the verge of delisting, and so his determination and desperation was converted into two good games and a lot of expectation this year. Now, we're seeing timidity and indecision again, which might just be remedied if he's given some faith like Bevan has been.

Buchanan's opportunity rests on Schneider stepping up to the midfield. Or, in this instance, performing well whilst Schneides is out of action. I agree on Monty.

Really, I just don't want what happened with Scotty Stevens to happen to these blokes. I love the policy of keeping young guys in the reserves in their first season to fill-out, but by the time they're in their third year, we really need to start making sure they're getting regular games. Otherwise, they're either not going to make it or they're going to go to another club before their dreams of 200 games start to disappear.

Don't ask me who should come out - because I don't know, but I'm starting to get Eade-style vibes with some of the kids. When they had the guns in 96-98, very few youngsters got a look-in. At first, I was thinking this competition for spots is good, and for the short term it is... but are we planning for now only, or now and later?

[sharpie]

I think this is really the match committee's response to admitting they were picking an unbalanced side. While a few weeks back many here, including myself, were waxing lyrical about the prospects of having Doyle, LRT, James and a few other talls all in the side at once, I think the experiment over the last 2 weeks has shown that it isnt going to work at the moment. It may when all these guys become better players, but not yet.

Against Melbourne I think we were too slow due to having too many talls, and then against Essendon I think Roos decided to leave James & Rogers on the bench so that our shorter, quicker guys could get the ball moving. It didnt work, and now the team selected for this week has gone back to basics, acknowledging that we need more midfield options.

[liz]

Originally posted by Charlie
Ok, but why did LRT get 16 games last year? He certainly wasn't in our best 22 for the first 8 or 9. It was because the club accepted that carrying him for those matches was in the best long term interests of the club.

In terms of team balance he probably was in our best 22 for that period. Doyle was out, and Meiklejohn got a couple of opportunities but didn't do much. He was there as another able to play short stints in the ruck as much as anything else, even if he's not ultimately going to be a ruckman.

Powell could benefit from that same attitude. He is, in my opinion, our next Leo Barry type player. Got the skills, the bravery... needs to work on footy nous a little, but that's something that for Leo, came with experience. But at the moment, he can't get a look-in. I'd much rather see Mullet get 15 games than LRT this year.

Powell is competing with a larger group of players than LRT was last year. Two centremetres difference in height may not seem like much but it's the difference between being able to compete in the ruck or not.

Also Powell hasn't been doing a lot to press his claims by his reserves form. It has certainly been nothing to demand selection.

Ablett is lacking only in confidence. We saw his 'nothing to lose' attitude in the finals last year - he was probably thinking that after three years and six games, he was on the verge of delisting, and so his determination and desperation was converted into two good games and a lot of expectation this year. Now, we're seeing timidity and indecision again, which might just be remedied if he's given some faith like Bevan has been.

Bevan had a huge stroke of luck in that a HBF'er was needed when Kennelly was injured in round 1. But you can't argue with what Bevan has achieved with this chance he was given. Ablett has not yet played any games that approach what Bevan did against the Bombers last week, or in r4 when he got his RS nomination.

Don't ask me who should come out - because I don't know, but I'm starting to get Eade-style vibes with some of the kids. When they had the guns in 96-98, very few youngsters got a look-in. At first, I was thinking this competition for spots is good, and for the short term it is... but are we planning for now only, or now and later?

I think that's a bit harsh on the selection committee. We've had three debutants in 7 games this year. Two have played seven games and have been given decent game time. James, too, has had plenty of faith placed in him. It's one thing to try to blood youngsters but you will struggle if you have lots of them in their at the same time.

Also, in the old Eade days we had some pretty ordinary players getting games week in, week out while the kids were warming the bench or languishing in the reserves. As you said, you don't know who should come out of the team to make way for these players. Nor do I. Unless you argue that players not fully fit (such as Kennelly) should be out, it's hard to argue that a Powell or Ablett is better than any of the regular players.