Team - four changes made

[sharpie]

This horses-for-courses attitude is ridiculous with Shauble. As others are saying, he should start at FB, and if the matchup isnt working, he is good enough to be able to play in the forward line.

[NMWBloods]

Exactly - he's more than capable of playing at FF if necessary and nicely complement Hall and MOL when we are struggling to kick goals.

[cruiser]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
Exactly - he's more than capable of playing at FF if necessary and nicely complement Hall and MOL when we are struggling to kick goals.

I've wondered about Schauble playing up forward but couldnt recall whether I'd ever seen him up there. He's got good hands for marking the ball.

[sharpie]

Originally posted by cruiser
I've wondered about Schauble playing up forward but couldnt recall whether I'd ever seen him up there. He's got good hands for marking the ball.

He used to drift forward in his first few years with the club IIRC, much in the same way Nicks, and to some extent now Saddo, moves around the ground, according to matchups. This was of course before the retirement of Dunks.

[Ryan Bomford]

I seem to recall Schauble turning a game around against the Pies a few years back - kicked 2 or 3 goals when moved forward in one quarter and starred in defence.

[Wazza]

Originally posted by Ruckman
I hope Nick Davis isn't brought straight back into the firsts without even a gallop in the reserves. If ever there's a player you'd put money on for a relapse, it's gotta be him. Let him run around in the two's.

This is exactly what happened last year when Davis was rushed back and from memory only lasted 1-2 games and was injured again.

I remember this because I sent in an "ask Roosy" about rushing senior players back into the 1sts and he responded soemthing around they hadnt managed the injure players coming back very well.

Team balance doesnt look right, we need either a Saddo or a Dempster on the bench i.e. medium sized utility just to give us added flexibility looks like we are either tall or short.

Cheers

Waz

[SimonH]

I think the consensus is that people like the changes, with some quibbles.

Sad to see Saddo and Nicks dropped, but you've gotta break eggs to make omelettes as they say. The fact that they've both had the arse on more than one occasion this year means that 2005 is likely to be Nicks' swansong and there is a huge question mark over Saddo's future at the club. If we dump him at the end of '05, it's strange to think that a guy of his size, skills and mobility couldn't find a home at any AFL club, but stranger things have happened. (If he doesn't earn a regular selection between now and the end of the year, then his value as a trade will be so minimal that the distinction between trade and dumping will be almost semantic.) I'm hoping he can turn it around and it won't come to that, b/c we need a player of just his description to act as the link man, making leads and taking marks around the wing area when we're not able to run the ball freely out of defence.

The difficulty with Buchanan (and it's a big one) is that he is actually in really good form (and certainly better than Schneider) at what a little man should do-- roving the packs and grabbing the loose ball. He just can't kick the ball between the bloody tall white sticks.

While I think that Schauble should be in the team unless we're playing a team with an exclusively 'mosquito fleet' forward line (i.e. Western Bulldogs), I don't agree that (barring injury) he can usefully find a second home in the forward line. We would already be on the verge of becoming top-heavy in the forward line with Hall, MO'L, Goodes and (as I reckon should be occurring) either the resting ruckman or Vogels up there as well (and god knows Vogels has done enough to deserve a good solid go).

As the cry seems to be 'more outside runners-- fewer nitty gritty in and under players' (as evidenced by Spriggs' selection and McVeigh getting a spot in the first 18 despite mediocre form) I hope for his sake that Malceski fits the former description. And congrats to him for getting this reward for sheer persistence!

[BAM_BAM]

I'm glad Davis is back. I just hope they park his @rse in the forward line and let him do what he does best.

Why they would persist with playing him in the midfield when the Pies tried the same thing and failed is beyond me. Yes I know different club and players could provide different results but lets move on.

He has a freaky talent let's start using it for good. Actually to just start using it at all would be a move in the right direction.

Hoping for a big one from Nicky D

[KillerQueen]

Originally posted by SimonH


The difficulty with Buchanan (and it's a big one) is that he is actually in really good form (and certainly better than Schneider) at what a little man should do-- roving the packs and grabbing the loose ball. He just can't kick the ball between the bloody tall white sticks.

I totally agree with you!

He is doing great in certain aspects..but his goal kicking is so bad..His confidence is obviously down, i mean last game he palmed it off to someone else cause he didnt want to go for goal.


If he does go for goals and he misses he gets strung up and bagged out, so his confidence is shot, then when he needs to go for the goals he doesnt, which in turns means he gets bagged out.

As for Schneider being dropped.. Roos keeps on saying that Schneids is in the future plans and he needs to be worked on etc
But i dont see how bringing him in them droppping him again is doing him any help

Playing in the reserves he gained back alot of confidence. which is what Roosy wanted..but that confindence has got to take a bashing cause he keeps getting dropped

[pillowtalk]

Originally posted by BAM_BAM
I'm glad Davis is back. I just hope they park his @rse in the forward line and let him do what he does best.

Why they would persist with playing him in the midfield.

They were trying to get Davis more involved and utilise his skills.

Though we could certainly use him just for his goal kicking now !

[liz]

I think we need to remember that Saddo is on the comeback trail from a knee reconstruction. Many players struggle in their first year back and are written off - witness the turnaround in form of Darren Gaspar this year compared to last.

Regardless of his current playing ability, I also think he is suffering from Roos being a little wary of placing him in a key role (maybe cognisant of the fact he is on the comeback trail) and thus he is finding it hard to get involved in games.

[Snowy]

Originally posted by BAM_BAM
I'm glad Davis is back. I just hope they park his @rse in the forward line and let him do what he does best.

Why they would persist with playing him in the midfield when the Pies tried the same thing and failed is beyond me. Yes I know different club and players could provide different results but lets move on.

He has a freaky talent let's start using it for good. Actually to just start using it at all would be a move in the right direction.

Hoping for a big one from Nicky D

Well in 2001 he was quite effective playing in the midfield and up forward, racking up good numbers and kicking 36 goals. As for Liz's point about Saddo, I think bigger blokes take longer to overcome knee recos.

[Nico]

Originally posted by liz
I think we need to remember that Saddo is on the comeback trail from a knee reconstruction. Many players struggle in their first year back and are written off - witness the turnaround in form of Darren Gaspar this year compared to last.

Regardless of his current playing ability, I also think he is suffering from Roos being a little wary of placing him in a key role (maybe cognisant of the fact he is on the comeback trail) and thus he is finding it hard to get involved in games.

Or maybe he is just over the hill.

[Nico]

Originally posted by hardluck_harry
Glad I'm not the only one.

Maybe Schneider has been dropped because he's soft, doesn't chase or harass nearly enough (apart from chasing/running alongside opponents), only gets a kick when team's well on top and crucially can only kick one side (left).

Amen.

[i'm-uninformed2]

Originally posted by Ruckman

In conclusion I'd not have played Nick Davis, Spriggs or one of either Ball or Vogels (preferably the former). I believe there places should have gone to Schneider, Dempster and either Moore or JoshW (no he hasn't been getting 40 possesions a week in the reserves, but all of his 20 go where he wants them to).

Damn straight.

As an SCG member who needs to get to the ground early for a decent seat and watches reserves, you are spot on.

Both Schmidt and Willoughby (as well as Moore) hit targets.

Spriggs can't kick 40m. He's worse than LRT.