Team changes vs Cheating Dogs - two to debut

[imuninformedtwo]

The club has just posted online that Edwards and Cootee will both debut against the Dogs this week. Good on 'em both.

I assume Corey is the out for Cootee. Will be fascinated on the Edwards swap.

[cubby]

I would suspect Hamling...Unless there is an injury we don't know about.

[Kafka's Ghost]

Great to see both these boys get a game, and a good move from the club investing in depth development.

[cubby]

Totally agree, giving these rookies some games now is great for their morale, a great investment in depth for when the inevitable injuries come...
And for all the VFL players to know, they will be rewarded if they consistently put in good performances.
Also keeps the seniors on their toes. It's a win win win win!

[imuninformedtwo]

So, assuming it’s Hamling that is the out, it’ll further test a theory floating round my brain for a few weeks if Edwards lines up on Naughton.

Watching our past few matches, McCartin hasn’t regularly gone to the best or biggest key forward, which is what he’s traditionally done. So Hamling took King against the Suns, and Riccardi for chunks of last week. My guess, and it’s hard when you can’t get to games and only see the vision available on TV, is Cox wants to position McCartin to have a little more freedom as he’s our best intercept mark.

Hence, he wants a bopper to take the boppers, and that wasn’t necessarily a strength of Melican, and there’s been something he’s not liked in Hamling. I think they’ve both played reasonably but the coaches are potentially seeing small bits that give them some discomfort. Edwards is a big boy with a lot of power in his game, and can potentially lock down the big boys.

McCartin is flourishing at the moment and he’s hardly about to float round without an opponent. But you’ll know if he doesn’t take Naughton, Cox is definitely trying to structure our defence around McCartin having the ability to use his marking ability to turn the play back in our favour.

[dejavoodoo44]

Pleased for them both, especially Edwards. From his earliest days in the academy, he always had a certain amount of potential, but some rough edges, and over the years he's had to overcome plenty of injury setbacks. Now he's looking fitter and more agile than he's ever been, and he could even develop into someone to take on the monster KPFs of the game. And hopefully, when the Bulldogs are looking to shut down our handballs out of defence, he's given permission to just roost it 60 or 70 metres.

And good luck to Cootee, as well. I'm sure there were times running around for Norwood, that he thought his AFL dream was highly unlikely. So, I'm sure he'll greatly appreciate running on to a packed Marvel, as part of the ladder leaders.

[stellation]

So, assuming it’s Hamling that is the out, it’ll further test a theory floating round my brain for a few weeks if Edwards lines up on Naughton.

Watching our past few matches, McCartin hasn’t regularly gone to the best or biggest key forward, which is what he’s traditionally done. So Hamling took King against the Suns, and Riccardi for chunks of last week. My guess, and it’s hard when you can’t get to games and only see the vision available on TV, is Cox wants to position McCartin to have a little more freedom as he’s our best intercept mark.

Hence, he wants a bopper to take the boppers, and that wasn’t necessarily a strength of Melican, and there’s been something he’s not liked in Hamling. I think they’ve both played reasonably but the coaches are potentially seeing small bits that give them some discomfort. Edwards is a big boy with a lot of power in his game, and can potentially lock down the big boys.

McCartin is flourishing at the moment and he’s hardly about to float round without an opponent. But you’ll know if he doesn’t take Naughton, Cox is definitely trying to structure our defence around McCartin having the ability to use his marking ability to turn the play back in our favour.

You might be onto something there with Tom, I had been thinking all season that he definitely seems to have a little bit more license to be involved in forward forays as well. It's a relatively small sample size but he's significantly increased his average disposals, up from around 13.3 last season to 20.3 this season- not surprisingly with how we're playing almost all of those extra disposals seem to be from handballs.

[KSAS]

Good Plausible theory iu2!

Heard on SEN there was a hamstring scare wiith Papley at training today when he grabbed it. But club reported he's ok for this week. So i'm not ruling out Cootee replacing Paps instead of Corey.

I think Edwards will replace Hamling, particularly with Darcy now out for WB.

Who does Rampe come in for if he was just rested? I think he would be a good mentor for Edwards in his first game. Would be strange if he's selected to play in the VFL (along with Melican). Maybe Lloyd or Harry?

[Dow]

You might be onto something there with Tom, I had been thinking all season that he definitely seems to have a little bit more license to be involved in forward forays as well. It's a relatively small sample size but he's significantly increased his average disposals, up from around 13.3 last season to 20.3 this season- not surprisingly with how we're playing almost all of those extra disposals seem to be from handballs.

I reckon that sums it up perfectly and explains why Melican is in the 2's

[Thunder Shaker]

Interview with Dean Cox that confirms Rampe will return to the side this week. Swans insist it's not Bont or bust for battered Bulldogs (afl.com.au)

[rickmat]

Disappointed for Snell who I think has been solid in the VFL team as opposed to Edwards who is a bit hit and miss during games. Edwards is a big unit but I feel Snell has more upside

[UUaswan]

Good Plausible theory iu2!

Heard on SEN there was a hamstring scare wiith Papley at training today when he grabbed it. But club reported he's ok for this week. So i'm not ruling out Cootee replacing Paps instead of Corey.

I think Edwards will replace Hamling, particularly with Darcy now out for WB.

Who does Rampe come in for if he was just rested? I think he would be a good mentor for Edwards in his first game. Would be strange if he's selected to play in the VFL (along with Melican). Maybe Lloyd or Harry?

Surely he is our regardless if he is ok

So much better when you know one of these 2 newbies wont be a sub

[Tommy_Wolfe7]

Cootee is an absolute ripper of a young man. Captained Essendon's VFL as 20 year old and performs inspiring on-field acts with frightening regularity. Tough and skillful, and gets into dangerous spots forward of centre. Then went to Norwood in the SANFL to continue his development as was adored by that entire club.

One of the genuinely great people in footy - and still so young.