Changes for Port Adelaide (Official teams named)

[ernie koala]

When C Bolts is ready to return, somethings going to have give in our defence. IMO either Mattner or Shaw will have to make way. Mal and Tadgh provide the best run, and with C Bolton back the defensive side of things is going to be solid.

Malceski provides more run than Shaw??? Not from what I've seen. Malceski is a beautiful kick, but he was poor last week and showed a few signs of last years softness, and if he continues that form he'll be first to go. Shaw has been playing run with roles lately and has been doing an excellent job of shutting down some dangerous players.
On another note....Playfair out....sigh of relief....Bevo hanging on...not for long.....would of liked to see Moore, Vespa or MOD.... but you can't have everythink.

[The Goodes]

I'm pretty content with these changes for the week. Great to see McGlynn and Tiger back (if that's how it pans out). I'd be happy to see Bevan dropped for either one of Richards or Vez. I'm glad the match committee are putting Jetta away for a little bit though. Everybody knows he's flashy, but he's young, and I think the pressure is eating him a little at the moment. He's going to be a Superstar-no question. But a well rested, confident young body is better than a knackered, underdone and uninspired one any day...yes? The stint in the 2's is going to be fantastic for him, and I wish him all the very best. The same will probably happen to Rohan in a few weeks time too. Especially if the finals look like being a certainty (you can't expect miracles from the kids ALL the time-and you want them at their best if that's what eventuates). I'm looking forward to a great game at the weekend, in an exciting phase of the teams overall development, win or lose. Looking forward to Moore coming back when he's ready also. GO BLOODS!!!

[Nich]

Watched a replay of the Bombers game today. Rohan's first goal, his 2nd to an extent as well and his third show how dangerous his pace is. That first goal, he dropped Dempsey in a flash and only missed the mark when Hurley who was floating off Pyke came across. The 2nd one, he was all alone at the top of the square for a long time. He dropped Dempsey again for his third. I've said it once on here (I think), please Mr Roos, do not play him back. They played him back 1st quarter. He came out in the 2nd up forward and kicked two to keep us in touch both times. He is going to be good. His taggers can't keep up with him. Blistering pace. If we can start getting good penetration inside 50 (I still hope) he is going to be LETHAL in a few years. Quality.

[Melbourne_Blood]

Malceski provides more run than Shaw??? Not from what I've seen. Malceski is a beautiful kick, but he was poor last week and showed a few signs of last years softness, and if he continues that form he'll be first to go. Shaw has been playing run with roles lately and has been doing an excellent job of shutting down some dangerous players.
On another note....Playfair out....sigh of relief....Bevo hanging on...not for long.....would of liked to see Moore, Vespa or MOD.... but you can't have everythink.

Yeah i stuffed up there. But I'd still have him before Shaw. When he's on, his creative and pin point kicking is as good as any from half back in the comp. Easily the best in our side. I believe his to be one of the most important roles in our team, and there is know one else in our side who can perform that role like Mal. It's no coincedence that when we were in good form in the first six rounds Malceski's form and particularly his kicking game were outstanding. He usually provides good run too, just not as quick as Shaw. Shaws pace is matched only but the rate at which his clangers come straight back into the defensive 50. I know Shaw's s been doing good jobs recently but Mal has still been one of our better performed this year, it's just that he's so good when he plays bad it gets picked up on a lot more. I doubt we'll be seeing Malceski getting dropped anytime soon. I think hes still got improvement in him too. Thats not to say Shaw will be the one to make way, but for me its out of him or Mattner. Malceski and a fit Tadgh are easily our two best HBF's.

[The Goodes]

Watched a replay of the Bombers game today. Rohan's first goal, his 2nd to an extent as well and his third show how dangerous his pace is. That first goal, he dropped Dempsey in a flash and only missed the mark when Hurley who was floating off Pyke came across. The 2nd one, he was all alone at the top of the square for a long time. He dropped Dempsey again for his third. I've said it once on here (I think), please Mr Roos, do not play him back. They played him back 1st quarter. He came out in the 2nd up forward and kicked two to keep us in touch both times. He is going to be good. His taggers can't keep up with him. Blistering pace. If we can start getting good penetration inside 50 (I still hope) he is going to be LETHAL in a few years. Quality.

He IS going to be lethal. I like him in the backline though. Others here have suggested that he reminds them of Leppitsch, and I agree (awesome in both positions...plus a Ranga). Dangerous at either end of the ground. I think the Club need to look hard at his contract and do everything to ensure that he doesn't end up somewhere like Geelong (who I understand he barracked for).

[BSA5]

Malceski provides more run than Shaw??? Not from what I've seen. Malceski is a beautiful kick, but he was poor last week and showed a few signs of last years softness, and if he continues that form he'll be first to go. Shaw has been playing run with roles lately and has been doing an excellent job of shutting down some dangerous players.
On another note....Playfair out....sigh of relief....Bevo hanging on...not for long.....would of liked to see Moore, Vespa or MOD.... but you can't have everythink.

Malceski wasn't soft at all against the Bombers. He wasn't at his best, sure, but the spoiling attempt against Jetta was him misreading the ball, not squibbing, and the rest of the time he was as willing as anybody to do the hard stuff (well, maybe not Jude, but that's nothing to be ashamed of). Malceski had numerous important touches across half back and repelled countless attacks. He was far, far from disgraced.

[Bloody Hell]

I'd dispute that. With Smith not really playing on the very small forwards this year, and no Crouch, that job has largely fallen to Shaw and has gone unheralded. And I don't think we've been cut up so far this year by a small forward. Davey did kick a couple of goals on Sunday - and noticeably outmarked Shaw on one occasion - but I still don't think he cut Shaw up. So Shaw's defensive contributions have actually been quite important, and he is still providing rebound as well.

I want to make this clear. I am not bagging Shaw, I think he is a good player, just not as good as Mattner. With the inclusion of Tiger and Malcheski there was always going to be pressure on these guys - though we all hoped that the team could work with 4 rebounding defenders it hasn't.

Bolton's role from the start of the season was to take the small forward. When he went out Smith took over his role, and has currently graduated to the No.1 shutdown role for the team, whether it be small forward or midfielder.

Shaw's role has been to take the left overs, a role normally given to young players...or Bevan.

Mattner is a much better defender and is always given tougher assignments by the coaching staff.

Shaw's running/rebounding strength shown last year tisn't that impressive with the return of Mal and Tiger. The majority of his "impressive" runs were across the park, with noone coming at him. Running the switch takes a good 5 - 10 seconds (or 4 bounces) 50m that allows the opposition to flood back and man up on opponents. The difference is particularly prevalent with the return of Kennelly, who always runs towards the goals and favours the corridor more than any other player in the league. Both Malcheski and Mattner's first instint is forward (both look inboard towards the corridor if they're on the wing - Malcheski more so), Shaw's instinct is to go sideways...with the others in the team Shaw's sideways run is no longer used, and he has been assigned more defensive positions.

I'm not saying Shaw is crap, just that he is somewhat redundant in a defense where it is very competative for positions. The emergence of Smith has made this more so. If there is a seriously dangerous small forward Smith will start on him, he has really taken over the Crouch role.

[Bloody Hell]

Disagree. I think we underrate Shaw's assignments. He blanketed Rioli against Hawthorn for example. Now, his attacking game wasn't the best (in fact, it was possibly his worst for the Swans), but he did a VERY good job on Rioli. He did a similarly good job last year against Dane Swan who was in red-hot form. I also think he's more damaging than Mattner, he's a far better kick, probably equal decision maker, and finds more of the ball. The only place that Mattner beats Shaw is peeling off his man and affecting aerial contests, and supplying a tough body at ground contests, but we have plenty of players that do that. Shaw provides something new that we don't have. We'd be a much poorer side without Shaw's run.

See previous post. Both Mattner AND Shaw don't have the best disposal. IMO Mattner is a better long kick and seems to get more shots on goal.

Agree with that I guess, but the coaching staff are intent on playing him at CHF, and I don't really mind it. He could be listed on a HFF or wing, with McGlynn or Jack respectively moving into a forward pocket and White being listed at CHF, but it doesn't really matter. They're all on the park, it can be sorted out when it needs to be!

Yep - hopefully someone bites the bullet on this one. If I were an opposition coach I'd be very happy seeing Goodes line up at CHF knowing if he starts to get on top (which hasn't happened yet) I can double team him with little impact to my strategy.



I do think Smith is ahead of Jack as a tagger. But I also really rate Smith's work as a small defender. Against sides that don't really have dangerous small forward, by all means play Smith in the middle on a dangerous midfielder, but when we're up against blokes like LeCras, Milne, S. Johnson, Didak, etc, guys that you wouldn't really trust Mattner or Malceski or even Shaw to really clamp down on, I'd play Smith on them. Smith is a gun defensive player, he doesn't shirk the hard ball, and he is brilliantly composed coming out of defence.

Again, it's a matter of horses for courses, and I certainly don't think Smith should be relegated to the small defender role indefinitely, but I think against top small defenders, he's of most use there. Kirk still has it in him to tag (though it seems nowadays he has to almost completely sacrifice his attacking game to do so), Jack too (though not as good as Smith, definitely), McGlynn even. We have options that mean we don't need Smith to be a permanent midfield fixture.

I thiink this last bit conflicts with the first bit you wrote, almost saying Shaw's role is redundant, with the return of Bolton. In concert with my previous post, of course

The emergence of Rohan, Hannebery and Smith who were not in the best 22 at the start of the year will put alot of pressure on the established players when (if ) everyone is fit and something is going to have to give. Will be interesting to see what happens.

[Bloody Hell]

getting reamed by his opponent.

:d

[Bloody Hell]

Malceski provides more run than Shaw??? Not from what I've seen. Malceski is a beautiful kick, but he was poor last week and showed a few signs of last years softness, and if he continues that form he'll be first to go. Shaw has been playing run with roles lately and has been doing an excellent job of shutting down some dangerous players.
On another note....Playfair out....sigh of relief....Bevo hanging on...not for long.....would of liked to see Moore, Vespa or MOD.... but you can't have everythink.

Malcheski had ONE bad game in a year where people are/were talking about him for AA.

This post is OTT.

[Big Al]

Changes for Port Adelaide (Official teams named)

The emergence of Rohan, Hannebery and Smith who were not in the best 22 at the start of the year will put alot of pressure on the established players when (if ) everyone is fit and something is going to have to give. Will be interesting to see what happens.

It's a good problem to have.

The emergence of some if these players has me so excited about the years ahead. I know we can heap a lot of expectation and pressure on young players who show promise but I think with this current crop of youngsters this expectation isn't unfounded. Rohan, Hanners, Jetta, Smith,Jesse and with luck Vez and LJ will all form the nucleus of our next premiership.

[i'm-uninformed2]

What I can offer is that I am dazzling handsome, an extremely accurate kick and can keep my teammates focused on the game when the ball's down the other end by singing "Pet Sounds" in its entirety over and over again. God only knows where the Swans forward line would be without me.

At risk of converting this thread, one of the three greatest albums ever, and their finest single!

[undy]

Along with "London Calling", but you'll never get consensus on a third.

The last few years I've been dispatched to a conference in Las Vegas (in June, so I've generally missed a game and got bloody hot). Last year the slightly reconstituted but still excellent Beach Boys played the party (at the beach at Mandalay Bay). The year before it was Train, who playing the Swans/Collingwood game. I guess that means that they are in the same ball-park price-wise, so we could have got Brian and the boys. Wouldn't it be nice ?

[Reggi]

I guess you wouldn't want Vez to Train in Vain

[ernie koala]

Yeah i stuffed up there. But I'd still have him before Shaw. When he's on, his creative and pin point kicking is as good as any from half back in the comp. Easily the best in our side. I believe his to be one of the most important roles in our team, and there is know one else in our side who can perform that role like Mal. It's no coincedence that when we were in good form in the first six rounds Malceski's form and particularly his kicking game were outstanding. He usually provides good run too, just not as quick as Shaw. Shaws pace is matched only but the rate at which his clangers come straight back into the defensive 50. I know Shaw's s been doing good jobs recently but Mal has still been one of our better performed this year, it's just that he's so good when he plays bad it gets picked up on a lot more. I doubt we'll be seeing Malceski getting dropped anytime soon. I think hes still got improvement in him too. Thats not to say Shaw will be the one to make way, but for me its out of him or Mattner. Malceski and a fit Tadgh are easily our two best HBF's.

Yeah I agree with all that, so long as he doesn't slip back into last years form. I can't see Shaw being dropped given his effectiveness in shuting down. If that feature of his game falls away then maybe he'd be under pressure to hold his place. But as sure as night follows day, there will be more injuries and this senario is unlikely to surface.