Everitt and LRT

[Bloody Hell]

Every time TDL is in our forward line it functions much better. From the reports his defense was good today...hopefully he gets a look in.

[Danzar]

I thought LRT was Ok tonight. He at least provides a contest. Everitt was disappointing., He lacks composure.
The reality is that we need a 2nd ruckman who can play forward.
This player needs to be either LRT, Pyke, White or Seaby.
LRT could also play as a backman against sides that have a tall forward line.

Our options are limited.

We also need a tall mobile forward to take some pressure off Reid.
This is either Everitt, Spangher, Walsh or possibly Morton.

These are the options the selectors are working with and they are not great options but hopefully a couple of these players will put their hand up.

Not disagreeing with your entire post but why do you think we need a second ruckman who can play up forward? I think Mumford has shown he can actually do that - we don't need two for that purpose. Ruckman take a lot of development - in todays game I think a good two-man ruck outfit has one who is versatile and another that has a single focus on clearances.

[Danzar]

Every time TDL is in our forward line it functions much better. From the reports his defense was good today...hopefully he gets a look in.

+1. Has hands like Reid but a little more nimble, don't you think?

[Ruck'n'Roll]

No surprises

No surprises

I went to the footy yesterday knowing things about LRT
1) As a pinchhitting ruckman he's just making up the numbers.
We get nothing from his presence in the square other than a breather for Mumford, in itself not a bad thing, but it'd be good to get something positive from our second ruck when he goes on the ball.
2) As a forward he makes a capable defender
He is not a forward, and it's too late to try turning him in to one now. That in itself isn't an argument against playing him up forward, just a recognition that he has limitations in the area.

I also believed Horse chose Everitt, because he realises we need a 3 tall forwad line and he had no other options (Spanky & ROK are injured, Walsh is "unready" and TDL and Morton aren't talls). Even with the benefit of hindsight what else could he do?
Actually there was one alternative: Play Jessica/Pike/Seaby as fullforward/ruck, LRT down back and Grundy as the third forward, but that was only a viable alternative if you knew in advance how bad Everett was going to be.

[Hartijon]

Agree with most of the above.Everitt was a poor selection and offered nothing against a team of youngsters ,He was out paced,fumbled opportunities and was a class below everyone else on the field. As such he stood out in a side that was 10 goals in front.I always liked playing with natural forwards(they kick goals) watching natural forwards (they are exciting to watch) and the scorers like them too. How ever they gotta be played to be effective.Come on selectors ,give TDL a go or someone who can function in the forward line...not Everitt!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!

[707]

I thought LRT was quite acceptable as the FF/back up ruckman, he is our best option at this stage unless they bring back Jesse.

Everitt provided little tonigt against a team of kids. Enough said. Spangher is desperately needed and on the little we saw of him last year, he will be a welcome return.

TDL must come into the senior side on what I saw in the ressies game.

[Hartijon]

Is Hanners underdone? He seemed slow and indecisive compared to last year? What kind of pre season did he have?

[sharp9]

Everitt was absolutely appalling....again! He must the the absolute WORST player in the ENTIRE AFL system at picking up a football - or receiving a handball. it is impossible to believe someone who looks that athletic can be that hopeless at the EASIEST of the many skills required for this game. It was laughable....I mean, really, I laughed out loud. not to mention things like a contest in the forward pocket where he was easily best placed to pick up the ball or run it over the boundary, yet somehow managed to get run/bumped out of the contest....result...F50 entry/ball-up to them with a series of uncontested possessions....all Swans players out of position expecting Everitt to do something like an approximation of an average AFL footballer!

[sharp9]

BTW Pyke would have been a much, much better option as 2nd/3rd tall forward than Everitt. Seaby does not have the legs or below knees abilty to play as a real forward....Pyke can run, tackle, give off handballs at ground level. Seaby is almost as bad as Everitt at picking up the ball or receiving a handball without dropping it.

[Auntie.Gerald]

i was fine with LRT and Andrejs last night

it was like slippery as an eel the ball and the grass last night

the delivery into our forwards still leaves a lot to be desired

there was some shocking kicks into leading forwards last night as well as some easy misses up front

[swansprincess]

Spanger is a must I think when he's fit. Everritt shouldn't be playing unless we're desperate and I almost think LRT's time has come to hang up the boots.

[giant]

Everitt was horrible (altho did vaguely improve as the night wore on). LRT I thought tried reasonably well but as always where was the little bloke at the key forwards' feet? No reason to think our forward structure has improved at all from 2011 on the evidence of last night, which is very disappointing indeed.

[J_Moore]

If you have ever seen morton at his best you would know that he isn't average. Same with TDL i can still not see why he isn't playing in the seniors.

Because he gets bashed around and nervous. He's an absolute weapon of he gets space, safest set shot since Plugger, but he doesn't like close attention.

I want him back in the side, because I think a soft player who at least kicks goals isn't the west thing in the world. But you'd want him to become a little more robust. He's not big, but neither was Kirky, and neither is Hanners.

[desredandwhite]

IMO Everitt is just not AFL standard. LRT did his job, taking a key defender and bringing the ball to ground (arguably that was JDub's job last year too). Based on TDL's reserves performance, I would expect a swift return to the side - he is one of the very few "natural" forwards we have. Not particularly tall or fast, he just knows where to be, and he knows where the big sticks are.

Sammy Reid had a dirty day, but will be better for the run. We can't expect a brilliant game every time.

Looking down the list of goalkickers, I was struck by how many goals were kicked by midfielders - the WCE side of the mid 2000s did that too but they had a GUN midfield - can ours step up in the absence of an actual functioning forward line?

[undy]

I thought LRT played pretty well. He's a good kick, he always provides a contest - he did seem to be filling in where our small forwards weren't when the ball came to ground.

Having said that, I think he is one of our best defenders and is only having to play out of position because he missed a big chunk of last year and the back-line got very settled.