Changes for Rnd 14 V Richmond

[aguy]

Guys , seriously, ROK is finished. LRT is as well unless we have a seriious injury to ted or reg.

Rohan is in our best 22, but concerns about whether his leg can play week in week out football.

BJ must be running out of chances.

Nankervis is not ready for AFL and is a long way behind Pyke and Tom.

Lets be serious. The only fringe players pressing for selection are mitchell and maybe membrey.

Of course I would pick Mitchell in but he is injured. I say ROK because we need another hard in Nd under player. Robinson is a rookie so it forces us to use last elevation against Richmond that could bite us later

[Reggi]

Cannot see Derrickx being dropped for Pyke. Can't see why you would do it melbourne will be wet all week so two rucks would be folly

[ernie koala]

Of course I would pick Mitchell in but he is injured. I say ROK because we need another hard in Nd under player. Robinson is a rookie so it forces us to use last elevation against Richmond that could bite us later

I agree. With both McGlynn and Hanners out, I reckon they'll want another hardened body around the contest.

ROK, by all accounts, has been consistent in the 2's.

Given the conservative nature of our clubs selecting, I'll be surprised (not disappointed) if he doesn't get picked this week.

[Ampersand]

Pyke is simply a better player than Derrickx. He's our no. 1 ruckman, full stop. It's crazy not to play him especially after Bo's performance against Port. If we're going to roll the dice with Pyke it should be over the next two rounds. Give Derrickx a couple of weeks rest. He's looking very fatigued.

ROK had performed very consistently in the reserves and deserves Hannebery's spot. His experience, goal kicking ability and decision-making outweighs BJ's speed IMHO. I would have picked Mitchell ahead of ROK but them's the breaks.

[aguy]

Pyke is simply a better player than Derrickx. He's our no. 1 ruckman, full stop. It's crazy not to play him especially after Bo's performance against Port. If we're going to roll the dice with Pyke it should be over the next two rounds. Give Derrickx a couple of weeks rest. He's looking very fatigued.

ROK had performed very consistently in the reserves and deserves Hannebery's spot. His experience, goal kicking ability and decision-making outweighs BJ's speed IMHO. I would have picked Mitchell ahead of ROK but them's the breaks.

I tend to think they will play both pyke and Derickx so they can manage pykes playing time a bit.

[Matt80]

Pyke is simply a better player than Derrickx. He's our no. 1 ruckman, full stop. It's crazy not to play him especially after Bo's performance against Port. If we're going to roll the dice with Pyke it should be over the next two rounds. Give Derrickx a couple of weeks rest. He's looking very fatigued.

ROK had performed very consistently in the reserves and deserves Hannebery's spot. His experience, goal kicking ability and decision-making outweighs BJ's speed IMHO. I would have picked Mitchell ahead of ROK but them's the breaks.

I don?t think we need another hard body to replace Hannebery. With K.Jack, Kennedy, Parker, Bird and McVeigh, there are some hard mature bodies. We need to keep the hard chasing pressure game going. ROK can compete and fight in tight, but can no longer survive when the play gets into space.

Zak Jones is the sort of quick, hard, defensive minded, disciplined midfielder that can come in and apply some great pressure for a couple of week until Hannebery comes back. You could give him a tagging job, which he would do well. He is a first rounder and we need to get some games into these deserving young players. Jones by some account was very close to getting a game against Port. He did not play this week so will be very fresh this week against Richmond. Maybe he can tag a quick like a Nathan Foley or Brandon Ellis.

I think Membrey, Robinson and Jones are very deserving of an opportunity at Senior Level. Tom Mitchell and Dene Towers have unfortunately been injured at the wrong time.

I would like to see Rohan get a full game. He needs to relax, be settled and apply great pressure. He still possesses class and this will come through with some confidence.

[aguy]

I don?t think we need another hard body to replace Hannebery. With K.Jack, Kennedy, Parker, Bird and McVeigh, there are some hard mature bodies. We need to keep the hard chasing pressure game going. ROK can compete and fight in tight, but can no longer survive when the play gets into space.

Zak Jones is the sort of quick, hard, defensive minded, disciplined midfielder that can come in and apply some great pressure for a couple of week until Hannebery comes back. You could give him a tagging job, which he would do well. He is a first rounder and we need to get some games into these deserving young players. Jones by some account was very close to getting a game against Port. He did not play this week so will be very fresh this week against Richmond. Maybe he can tag a quick like a Nathan Foley or Brandon Ellis.

I think Membrey, Robinson and Jones are very deserving of an opportunity at Senior Level. Tom Mitchell and Dene Towers have unfortunately been injured at the wrong time.

I would like to see Rohan get a full game. He needs to relax, be settled and apply great pressure. He still possesses class and this will come through with some confidence.

I actually like the idea of seeing the young guys get a chance. Just not sure that's what our selection committee will do because they are always very conservative

[Ludwig]

We just got through a block of 5 games, any one of which we could have lost due to the quality of the opposition. But we won them all.

Now we have a block of 4 games against mediocre opposition, then a bye followed by Hawthorn. We have a few injuries to deal with, but fortunately they have come at at time where it should not effect the results of the games. If we come with the right mental attitude, we should easily win all these games.

We need to approach this block of games as an opportunity to get some time into a few new players and build our depth heading into the finals. We could play ROK, but what will we learn? On the other hand, if someone like Membrey can bring his NEAFL form to AFL level, like Cunningham and Lloyd have, then we know we have another player that we count on when finals arrive. If he can't, then we learn something as well.

Over this period when Derickx had to cover for Tippett and Pyke, he generally competed hard and for a long time, even if his performance was not at an AFL level. But the time has come to bite the bullet and realise that we cannot go into finals withTom in the side. Against Port, the game would often flow around him, and he was like a statue not knowing what he should do. Lobbe went off and did his thing without any worry that he would be challenged. After 2 reserves games, Pyke should be ready to come in. If he needs a backup, we can give Nankervis a shot at Tippett's spot and split the rucking duties with Pyke. It's against Richmond. If they continue to play Hampson, and they might because Vickery is still suspended, then that makes one Tiger that we don't have to cover, because he is just as hopeless as Derickx, probably worse because he can't kick.

I figure we have 4 players that can play in the ruck at times: Pyke, Tippett, Reid and hopefully Nankervis. The first thing required is that the player has to be able to play the game around the ground. If he can compete in the ruck contests, that's a bonus. Reid is not the best ruckman going around, but once the ball hits the ground at least we have someone who can contest the ball.

[DeadlyAkkuret]

I'm of the opinion we need to do all we can to win these next 4. We need to play Membrey, Jonest etc. if we think they're the best option but not because we want to try untried players.

I'm against resting players too many just because the opposition is weak.

[CureTheSane]

I understand ludwigs dismay about derickx, but I seriously encourage anyone with a more open mind to watch the game again and pay attention to ports decision to have a third man up for most of the game after the first quarter and note that we did nothing about it either in the midfield or from coaches.

He has been beaten in the centre square every match, but teams (even at the scg) are not breaking from there and scoring goals. That makes sense because if you think you are likely to lose centre square you set everything up structurally on that basis.

On the other hand around the ground he has been fine. Clearly he has no vertical leap but once he causes contact he is fine so much so that port changed their tactics and we didn't respond.

I wouldn't be against dropping him, but you can't have champions on every line, and I really don't think pyke is all that much better against the good ruck men in the centre square and as I have said elsewhere he is very predictable with his ruck work and the first half of the year showed him labouring around the ground.

I'm pretty much the same, and I'd add that TD's use of the ball has generally been good. He looks like everything is moving quickly around him, but he manages to keep up (against great sides)

I'd still like Rohan to get a full game if he's up to it.
What he was given on Saturday was really not fair to him. Not sure why you'd sub in a player and throw him in the forward line. Ideally he'd go into the midfield or on the wing where his fresh legs would mean something.

[longmile]

IN: Pyke, Membrey & ROK
OUT: Derickx, Hanneberry & Rohan

[Swanny40519]

Remember last year when we had all those injuries and at the pointy end of the season we ran out of legs and players.

we have to do what Geelong and Freo have done in the past and start to rest some of the stars and players with slight injuries so we can go hard in the finals.

Out : Derickx, Hanneberry, B Jack
IN: Pyke, ROK, Membrey

[shaun..]

Remember last year when we had all those injuries and at the pointy end of the season we ran out of legs and players.

we have to do what Geelong and Freo have done in the past and start to rest some of the stars and players with slight injuries so we can go hard in the finals.

Out : Derickx, Hanneberry, B Jack
IN: Pyke, ROK, Membrey

Yep great call. Changes to be made if there are any niggles. We don't have to carry injured or tired players with our depth.
Would really like to see Membrey debut, perfect chance for his family to see him play too!

[ernie koala]

I actually like the idea of seeing the young guys get a chance. Just not sure that's what our selection committee will do because they are always very conservative

This is my view too.

I'd love to see one of...Jones, Robinson or Membrey get a game this week, and next, at least.

Given Derrickx looks a little spent, and Pyke is coming back from 5 weeks off, you'd expect both to play and share the load.

[ernie koala]

Remember last year when we had all those injuries and at the pointy end of the season we ran out of legs and players.

we have to do what Geelong and Freo have done in the past and start to rest some of the stars and players with slight injuries so we can go hard in the finals.

Out : Derickx, Hanneberry, B Jack
IN: Pyke, ROK, Membrey

Your OUTs don't reflect your sentiments. Hanners is having a forced rest and the other two won't be playing seniors all year.

I do agree we should look to rest a few when we get the chance. But I reckon that will be in the later rounds.

Thankfully this year we have 3 relatively easy games coming into the finals...St Kilda(SCG), Dogs, Tigers(ANZ).

The St Kilda game is the obvious one, then depending on how the ladder looks, the other two could be used for resting a few sore players.