This weeks NAB Challenge against Carlton

[wolftone57]

I've been thinking along similar lines Liz, although with a couple of differences. Bearing in mind we have a couple of Gorillas to contend with in the Pies forward line in round one I would persevere with X and Talia and rest Reg who seems to be in fine form and does not seem to need the run. Give X a full game and compare him to Talia before deciding on who plays round 1.

I would really like to see Aliir get a bit of a go and I think he should be tried on the wing given his speed and reasonable disposal, both of which are in short supply.

I agree re Robbo, BJ and Dawson, Robbo has really struggled for form and it's just too soon for Dawson. Sadly, BJ doesn't seem to have developed the poise that he needs to be in the team.

Papley definitely needs to line up in part because if we have Hewett, Parker and Papley in the side we have 3 players who are good on either foot which is a great advantage.

I also wonder whether Mills should also be tried on the wing given the number of Swans he skittled in the back line. His delivery is good and it could be a real bonus to have him delivering forward.

A case could be made for Marsh on half back given our back line woes, he does at least have speed and can kick .He also wasn't too bad against Port .It then becomes a matter of who else you would leave out however.

Marsh got 4 disposals in 2.5 quarters. He wasted 2 of them. He let his man off the hook several times.

[wolftone57]

[QUOTE=Scottee;690398]I can understand the 2 youngest and greenest guys not getting a go for the final hitout, better to test them out in the NEAFL at this stage.

But why is Hiscox back??? Please not him ahead of Rose and Hewett.

Looks like Talia is preferred over X.

Robbo and BJ very lucky to be ther

Robbo & BJ very lucky indeed. I would have chucked them both out to play NEAFL next week. They were shocking. I want players who give you something. I don't care if Dawson and Leonardis are green they actually do stuff. I'd rather them getting anther game than the others and Hiscox is hopeless, can't kick and stuffs it up. Marsh is a waste of list space as is Derrickx.

I fail to see what good keeping Reg in who is bloody fantastic and won't benefit by the run when we could give Aliir a go and see how he handles the monsters. He handled Bud really well in the Intra. In fact I thought he was one of the best in the Intra. Don't know why horse doesn't like him? Maybe he doesn't buy lollies for the boss. If I was him I would be asking why I keep getting overlooked.

By the way Lloydie was dreadful last week too. Couldn't get a kick in an electricity generation station. The others (BJ & Robbo) couldn't get touched up in a brothel they were so far from their opponents. Maybe they had BO their opponents were running so fast in the other direction. The NAB is about trying players. Scottee Papley is still in and he is youngest and greenest too. I hope Hewett plays, the kid has talent and he at least can deliver the ball. Something most of the others can't seem to do. Newman, Hewett, Papley, Heeney, Mills, Macca, Dawson, Leonardis, Laids (75%of the time) all have very good disposal. But of course 2 years under Horse and they will be cured of that, all except Macca who is incurable.

[Meg]

you say we, along with GWS, Suns and Lions, have our own reserves teams unlike the rest of the comp. That statement is flawed in that Essendon, Collingwood, Geelong, Footscray Reserves (yes they say Footscray) and Box Hill may as well be Hawks reserves because their coaches are paid by Hawthorn. they train together for the most part.

And Port Adelaide and the Adelaide Crows have had their own reserves teams playing in the SANFL since 2014.

[Foreign Legion]

The reason we are likely to play both Reg and Laidler is that we need to work on the chemistry of bringing 2 new players into the back six in Talia and Mills, and even Jones only has a few full games under his belt. We should have tested Allir in the first game, but the thinking must have been that X was ahead of him so there was little chance of him playing in the early rounds of the season, if at all this year. Talia is definitely part of our long term plans for our back six and we are likely to stick with his development unless he turns out to be a total flop. So far, he looks good enough for a 30 game player.

I think Talia looks pretty good so far and is certainly useful if Ted has ongoing problems.

[Levii3]

Herald Sun says we have the number 3 midfield six in the comp and number 1 for quality and 15 for depth http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/af...7e010bba0a6000 Screen Shot 2016-03-09 at 12.48.17 pm.png

[liz]

Table looks odd. It assesses Freo to have a better top six mids than Sydney and better depth, yet comes out with us overall ahead of Freo.

I find it hard to believe the Cats best six mids are better than the Swans' best six. They've got a very good best two (but so do we). But they drop away far quicker from that very high echelon, at least on my biased and subjective (ie non-statistical) assessment of their next group against ours.

[Plugger46]

Spot on Liz. Amazing what the recruitment of one player can do.

[dimelb]

Table looks odd. It assesses Freo to have a better top six mids than Sydney and better depth, yet comes out with us overall ahead of Freo.

I find it hard to believe the Cats best six mids are better than the Swans' best six. They've got a very good best two (but so do we). But they drop away far quicker from that very high echelon, at least on my biased and subjective (ie non-statistical) assessment of their next group against ours.

I think "better depth" refers purely to the number of mids on the list; we don't go as deep in mids as Freo, but the listed ones we have are better quality.

I think you're right about the comparison with the Cats.

And tomorrow night looks interesting: the best midfield in the comp against the worst! Ignoring possible absentees of course.

[dejavoodoo44]

I think "better depth" refers purely to the number of mids on the list; we don't go as deep in mids as Freo, but the listed ones we have are better quality.

I think you're right about the comparison with the Cats.

And tomorrow night looks interesting: the best midfield in the comp against the worst! Ignoring possible absentees of course.

And it's curious how the worst midfield in the comp has three number one draft picks. Which is probably a reflection on both that table and the importance of number one draft picks.

[wolftone57]

Table looks odd. It assesses Freo to have a better top six mids than Sydney and better depth, yet comes out with us overall ahead of Freo.

I find it hard to believe the Cats best six mids are better than the Swans' best six. They've got a very good best two (but so do we). But they drop away far quicker from that very high echelon, at least on my biased and subjective (ie non-statistical) assessment of their next group against ours.

I don't know Liz. danger is pretty good as is Guthry, Duncan, Selwood, Blitsavs, Murdoch, Gregson and Motlop is a pretty handy midfield. the thing is most of those players can hit a player up on a lead. they can dispose with efficiency. Most of our mids seem incapable of doing the same. I'd hazard a guess and say itr is the coaching regime nt the lack of ability.

[wolftone57]

Spot on Liz. Amazing what the recruitment of one player can do.

Sorry Plugger but their mids absolutely destroyed ours at Kardinia Park last year. Guthrie was super. Bliclavs was wonderful. We were slaughtered and they didn't have Danger then.

[Auntie.Gerald]

hawks mids - why not no 1 ?

[liz]

Sorry Plugger but their mids absolutely destroyed ours at Kardinia Park last year. Guthrie was super. Bliclavs was wonderful. We were slaughtered and they didn't have Danger then.

They outplayed the Swans in the second half only, after the Swans had a couple of goals lead at half-time but then seemed to think the game was over. It was possibly the most disappointing performance by the Swans for the year. But they lost by slightly less than they beat the Cats by in the first meeting of last season, where Parker was super and the likes of Mitchell, McVeigh and Kennedy weren't too shoddy either.

There's no denying that Selwood and Danger are quality players but both finished below both Kennedy and Hanners in the AFLCA awards and Brownlow count last year. Those two aren't half bad either. Motlop is a small forward who occasionally rotates through the midfield. He's yet to show he's a proper midfielder. Duncan's a good player but so are Jack, Parker and Mitchell. I'd take any of those over Gregson who's only entering his second season (and is still just a part time mid) or Guthrie, or Murdoch (or Caddy, who you didn't mention). Indeed, Gregson's not much more of a midfielder yet than Heeney is. I know I'd take Heeney first.

I don't deny Geelong has a pretty decent midfield. We don't have anyone to compare to Biclavs (though they don't have anyone with the attributes of Tippett either). Sydney's list has holes - everything beyond the first 15 or so players, for instance. But I rate our top half dozen or so mids, especially the ball winning mids, as a stronger and more proven bunch.

[Plugger46]

Sorry Plugger but their mids absolutely destroyed ours at Kardinia Park last year. Guthrie was super. Bliclavs was wonderful. We were slaughtered and they didn't have Danger then.

That's one game of footy. Ours beat theirs a couple of months earlier.

It's not about a head-to-head battle anyway. Any side's midfield can get their pants pulled down on a given day or night.

Our midfield has led us to four consecutive top 4 finishes. They're a pretty good bunch. The Geelong group may well go beyond the Swans' group in 2016 but for the time being, we've got the runs on the board.

[mcs]

That's one game of footy. Ours beat theirs a couple of months earlier.

It's not about a head-to-head battle anyway. Any side's midfield can get their pants pulled down on a given day or night.

Our midfield has led us to four consecutive top 4 finishes. They're a pretty good bunch. The Geelong group may well go beyond the Swans' group in 2016 but for the time being, we've got the runs on the board.

I think Geelong more generally will not live up to the super hyped-up expectations we've been hearing from all and sundry this year. They have a good midfield on paper, but I still don't buy they'll be anything more than a 5-12 team, a group which will contain a lot of even teams within it. Plenty are talking them up as genuine premiership challengers, but I don't see it - even with Dangerfield in there (who despite being a mighty fine footballer, I really do think is over-rated somewhat).