Changes for Round 2 v Western Bulldogs

[Red]

What's the matter with playing Melican then. His form in the pre season was very good.

Or even Talia? You'd think he'd know something about playing on the Dogs' forwards.

[rojo]

He hd an operation in the off season and was not training when he went overseas. He was recovering from the op. He did the toe after, a setback he didn't need.

True, but these days rehabilitation after injury or operations requires players to be doing appropriate training. My point was that maybe Aliir lost a bit of focus during his time out, and is taking time to get back to the intensity required. Just trying to find some sort of explanation as to why he is not playing tonight!

[liz]

Maybe they just want to keep him grounded. He's still very green when it comes to senior AFL, and the media became obsessed with him a little towards the end of last season to an extent that outweighed his actual performances. Not that he didn't play some good footy last year, and not that he isn't an exciting prospect. But the way some were salivating over him was a little OTT. Maybe the club thinks it's in his best interests to make him really work hard for his opportunities.

I think many players who get a bit of success too soon don't go on to reach their potential, whereas those who have to work their socks off to get a chance, keep that habit up and keep on improving.

[Vonsteinman]

Or maybe having (very closely) watched him play, train, recover, develop, prepare and build fitness over a number of years, there is a decision that he is not yet ready to be thrown in for a full hit out of senior AFL. So they've decided to manage his game time again in the twos and will select him when they are confident that he's ready?

Either that or one of the more plausible theories that Horse doesn't know what he's doing or is deliberately selecting an inferior side against the team that beat them in the GF....

[Scottee]

I think this team selection is right up there with the Jack Hiscox selection. Not because of the players themselves but because of the incredible mismatches. Newman would give away 16kg to Crameri., Laidler would give away 10cm and 13 kg to to Tom Boyd. Whichever way you cut it those mismatches are going to happen. This is on top of a general situation of Smaller Swans playing on beefier Dogs.

Sent from my SM-T805Y using Tapatalk

[RogueSwan]

Either that or one of the more plausible theories that Horse doesn't know what he's doing or is deliberately selecting an inferior side against the team that beat them in the GF....

I really think this is the case


Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Auntie.Gerald]

I agree at a surface level it looks like we could be in for a bath with those matchups in the backline

But I suspect horse is forcing our players into a corner on this one.......he is issuing a challenge to see where we are at re the core of being a blood

He is forcing our guys to win the contests, and win the tackles .......if we do we have the mobility to breakaway and leave their talls in our wake with our smaller backline

But the opportunity cost is if we fail to win the ball and they get to kick to open targets one on one we are stuffed

It's quite clever in a way...no one can hide from the contests otherwise we are gooone !!!

Plan B though is I am sure we will be playing massive players around the ball ie the swans medium defenders will be pushing up and creating massive congestion and or flooding back in numbers..... when u think about it what other option do we have?

With the amount of players we have out for this game we can't take them on one on one.......we have to jam the ball at either end of the ground ie where we can play high pressure contested ball with millions of bodies around the ball in a smaller space

I think horse has chosen the right bodies to execute this strategy...still would have preferred AA in there though

And paps and heeney and Rampe and Robbo and macca and Rohan and and and and and.......

[RogueSwan]

...
With the amount of players we have out for this game we can't take them on one on one.......we have to jam the ball at either end of the ground ie where we can play high pressure contested ball with millions of bodies around the ball in a smaller space
.......

I think that the Dogs will be better at this than us though. If they can get the ball out , and they have the players to do this, their quick movement to mis-matched forwards will give them the game

[SCGonasunnyday]

I think that the Dogs will be better at this than us though. If they can get the ball out , and they have the players to do this, their quick movement to mis-matched forwards will give them the game

I give the Swans no chance of winning. Funny though - over the years these are the games where the players sometimes aren't on that wavelength and go out and smash it! Go swans

[wolftone57]

Maybe they just want to keep him grounded. He's still very green when it comes to senior AFL, and the media became obsessed with him a little towards the end of last season to an extent that outweighed his actual performances. Not that he didn't play some good footy last year, and not that he isn't an exciting prospect. But the way some were salivating over him was a little OTT. Maybe the club thinks it's in his best interests to make him really work hard for his opportunities.

I think many players who get a bit of success too soon don't go on to reach their potential, whereas those who have to work their socks off to get a chance, keep that habit up and keep on improving.

I think he's already put in the hard yards Liz. Why is he being singled out for different treatment to other players? Sometimes people have a subconscious thing about other people. I was supervising a big function once and one of the waiters, an Indian guy I knew well, complained about the way I treated him compared to the others. I had no idea I was treating him more harshly than the others. It was a subconscious thing. It may not be any of those things but I have noticed that his whole path has been much more difficult than many other players, for example Xavier Richards who really didn't deserve his first taste of AFL or Jack Hiscox ditto.

- - - Updated - - -

Or maybe having (very closely) watched him play, train, recover, develop, prepare and build fitness over a number of years, there is a decision that he is not yet ready to be thrown in for a full hit out of senior AFL. So they've decided to manage his game time again in the twos and will select him when they are confident that he's ready?

Either that or one of the more plausible theories that Horse doesn't know what he's doing or is deliberately selecting an inferior side against the team that beat them in the GF....

I'm sorry but that doesn't hold water. he proved last year he was more than ready. In fact Wayne Carey believes he is the most exciting prospect in footy. He believes Aliir would be All Australian given a whole season. I agree with him.

[RogueSwan]

I think he's already put in the hard yards Liz. Why is he being singled out for different treatment to other players? ...

Maybe he was late to training? Who knows? That's why there is so much speculation.

... he proved last year he was more than ready. In fact Wayne Carey believes he is the most exciting prospect in footy. He believes Aliir would be All Australian given a whole season. I agree with him.

I don't think anyone here believes it is his ability that is holding him back. We will just have to trust the selection committee.
On that, do you guys think Horse has the final say or is it more of a majority rules kind of thing? Does it come down to the Captain and coach for those tricky selections? And do we know who is on that Committee?

[Dosser]

I don't know, i just think the coaches may know more about it than we do...

[crackedactor]

It surprising that with Talia's experience, that he was not chosen. Must be still in the bad books. Anyhow it may be like us in the first game in 2006. We got slammed by Port Adelaide in the first game and the rumour when around that players shared a drink or two with some ex players the night before. Hopefully the Bulldogs will do the same.

[Auntie.Gerald]

I think that the Dogs will be better at this than us though. If they can get the ball out , and they have the players to do this, their quick movement to mis-matched forwards will give them the game

I agree rogue we are up against and we are up against it no matter which way we slice it......hence why I believe that the coaches and playing group have agreed that they need to play a style that wins the contest early before problems arise ...... i leaves then minimal options......I do find in life when u corner ur weakness u have two choices !!!!

3-2-1 make it happen or not

As Longmire said in his interview when asked how the debutants will enjoy their first game

"They will love it if they play a hard fierce game of footy"

Lol.......that left me with no illusion of how fierce horse is feeling re this game

I think we all saw a sub standard level of hardness and fierceness to win the contests last week

That has to change

[Ludwig]

Stewie Dew: So who do you think we should select this week?

Horse: Luke Beveridge this, Luke Beveridge that. Everybody's talking about Luke Beveridge. Best Coach, my arse. He stole that Coach of the Year Award from me. That's my Award. Even Clarko doesn't have one. I'm gonna get that bastard. Just wait and see.

Tom Harley: Forget Luke Beveridge. We've got a game to play and some tough selection decisions to make. I think Aliir is an automatic this week.

Horse: I'm gonna show the world who the best coach is.

Dew: Edwards has had a strong pre-season and we've already elevated him to the senior list.

Horse: And just when Hawthorn is falling off. Clarko is looking like a fool for getting rid of Sam Mitchell and Lewis. I should be the Coach of the century. Now this whippersnapper comes along and is stealing what's rightfully mine.

Harley: Forget about him, John. Luke's a winner. Everyone likes a winner. That's just the way the world works.

Horse: I'm a winner too. I'm a winner too!

Dew: Yeah, but it's easy to be a winner when you've got Lance, Josh and Luke Parker in your side. The reason he was Coach of the Year is that he wins with players like Flethcer Roberts. They've even got a midget in their team.

Horse: We had a midget in own team too.

Dew: Yeah, but we lost with out midget. They won with theirs. It's not just about winning John. If you want to be Coach of the Year, you've got to win Against All Odds.

Horse: