Changes for Rnd 10 V Hawthorn.

[Hotpotato]

Every game from here on will be akin to an elimination final .
They will all have a decent crack .

[wolftone57]

Aliir is the same spectacular player he was last year, maybe better. He's like a Buddy Franklin in the back line, but is a better mark. There's no reason to leave such a good player out of the side. He's still inexperienced, so he will make his mistakes, but he will be a superstar of the competition. Melican has being playing very well. He didn't have a breakout game until the NEAFL GF last year, but has continued on from there. He should stay. With the addition of a dynamic player like Aliir, we will be hard to stop on the rebound from defence.

About playing 3 tall defenders: We used to do it, but we haven't had the personnel in recent times. GWS, when fit early in the season, were playing 4 (Davis, Corr, Tomlinson and Haynes), but all are very mobile. Adelaide have 3 medium paced tall defenders in Talia, Hartigan and Lever, and it seems to work well.

There have been far too many times when we had small defenders finding themselves mismatched on tall forwards. Adding Aliir lessens the chance of that happening.

Sinclair may have had a good game for Sinclair, but still didn't do enough for me to keep him in the team in lieu of another midfielder like Dawson or Florent. If we bring in Aliir and Dawson, it will greatly add to our marking power around he ground.

It's not so much about who we should bring in for the Hawthorn game, but more about finding the best team before going into the bye round. Aliir is a must in that team.

Ok so you would drop Sinclair 25 HO, 17 Disposals, 5 marks and leave Tippett in as our first ruck who got 8 HO, 12 Disposals and 4 marks. Right you are, just watch us get flogged in the ruck.Longer got 37 HO but spent about 70% of the time on ball. Sinclair got 25 playing 55% on ball. I think Sinclair was very good and gave us much more than Tippett last week. yes Tippett kicked a goal but it was Sinclair's second efforts that opened play many times.good on Callum for stepping up, it is amazing what a bit of confidence can do for players like Callum and Deano. I wouldn't change the rucks this week.

To Aliir or not to Aliir that is the question? The problem in bringing Aliir in is how do we balance the side and is this necessarily going to make us faster in the areas we need speed. Dawson the same problem. Then again we could play a different game style v Hawks and have the taller players intercepting and taking marks then running off dishing the ball to Newman & Lloyd. If Dawson he could be that extra tall mid. But then again we could retain the speed and bring in either Fox or Florent. I think we could stretch Hawks in this area but then again we could stretch them with height in bringing Aliir or Dawson in.

Decisions, decisions, decisions, if only one didn't have to make decisions. I'm glad it's not me making the call, good onya selection committee.

[liz]

Fox isn't available for selection at the moment. He's back on the rookie list and Melican is occupying the only available rookie upgrade spot.

[Blood Fever]

Fox isn't available for selection at the moment. He's back on the rookie list and Melican is occupying the only available rookie upgrade spot.

Forgive my ignorance but can we upgrade Melican at any stage? Would be a big loss to have him unavailable for selection.

[Aaron]

Out: No.23 and No.24




IN: No:67 and No:50


Franklin will abandon his usual No.23 Guernsey for No.67 to commemorate the year of the referendum that ensured indigenous Australians would be counted in the census and allowed the federal government to make laws for them. Rampe will wear No.50 to honour the 50th anniversary of the referendum.

[Markwebbos]

Since going back to the reserves he's played very well in every game. He would have played senior footy had it not been for his training indiscretion, so the coaches thought his form was good enough to play senior footy. His defending has been excellent, although the competition in the reserves isn't always that demanding for our defenders.

It's still early in his career, so it's hard to say how good Aliir can be. It took Rance a fair few years to get up to a high standard. If I were an opposition coach, I wouldn't want to be kicking the ball anywhere near Aliir's vicinity, because he's a force to be reckoned with and the ball is likely to be coming back with interest.

The Aliir situation is a very interesting one. He has huge potential but not clear if he demands a spot in the team as a stopper or as a rebounder. For now the coaches have given his spot to Melican who they think is a better stopper. I can't see him getting back into the team in a hurry unless (1) someone gets injured, (2) they restructure the defence and play 3 talls plus Rampe (3) they give him a different role in the reserves a la X Richards.

[Auntie.Gerald]

Wilson at GWS is averaging 500m

Wow when will we learn our backline needs to have a player or two with this counter attack to take on the heavy weights who are just doing it not dreaming off the backline

[Mug Punter]

Wilson at GWS is averaging 500m

Wow when will we learn our backline needs to have a player or two with this counter attack to take on the heavy weights who are just doing it not dreaming off the backline

It's why I still like Jones playing off half back, not sure Newman has the run and carry yet but his improvement has been phenomenal

[liz]

Forgive my ignorance but can we upgrade Melican at any stage? Would be a big loss to have him unavailable for selection.

At the moment he's occupying AJ's spot on the list. Once AJ is ready to resume in the NEAFL (which we were recently led to believe is imminent), that spot disappears.

However, I think all clubs are allowed to promote one rookie after the bye, so that opens up another spot. I am not sure what the salary cap implications are, and also whether you have to nominate a specific player for the rest of the season, or whether you can chop and change (as you can when a player is occupying a senior spot due to a long term injury).

[Blood Fever]

At the moment he's occupying AJ's spot on the list. Once AJ is ready to resume in the NEAFL (which we were recently led to believe is imminent), that spot disappears.

However, I think all clubs are allowed to promote one rookie after the bye, so that opens up another spot. I am not sure what the salary cap implications are, and also whether you have to nominate a specific player for the rest of the season, or whether you can chop and change (as you can when a player is occupying a senior spot due to a long term injury).

Thanks Liz for that info. Melican has been really solid and looks a long term player. Very composed.

[Meg]

At the moment he's occupying AJ's spot on the list. Once AJ is ready to resume in the NEAFL (which we were recently led to believe is imminent), that spot disappears.

However, I think all clubs are allowed to promote one rookie after the bye, so that opens up another spot. I am not sure what the salary cap implications are, and also whether you have to nominate a specific player for the rest of the season, or whether you can chop and change (as you can when a player is occupying a senior spot due to a long term injury).

I've always found the relevant wording re nominated rookies ambiguous - in particular it's possible (but I'm not sure) that you have to nominate a rookie for potential elevation before the season commences.

But I am sure it is just one rookie who can be elevated to the senior list for the rest of the season (that is, no chop and change); the club must have the senior list room (which the Swans do with a current senior list of only 38); and the club must have the salary cap space to include the elevated rookie's relevant salary on the senior list (which the Swans may not have).

(Posted from train Stockholm to Copenhagen!)

[liz]

I've always found the relevant wording re nominated rookies ambiguous - in particular it's possible (but I'm not sure) that you have to nominate a rookie for potential elevation before the season commences.

But I am sure it is just one rookie who can be elevated to the senior list for the rest of the season (that is, no chop and change); the club must have the senior list room (which the Swans do with a current senior list of only 38); and the club must have the salary cap space to include the elevated rookie's relevant salary on the senior list (which the Swans may not have).

(Posted from train Stockholm to Copenhagen!)

I think all clubs can elevate a rookie at the midpoint of the season, even those who have a full contingent of 40 on their senior list.

Certainly, we could have nominated two at the start of the year given we have just 38 players on the senior list. But I can't recall the club doing this for ages (maybe Bevan?) and I think you're right about salary cap consequences. That's why I am not quite sure what the cap consequences are for the rookie nominated midway through the season.

[Markwebbos]

I think all clubs can elevate a rookie at the midpoint of the season, even those who have a full contingent of 40 on their senior list.

Certainly, we could have nominated two at the start of the year given we have just 38 players on the senior list. But I can't recall the club doing this for ages (maybe Bevan?) and I think you're right about salary cap consequences. That's why I am not quite sure what the cap consequences are for the rookie nominated midway through the season.

Even if they update Melican mid-year, which I assume they will, if they start playing AJ does that mean there won't be any way the other rookies can play?

[DA_Swan]

If our game is built around pressure on the man then don't see AA coming in yet unless he has got fitter and learnt how to play close to his man while he has been back in the Ressies - he'll get there soon with more game time

[Meg]

I think all clubs can elevate a rookie at the midpoint of the season, even those who have a full contingent of 40 on their senior list.

Certainly, we could have nominated two at the start of the year given we have just 38 players on the senior list. But I can't recall the club doing this for ages (maybe Bevan?) and I think you're right about salary cap consequences. That's why I am not quite sure what the cap consequences are for the rookie nominated midway through the season.

Thanks Liz, I'm surprised that a club can elevate a rookie mid-season if they already have a senior list of 40. But as I said before I find this part of the AFL Rules ambiguous. The sections relevant to nominated rookies are 10.16 in regard to before the season commences (which is where it refers to the need to have list space) and 10.17 in regard to mid-season (and I now see that the list size is not mentioned in this section). However the need for cap space is made clear - see below.

10.17 Nominated Rookies ? Mid Season
(a) Clubs may nominate Rookies
(i) A Club may nominate one Player from its Rookie List as being available for selection by the Club for Home and Away and Finals Series Matches at any time after the conclusion of Round 11 before 2.00pm on the Tuesday after the last round of Home and Away Matches by lodging with the AFL the form prescribed in Schedule 1 as Form 36.
(ii) This right of a Club to nominate a Rookie Player under this Rule is subject to the Club demonstrating to the satisfaction of the Investigations Manager that it can accommodate within its Total Player Payments Football Payments which must be paid to the Rookie Player as prescribed in Rule 10.17(b).
(b) Payments and Total Player Payments
(i) A Rookie Player nominated by a Club under this Rule 10.17 must be paid pro-rata no less than the amounts payable to a 1st year, third round draft choice selection for the period of time they are nominated.
(ii) Any amount paid to a Rookie Player nominated under this Rule in excess of the base payment payable to a 1st year, third round draft choice selection shall be included in the Club?s Total Player Payments.