Changes Round 16 - vs Geelong

[Markwebbos]

I find it disappointing that so many are keen to jettison Rose so quickly. He actually had some nice touches - including his involvement in the second Ronke goal and the Florent goal. It's pretty tough to expect someone to immediately step up from NEAFL level and contribute significantly against the reigning premiers.

If Papley's ready he'll come back in but there are three players I'd rather see him replace than Rose (and a fourth possibility if Heeney isn't right to play).

Oh, and I don't think it's about giving someone like Jack the chance to atone. I don't for one moment doubt his desire or effort. It surely comes down to whether his body is fit enough to allow him to contribute in the way we need him to.

Liz (aka the voice of reason) I think you are right about Jack. But it's not what we think that counts. It's whether Horse thinks the same. Having said that, there was a moment in the post game press conference when one of the journos asked Horse if he'd have a word with Buddy about giving away the free kick when he "struck" Rance. And Longmire said something like "I've got a few other things on my mind" And I wondered if he meant other players. Wishful thinking probably!

[MattW]

I really wanted Rose to do well and cheered him on through the game. He got a couple of helpful handballs away and there has at least one pretty good tackle. I also get it that it's hard to come from NEAFL to Richmond. But I didn't really see anything that suggested he would step up to the standard. He still seemed to be following game.

Noting he came in for Papley and that he has done damage with his marking inside 50 at NEAFL level, I kind of expected him to play a little more forward. Longmire indicated that some of the younger forwards got a bit high, and I wondered who he meant. Rose only had one possession in the forward 50 and only 1 more in the forward half - he didn't seem to be playing as a forward. I wonder if he'd be better served playing in the forward half.

I think Rohan and Jack should go out next week. I wouldn't be too upset if Rose stayed in, but have seen more from Towers, Fox and (obviously) Papley.

[Hotpotato]

I don?t know what they were all on but the game was turbo charged over the weekend, quicker , slicker and more goals .
The number of players speeding past a stationary mark taker to gain substantial metres and simply catching the opposition napping was impressive . I like that. Do it Swans.
Some of our older folk would have trouble doing that now.
After the Tigers audit , I would expect some changes in the ones.
You can only be given so many goes at it.

I?d give Rose another crack .
Haners and Jack ?
Probably not.
Rohan, he?s just a mystery.

[dimelb]

I have reluctantly arrived at the necessity of sending Hanners back to the Seconds, or putting him on the injured list. He is no longer the player he once was but deserves the chance to change this. Kieren likewise is no longer what he was and should be given the chance to finish his time as a kind of player-cum-onfield leader in the Twos. Heeney is far too important to take chances with, so he takes another day off.

A fit Papley is a must play; he and Rose can rotate through mid and forward. Dawson (Swans potential answer to Bontempelli?) is due for a run in the Firsts. Towers can do the kind of things Hanners did as an outside mid, is quicker and a much better kick.

Out: Hannebery, Heeney, Jack

In: Papley, Dawson, Towers

PS I'm assuming Melican is not quite fit to play firsts. And I'd put COR in before Marsh - his potential outweighs Harry's - but not with all the other changes.

[Auntie.Gerald]

I think our 22 will get a chance to respond this week

Last line in the sand for a few

My guess paps in for rose

Reid and Melican the week after for 2 of Rohan , McCartin or AA?

[rb4x]

Papley will not be playing and I very much doubt Heeney will either. Hanners needs to be rested until his body is right and Rohan needs to go to the NEAFL to learn how to get the footy again. Suspect that the three in's will be Towers, Fox and Robinson who were rested from the NEAFL for this game. That will be enough changes so Jack will hang on by a thread and Aliir and Rose will get another chance. Emergencies from Rohan, Marsh, Newman, Cameron, O'Riordan and Dawson. Scathing article on Hannebury on the AFL site today. Hope there are no more injuries to come out of the woodwork.

[O'Reilly Boy]

I think that changes will be minimal (ie Papley for Rose), but the writing must be on the wall for numbers 4, 15 and 16, who must be close to having spells in the NEAFL. I've reached my tipping point with Rohan, I'm afraid.

The bigger response would be:

Mellican in for Jack, with Jones moving into midfield rotation.

Time for Dawson to have a run in place of Hannebery?
Robinson in for Heeney (concussed)

Towers in for Rohan
Reid in for McCartin (who has done nothing wrong)
Papley in for Rose


The team I'd like to have a look at would be:

Backs: Grundy, Rampe, Smith, McVeigh, Lloyd, Mellican, Aliir

Mids: Sinclair, Kennedy, Parker, Hewitt, Florent, Cunningham, Jones, Dawson, Robinson

Forwards: Franklin, Reid, Towers, Papley, Hayward, Ronke

Franklin to play further up the ground HFF; Reid, Towers, Sinclair starting deeper as more conventional FFs.


I suspect that Reid and Mellican will not be considered this week, but we need to start shaping up the team for the end of the season.

[liz]

I think that changes will be minimal (ie Papley for Rose), but the writing must be on the wall for numbers 4, 15 and 16, who must be close to having spells in the NEAFL. I've reached my tipping point with Rohan, I'm afraid.

The bigger response would be:

Mellican in for Jack, with Jones moving into midfield rotation.

Time for Dawson to have a run in place of Hannebery?
Robinson in for Heeney (concussed)

Towers in for Rohan
Reid in for McCartin (who has done nothing wrong)
Papley in for Rose


The team I'd like to have a look at would be:

Backs: Grundy, Rampe, Smith, McVeigh, Lloyd, Mellican, Aliir

Mids: Sinclair, Kennedy, Parker, Hewitt, Florent, Cunningham, Jones, Dawson, Robinson

Forwards: Franklin, Reid, Towers, Papley, Hayward, Ronke

Franklin to play further up the ground HFF; Reid, Towers, Sinclair starting deeper as more conventional FFs.


I suspect that Reid and Mellican will not be considered this week, but we need to start shaping up the team for the end of the season.

Papley, Melican and Reid have already been ruled out of the side and Heeney close to ruled out.

That means there will be one forced change (Heeney) and a pool of just three viable replacements - the three who didn't play NEAFL last weekend. So we're not going to see Dawson come in this week.

So at best (or worst, depending on how you look at it), only two of Jack, Hanners, Rohan and Rose will be omitted. And Rose should get another chance, regardless (and even more so if both Heeney and Papley are unavailable).

In the longer term, I'll be very surprised if all of Grundy, Rampe, Aliir and Melican play in the same side. When they deem Melican ready to return to the senior side, Aliir will almost certainly make way unless Rampe or Grundy gets injured. Even though Aliir theoretically provides a chop-out ruck option, they've shown no inclination to actually use him as such, not even last week with Richmond's shorter than usual forward line.

[Markwebbos]

I think that changes will be minimal (ie Papley for Rose), but the writing must be on the wall for numbers 4, 15 and 16, who must be close to having spells in the NEAFL. I've reached my tipping point with Rohan, I'm afraid.

The bigger response would be:

Mellican in for Jack, with Jones moving into midfield rotation.

Time for Dawson to have a run in place of Hannebery?
Robinson in for Heeney (concussed)

Towers in for Rohan
Reid in for McCartin (who has done nothing wrong)
Papley in for Rose


The team I'd like to have a look at would be:

Backs: Grundy, Rampe, Smith, McVeigh, Lloyd, Mellican, Aliir

Mids: Sinclair, Kennedy, Parker, Hewitt, Florent, Cunningham, Jones, Dawson, Robinson

Forwards: Franklin, Reid, Towers, Papley, Hayward, Ronke

Franklin to play further up the ground HFF; Reid, Towers, Sinclair starting deeper as more conventional FFs.


I suspect that Reid and Mellican will not be considered this week, but we need to start shaping up the team for the end of the season.

Horse has already said that Paps, Reid, Melican won’t be playing and Heeney is in doubt. That limits significantly what he can do this week, as does the 5 day break from the NEAFL game, so you’d think it’s unlikely anyone outside the 3 NEAFL restees would be considered.

I also think Horse likes to let players atone after a poor one. With Jack and above all Hanners, who has been singled out by the media this week (and it turns out the worst kicking midfielder in the comp), the question is whether they are physically capable.

Rohan is surely on very very thin ice.

There have been times when the club has fessed up and rested an underperforming player who was injured.

That’s a very long winded way of saying I have no idea what will happen at selection except that Hewett’s name will be one of the first on the board.

OUT: Rohan, Jack, Heeney
IN: Towers, Robinson, Fox

[Billericay]

In the longer term, I'll be very surprised if all of Grundy, Rampe, Aliir and Melican play in the same side. When they deem Melican ready to return to the senior side, Aliir will almost certainly make way unless Rampe or Grundy gets injured. Even though Aliir theoretically provides a chop-out ruck option, they've shown no inclination to actually use him as such, not even last week with Richmond's shorter than usual forward line.

I agree. Can't see Aliir keeping his spot unless one of the others gets injured. Can see him off at the end of the year unless Reg retires (and he's said he wants to play on, plus there's Maibaum waiting in the wings)

[Ludwig]

In the longer term, I'll be very surprised if all of Grundy, Rampe, Aliir and Melican play in the same side. When they deem Melican ready to return to the senior side, Aliir will almost certainly make way unless Rampe or Grundy gets injured. Even though Aliir theoretically provides a chop-out ruck option, they've shown no inclination to actually use him as such, not even last week with Richmond's shorter than usual forward line.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'the longer term', as Reg will drop out eventually due to old age. Although I think it's possible to play all 4 against some sides, we certainly couldn't do it against a Richmond with their smaller forward line.

I think it's a bit presumptuous that Melican is a near automatic replacement for Aliir. I like both Melican and Aliir, but think Aliir is the one who adds more to the team than does Melican. For some reason the expectation level for Aliir to get a pass mark seems so much higher than for Melican. Melican will eventually come in to replace Reg, but it's more important to get a block of games into Aliir to get him working confidently within the back line group. He adds a new dynamic to the defence and makes us a better rebounding team.

Nick Smith was on radio last week and commented that the Swans needed to reduce the number of I50s against them, something I've been on about for a while now. As you say, Aliir hasn't been used as a 2nd ruckman, nor as a R50 marking target, but this may be due to just trying to take things one step at a time with him and believe it will come in due course.

A change I would make this week would be to move Rohan to the backline and have McVeigh take Heeney's mixed forward-midfield role, which he can do quite well. We don't need Macca back there with Lloyd essentially performing the same sweeper role. Macca's footy brain would be more useful with our young forwards than in our experienced defence. I don't know if Rohan will succeed at HBF, but he has the perfect profile for the role. He needs to get more involved and playing defence will force the issue.

There was quite a negative article on the AFL website about how Hanners' game has fallen away. Well, this is nothing new. Everyone's been saying the same thing. It's hard to say why Horse is in (public) denial about this. Jack hasn't done much either, but doesn't get mentioned quite as much. I would drop them both and bring in Fox and Newman, with Towers and O'Riordan also possibilities for the Heeney replacement.

More injury info should be forthcoming this arvo.

[stevoswan]

Papley will not be playing and I very much doubt Heeney will either. Hanners needs to be rested until his body is right and Rohan needs to go to the NEAFL to learn how to get the footy again. Suspect that the three in's will be Towers, Fox and Robinson who were rested from the NEAFL for this game. That will be enough changes so Jack will hang on by a thread and Aliir and Rose will get another chance. Emergencies from Rohan, Marsh, Newman, Cameron, O'Riordan and Dawson. Scathing article on Hannebury on the AFL site today. Hope there are no more injuries to come out of the woodwork.

I suspect the article to which rb4x refers to above may actually save Hanners.

The damning stats behind a star's shock demise - AFL.com.au

The club will see it as a slur against him and show it's 'support' him by picking him.....but that article is actually a prime case for dropping him. It is damning and it's fact.

[Sandrevan]

I saw the article about Hannebery on the AFL site. A player carrying an injury or a player cooked from trying to play with too many niggles in the past. Surely the Selection Committee needs to get to the bottom of this.

out Hanners in Robinson

Gary, Gary, what is going on? There's a lot of love for Gary on here but he's not producing much on the field.

out Rohan in Towers

out Heeney (injured) in Fox

Rose stays in - he was a bit off the pace but he had a real crack.

Aliir stays in unless Melican is available.

[stevoswan]

Blicavs still in doubt to play us.....good. Go Buddy!

Blicavs still in doubt for his big test - AFL.com.au

[liz]

I think it's a bit presumptuous that Melican is a near automatic replacement for Aliir. I like both Melican and Aliir, but think Aliir is the one who adds more to the team than does Melican. For some reason the expectation level for Aliir to get a pass mark seems so much higher than for Melican. Melican will eventually come in to replace Reg, but it's more important to get a block of games into Aliir to get him working confidently within the back line group. He adds a new dynamic to the defence and makes us a better rebounding team.

I don't think it's presumptuous. I think it reflects where the coaches see the two relative to each other. Aliir's been OK for the last couple of weeks but I don't think he's made is a better rebounding team. He has the potential to do so but I don't think he is yet. He still seems very conservative with his disposals - more so than Melican when he was settled in the team at the back end of last season and very early this season (including the pre-season campaign). However, I think Aliir's form has been good enough to warrant making Melican play another couple of games, at least, in the NEAFL team to make sure he's properly match fit. And if Aliir can maintain, or even improve on what he's delivered for the last couple of weeks, he'll make Melican really earn his recall, when it comes. He should get a good opportunity this week to play on a taller opponent. Grundy will get Hawkins, Rampe will probably be given the job of matching up on Dangerfield when he goes forward, and the Cats are likely to have at least one more tall in their forward line most of the time. Maybe he (Aliir) will be given the chance of playing on Dangerfield at times. Rampe struggled in the final last year because Danger is pretty good at elevating himself. Aliir's height and better leap might make him a better match-up physically, at least.

When I said "long term" I was referring mostly to the rest of this season - ie beyond this week and next. I acknowledge it wasn't a great choice of word. But I reckon Grundy has another year left in him if he wants it. If the coaches are reluctant, it's up to Melican and Aliir (and Maibaum) to convince them they're ready to take over from the start of next season.