Changes for round 14 v Hawthorn

[caj23]

With the emergence of Dawson, Hewett and Oli as solid midfield contributors, Mills' best spot for us is as a medium defender, perhaps in the Mattner mould. He's certainly playing much better of late and perhaps this could be because he has more certainty to where he will be playing now that the midfield is performing well.
Speaking of playing well, Paps is reminding me of Paul Chapman. Crafty up forward then moving into the midfield, pinch hitting to devastating effect.
One change this week for me. JPK for Macca. The others can come back through NEAFL - the team deserves another go after their last cracking performance.

No disrespect to Marty as he's a premiership hero and was a great soldier for us, but if that's Mills ceiling as a player then that would be extremely disappointing given the way he was talked up prior to his draft

[barry]

No disrespect to Marty as he's a premiership hero and was a great soldier for us, but if that's Mills ceiling as a player then that would be extremely disappointing given the way he was talked up prior to his draft

Expectations on a player at 17 are unfair. I pity the high draft picks who go top 5 and fans are disappointed if they dont become the next Chris Judd. Just look at GWS and the number of top picks they have which have never eventuated to much (at GWS or who moved on to other clubs)

Forget for a moment what the expectations were at 17. If you could only judge Mills by his last 3 years of work, Marty Mattner would be a realistic goal.

[Ralph Dawg]

No disrespect to Marty as he's a premiership hero and was a great soldier for us, but if that's Mills ceiling as a player then that would be extremely disappointing given the way he was talked up prior to his draft

I know we all dislike him but how about Luke Hodge then? I'm thinking someone who can play on most sorts of forwards, run and carry and spend a bit of time when required in the midfield.

[caj23]

I know we all dislike him but how about Luke Hodge then? I'm thinking someone who can play on most sorts of forwards, run and carry and spend a bit of time when required in the midfield.

Now that would be nice, but your talking about a player with 2 Norm Smiths, 4 All Australian Selections, and 2 club B&Fs (not to mention 4 premierships, 3 as captain).

Mills is still only 22 and has time on his side, but at his current trajectory he isn't anywhere close to the standard of Luke Hodge (very few are)

[dimelb]

No disrespect to Marty as he's a premiership hero and was a great soldier for us, but if that's Mills ceiling as a player then that would be extremely disappointing given the way he was talked up prior to his draft

Agree with this, and I don't think we are in a position to judge until he has a decent go in the middle, especially when that was the widely accepted reason for picking him.

[Captain]

I really hope Rose gets another game.

He was a big part in making us more attacking, which in turn made us a better team.

[rb4x]

Our attacking mindset was caused in part by having three defenders, McVeigh, Thurlow and COR off the ground. Agree Rose has earned another chance but with Kennedy, Jones and Hayward all to come in, who do you leave out. McVeigh, Thurlow and ?

[Jeynez]

Scully never has been damaging. O'Meara has been providing a lot of their drive in the middle but you're right, Henderson has been a surprise packet this year (for a Crows cast off!)

Clarke has gone to the outside runners previously (Sidebottom, Higgins, Gaff etc.) so I would expect him to go to Henderson, who is more damaging with the ball than O'Meara. Hewett can go head-to-head with him.

Agree Rose has earned another chance but with Kennedy, Jones and Hayward all to come in, who do you leave out. McVeigh, Thurlow and ?

I would only bring Kennedy and Jones in. Hayward can play through the NEAFL and earn his spot back.

[Ralph Dawg]

I really hope Rose gets another game.

He was a big part in making us more attacking, which in turn made us a better team.

I've got a big wrap on Rose. He has all the skills, can pretty much play anywhere. That goal he kicked against the Eagles just sums up what he is capable of. He dominates NEAFL even more than Mitchell did. He just needs a decent stint in seniors to get his confidence up, very much in the same way as Dawson.

[111431]

I've got a big wrap on Rose. He has all the skills, can pretty much play anywhere. That goal he kicked against the Eagles just sums up what he is capable of. He dominates NEAFL even more than Mitchell did. He just needs a decent stint in seniors to get his confidence up, very much in the same way as Dawson.

I'm prepared to run with this idea - let's find out what he can do

[Ludwig]

It's taken a bit of time for Rose to work through some weaknesses in his game, but it seems like he's done it. He had a very good 2nd half to the season last year and has continued on this year. He does a lot of things well and has a nice bag of tricks, which can separate the ordinary players from the better ones.

If we count the addition of Barry O'Connor, we now sit at 48 players on our list. Since we can only have a max of 47, there will have to be a fair bit of culling, especially if we have any thoughts of adding a high quality player through trade or free agency. If we project the retirements of McVeigh, Jack and Smith, we still have 45 players.

The point of this being that we need to take a good look at Rose and decide if we want to extend his contract. He'll need a stint in the seniors to give it a fair chance. I'm leaning toward keeping him, but would like to see him get a run of games in the AFL.

[royboy42]

Stratton got two games, one for each offence so I doubt Hawks will pinch the game from us this week!

I saw what you did there, 707.

[Auntie.Gerald]

Rose actually made a few totally unforced errors vs the eagles ie especially that 40m kick across field 3rd qtr to space the eagles ran into and scored

But

I must say he had to jump from role to role in that game against a serious team

So I’ll cut him a little slack

I liked his contribution overall and gives us serious depth for multiple roles

You almost wonder (after some more tight run with roles if needed in the Snr team) whether he could adapt to a role like Sicily has done at the Hawks ?

Ie Loose med tall high marking defender that takes the game

[ernie koala]

OUT : McVeigh, Thurlow

IN : Jones, Kennedy

Dropping Rose now would all but end his time at the Swans...He's got plenty to offer and deserves a good run at it.

Hayward's form has been below par so no reason to rush him back in.

The point of difference, from our established players, with COR and Rose, is they look to attack with ball in hand.

Sure they'll make some mistakes, but it makes us a far less predictable team....And much more fun to watch.

[Snork]

I know some posters keep mentioning Rose's cross into the centre that was turned over but there were two major positives which we all harp on about, (a) the kid was taking a risk to open the game up on the other side of the ground and (b) he absolutely hurtled back on the turnover to spoil the Eagles pack which to me says the kid has a bit of character. Let's give him a run instead of Jack or McVeigh to see if he cuts the mustard as my fear is that we may be lost like Darcy Cameron will be lost to us without actually being given a fair crack at it. I still believe that Luke Vogels would have been a good player for us!! Membrey is the one for me that burns!