Changes v West Coast

[Blood Fever]

Effort is one thing but James has to start influencing games....even just a little bit.....or his 'effort' is useless and pretty much has been in the weeks he's played. On his last chance surely.

Final 22. In Wicks, Blakey. Out Brand, Rowbottom (managed)

[longmile]

Great, Bell and Blakey...

[Ralph Dawg]

WC have gone very tall with Vardy on the bench.

[Aaron]

Sydney Swans v West Coast Eagles -- Bench size reduced from 8 to 4 today.

Swans IN: Wicks and Blakey (Bell remains on the bench) for
OUT: Brand(Omitted) and Rowbottom ( Managed)
West IN : Alex Witherden, Jamaine Jones, Luke Foley, Nathan Vardy, Zac Langdon for
OUT : Jack Petruccelle (Omitted), Jackson Nelson (Omitted), Jake Waterman (Omitted), Josh Rotham (Omitted), Liam Ryan (Suspension), Luke Edwards (Omitted)

and Umpires Jeff Dalgleish (7), Matt Stevic (9), Brendan Hosking (16)

[NeonBible]

Somewhere TheBloods is throwing a party heh..

[707]

Hawks Number One ticket holder Matt Stevic, he'll stitch us up as he always does.

Thing I'll now have a decent bet on West Coast, Stevic will get them across the line!

[Ralph Dawg]

I noticed in the Hawks game that one of their defenders would block McCartains jump at the ball, allowing an easy mark to one of their talls. Port did something similar. I think this reflects the fact that McCartain is our only true defender and the opposition has worked this out. Hopefully Blakey can use his leap and spoil to help kill F50 entries. Otherwise, if we don't stop the ball at the source, it's going to be a tough night in the office for our defence again.

[TheBloods]

Managed is a politicians way of saying dropped !

WTF are we playing Blakey ! Taylor wouldve been better ffs

[The Runner]

Managed is a politicians way of saying dropped !

WTF are we playing Blakey ! Taylor wouldve been better ffs

Not really - the Swans are pretty consistent with calling a demotion a demotion. He's probably playing injured at the moment. I think in hindsight he may have been better treating his knee injury at the beginning of the season. But, try telling a young player that.. they'll always take the play through it option.

Blakey is a swap for Brand. He's been playing down back in ressies, and will likely take this r role on the weekend. So, no, Lewis Taylor is not the right option.

[AnsweredPrayers]

Rowbottom is miles ahead of Blakely by any objective measure. That's a real loss.

[i'm-uninformed2]

Managed is a politicians way of saying dropped !

WTF are we playing Blakey ! Taylor wouldve been better ffs

I know, right. I'd been looking forward to Lewis' body work and defensive spoils on Oscar Allen . . .

[Ludwig]

Bell must be very convincing in his claim that he's due for big game. Could have a future as a player manager.

[The Runner]

Rowbottom is miles ahead of Blakely by any objective measure. That's a real loss.

Can you objectively compete an apple and an orange?

[MattW]

Observations from those selections:

Blakey for Brand:
- Blakey selected to give us some height in the backline. That says a lot about the parlous state of our defensive stocks and is revealing as to the match committee's views on Brand, O'Riordan and Gould - actual defenders.
- Rightly so re Brand. Brand was a liability last week, not just with that shocking handball. His disposal was uncertain and his movement poor. Suspect his cards are marked.

Wicks for Rowbottom
- Wicks was always going to come in, but assumption was that it was for Bell. The fact that it was for Rowbottom demonstrates the difficulties he's having with that knee. It's a bit concerning that he needs a rest a week after the first game back from a bye and raises a question as to what benefit one extra week will provide. I wonder whether he'd benefit from a Gulden/Campbell type break.
- Also revealing that none of Taylor, Stephens or Ronke came in for Bell. I thought Bell was unplayable last week (his performance had me wistfully recalling the days a sub could be activated without an injury). He had a couple of decent uncontested possessions in the fourth but needs to impact the contest a lot more. The time is now. But no-one is smashing down the door (or even knocking).

[bloodspirit]

If Blakey learns to defend, he could be an awesome defender. :P

His pace, height, leap, and classy kick are all valuable assets.