Changes for Round 19 v Freo

[mcs]

I'm a bit concerned at our lack of a specialist small defender with Harry out Freo have Walters, Schultz, Henry and Switkowski, all capable smalls. I wonder how Ling is tracking? Could he be an in for Stephens this week?

Its a very fair point - but I've seen nothing in the reserves footy this year that I've watched to suggest Ling would easily fill that role. As much as it pains me (given his outstanding few weeks in midfield recently), Hewett might need to be sacrificed to play that sort of role if required against Freo.

[ugg]

Ling last played for the reserves on the 12th June (not sure about the scratch match), he would not be in contention.

[Ralph Dawg]

Its a very fair point - but I've seen nothing in the reserves footy this year that I've watched to suggest Ling would easily fill that role. As much as it pains me (given his outstanding few weeks in midfield recently), Hewett might need to be sacrificed to play that sort of role if required against Freo.

Just checked out the heat maps of our players. Looks like Oli Florent spent alot of time down back - 67% from 113 minutes on field. Who were his direct opponents for the night (?Daniels, Coniglio / Taranto drifting forward?). Wonder if he was filling Harry's role?

[bloodspirit]

Gould was drafted because of his reputed ability to play tall and small. Could Harry's absence give him his chance?

[Aaron]

I don't think Reid is ready to come back yet but, if he is, it should definitely be for Amartey. We don't need them both in F50. Reid isn't as good a ruck as Amartey, but he's good enough to help back Hickey up.

I find it interesting to compare Reid with Amartey who played 6 games each so far this season.

Here are their statistics at Footywire. They are very similar with Reid slightly in front with more contribution in disposals, mark and goal assists. Of course their experience is the big difference.

Horse told reporters today " Sam Reid and Braeden Campbell played in a reserves hitout last weekend but could do with another run to build fitness and rediscover their touch after lengthy stints on the sidelines due to injury. Unfortunately we're not able to play our players with anyone else up here, so we're trying to work out what we do in that regard because we have a [VFL] bye this week,” Longmire said.

Apparently, there is expectation to play Reid and Campbell but it may be delayed.


By the way, there was an article titled "Looking beyond footy’s ‘furphy’ stat to determine true All-Aus ruck contenders: Champion Index" at the beginning of this month and interestingly, Reid has been ranked very high as a "ruckman"
2nd for Best Hitout Differential (Win Rate)
4th for Hitouts-to-Advantage Diff (Win Rate)
5th for Best Direct Team Advantage After Ruckwork (Win Rate)

[liz]

I'm a bit concerned at our lack of a specialist small defender with Harry out Freo have Walters, Schultz, Henry and Switkowski, all capable smalls. I wonder how Ling is tracking? Could he be an in for Stephens this week?

It's made worse because the next "in" to play as a small defender would be COR.

However, things are somewhat balanced out by the Dockers lacking tall forward targets at the moment, unless they all miraculously make recoveries for our game. Lobb is doubtful and Taberner also seems unlikely to be ready. So they don't have a host of tall players to bring the ball to ground. Lobb out (if he doesn't recover) is huge for us. He (along with Fyfe's third quarter) was (were) the main reasons we lost to them last time. That means Fox and/or Rampe will likely be available to play on smaller forwards.

Walters isn't having a great year. Henry is fast improving and capable of flashes of brilliance but is still young and inexperienced. The other two are unlikely to be match winners. I reckon we have the players to pay them sufficient attention.

When I heard the news about the chaos around Sunday's game - just a few minutes before the game started - I confess I was almost relieved to hear the names of the players unavailable, not withstanding that one is probably leading our B&F at the moment and the other is highly consistent and now a specialised role player. Mostly, I was relieved that none of their names began with 'T' and ended with 'om'. McCartin would be just about the hardest player to replace at short notice (or any notice) right now, with Hickey not far behind.

[Ralph Dawg]

It's made worse because the next "in" to play as a small defender would be COR.

However, things are somewhat balanced out by the Dockers lacking tall forward targets at the moment, unless they all miraculously make recoveries for our game. Lobb is doubtful and Taberner also seems unlikely to be ready. So they don't have a host of tall players to bring the ball to ground. Lobb out (if he doesn't recover) is huge for us. He (along with Fyfe's third quarter) was (were) the main reasons we lost to them last time. That means Fox and/or Rampe will likely be available to play on smaller forwards.

Walters isn't having a great year. Henry is fast improving and capable of flashes of brilliance but is still young and inexperienced. The other two are unlikely to be match winners. I reckon we have the players to pay them sufficient attention.

When I heard the news about the chaos around Sunday's game - just a few minutes before the game started - I confess I was almost relieved to hear the names of the players unavailable, not withstanding that one is probably leading our B&F at the moment and the other is highly consistent and now a specialised role player. Mostly, I was relieved that none of their names began with 'T' and ended with 'om'. McCartin would be just about the hardest player to replace at short notice (or any notice) right now, with Hickey not far behind.

It's a crucial game for Freo. I suspect they will feel compelled to play Lobb and Taberner if they are anywhere near fit. Darcy as well. Going against this is the long, trans continental flight. Hoping none will be fit, leaving Treacy as their only true key forward and Meek to ruck against Hickey. In this scenario, Fyfe will spend much of his time forward with Rampe or Fox making life tough for him.

[Markwebbos]

It's made worse because the next "in" to play as a small defender would be COR.

However, things are somewhat balanced out by the Dockers lacking tall forward targets at the moment, unless they all miraculously make recoveries for our game. Lobb is doubtful and Taberner also seems unlikely to be ready. So they don't have a host of tall players to bring the ball to ground. Lobb out (if he doesn't recover) is huge for us. He (along with Fyfe's third quarter) was (were) the main reasons we lost to them last time. That means Fox and/or Rampe will likely be available to play on smaller forwards.

Walters isn't having a great year. Henry is fast improving and capable of flashes of brilliance but is still young and inexperienced. The other two are unlikely to be match winners. I reckon we have the players to pay them sufficient attention.

When I heard the news about the chaos around Sunday's game - just a few minutes before the game started - I confess I was almost relieved to hear the names of the players unavailable, not withstanding that one is probably leading our B&F at the moment and the other is highly consistent and now a specialised role player. Mostly, I was relieved that none of their names began with 'T' and ended with 'om'. McCartin would be just about the hardest player to replace at short notice (or any notice) right now, with Hickey not far behind.

We are a bit of a team of the two tall Toms* at the moment, with only one fit genuine ruck and one fit KPD, although there is some tall cavalry (Reid, Melican) not that far off (I'm excluding Brand and McLean from this list on the grounds that the former isn't up to it and the latter doesn't really ruck)

*Leaving aside our small Tom division.

[SwanSand]

Just checked out the heat maps of our players. Looks like Oli Florent spent alot of time down back - 67% from 113 minutes on field. Who were his direct opponents for the night (?Daniels, Coniglio / Taranto drifting forward?). Wonder if he was filling Harry's role?

Just watching the game it seemed to me that there was a lot of switching of roles going on between Blakey/Dawson and Jmac/Florent. As one drifted forward other stayed back to cover. And as the game became an outside fest Jmac was drifting way forward and Blakey running through the middle and Dawson stayed back. But maybe I am wrong. That was just great team awareness and coaching.

I reckon Blakey with his speed and ability to clutch some marks and spoil with his leap would be vital in the back half come finals. We are likely to need an additional small defender going forward. Not sure in the absence of COR who it is. Ling/Gould may both be a bit underdone but maybe we should give Gould a go unless he is a liability.

[mcs]

Just watching the game it seemed to me that there was a lot of switching of roles going on between Blakey/Dawson and Jmac/Florent. As one drifted forward other stayed back to cover. And as the game became an outside fest Jmac was drifting way forward and Blakey running through the middle and Dawson stayed back. But maybe I am wrong. That was just great team awareness and coaching.

I reckon Blakey with his speed and ability to clutch some marks and spoil with his leap would be vital in the back half come finals. We are likely to need an additional small defender going forward. Not sure in the absence of COR who it is. Ling/Gould may both be a bit underdone but maybe we should give Gould a go unless he is a liability.

I can't see that Gould will really be a small defender though - my take is he will either make it as a KPD, or he won't make it all. But that's solely based on what I've seen in the bits and pieces of him in reserves games primarily earlier in the year. Very happy to be proven very wrong however!

[MattW]

I would be exceedingly surprised if Gould plays, noting he wasn't even an emergency after the three withdrawals on Sunday. I'd be quite surprised if there were any changes at all, unless Ronke and Bell swap (which I really doubt).

[Ludwig]

If we can keep our defence well organised, we should be okay. Florent seems the best fit to replace Cunningham. I don't mind Florent as a small defender. I wonder if Bell could handle a hard tagging role as a defender. He's not getting much of the ball anyway. At least he can try to keep the ball away from a Freo player.

[AB Swannie]

I'd be interested in others' thoughts on using Ryan Clarke as a small defender. I obviously don't want him kicking the ball too much unless it is long down the line but I think he has the attributes to lockdown well, win the contest and then break to be loose for a handball chain.

[RogueSwan]

I'd be interested in others' thoughts on using Ryan Clarke as a small defender. I obviously don't want him kicking the ball too much unless it is long down the line but I think he has the attributes to lockdown well, win the contest and then break to be loose for a handball chain.

Not a silly suggestion. There would be enough other good kicks around him if he could get them the ball. Whether he fits knows, and could fit into, the defensive system is a significant question mark.

[Thunder Shaker]

We have an interesting and enviable dilemma at this stage of the season. Our injury list stands at seven players, but four of them are in isolation (Cunningham, Mills, O'Riordan, Sinclair), Melican is listed as "Test" and Warner is 1 week away from returning. Only Naismith is listed as long term. Campbell and Reid have recovered and they are available for selection.