Changes to R22 Against North Melbourne

[snajik]

We win a number of games in a row, then lose one game. Apparently that means its time for wholesale changes based on the comments by some above. I don't see that happening. A couple of changes is all that is likely to happen, especially given that those missing out currently have limited practice games due to Covid/returning from injury.

Some folk like to focus on the negatives. It fills them with joy.
Some will even invent negatives.

[snajik]

I've been on this for a while as well. Our defence has been as poor as I've seen it for some time. We need to make adjustments.

I would love to keep Stephens in for another game, even though he performed poorly last week. I don't think he was given a fair shot of succeeding.

Thought Rowbottom was good in the first half, but faded badly after half time. Whatever his problem is, he doesn't seem capable of pushing through a full game atm.

I would also like to see Campbell and Wanner come into the side.

If we look at teams that changed a lot the past week, changing personnel didn't seem to hinder their winning chances, as most did quite well, especially the Giants and Saints. I'm okay with resting players and continuing to experiment. We don't have the right formula just yet.

Thought his first half was pretty good too, a few clearances which we'd been clamouring for, and some fine defensive efforts. There were many that offered less. He's averaging 60% game time this season (had 70% on Saturday) which would suggest he's not right and being managed. Not sure, but I think he was rested for most of the second half which may explain the drop off.
That was all a bit reckless. I'll possibly get a clip for writing that.

[royboy42]

Not correct:

I was very Bullish on Stevens. I talked him up in a big way. I feel like a fool after last week performance. I think a lot of people on here were puzzled that in the last quarter he let that Saints defender run straight through him without having to change direction. He just needed to put his body in the way and show intent. He did neither.

I think Rowbottom is out of form at the current time. I think he has good strength, is brave, gives a good physical contest (contrast to Stephens) and when confidence marks it well and kicks through the ball well.

We need to get him fit and confident. Think this will happen in early 2022.

Wicks for mine has not delivered much the last couple of weeks. Always seems to get picked due to his specialised position and lack of positional competition for his place. Papley who plays a similar position wins around 4 times the number of one on one compared to Wicks. I’ve got to be careful in criticising Wicks as he is an absolute favourite on Red and White. If I’m not careful a Wicks page will be set up like the Rowbottom page and I’ll relentlessly attacked by his army of supporters.

I look forward to Barracuda making a strong case for the retention of Rowbottom, Stephens and Wicks.

Why do I think you just love the attention?

[Ocker]

I was only watching on TV, but on occasions it looked to me that Stephens ran to position to provide a short option when we had the ball at half back or wing. This seemed consistent with our strategy of controlling the ball with short passes. He was was invariably ignored and I can imagine this contributing to his lessening output and apparent enthusiasm as the game progressed.

Unless we are going to use him, I can't see much point in keeping him in the team this season.

[Aprilbr]

He needs to impose himself more on the contest and stop the soft as butter tackling. In short, he needs to play more aggressively and win some of his own ball rather than relying on others to feed it to him on a platter. Does he want to be the next Brad Hill?

[Rob2120]

Looks like we are playing Saturday night at Marvel.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[i'm-uninformed2]

So here's Horse's presser for the week.

Made clear Mills has been managing the achilles all year, but lost a fraction in the lockdown. Unclear either way on this week. Speaks to Campbell and Warner getting close and clearly wants at least the option of popping them back in the side.

And - oh - I've posted more on this in the appropriate thread, but at 13.30 he speaks openly about the challenges Rowbottom has had all year with training, injuries, etc. Been obvious to all and sundry bar one. Just for the record.

Longmire press conference - 10 August, 2021

[Ludwig]

I was only watching on TV, but on occasions it looked to me that Stephens ran to position to provide a short option when we had the ball at half back or wing. This seemed consistent with our strategy of controlling the ball with short passes. He was was invariably ignored and I can imagine this contributing to his lessening output and apparent enthusiasm as the game progressed.

Unless we are going to use him, I can't see much point in keeping him in the team this season.

I agree. I think we are not using Stephens efficiently. Last year, when we had fewer options available, due to so many top players being injured, we used Stephens more often. We should go back to that method. I've suggested giving him a tagging role, so at least he can get involved in the game, even if in a negating sense.

He needs to impose himself more on the contest and stop the soft as butter tackling. In short, he needs to play more aggressively and win some of his own ball rather than relying on others to feed it to him on a platter. Does he want to be the next Brad Hill?

He's not physically capable of imposing himself, so it's not going to work, Jake Lloyd is not afraid of physical contact, but wisely stood apart from physical contests with heavyweights in his early day, because he knew he was going to lose those contests. He let our bigger buys do the hard work, stood off the contest and picked up the pieces. Now he gets involved in the physical stuff when required. He's still a bit slight to come out a winner, but does okay. That time will come for Stephens as well. He shouldn't shy away from contests, but choose his times wisely.

[111431]

Actually I think Wicks should be dropped. He is clearly tired having played 19 games out of a possible 20. Given it is his first year of the full workload he has made a great contribution but is not playing as well as he was earlier in the year. I guess I am just tired of hearing you say the same things over and over. It would not be the end of the world if Campbell took over his spot and he focussed on getting ready for next year.

Wicks is essential for the finals because of the pressure he brings. No one else comes close to applying pressure like he does and I don't think anyone they bring in can match that defensive role (other than maybe Clarke) as they are midfielders who are used to being offensive weapons as compared to a defensive wall. He could kick straighter but he puts in hard every week

[Ludwig]

I like Wicks and think he's been doing a good job this year. His goal kicking has been off, but I think that's just an aberration and I rate him as a goal kicker.

But in saying that, all of our forwards are good at applying pressure. I think Papley is only just behind Wicks in pressure; Hayward has been doing a good pressure job as well. I'm thinking that perhaps we don't need a pressure forward specialist.

We could bring in Campbell as a small forward to replace Wicks and see how that goes. Gulden, who has floated between midfield and forward is also a candidate.

Longmire places continuity of personnel more highly than I do, so I'm more inclined to make changes. Out of the current coaches, I suppose I fall more in the Luke Beverage camp in that regard.

[TheBloods]

I wanted him to get a chance but Stephens was terrible , shouldnt play again this year after that performance

[Ludwig]

I was surprised tho hear Longmire, in reference to Mills, say that some Achilles tendinitis conditions need a workload to manage. I always thought rest was the treatment. I wouldn't mind hearing from the physios and medicos on here if they have some more info on this.

[Mel_C]

I was only watching on TV, but on occasions it looked to me that Stephens ran to position to provide a short option when we had the ball at half back or wing. This seemed consistent with our strategy of controlling the ball with short passes. He was was invariably ignored and I can imagine this contributing to his lessening output and apparent enthusiasm as the game progressed.

Unless we are going to use him, I can't see much point in keeping him in the team this season.

I noticed this as well. On one occasion I recall yelling at the tv "kick it to Stephens" but he was ignored.

[Markwebbos]

I was surprised tho hear Longmire, in reference to Mills, say that some Achilles tendinitis conditions need a workload to manage. I always thought rest was the treatment. I wouldn't mind hearing from the physios and medicos on here if they have some more info on this.

I'm not a physio, but I'm the proud owner of a tendinopathy. Tendons are weird. They respond not to rest but to load, consistent load. I believe the lack of running = lack of load is what caused the problem for Mills.

Horse had this to say: "He's been playing with [the injury] for the whole year and with tendinitis you need to keep a certain amount of load going through it. When he was in isolation, he wasn't able to get that training load that he needed."

[MattW]

So here's Horse's presser for the week.

Made clear Mills has been managing the achilles all year, but lost a fraction in the lockdown. Unclear either way on this week. Speaks to Campbell and Warner getting close and clearly wants at least the option of popping them back in the side.

And - oh - I've posted more on this in the appropriate thread, but at 13.30 he speaks openly about the challenges Rowbottom has had all year with training, injuries, etc. Been obvious to all and sundry bar one. Just for the record.

Longmire press conference - 10 August, 2021

Agreed.

My reading of the Longmire leaves:
- Warner will come back in and Campbell is under strong consideration.
- He was more cagey about Franklin than he has been recently
- Obviously, he's hoping Mills gets up.

I'd love to get some kind of forking report about these scramble games we keep hearing about.