Rnd 15 Pre-Match Thread, vs St Kilda

[Aprilbr]

You seem to be going very tall with that team, Swanny!

[Ocker]

May be Harry needs to be moved into Wick's spot as a defensive fwd? Harry did play a similar position, and played it well, in the days of our "sling-shot" footy.

This could be a good move, with Oli back to defence.

Sent from my Lenovo TB-8505F using Tapatalk

[The Big Cat]

If my memory serves me right, Cunningham has a long history of closing down Brad Hill.

[crackedactor 01]

Last weeks loss puts us in a really difficult game against the Saints. With the next 3 tough games against a revitalised Bombers, Dogs and Freo - this weekends game is one we cannot drop or the season is gone.

Our defence is buckling under the strain with Rampe in poor form and Lloyd giving away a couple of goals per game with his poor disposal and decision making, we need to bolster our defence. Either bring back Melican, or give Gould a try and move McInerney back to attack. Wicks has done nothing the past 3-4 weeks,

Out: Ladhams, O'Readon, Wicks, Lloyd

In: Hickey, Campbell, Armety,Gould/Melican

No one thinks Hall-Kahan with his 5 goals 2 behinds including one that hit the post is worth the gamble?

[Ludwig]

If my memory serves me right, Cunningham has a long history of closing down Brad Hill.

I think you are right. Maybe having Cunningham cover the opposition's best rebounding defender is good role for both Harry and the team. He can take Wicks' spot. We can then look to reshuffle some other players, like making Florent the #1 lockdown small defender.

I think the time has come when we have to try Gould in the seniors. He will find AFL defending challenging at first. He has a fair bit of development to go in reading the play, but he's probably gone as far as he can at VFL level and needs to grow in a real AFL game environment. There are a lot of factors that go into this kind of decision, but on balance, it's best for the team long term to find a spot for Gould now, or in the next few games.

Following this line of thought, the key roles in defence would be the McCartin brothers, Blakey as rebound defender and Florent as lockdown small defender. Gould probably as the third tall defender and Rampe as the loose defender or sweeper. Lloyd, Fox or COR to fill the 7th spot.

After 13 games, its hard to see the 2022 as serious premiership contenders and it's best to shift focus on next year and beyond. Last game hope had a head-on collision with reality. I wouldn't be sacrificing development for an unrealistic hope of a 2022 premiership.

[waswan]

Out - Cunningham,Wicks,COR, Ladhams
In - Campbell, Amartey, Stephens, Hickey

Reid to play defence, let Ramps do Harrys role and allows Mills to stay mid when either of those 2 can sweep if required
The picks 5s to play thru the middle, Hickey in Ruck.
Amartey to assist Hickey.

Lloyd no kick ins, he actually played well against Melb when the play was broken down and it was a scramble out of defence, lacks kicking depth when a team defence is set up like at a kick in.

If Bell or Wicks play, i will make it my mission to run the thread to a record amount of replies

Also dont mind the idea of playing Clarke, provided he is selected to get his own ball and not tag.
We need to start going head to head instead of all this negating sh8t, todays footy you always eventually get your own run at it without having to be so negating.

[Ludwig]

No one thinks Hall-Kahan with his 5 goals 2 behinds including one that hit the post is worth the gamble?

Roberts has also played some great footy in the VFL and we saw what happened when he tried to bring that form to the AFL. I'm very positive on HHK, but I would give it a few more weeks in the VFL before making a senior call up.

[Ludwig]

If Bell or Wicks play, i will make it my mission to run the thread to a record amount of replies

Why take it out on us? We're not the selectors. Send a nasty letter to the match committee instead.

[waswan]

Why take it out on us? We're not the selectors. Send a nasty letter to the match committee instead.

Truth be told, ive probably run out of "opinions" on those 2 anyway

[Roadrunner]

Truth be told, ive probably run out of "opinions" on those 2 anyway

In the graphic words of TB- “both are duds”.

[Roadrunner]

I think you are right. Maybe having Cunningham cover the opposition's best rebounding defender is good role for both Harry and the team. He can take Wicks' spot. We can then look to reshuffle some other players, like making Florent the #1 lockdown small defender.

I think the time has come when we have to try Gould in the seniors. He will find AFL defending challenging at first. He has a fair bit of development to go in reading the play, but he's probably gone as far as he can at VFL level and needs to grow in a real AFL game environment. There are a lot of factors that go into this kind of decision, but on balance, it's best for the team long term to find a spot for Gould now, or in the next few games.

Following this line of thought, the key roles in defence would be the McCartin brothers, Blakey as rebound defender and Florent as lockdown small defender. Gould probably as the third tall defender and Rampe as the loose defender or sweeper. Lloyd, Fox or COR to fill the 7th spot.

After 13 games, its hard to see the 2022 as serious premiership contenders and it's best to shift focus on next year and beyond. Last game hope had a head-on collision with reality. I wouldn't be sacrificing development for an unrealistic hope of a 2022 premiership.

My thoughts exactly. We need to get our structure right and decide on best positions for our top 25 or so. Clearly we won’t challenge this year so we need to find out who to persevere with. As such, Gould needs to be given a couple of games and our coaches have to find a way to re-ignite Stephens otherwise he’ll remain a wasted talent.

[Maltopia]

Can a mod rename this to Round 15?

[707]

Can a mod rename this to Round 15?

please :-)

[Maltopia]

please :-)

Pretty please with a naked TB on top.

[Ludwig]

There was a section of Footy Classified with a discussion on Ladhams, as well as Buddy and our tall forward line. Matty Lloyd said it would be interesting to see our selection this week after taking Franklin, Reid and McDonald into the game last week. He thought we would or should drop Reid, but also seemed to imply that Reid would be cut this year to allow Franklin to play another year.

I didn't agree fully with his analysis since it doesn't take into consideration that most teams will have 4 or 5 talls if ruckmen and forwards are combined. Port had 4, same as us,or 5 if we count Georgiades as a tall. Brisbane take in 4 or 5. I would think 4 is average and about the right number for us.

There was also a short discussion about Franklin's declining form and if he should go on next year.

I've really like Amartey's improvement this year. He's jumped a notch in all aspects of his game. He always had great length on his kicks, but now his accuracy has shot up and has surpassed McLean in recent weeks. His marking was a strong point and continues to get better.

I prefer having 1 ruckman + 3 tall forwards, one of which is a relief ruckman. So it's usually going to be Hickey or Ladhams, but not both, unless we have injuries to our KPFs. I would start to structure our forward line around the McDonald-Amartey combo, + either Franklin or Reid. The way Reid has been playing of late, I would prefer Reid to Franklin. There's a 5 year age difference and it's Franklin who is showing his age more than Reid. It's difficult to get a fix on Reid because his career has had long periods of absence due to injury. I never hear anyone talk about Charlie Dixon retiring, yet Dixon is 1 year older than Reid.

Few want to drop Franklin because he's been one of the greatest players of all time. Individually, he is certainly our best forward, but the real question should be what combination of players comprise our strongest forward line. As for this question, I seriously doubt that Franklin should be in the mix. I think we function better as a group without Franklin. I wouldn't think it an insult to have Buddy as our sub.

It's another one of those queries about whether we focus on the present or the future, as well as on individual players versus team balance and cohesion.

Matthew Lloyd's concern for Lance Franklin's future - Footy Classified | Footy on Nine - YouTube