Burn out

[hotpie]

Playing this weekend for the Geelong VFL team were Bartel, Ablett and two or three other young stars of the future. All of them have played well at the top level but Thompson chooses to rotate them in and out of the senior side.

Collingwood on the other hand has chosen a virtually unchanged lineup (injury excepted) for the past two months. The form of McGough, O'Bree and Cloke (to a lesser extent) and a few others has dropped accordingly as the season grinds on while Adkins and three or four others slog away in the VFL knowing they won't get a game in the seniors.

Malthouse must realise that we need 28 or 29 players to win a flag - not just 22. He needs to rotate players more in and out of the team.

[thehardaway]

I seriously questioned Thompson when he was doing it. The kids were playing well on the big stage, why pull them out. But he proved why he is coach and I am an idiot.

Richie Cole played well for you guys, but I agree, if you don't rotate the youngsters, they will burn out early. Keep swapping them, rotate between the seniors and the magoos. The guy I'd me most worried about burning out is Cloke. He's been a revelation, but his workload is tremendous. Still a few months left in the year, give him a rest when you have one of the 'easier' (mean that loosely, meant to be no easy games ;)) teams to play.

[Cyclops]

A couple of the young blokes looked quite wobbly against Geelong. I guess its a long season when you're only 18-19 years old. McGough looks down on confidence. I hope a stint in the 2's wouldn't dent him further, because he could really use the break.

Cloke was obviously uncomfortable in the forward line, but there isn't always a role for him in the bacline. We could bring in Chipper and Steinfort for these two and spell them at least for a fortnight. Lonie is another bloke who might flourish given a crack at the seniors, and could fill a more flexible defensive role.

O'Bree should stay in I reckon. He lacks form rather than confidence, so he needs playing time at the top level to run himself back in.

There is no disgrace in rookies being given a break. I expect Balme and Malthouse can manage rotating blokes into the senior squad and handling their egos at the same time. We need their best form for september if we're serious about the finals.

[Nic]

Originally posted by Cyclops
Cloke was obviously uncomfortable in the forward line, but there isn't always a role for him in the bacline. We could bring in Chipper and Steinfort for these two and spell them at least for a fortnight. Lonie is another bloke who might flourish given a crack at the seniors, and could fill a more flexible defensive role.


Lonie apparently did quite well in the twos, he could come in for Cloke. Shattered I didn't go see Willy beat first-placed Geelong, especially considering I live in Geelong. Molloy was supposed to e good, too.

[you_idiot]

Well said, Hotpie.

And it's a football squad, not just a team of players. And the season itself isn't a sprint, it's a marathon.

Twenty-two players alone will not help you win a finals berth-- more like something in the 25-28 range. Likewise, the 3-6 players not used in the squad in a given week aren't going to learn anything by being inactive, so using them in the reserves-- even consistently so-- is for the benefit of the squad in general.

Mark Thompson's got the plot down pat, really. And there's no reason why Mick Malthouse can't learn from that example.

Cheers,
William