Preview Changes/pre-match discussion v Collingwood (FINAL CHANGES: OUT: Wood/Jacobs IN: Brown/Swallow)

[Phillyroo]

Why have you been so determined to single him out?

We lost by 12 goals and had a number of experienced players again underperform. Yep, Wood wasn't great and will look back and wish he'd gone at a few contests harder (as would a lot of sub-10 game kids) and he would obviously have been given the feedback and things to work on in the VFL. Yet every second post you have made this week has been pointing out how crap he was.

He is literally 50 pages down the list of current problems with the team.

Watching it live, he made me cringe with his less than half hearted efforts. I don't expect a young player to come in and bully the other team. I do expect a young player to fight for the ball, to contest when the ball is in the air, to run at the ball carrier, to not shy from contact while chasing, to actually chase instead of trailing behind, to run into the centre square at centre bounces off the wing with purpose like his direct opponent did time and again.
I watched the replay twice and tried to make excuses for him.... It was worse every time I watched it.
The fact that he was dropped completely from the squad should abate the opinion that posters have on here that we don't have standards. It was unacceptable!

 

[Phillyroo]

Anyone who doesn't think that Gibson was our worst last week needs a drug test.

Happy to piss in a cup to prove I wasn't on drugs to form the opinion that Gibbo wasn't great, but wasn't our worst.

 

[Mr. Blonde]

Didn't Jacobs have 4 kicked on him by Walters last week (who has been out of form all year)?

Some genuine lol's in this thread. I love reading the utter anger and outright disgust displayed by certain posters when their whipping boy doesn't get dropped, then try to back up their bleatings with some nonsensical "facts" or outright untruths. It's pure gold.

 

[Phillyroo]

Didn't Jacobs have 4 kicked on him by Walters last week (who has been out of form all year)?

Some genuine lol's in this thread. I love reading the utter anger and outright disgust displayed by certain posters when their whipping boy doesn't get dropped, then try to back up their bleatings with some nonsensical "facts" or outright untruths. It's pure gold.

Yep, there were some suggesting he has been our best player over the last 4 weeks...

 

[The Nostradamus]

Anyone who doesn't think that Gibson was our worst last week needs a drug test.

Yep we are going nowhere as a club if someone like Gibson is considered a lock in the team.
Have said this already but I assumed they would recognise his flaws like they did with Liam
Anthony and eventually drop him but that remains to be seen

 

[Event Horizon]

So BJ had 2 ineffective disposals against freo?

I was pretty boozed at the game but I remember cursing and shaking my head more than two times from BJ disposals.

He was horrendous and not AFL standard.

It's not just about disposal efficiency with BJ. It's about winning the 50/50 ball, or at times even 80/20 ball that he frequently manages to stuff up by slipping at the wrong time, or going with one arm or something along those lines. There was a couple of examples in the Essendon game that pointed to him being by far the weakest link in our side. Some players are dependable, if not flashy, others are prone to Benny Hill moments - ie BJ.

 

[Saintly31]

Yep we are going nowhere as a club if someone like Gibson is considered a lock in the team.
Have said this already but I assumed they would recognise his flaws like they did with Liam
Anthony and eventually drop him but that remains to be seen

Until we get some more outside run back Gibson will stay.

If NDS and Wells were to return, and an inform Mullett, you might get your wish

 

[Saintly31]

It's not just about disposal efficiency with BJ. It's about winning the 50/50 ball, or at times even 80/20 ball that he frequently manages to stuff up by slipping at the wrong time, or going with one arm or something along those lines. There was a couple of examples in the Essendon game that pointed to him being by far the weakest link in our side. Some players are dependable, if not flashy, others are prone to Benny Hill moments - ie BJ.

Yeah, but that isn't listed on a stat sheet (so it didn't happen).

We should only take into account the amount of possessions when considering selections. Apparently.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

The hyperbole in some of these posts is off the ******* charts.

 

[Only Forwards]

The fact that he was dropped completely from the squad should abate the opinion that posters have on here that we don't have standards. It was unacceptable!

We have standards.

















That only apply to some some of the time.

 

[dus]

The names Standards, Double Standards.

 

[Engimal]

Yep we are going nowhere as a club if someone like Gibson is considered a lock in the team.
Have said this already but I assumed they would recognise his flaws like they did with Liam
Anthony and eventually drop him but that remains to be seen

Gibson is much better than Anthony, but his disposal is horrendus. When we were ~30 points down, he had given them 3 goals from his turnovers.

 

[Phillyroo]

We have standards.

















That only apply to some some of the time.

I haven't seen a player avoid body contact like I did on Saturday night since No.2 did the same last year.... He hasn't played in blue and white since. I hope that both Wood and BMac ca turn it around because we are a better team with them in it.... When they had a crack.

 

[hilly]

He is a bloody good defender.

I don't think he should be banished to the VFL forever but I reckon that'd taking it a bit far.

 

[Saintly31]

I haven't seen a player avoid body contact like I did on Saturday night since No.2 did the same last year.... He hasn't played in blue and white since. I hope that both Wood and BMac ca turn it around because we are a better team with them in it.... When they had a crack.

I'm a huge Wood fan, he will a good player but what he did was unacceptable. I agree he deserved to be made accountable for it in the same manner as BMac previously.

I didn't expect it, but I welcome it.

 

[hilly]

A lot of faith placed in McDonald and Atley, let's hope they don't let the team down.

 

[B4Bear]

Yeah, but that isn't listed on a stat sheet (so it didn't happen).

We should only take into account the amount of possessions when considering selections. Apparently.

Exactly.

The stat sheet at the end of the day are Dream Team points, without the points.

I tried pointing this out to a bunch of * flogs who think that Heppell was error free in the game against North.

Stats will get you so far. Your eyes will actually tell you more.

Look at Rioli, from a stats view point he had a poor Grand Final. My eyes told me he was one of the catalysts that destoyed Sydney.

 

[adas]

Re-watch the game, he was sold into trouble a hell of a lot more times than he sold his teammates into trouble.

Its pretty easy to see what is a major problem at our footy club.

If you look at the bamboozling selections each week, we consistently drop players who are in reasonable form case in point Jacobs and Wood, clearly not our worst last week.

Look at Sydney and Hawthorn this week.

Sydney drop Jake Lloyd who is a reasonable young player and they bring in Daniel Robinson who has been in excellent form in the reserves. In the case of Hawthorn they dropped Suckling who has had 2 poor weeks in a row and they also replace him with young 1st game player Daniel Howe who's been in great form in the VFL.

Clearly we gift games to guys that don't deserve them and Scotts has created this culture and we're paying for it. On another note why would you ever want to get rid of the shinboner spirit tag which is something we've drawn on for years and it's served us so well.

I can't wait until this clone is gone.

In fairness, Hawks and Swans are playing GC and Carlton respectively. They could bring in Cooper Harvey into their sides and wouldn't impact the result.

 

[Saintly31]

A lot of faith placed in McDonald and Atley, let's hope they don't let the team down.

LMac is still no certainty to play.

Atley will be better now he will likely be given the role he should have been doing to start with.

 

[rooboy_07]

Not overly confident. Probably because we tend to allow Pendles, Swan and Sidebottom to bend us over. Midfield needs to step it up big time

 

[archereleven]

LMac is still no certainty to play.

Atley will be better now he will likely be given the role he should have been doing to start with.

A guide dog could find the pill more often.

Why will he be better? His games at HB were mostly ordinary to begin with. We all love how he runs, but if it ends in a turnover...

You get my drift.

 

[Black2Blue]

I don't disagree that Jacobs is an average footballer, but has shown real improvement on last year. Some of his mistakes have been painful and he still has a long way to go with his decision-making and positioning, but at least we have something to work with. However, we have so many players out of form that we are resorting to debating whether one bad apple is obviously worse than the other, with Jacobs the designated worst apple.

Perceptions of favoritism suggests there are double standards. Statements are made at selection on Thursdays. The statement on Wood, that his effort wasn't good enough, is fair enough, but that Jacobs was dropped because of a need to restructure the defense is frankly from the pile of s**t category of spin.

The new structure is based on what, having a young tough as nails fella with decision making and disposal issues at the moment, a line-breaking speed machine with broken confidence and also a turnover machine, a bailout wingman who can run all day partly because he has to run back to help undo the damage from the previous turnover and who still runs as much as before but only gets it half as much? Just what is this new genius structure?

Yes, perhaps LMac will be left out tonight, but that's a half statement, as the Sunday changes quietly filter through the digital airwaves. But, in general, the main Thursday statement with dropping Wood and Jacobs just has a shifting of the deck chairs feel about it. I don't expect wholesale changes, but I do want to see Out: Atley ("he needs a week or two to regain his confidence and form") or Out: LMac (ditto) or Out: Gibson ("he needs to work on a few things as we need him back to his best"). Just one of the above would at least be a suggestion towards: "you are all on notice, if you don't get your s**t together". The VFL is not exactly purgatory, is it?

Some are arguing that we can't afford to drop Atley or Gibson because it could hurt our chances to beat the Pies. Are we still looking at 2014 footage? Ummm, the way I see it, the way they are playing at the moment is part of the reason we are losing. We risk losing the pace of a headless chook or the running ability of a conveyor belt? For whatever reasons (opposition coaches working them over, loss of confidence, change of roles, etc) those 2 are shadows of what they were last year and LMac is showing all the classic signs of second-year blues. Would playing Scotty McMahon to give LMac a spell be a disaster? Would doing something wild like giving Fordham a gig and dropping Atley be a disaster? Would rushing Fishy back early (like we do with JMac, LMac, etc) to replace Gibbo be a disaster? Maybe the replacements would flop, but we wouldn't be losing much on what the incumbents are producing, or perhaps the replacements would bring some improvement or some revitalization and spark. At least a statement would be made to the team.

Will happily eat my words if these lads can turn things around in the coming weeks, starting with Sunday, but geez this is one of those painful times to be a North supporter. Winning ugly and losing brutally, only a handful of players playing good footy, and the coaches clanger count at record highs.

 

[Deadeyeroo]

Any player who is struggling with turnovers needs to be dropped so they can get some confidence back in the VFL, it's as simple as that. Turnovers lose games of football.

 

[Saintly31]

A guide dog could find the pill more often.

Why will he be better? His games at HB were mostly ordinary to begin with. We all love how he runs, but if it ends in a turnover...

You get my drift.

I'm no massive Atley fan either A11, called for him to be dropped multiple times this year.

But he has played his best footy as rebounder or spare. You are also underrating his games when in better form, they were better than ordinary and more damaging than anything Jacobs has provided.

 

[cardje]

I really feel as if we need a change at the top to really get the full amount out of these guys.
Atley has gone backwards and Mcdonald should be allowed to be rested in the seconds he's a 2nd year player... Yet both are kept in the team and provide very little right now, i think both could be stars.
Gibson i see very little in as a player and believe he is not in our best 22 or a member of our future.
As for Jacobs and Wood. Wood is being played a wing when i think he's more suited as a forward but that's fine, i'm okay with leaving him out for a week as long as they plan on playing him he has great skill. Jacobs i have never rated but i think his improving and given more chances could be a solid player. I don't like him down back would prefer him in the guts.
If Froggy is sub this week.. i might turn it off