Changes v Sydney Rd 5

[fargy]

I agree with that, but to be completely honest Hrovat has never really had to earn his spot as hard as Hunter has. Continuity is huge in a players game, but theres no reason he can't get that at VFL level and start dominating there a little bit. If there was no one knocking on the door fair enough but Hunter has done more than enough to earn a spot now and I think it would be harsh to not give him an opportunity considering Hrovat, who is playing a similar role to what Hunter would be, isn't setting the world on fire.

People wanted Stevens dropped because of a poor game, people were wanting Talia out after a poor NAB game, this place is extremely reactionary.
If Hrovat kicked the two goals he missed by not much would his game be considered better? He has had two games back in, the more AFL development we get into Hrovat the better in my opinion (and Hunter too). The comparison I'm not sure about really, I see Hrovat as a mid and Hunter as a flanker. And Hunter could have had his position guaranteed if he turned up to training on time and in a decent state, he deserves to be made work harder than others (which he looks like he may be).
If Hunter was to come in it would be for Grant for mine, not that I necessarily want him out either.

 

[dogwatch]

I agree with that, but to be completely honest Hrovat has never really had to earn his spot as hard as Hunter has. Continuity is huge in a players game, but theres no reason he can't get that at VFL level and start dominating there a little bit. If there was no one knocking on the door fair enough but Hunter has done more than enough to earn a spot now and I think it would be harsh to not give him an opportunity considering Hrovat, who is playing a similar role to what Hunter would be, isn't setting the world on fire.

From all reports Hrovat has a totally professional attitude and is streets ahead of Hunter in that regard.
That's why Hunter has to work extra hard to convince MC he's worth a shot. I'm pretty sure Hunter will get there eventually and will become a good player but right now Hrovat HAS earned his spot. 20 possessions and 4 tackles yesterday wasn't too shabby and he's only going to improve.

 

[Tommycash]

Hypothetically if we beat the Swans (I'm not confident at all, hate the SCG and the Swans are very much seasoned like the Hawks), is the lid well and truly off? Being 4-1 with a game against St Kilda the following week?

Yes. If we beat the Swans then we will suddenly be expected to make the finals. Anything less and it would appear to be an opportunity lost. Whilst it's hard to get a true grip of the levels of teams at the moment, Sydney are still a top 4 to 6 side, beating them would mean the only games we should expect to lose are Hawthorn, Port, Freo, North. I'd be surprised to beat Sydney, but then I didn't give us a hope against the crows.

 

[Tommycash]

Dickson or Honey for Hunter if we are going to drop anyone. Hrovat was pretty damn good yesterday.

 

[TempletonTheRat]

Yes. If we beat the Swans then we will suddenly be expected to make the finals. Anything less and it would appear to be an opportunity lost. Whilst it's hard to get a true grip of the levels of teams at the moment, Sydney are still a top 4 to 6 side, beating them would mean the only games we should expect to lose are Hawthorn, Port, Freo, North. I'd be surprised to beat Sydney, but then I didn't give us a hope against the crows.

nah - we'll beat Norf

 

[RUNVS]

What are you guys like in the wet? I ask because according to weather reports so far Saturday is going to be very wet in Sydney.

 

[Dav1d]

What are you guys like in the wet? I ask because according to weather reports so far Saturday is going to be very wet in Sydney.

Hard to say, haven't seen this team play much wet weather football
the last game I remember that it was wet, you guys smashed us
but that was a few years ago now

 

[Mutt]

From all reports Hrovat has a totally professional attitude and is streets ahead of Hunter in that regard.
That's why Hunter has to work extra hard to convince MC he's worth a shot. I'm pretty sure Hunter will get there eventually and will become a good player but right now Hrovat HAS earned his spot. 20 possessions and 4 tackles yesterday wasn't too shabby and he's only going to improve.

Hrovat's decision-making worries me. That and his lack of genuine leg-speed.

short people need to have elite leg speed (Boomer Harvey); or incredible awareness and disposal effeciency (Sam Mitchell); or be a pressure player and contested ball beast (Paul Puopolo); or a goal-kicking machine (Steven Milne and now, Eddie Betts). I don't see any of those attributes to a very high level in Hrovat. He seems to be fairly good at everything but I can't see that taking him to the level of a lock for best 22 in a gun side. I see more in Caleb Daniel to be honest. Not saying Hrovat definitely won't make it, but of all of our much hyped pups, I have the lowest expectations for him as far as ceiling goes.

 

[dogwatch]

What are you guys like in the wet? I ask because according to weather reports so far Saturday is going to be very wet in Sydney.

It will be a great test of our versatility and the ability of the coaching staff to think their way through it.

Our game plan has three key ingredients: relentless pressure on the ball carrier, zoning off the defensive space when the opposition has possession (wherever the play is) and slick, audacious movement of the ball when we have it.

The pressure might not be too badly affected, but reading where the ball is going if the opposition gets a kick might be harder on a wet track.

In particular our slick ball movement could fall apart on a wet day. Then it could descend into a continuous scrimmage with players finding it hard to control the pill and lots of stoppages, in-and-under work, kicks off the ground and so on. So if it's really wet the challenge for Bev and co is to find a way to prevail in those sort of battles.

I think your blokes played in the wet on the weekend didn't they? We played under the roof, so don't expect us to be able to play like that again if the rain is tumbling down.

At this stage I'd pick Sydney - not by a huge margin - but comfortably enough in a low scoring game.

 

[LondonBulldog]

In: Campbell
Out: Cordy

Campbell better suited to Pyke.

 

[dogwatch]

Hrovat's decision-making worries me. That and his lack of genuine leg-speed.

short people need to have elite leg speed (Boomer Harvey); or incredible awareness and disposal effeciency (Sam Mitchell); or be a pressure player and contested ball beast (Paul Puopolo); or a goal-kicking machine (Steven Milne and now, Eddie Betts). I don't see any of those attributes to a very high level in Hrovat. He seems to be fairly good at everything but I can't see that taking him to the level of a lock for best 22 in a gun side. I see more in Caleb Daniel to be honest. Not saying Hrovat definitely won't make it, but of all of our much hyped pups, I have the lowest expectations for him as far as ceiling goes.

I know what you mean. I have been up-beat about him since we drafted him but for various reasons he has been marking time while others are going past him (Honey, Webb, Jong, etc). I won't be rushing to judgement until he's played a settled string of say 6-8 games but I do think he needs to make his mark at some point this season. I'm still confident he will be a very handy long term player. His application and preparation will take him a fair way even if he lacks elite skills.

 

[lachy]

Sydney is a different ball game though. Pykes a stronger ruckman that Cordy probably won't be as good a match up for and it could quite possibly be a wet day on a smaller more congested ground against the Swans who are on another level to Adelaide with their inside mid brigade. There will be a lot more stoppages and we cannot afford to be dominated in the hit outs this week as with our midfield outs (Libba and Wal) their midfield will get way on top and we just will not be able to get our hands on the ball. So maybe just maybe we also understand the game of football, just have different ideas to you. If thats okay?
QUOTE]
We have 3 number 1 rucks, none of whom show the characteristics of being able to play as a second ruck, ie can play elsewhere.

Jacobs is a better and stronger ruckman than Pyke. Whilst Jacobs won the hit outs convincingly very few were to advantage and we lost out centre clearances by 2 and very few of those we lost were clear losses. In fact we had cleaner clearances working off Jacobs than Adelaide did as our mids were more prepared for our negating ruckman.

Cordy provides something Minson does not and that is mobility. He is also less likely to give away a stupid free or turn the ball over in dangerous positions. I still do not believe Cordy is the answer but if those who merely judge hitouts as the stat that demonstrates domination, well its not, if those hitouts are not to advantage they are pointless stats.

It was good to see Campbell in the bests for the VFL and if ruck domination is a big issue he is a better option now than Minson. Will this remain the case? Who knows, but what is abundantly clear is dominant ruckman do much more than win hitouts and Jacobs did not in anyway punish us so how was he dominant.

By far the most dominant ruckman in the league is Goldstein unless Sandilands puts together 3 games without injuries. We currently have no well rounded dominant ruckmen so in order to win our rucks must nullify opposition domination to give our mids even opportunity to contest the ball. My comment about understanding football related only to this week where Cordy implemented the best we can hope for from our current ruck group now, yet people are calling for this to be changed on what basis exactly.

And yes we do match up well on the Swans, an yes I do expect up to win and yes I do expect us to make the 8.

 

[Mutt]

I know what you mean. I have been up-beat about him since we drafted him but for various reasons he has been marking time while others are going past him (Honey, Webb, Jong, etc). I won't be rushing to judgement until he's played a settled string of say 6-8 games but I do think he needs to make his mark at some point this season. I'm still confident he will be a very handy long term player. His application and preparation will take him a fair way even if he lacks elite skills.

Agree to a point - our young smalls can't all fit into the team though. If Hrovat establishes himself as an AFL quality player he will be valuable to us whatever happens from then on.

 

[X_box_X]

No changes for mine.

Over the next 3-4 weeks, I would expect the following changes

Morris in for Webb
Minson in for Cordy
Wallis in for Smith/Stevens
Hunter in for Dickson/Grant

Those four deserve to come in due to being in our best 22, although it would be very stiff to drop the likes of Webb, Smith, Dickson, etc.

Based on the opposition/matchups, if we need to go tall, I would also suggest the possibility of

Campbell/Redpath in for medium tall (Dickson/Grant).

Webb will be back in without a worry. You obviously can't drop Murphy, Wood or JJ, so unfortunately he goes out for Morris.

 

[Optimistic Dog]

If it is going be wet marking goes out the window and you need strong bodies so Minson gets the nod over Cordy and maybe it is time to give T Boyd have a rest and play the stronger Redpath for this week.

 

[cammo78]

Anyone else making the journey up north?

 

[the conch]

Given stringer had ice on his hamstring he may be an out, so him and hrovat who was average maybe

In Redpath and Hunter

Given stringer had ice on his hamstring he may be an out, so him and hrovat who was average maybe

In Redpath and Hunter

Hrovat not as good as he can be. his tricks not quite coming off. Possibly rest him for Hunter.
But really I would back the MC any day.
I reckn they may make a few change ups.. just to have a look at how te troops match up against Swannies experienced consistent and solid opposition Thaye might have been a bit nervy going in against the Hawks, but they'll be feeling a lot better now.

 

[the conch]

Hard to say, haven't seen this team play much wet weather football
the last game I remember that it was wet, you guys smashed us
but that was a few years ago now

We don't know what they are like in the wet!! The Bev and Bob show is surprising us week to week.
It's like following a different team from last year.. but good.

 

[BEaston]

There is no way Hunter is ahead of Hrovat right now.

Forgetting the fact that Hunter seems to be lazy and inconsistent at this point of his career, Hrovat is statistically ahead of him in every way except goals. At this point in time, there has been no indication whatsoever that this would change. Why would we pre-emptively drop Hrovat for Hunter on chance alone?

 

[fargy]

Last time we played in the wet was last year against the Cats and did ok.

 

[Tommycash]

Considering it is expected to be wet, that's probably bad news for Redpath or Campbell. Could be good for Hunter, but at whose expense? I doubt Hrovat will be an out.

 

[BRWB]

Lachy where are you getting your stats on hit outs to advantage? I haven't seen them but heard the stat quoted that Jacobs had more hit outs to advantage than Cordy had actual hit outs at half time.

I'm not inclined to make any change. Even though I think Cordy will get slaughtered he probably should have some continuity.

 

[Testekill]

I don't think the tactic of letting their ruckman run themselves off of their feet is going to work on the SCG, too small to pull off.

 

[Beasley]

What are you guys like in the wet? I ask because according to weather reports so far Saturday is going to be very wet in Sydney.

Well, I dont mind the rain ... not sure about the other supporters on here though.
Your question is irrelevant though, because I'm not intending travelling to Sydney.

 

[BrisDog]

Anyone else making the journey up north?

I'm making the journey south from Brisbane? Where to sit?