Well done Choco

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I think its more enough was enough.

If the drop mark is the one im thinking of...in the second quarter on the outer side then the major beef i had was the fact he took forever to pick the ball up. I actually thought a free kick was paid somewhere because Toby actually walked over to pick up the ball like play had been stopped...but it hadnt. He was 50 metres on his own but by the time he picked up the ball he was a whisker away from being well tackled. He was taken off the ground immediately after that and didnt get another run on the ground. From what i could tell...Mark finally had enough.

My beef is...everyone had to lift their game yesterday to make sure a repeat of the last few years didnt happen. Everyone else in the opening half had lifted their game to almost their limit....except for Toby. Toby is slow, lazy and far too relaxed at the best of times and his lazyness and distinct lack of intensity stood out like dogs balls yesterday. His position in our side has seemingly not been under any pressure this year so maybe it will do him the world of good to be blasted and told he may not be in the side this week if he doesnt lift his bloody game intensity.[/QUOTE]

Very true. It's been pretty strange that at some stage this year he hasn't done time in the SANFL just to rev him up. It is always concerning when you play guys who can turn it on as well as he did against Freo and then play another 10 weeks without looking like reproducing the same form. Must be very frustrating to coach.

It would be naive to think that Choco and the other coaches haven't tried to motivate him this year. Maybe he just doesn't have the killer instinct in him. I am pretty confident that we won't see him in the Prelim if Damon can really train well this fortnight and have a good game for North this week.
 

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If Damon plays forward, he'll be on Pettigrew or Rutten. Either way we'll learn something about someone.

Rutten is a silly chance to go forward though.
 
PJ Power said:
It will be a tough call.The only two players who would be vulnerable after yesterday's game were Thurstans and Cassisi.

Dom didn't really get much game time by my reckoning so it may be harsh to be too critical on the bloke.

Toby got a bit of it early and his first attack on the ball was pleasing. Could only really fault him for two missed shots at goal (the first was poor considering he could have given off to teammates in space) and that dreadful dropped mark, not unlike Dom's.
I was pretty amazed that we didn't see Toby again though because I didn't think he was doing any worse than usual, and things had been going well for us with him on the ground.
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Choco should be praised for the way the team performed on sunday but also for the way he prepared the players in the last few weeks leading up to Sunday's game. The team was sharp, focussed and aggressive and all credit must go to him and his assistants.

I can see 2 changes for the preliminary no matter which of the 2 teams we play.

Dom Cassisi has not done much wrong but he is primarily a tagger and both Sydney and St Kilda do not enough gun midfielders to warrant his selection. His replacement could be Salopek who has been burning in the SANFL. If we end up playing Brisbane in the GF, then I can see Choco calling him up for a job on Akermanis.

The other one is Damon White for Toby. Both Sydney and St Kilda do not have enough key tall defenders and Damon could really stretch them, particularly Sydney. Another sign for me was that he also spent a lot of time on the bench in the 2nd half and with a further rest next week may be a little underdone for the preliminary.
 
I doubt that Choco's thought that far ahead. He'll wait and see how White and Thrust go this weekend. (I assume Thrust is playing for Sturt??)

The name I haven't seen mentioned is Schoey. Where does he stand atm? He's been pretty quiet lately but I actually saw him lay a couple of tackles and even get a "hard ball" or two. Is he under pressure to retain his spot?
 
I think I saw Schoey make a hard ball get at one stage, so he must be under pressure.
 
Dom Cassisi Stats v St. Kilda : 21 possessions, 4 goals
v Sydney : 27 possessions.

Against St. Kilda played on HFF on All australian Ozzi Jones kept him to 7 touches and had him benched several times.

Against Sydney was ports top possessions getter playing on sydney captain
Stewart Maxfield.

In response to a previous post Dom's a little bit more than just a tagger can be a major ball winner if given a chance.

The coaching staff know his true worth and what he adds to the team structure & as can be shown by the stats above if given a job can be relied upon.

This season he has played on several ALL AUSTRALIANS and more times than not has beaten them e.g. Austin Jones,Jason Ackermanis,Matthew Lappin,Chris Judd.Simon Black,Adam Mcphee.

Unfortunately people have short memories and should look at the season as a whole and not just the last couple of weeks where he was used sparingly on & off the bench giving him little chance to have an impact on the game.

The team won by 55 points last week and there are people on this site screaming for changes,what a joke. Who is there that can come into the side that can possibly make it any stronger (except Primus & Francou).White, Salopec & Ebert have not played at that level for a while now,this is FINALS FOOTBALL,whats the old saying "IF IT AINT BROKE IT WON'T NEED FIXING."

Lets trust the coaching staff to pick the right team and get behind the boys.
As the club song goes,THERES HISTORY HERE IN THE MAKING. GO POWER.

I am from Perth and will be flying over for the prelim and hopefully then onto Melbourne for the GF.
 
sara25 said:
This season he has played on several ALL AUSTRALIANS and more times than not has beaten them e.g. Austin Jones,Jason Ackermanis,Matthew Lappin,Chris Judd.Simon Black,Adam Mcphee.

Unfortunately people have short memories and should look at the season as a whole and not just the last couple of weeks where he was used sparingly on & off the bench giving him little chance to have an impact on the game.
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Erm....respectfully - NO.

And that is respectfully compared to the words I was going to use. You can't compare minor round games to finals. If we've learnt anything in the last 3 years, surely it is THIS??
 
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Nobody actually wants Dom dropped do they? I thought he was ok when he came on. Got a bit of it in the last, admittedly the game was over but it should've helped his confidence - and he looked ok in traffic again, which is what he does best. And who would you bring in at this late stage that has better claims? There's really only Cochrane. Does it need to be said again?

The only one who disappointed me was Thurstans, and yes I'd take the punt on White over him, even in a Prelim.

Sure if it ain't broke don't fix it, that way you can remain static in a dynamic world, but if you can make it better - go for it!
 
Ford Fairlane said:
Nobody actually wants Dom dropped do they?
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Not really. Hopefully he realises he has to lift after most of the rest of the team did. As with others it's really Toby that's the only one who disappointed enough to warrant the risk of being dropped. Must get a hit with Sturt this week - even if only a half. Really needs to crash packs and put his body on the line - show some agression - ie. everything missing Sunday. With a player (White) just as good, if not better up forward, eargerly waiting on the sidelines and effectively the pair fighting for the one spot, Toby should have been even more desperate to impress then the rest of the team :confused:
 

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No way should Dom be dropped. He may well be close but he shouldn't be. His recent form has been poor as he hasn't had the opportunity to shine with a larger role like he had earlier in the season.

As I said, coming off the bench and being an impact player is a tough role.
 
Pred said:
Has anyone actually suggested he be dropped?
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Is it possibly the dropping him in the same boat as Thrust that has some people defending him?

No biggie either way, just something to keep us occupied for the time being. :)
 
I think that Dom should definitely stay in the team. He was more disappointing in the round 21 and 22 games than on the weekend against Geelong where he did get some valuable touches later in the game.
Against Sydney, I would be inclined to use him against Paul Williams who has been in really good form especially running against good opposition players himself.
Against the Saints another job on Jones would be on the cards, although there won't be much room on our forward line for Cassisi if Dew, Mahoney, Wangas and Pickett are playing well.

If we do make it against Brisbane, then Dom is by far our best bet for Ackermanis. Incidentally I watched the replay of the clash at the Gabba last year where we won by 1 point. Without getting too far ahead of ourselves (we still have a massive prelim to play), we can match up better with Brisbane than most non-Port people realize. Carr does well on Voss and Kane Cornes v Black will be a beauty.

My only suspicion is that Toby may have fallen out of favour with the coaching staff at the wrong time. He didn't play a finals-like game against the Cats and there were lots of times when Williams could have justifiably brought him back on after half-time in that game, but he chose not to.
 
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