News Dane Swan suspended - top four door opens wider

[AM]

I think we will revolutionise the finals system this year and play an expanded squad over 4 weeks and come home with the Chocolates from 5th position.

We will include Varcoe, Vardy, Stephensen, Wojack, Guthrie and Schroder within the current 22 squad and make 5 changes in our second final before rotating further players into the preliminary and then finalising with our best performed 22 of the finals!!

ON the verge of history!

Very little chance of Varcoe or Vardy playing finals. With their severely limited conditioning neither would cope with the intense heat of finals footy and Chris is too wise a footy head to risk it IMO Anyhoo, the coach indicated today it was more likely the club would opt for Vards to be up and running for the start of 2013.

 

[vinum coupe]

All this talk about top 4 etc, I reckon your blokes would be that bored of doing things the conventional way each year (top 2, home final, win, week off, prelim etc) that they'd welcome the chance to try and win it from outside the 4 just to keep things interesting

Back-to-back and from outside the top4 - good way to stick it to the rest of the competition!

It's an interesting call.
Because I do think they are bored.

With all due respect (and I mean it) , I thought they got bored on Friday.
They have almost lost 5 games this year doing the same thing.

 

[vinum coupe]

I think we will revolutionise the finals system this year and play an expanded squad over 4 weeks and come home with the Chocolates from 5th position.

We will include Varcoe, Vardy, Stephensen, Wojack, Guthrie and Schroder within the current 22 squad and make 5 changes in our second final before rotating further players into the preliminary and then finalising with our best performed 22 of the finals!!

ON the verge of history!

Mate there was talk Vardy would never play again.

We can't risk him. Varcoe? god knows.
Schroder? Nup. I'd like to see him play but it's too late now.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

While it's a possibility, people (me especially) will be talking about it. Realistically, our percentage and the Saints not managing a draw last week, kills us. Swan, or no Swan, the Pies aren't going to drop three of their next four, especially with the final game being against Essendon. If they need to win that Round 23 match to keep us out, they will absolutely steamroll the Dons.

I think most of our key veterans are pretty fresh. West is getting a well-deserved enforced break for the next week or two; Pods has just come back; Bartel and Scarlett only recently returned from suspensions; Corey is currently out; Chappy had two out of three weeks off midseason; J. Hunt missed the Port Adelaide game and might miss this week; Johnson missed the Gold Coast game and then played less than a minute of the Adelaide match (though with some of the injuries he's sustained over the past few weeks, another week off wouldn't be a terrible idea); Kelly's missed a few games here and there and should be right to go through the season without another break; Taylor also missed the Gold Coast game and I reckon you'd be crazy to rest Hawkins in his current form. Unless I'm missing someone, that leaves Selwood, Mackie, Enright and Lonergan.

With a long-term forecast, this is how we could manage that, while still giving ourselves an excellent chance of going 16-6:

West Coast
Out: J. Hunt
In: Corey (Murdoch)

St Kilda
Out: Enright
In: Gillies/J. Hunt

Western Bulldogs
Out: Mackie, Selwood, Lonergan, Stephenson, Johnson
In: Brown, Wojcinski, West, (two of) Byrnes/Horlin-Smith/Guthrie/Simpkin/Hogan/Murdoch/Schroder

Sydney
Best 22

Last year, I think we were incredibly fortunate with how the byes fell for our aging bodies. This year, I don't think there needs to be anything major done, just a few rested here and there and make the most of the Bulldogs game at Skilled in three weeks...they're a basket case.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

The perfect world would see Hawthorn losing to Sydney(in Sydney) and West Coast rd 23, to fall out of the 4 at our expense.

I'd love to see that.

 

[Senatorguesty]

Guys we WONT finish 4th.
Cant happen, wont happen so forget about it.
We will finish 5th and I agree with VC, we get over WCE this week (which we will) then we will rest 1 or 2 for the Saints game, and a few more for the dogs game and have 2 slightly down weeks (but win) so we can hit the Swans hard and push into the finals fresh. Doing that we will play 8th in Melbourne first week, this could be Bombers, North, WCE or Freo, relatively easy win you would think regardless, after that play a cut throat against (correct me if I'm wrong) the loser of 1v4 which I have as Swans vs Hawks. lets say Hawks win that then we are playing Swans but at ANZ where our game can beat them.
Get over the Swans and I had us playing Adelaide at AAMI in the prelim, hard game sure but very do-able.
Can they do all that AND win the flag? Of course they can.
Will they? Logic says no.
Do these Cats go with whats logical? Hell no!
Do I think they will win the flag? Yes, yes I do.

Heres a little PS BTW.
Varcoe will come into the side against the Swans (or maybe the week before) and play finals, he will be VERY fresh but a touch rusty, will get towards some good footy in the second week of the finals.
Vardy will not play AFL this year.

 

[Vdubs]

No way. The people that think otherwise either only look at stats or don't watch the games closely.

The most overrated "elite" midfielder in my time watching football, and an absolute disgrace how a bloke with footskills akin to a turtle can win a brownlow.

Totally disagree, the guy is arguably just behind Ablett as the best mid in the comp; his footskills are way superior to Joel Corey's, and who doesn't rate Corey? I do look at Pies games closely, any teams with exceptional mids, and he has that uncanny ability to always be by himself and demand the ball. Gun of the highest order who would enhance any team .

 

[Senatorguesty]

Totally disagree, the guy is arguably just behind Ablett as the best mid in the comp; his footskills are way superior to Joel Corey's, and who doesn't rate Corey? I do look at Pies games closely, any teams with exceptional mids, and he has that uncanny ability to always be by himself and demand the ball. Gun of the highest order who would enhance any team .

I rate Swan, not as highly as some but IMO hes not top 5 mids right now.
In no particular order:
Ablett, Watson, Pendles, Selwood, Beams then Swan. Arguable Jack (of the Swans kind) is equal to him.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

Totally disagree, the guy is arguably just behind Ablett as the best mid in the comp; his footskills are way superior to Joel Corey's, and who doesn't rate Corey? I do look at Pies games closely, any teams with exceptional mids, and he has that uncanny ability to always be by himself and demand the ball. Gun of the highest order who would enhance any team .

Why doesn't he get tagged?

Give me Selwood, Watson, Pendlebury, Dangerfield, Murphy, Mitchell any day of the week.

 

[Vdubs]

I rate Swan, not as highly as some but IMO hes not top 5 mids right now.
In no particular order:
Ablett, Watson, Pendles, Selwood, Beams then Swan. Arguable Jack (of the Swans kind) is equal to him.

Pies with 3 of your top 6, no wonder they can give Swanny his penance now and get him in perfect nick for September. BTW, I rate Thomas really highly too, they are blessed with mids.

 

[David the Cat]

Why doesn't he get tagged?

Because of his engine...he runs them off their feet.

Class player.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

Because of his engine...he runs them off their feet.

Class player.

Ineffective is the reason.

Seriously watch him closely and count the number of times he kicks the ball to the opposition, which results in a turnover.

 

[Vdubs]

Why doesn't he get tagged?

Give me Selwood, Watson, Pendlebury, Dangerfield, Murphy, Mitchell any day of the week.

Who did Ling play on in the GF last year? Otherwise, he's almost untaggable.

 

[AM]

Totally disagree, the guy is arguably just behind Ablett as the best mid in the comp; his footskills are way superior to Joel Corey's, and who doesn't rate Corey? I do look at Pies games closely, any teams with exceptional mids, and he has that uncanny ability to always be by himself and demand the ball. Gun of the highest order who would enhance any team .

Agree. He’s deceptively quick. Finds the ball and although he doesn’t have great depth with his kicking his accuracy is better than most. And because he’s quite strong overhead he can be used to telling effect in the forward half.

Linga said the other night he is one of the hardest opponents to contain.

 

[Senatorguesty]

Pies with 3 of your top 6, no wonder they can give Swanny his penance now and get him in perfect nick for September. BTW, I rate Thomas really highly too, they are blessed with mids.

Yeah they are!
Luckily for us it starts and ends there
I rate Thomas too but he hasnt had such a great year, I also rate Sidebottom *giggles*.
Of those pies mids I'd take every one of them ahead of Swan personally......

 

[David the Cat]

Yes...for youth and effective disposals, I'll take Beams tyvm.

 

[Senatorguesty]

Yes...for youth and effective disposals, I'll take Beams tyvm.

Or sidebottom for mine (for the young guys, I'd take Pendles or maybe Thomas over those 2 first)

 

[SpryCorpse]

Guys we WONT finish 4th.
Cant happen, wont happen so forget about it.
We will finish 5th and I agree with VC, we get over WCE this week (which we will) then we will rest 1 or 2 for the Saints game, and a few more for the dogs game and have 2 slightly down weeks (but win) so we can hit the Swans hard and push into the finals fresh. Doing that we will play 8th in Melbourne first week, this could be Bombers, North, WCE or Freo, relatively easy win you would think regardless, after that play a cut throat against (correct me if I'm wrong) the loser of 1v4 which I have as Swans vs Hawks. lets say Hawks win that then we are playing Swans but at ANZ where our game can beat them.
Get over the Swans and I had us playing Adelaide at AAMI in the prelim, hard game sure but very do-able.
Can they do all that AND win the flag? Of course they can.
Will they? Logic says no.
Do these Cats go with whats logical? Hell no!
Do I think they will win the flag? Yes, yes I do.

Heres a little PS BTW.
Varcoe will come into the side against the Swans (or maybe the week before) and play finals, he will be VERY fresh but a touch rusty, will get towards some good footy in the second week of the finals.
Vardy will not play AFL this year.

I liked most of that.
Only thing for me is Varcoe. Even if he gets going in the VFL in the next few weeks I can't see him making a meaningful contribution to the seniors this season. At the very best, possibly as a sub? But then that would be risky - re: Johnson sitch against Adelaide.
I don't think you can miss 20 weeks and then run out games in AFL. Even players with compromised pre-seasons struggle to be as effective.

 

[canny30]

I agree with you, if people actually watched what he did rather than look at stats and listen to commentators he is actually an average player.

There's a reason noone tags him.

No way. The people that think otherwise either only look at stats or don't watch the games closely.

The most overrated "elite" midfielder in my time watching football, and an absolute disgrace how a bloke with footskills akin to a turtle can win a brownlow.

 

[witsend]

Guys we WONT finish 4th.
Cant happen, wont happen so forget about it.

Of course it's unlikely but it's disingenuous to say it WON'T happen. It was just a few rounds ago we weren't gonna make the 8 in many eyes, including some on our own board.
If it's 5th or 6th so be it. If anyone can win it from there, it's Geelong.
Anything can happen over 4 rounds. We could lose all 4, Collingwood could win all 4 or the complete reverse.
I tend to agree that 4th position ain't what it used to be this year.
Collingwood are, I believe in big trouble. The Cloke issue is hurting them structurally and psychologically in the same way Ablett did to us in 2010. They are nowhere near their top form. Swan is out for 2 critical games and if you think Swan being "lagged" by a mate won't disrupt the playing group, then you don't know footy clubs. They are eminently beatable by Swans, Kangaroos and W/C at Pattersons. Their only "easy" game is Essendon.
Of course we have tough games to close out but we do have a potential percentage builder game against a crippled Bulldogs at home.

 

[Senatorguesty]

Of course it's unlikely but it's disingenuous to say it WON'T happen. It was just a few rounds ago we weren't gonna make the 8 in many eyes, including some on our own board.
If it's 5th or 6th so be it. If anyone can win it from there, it's Geelong.
Anything can happen over 4 rounds. We could lose all 4, Collingwood could win all 4 or the complete reverse.
I tend to agree that 4th position ain't what it used to be this year.
Collingwood are, I believe in big trouble. The Cloke issue is hurting them structurally and psychologically in the same way Ablett did to us in 2010. They are nowhere near their top form. Swan is out for 2 critical games and if you think Swan being "lagged" by a mate won't disrupt the playing group, then you don't know footy clubs. They are eminently beatable by Swans, Kangaroos and W/C at Pattersons. Their only "easy" game is Essendon.
Of course we have tough games to close out but we do have a potential percentage builder game against a crippled Bulldogs at home.

If they lose to Swans, WCE and North then we WILL finish 4th even if we lose this week
Be nice because I would give us a HUGE shot at beating the Swans at ANZ...

 

[topic97]

**** off back to your own board you toothless swine.

In case you havn't noticed i'm in my own backyard.

Lol, that was my thoughts exactly when I read that post!!

Anyhoo, I rekon at this point we forget the top 4 & if we win the Westcoast & Sants games a huge chunk of our team will be rested for the dogs game as we will have the home final sewn up - it will really be irrelevant if we win or lose that one.

Get all the blokes & especially the key youngsters fresh for the finals & have a good dip!

4th would be handy, but I cant really see it happening at this point - we really needed to take that game off Collingwood when we played them the other week.

 

[witsend]

Lol, that was my thoughts exactly when I read that post!!

Anyhoo, I rekon at this point we forget the top 4 & if we win the Westcoast & Sants games a huge chunk of our team will be rested for the dogs game as we will have the home final sewn up - it will really be irrelevant if we win or lose that one.

Get all the blokes & especially the key youngsters fresh for the finals & have a good dip!

4th would be handy, but I cant really see it happening at this point - we really needed to take that game off Collingwood when we played them the other week.

Historically it would be kinda nice to extend the run of Top 4 finishes to 6 and counting! Or 8 from 9 since 2004...

 

[romeoh]

If they lose to Swans, WCE and North then we WILL finish 4th even if we lose this week
Be nice because I would give us a HUGE shot at beating the Swans at ANZ...

Even if they are not at the top of their game it is hard to see them losing all 3 isn't it?

 

[topic97]

Even if they are not at the top of their game it is hard to see them losing all 3 isn't it?

It's a strange one, normally I'd say no but it's really hard to track where collingwood are at at the moment.
I don't think they are in all that good a nick.

Take one of their best mids out and play against opposition that are in good form coupled with a trip over west then it's not unrealistic that they could loose all 3.