Autopsy Rd 6 SUNS v North Melbourne. 7:25pm Sat, ES

[Matchu]

Adelaide is ridiculous, we still kicked a good score against them. We will be up to this game to our eyeballs. Young Roos coming off a WA trip, run them off their feet. Defence will still be an issue but we aren't matching up against Adelaide's stellar forward line.

Young and inexperienced would be the best way to describe Gold Coast back line yesterday:

FB: Harbrow (28yo, 186 games), Leslie (21yo, 8 games), Joyce (19yo, 15 games)
HB: Lemmens (22yo, 53 games), Kolodjashnij (21yo, 63 games), Saad (22yo, 30 games)

Harbrow was the only player in that backline yesterday that was over the age of 22 and had played more than 65 games. They also had Bowes rotating through the back line and he's even younger and less experienced. If you exclude Harbrow, the average amount of games played by the Gold Coast's back line was 33.8 and the average age was 21. Very inexperienced and young.

How does that compare to Adelaide's forward line yesterday? Let's see:

HF: Tom Lynch (26yo, 87 games), Andy Otten (27yo, 83 games), Rory Atkins (22yo, 26 games)
FF: Charlie Cameron (22yo, 53 games), Taylor Walker (26yo, 133 games), Eddie Betts (30yo, 257 games)

The difference in ages is quite obvious and experience likewise. Adelaide's forward line had an average of 106.5 games and an average age of 25.5. Unless you've got a back line filled with top 5 draft picks, you're always going to struggle in that situation.

 

[Cochblocked]

If Thompson, McKenzie and May are all still injured, is it that big of a stretch to give Scrimshaw his debut? I know he's underdeveloped but by his NEAFL form he looks ready.

 

[eppo67]

If Thompson, McKenzie and May are all still injured, is it that big of a stretch to give Scrimshaw his debut? I know he's underdeveloped but by his NEAFL form he looks ready.

Agree he looks like Arnie Schwarzenegger next to Bowes and he's been thrown in head first so I don't know WTF the Club is talking about him being underdeveloped.

 

[Sunraysia]

If Thompson, McKenzie and May are all still injured, is it that big of a stretch to give Scrimshaw his debut? I know he's underdeveloped but by his NEAFL form he looks ready.

Don't think play one miss one lead up is what you need.
Let him string a few good games together at the lower level before he steps up.

 

[eppo67]

Don't think play one miss one lead up is what you need.
Let him string a few good games together at the lower level before he steps up.

He missed one because the Club rested him at NEAFL level.
So if someone can explain to me why he is rested at NEAFL level while Bowes who looks like a 14yo school boy out there keeps getting thrown in l'm all ears.

 

[GcSunsfan]

If Thompson, McKenzie and May are all still injured, is it that big of a stretch to give Scrimshaw his debut? I know he's underdeveloped but by his NEAFL form he looks ready.

After watching scrimshaw Saturday in the 2nds he's a long way off making a senior debut. He was getting manhandled by the young Lions forwards line on the weekend

 

[Sunraysia]

After watching scrimshaw Saturday in the 2nds he's a long way off making a senior debut. He was getting manhandled by the young Lions forwards line on the weekend

He missed one because the Club rested him at NEAFL level.
So if someone can explain to me why he is rested at NEAFL level while Bowes who looks like a 14yo school boy out there keeps getting thrown in l'm all ears.

Re Scrimshaw - why rest him if he's coping. He must have needed that break. He played a good game at weekend - given he played back in a bad loss.
Re Bowes - club has invested and promoted him too much for him to fail. That said he's gaining experience and will be a good player. Lots of pressure on the trailblazer no doubt.
Should he be in the team - not sure - but future development still needs to occur....

 

[eppo67]

Re Scrimshaw - why rest him if he's coping. He must have needed that break. He played a good game at weekend - given he played back in a bad loss.
Re Bowes - club has invested and promoted him too much for him to fail. That said he's gaining experience and will be a good player. Lots of pressure on the trailblazer no doubt.
Should he be in the team - not sure - but future development still needs to occur....

Fair points BTW I'm referring to Scrimshaw as a third medium tall which we badly lack with McKenzie always injured/poor form. We still need a true tall in as well.

 

[Sunraysia]

Fair points BTW I'm referring to Scrimshaw as a third medium tall which we badly lack with McKenzie always injured/poor form. We still need a true tall in as well.

We need to get TMac up and running - Scrimshaw a work in progress IMO. Not at same level. Like you I'm p***ed with TMac' s soft tissue injuries.

 

[SunsBhoy]

After watching scrimshaw Saturday in the 2nds he's a long way off making a senior debut. He was getting manhandled by the young Lions forwards line on the weekend

Going by that logic we wont be playing him for Years till we wait to build his body up . What i saw of Scrimshaw on the weekend is a highly skilled player who we need to be playing if his fitness is there , these are the players who are going to make us a top 4 team in the future and the quicker we get the games into Bowes , Ainsworth , Fiorini etc the better off we will be . Scrimshaw is lacking the baulk atm but is far from really light and atm we are a 10-15 goal team away from the top 4 teams in the comp.

 

[Iva Bigun]

Ahhh the old Iva is back! Unfortunately even I can't find too much to be optimistic about atm..
From my vantage point last night, guys want to kick fwds but there is just zero movement 30 and 40 metres ahead of the play.. I get that Adelaide zoned up well but we need guys leading to break up the zone... 90% of the time there is no movement a kick ahead of the ball, forcing the ball carrier into the obligatory switch every time.. frustrating!!
I feel sorry for Harbrow, Saad and Kk in particular.. all three did well and tried to spark something... a lot of their mistakes are because of lazy teammates down the ground!
Joyce was good.. plays simple, sees an option, uses it straight away, if the simple option is not on has composure to wait until one presents..
I feel we need the Scrim badly.. or should i say the player Scrim is likely to become... he would be too young right now to play the third tall defender we have desperately needed since for ever.
Ive got more, but i think i must have something in my eye... sob!

BTW I wasn't being negative by saying the Roos will win, they may be 0-5 but have lost by less than a goal to Geelong, Bulldogs and Freo. They will be hungry and underdogs and we know what happens to the Suns in those circumstances.

 

[Greendogg]

BTW I wasn't being negative by saying the Roos will win, they may be 0-5 but have lost by less than a goal to Geelong, Bulldogs and Freo. They will be hungry and underdogs and we know what happens to the Suns in those circumstances.

Yeah, I'm with you Iva... North are travelling a lot better than their record suggests... Their performance against the reigning premiers last week was terrific.. The Suns will need a major form reversal to win this game... Fortunately with these young talented teams(like we are), form is unpredictable and just maybe we come out and play like we did against the Hawks..

 

[RogueRen]

Looking forward to this one..Love Etihad under the roof...Hopefully Pearce is back

 

[Corkie]

If Thompson, McKenzie and May are all still injured, is it that big of a stretch to give Scrimshaw his debut? I know he's underdeveloped but by his NEAFL form he looks ready.

I asked the club footy department via email last week about a Scrimshaw debut. Thier reply...

"Jack has been progressing well. Because of his interrupted pre-season program we have planned to steadily progress him through games. We are planning for Jack to play some senior football in the second half of this season."

 

[Experimental]

Any good pubs close to Etihad for dinner and drinks before the game?

 

[Snake_Baker]

Any good pubs close to Etihad for dinner and drinks before the game?

How would you clarify a "good pub"?

A w***er cafe with a hipster pulling designer beer? They are everywhere.

The Great Western in King St is probably the closest thing to a traditional pub and it's about a 7-8 minute walk from the ground.

 

[Pres]

Any good pubs close to Etihad for dinner and drinks before the game?

There are a lot of decent options down by South Wharf - Melbourne Public, Munich Brauhaus and The General Assembly all fit the bill well and it's a 10-15 min stroll to the ground from there.

I think your undersized defence might not be as much of a problem this week. Reckon Brown is really dicey to play. His knee was not good even before Saturday's knock. Goldstein a big question mark too and he's become quite dangerous floating back into the forward line.

Trent McK would have been handy playing on Wood although Mason may be a hair short of a gallop still. Higgins (our best player) back will help quite a lot.

Surely Bowes for Hanley is a no brainer if he's right? We'll have real problems with one of Matera or Ah Chee even though Marley W has done well to date. We struggle terribly with that type of player. Dahlhaus the latest to put us to the sword!

 

[kreglze]

South Wharf has some great pubs down that way. Not too far to walk to the ground either.

 

[gcsunsfc]

We need to win this if our season is going to be worth anything.
North coming off a heart breaking loss in a tough game in Perth. Have been playing ok but not getting the chocolates.

Our outside run needs to dominate their lack of it.
Looking for Aaron Hall, Jack Martin, Matera, Saad to have big games.
Barlow, Lyons, Ablett, Swallow need to break even with Cunnington, Ziebell, Swallow

If we can achieve this, we'll win.

 

[gcsunsfc]

Can't wait for Ben Ainsworth to get back into the side.
Really looked like a gun.

Does anyone have details on possible return?

 

[thurls64]

whats the latest on brodie guys, I thought he was sensational out of the clearances in JLT and he seems to have fallen right out of the running for recall, is his NEAFL form off?

 

[Sunny_]

whats the latest on brodie guys, I thought he was sensational out of the clearances in JLT and he seems to have fallen right out of the running for recall, is his NEAFL form off?

Not entirely sure, but he's had his calf bandaged the last few weeks I've seen him in NEAFL games. I'd say he's got a few niggles that are restricting him. Like Scrimshaw, he's probably due for a rest soon (maybe even this week).

There's no hurry on these guys. As we've seen previously if we rush first year players in and run them into the ground it stunts their development. With our mids in particular we can be careful with them. Give them plenty of time to get comfortable at the level and learn what it's all about.

 

[Corkie]

We have to turn these 50/50 games into wins. Keeps us in touch with the top 8. I still think we are a good chance to grab 7th or 8th with a strong 2nd half of the season. Our draw is pretty good.

 

[TheSunGod]

Match preview on the AFL website has North comfortably winning by 22 points. We are so bi-polar who knows which Suns will turn up.

 

[Experimental]

Match preview on the AFL website has North comfortably winning by 22 points. We are so bi-polar who knows which Suns will turn up.

They had us losing to Hawthorn and Carlton comfortably too. campaigners