Preview Changes R6 v Geelong

Jun 30, 2009
30,328
41,692
Deroesfromgero
AFL Club
West Coast
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east perth
Seriously, you've posted your ins and outs more than once a day and there's only one constant.

If you're wondering whether anyone is still in the dark on whether you want Masten out of the team - they're not. Give it a rest FFS.

Maybe he has
And may be he hasnt
So what we have to do is
Talk about this sensibly
Even if it means some
Negativity lets see if we

Find another way to
Utilise his talents such as the
Club concentrating on him passing on his
Kicking skills at a lower level

Or even passing on
Fitness tips as one of the things thats
Fantastic about masten is his endurance!!

Amirite?
 
Maybe he has
And may be he hasnt
So what we have to do is
Talk about this sensibly
Even if it means some
Negativity lets see if we

Find another way to
Utilise his talents such as the
Club concentrating on him passing on his
Kicking skills at a lower level

Or even passing on
Fitness tips as one of the things thats
Fantastic about masten is his endurance!!

Amirite?

2 things Kranky.
0 chance the Masten debates ever go away.
0 chance Masten gets dropped for good yet.

God, I’m just so sick of the arguments.
All I’m saying is he’s not at fault for everything.
Maybe he’s past it, but
Everyone blaming him for every single issue
Shits me to tears.

Pretty sure someone else could miss a shot
Right on the siren and there’d still be
Elements of our fan base wanting to pin it on
Masten.
I mean he’s not in our best 22 anymore but
Everyone waiting for him to * up
Really disappoints me.
s**t, the guy has busted
His ass for this club for a decade and all
I want is for people to admit he does have some
Positive attributes.
 
Last edited:

BeornJ

Premiership Player
Sep 17, 2017
3,137
5,953
AFL Club
West Coast
Sheppard Schofield Hurn
Duggan McGovern Jetta
Redden Sheed Gaff
Ah Chee Darling Cripps
Ryan Kennedy Petch
Hickey Yeo Shuey
Allen Cole Hutchings Masten

In Ah Chee
Put Vardy

Better balance. Unless Hickey is carrying an injury he should be able to shoulder most of the ruck with Allen and Ah Chee pinch hitting.

Ah Chee brings a bit more marking and contested ball winning ability. He will allow Sheed to play more midfield as well.
 

VinegarStrokes

Senior List
Sep 1, 2014
247
299
AFL Club
West Coast
Too tall, can’t win the ball and can’t pressure the opposition. We are 18th for contested possessions and 18th for tackles. I know we try and play an uncontested kick mark game by nature however we have had two games in greasy conditions and still dead last in both categories. Port Adelaide are 1st for contested possessions so the last result was no surprise. We are 14th for contested marks so the extra height isn’t helping. If the theory is that we bring the ball to ground for our forwards that’s pointless as we can’t win contested possessions or tackle to lock the ball in.

As such, Vardy or Allen out for Venables. Venables probably doesn’t deserve to be back in but he’s a better ground ball player and he needs Afl games anyway. Ah Chee in for Masten. I’d like to give MAllen a go but not sure where he fits. Gaff to the wing, Redden and Sheed to the middle. Sheuy and Yeo must play midfield exclusively when we play any half decent team.
 

Boots73

Senior List
Jun 24, 2018
200
260
AFL Club
West Coast
Masten needs a spell permanently.
His disposal under no pressure in the last two games is laughable.
He’s played his 200th game time to have a look at Smith,Allen,Archee
There is no hurt factor with Masten
Would also bring in Brander throw him down back which allows McGovern to play his mop up & sweepin role.
Can’t see Schofield competing with Tomahawk or Ratagoulea
Also need Rotham in
Midfield needs the biggest rocket up them leading with Yeo who has been extremely disappointing so far.
Sheed def needs to play more mid rather than half fwd
Gaff to the wing where he can run and have a bit more time with his disposal which has been shocking apert from his first game
 
Sep 12, 2013
8,930
23,519
10 min from Optus
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West Coast
Other Teams
Lakers Claremont
So Barrass is looking at surgery and a longer stint out,

We have 2 choices in my mind for filling the KPD role
1. Go for experience and Schofield is obvious - experiences but looking closer to end of career and sadly out of touch based on Friday. I think he will refind form over the next month. Brooksby also played KPD at Suns but I can’t see us depleting our next in line ruck with Vardy so out of form.

2. Back in a younger KPD and we have plenty.
  • Brander - Mickey Ablett rayed Brander as the best KPD in the 2017 draft and all that I saw in the WAFL late last season says he is legitimately a future KPD. Maybe lacks bulk but I’d back him in against the Cat Fijian
  • OAllen - he is more the forward and I would prefer to see him develop his forward craft for the rest of 2019
  • Rotham - he has struggled being second tall in WAFL and far better as third tall. Cannot see him against genuine talls at senior level.
  • Williams- he played KPD at Dandenong last year so not that silly. Probably the best body shape and size to replace Barrass.
I would personally like in order Brander than Williams to be given the full back role and to be told they have the role for 4 games.

Brander for me.
 

Jiggyman

Premiership Player
Apr 1, 2010
4,156
4,189
AFL Club
West Coast
Good news with Rioli now running. They say 4 weeks which would be Round 9 but we have taken a very conservative approach with him and i believe now we could see him in 2 to 3 weeks.
Sounds like Rioli has only just come off the alter-G; I suspect we'll carefully ramp up his loads for at least a couple weeks before progressing to full training, especially with his soft tissue history. 4 weeks sounds pretty accurate, unfortunately.
 

hungrytiger

Club Legend
Oct 3, 2014
1,390
912
AFL Club
West Coast
https://m.afl.com.au/news/2019-04-2...for-foot-surgery-facing-significant-spell-out

At the bottom of this article from tonight...We have changes a coming.. Pray it be Masten dropped and not Sheed.
20190424_003813.jpg
 

omarlittle1

Club Legend
Aug 1, 2010
2,178
1,493
Sydney
AFL Club
West Coast
This season has made absolutely no sense this far. It's hard to know where anybody really sits.
What is clear is that something is off with our structures at present and some of our guns are very out of form.
It will be interesting to see where we sit heading into the bye. Hopefully we're not too far behind.
 

southcoast

Premiership Player
Sep 25, 2006
3,241
4,380
southcoast
AFL Club
West Coast
The 'result' will happen anyway.

What I am most interested in will be MC and coaches (collectively) response to the last 7 quarters of WCE football.

I suspect we will get some longer term direction from MC with respect to some of younger players, for those seniors who are 'hanging on' as well as the fringe players at the selection table this week.
 

omarlittle1

Club Legend
Aug 1, 2010
2,178
1,493
Sydney
AFL Club
West Coast
McGovern has been my biggest disappointment of 2019 so far. Mostly due to him being a victim of his own ridiculously high standards. Have teams figured out how to negate him? Or is he terribly out of form, or both?
 
McGovern has been my biggest disappointment of 2019 so far. Mostly due to him being a victim of his own ridiculously high standards. Have teams figured out how to negate him? Or is he terribly out of form, or both?

Opposition have worked out some better strategies to limit his influence and he had a pretty disrupted pre-season. The man played in the grannie with busted ribs ffs...

We just need to make sure we keep in touch until the bye and then we will be well placed to have a good crack in the back half of the season. Our percentage is a bit concerning though. If it is going to stay tight on the ladder we need to put some sides away when we are on top.
 

Astro7

Official Halftime Oranges Man
Aug 6, 2017
4,162
5,227
AFL Club
West Coast
I'm not fussed whether Masten gets played or not, mainly because I have no control over it.
But what both amuses and confuses me is how he gets blamed for everything, whether it's a good
game or a bad game, it's ALWAYS Masten's fault. Quite bizarre. The new Priddis.
When he goes, who's next in line with their head on the chopping block every week?

When Lycett was here, Vardy played well (generally)..better than Lycett in the GF.
Now Lycett's gone with Hickey his on-field replacement, and Vardys not playing as consistently.
Hickey started well. So arguably both rucks are floundering/finding form, or trying to gel together?

I'm sure at one stage we had all our talls going for the mark together, if not it seemed like it.
Oscar was getting in JK's way, JD+JK often go together, throw in Vards+Hicks,
it's a tall order, a giant combo of confusion. It seemed there weren't enough smalls at ground level.
Port just dismantled us every which way, causing confusion and panic, they shut Cripps out
and went after Ryan, leaving only Petrol off the chain, only because of his speed-they caught him a few times. Port said they went in to play 'dirty football', to kick the ball in low and scrubby, then fight for it at ground level, thus avoiding our interceptors. They are #1 at contested possessions and we were missing a gun interceptor. No surprise at the result on a wet night. But every team will be studying Port's win now.

With Geelong- Schoey replaced Shep and was a like for like pretty much, but with Barrass out, we have no-one to replace that talent. Ok, there's Rotham, or Brander but they're still not up to Tom's standards. Actually Oscar down back to clunk marks wouldn't be crazy, if he can handle the pressure.
But it seems we need a new headspace, a better gameplan that's abreast of and ahead of the 6-6-6 run+gun thing, which is still evolving with coaches+players. It seems we need grunt, speed and a new dose of in-game footy smarts? We have skill and poise, maybe got spoilt with the chip-kick/mark thing, need to bring the blue-collar ethic, roll up the sleeves.
Cats will be in a rampaging mood, seeing Port's win and their last loss to us at Optus.

So what will it be, we could win by just scraping over the line, win by an arrogant margin (unlikely?)..or just lose (a respectable loss?), or get smacked again and lose embarrassingly....or a draw?
Just need the 4 points, to regain some composure and save face, but it doesn't look good.
 
Oct 29, 2007
22,131
29,933
Perth Western Australia
AFL Club
West Coast
McGovern has been my biggest disappointment of 2019 so far. Mostly due to him being a victim of his own ridiculously high standards. Have teams figured out how to negate him? Or is he terribly out of form, or both?

He is adjusting to the new rules and always starts the year meh.

For me Yeo, Redden and Darling have been disappointing.

Redden - Like last year having a slow start but he really have been average so far.

Darling - Is back to playing for frees and is looking disinterested at times.

Yeo - Had an injury interrupted pre-season so maybe he is taking his time to get into it.
 
Feb 9, 2012
7,589
10,271
PERTH
AFL Club
West Coast
Seems we’ve gone back to previous years of trying to play mids as high half forwards, and it doesn’t work. The coaches even mentioned it last year that they knew it didn’t work, and that they played 6 genuine forwards, and look what happened!! Rioli’s injury has hurt us, but putting Sheed on the flank is not the solution. Sheed needs to go back in the middle, Gaff to the wing, and bring in some genuine forwards.
 

omarlittle1

Club Legend
Aug 1, 2010
2,178
1,493
Sydney
AFL Club
West Coast
I'm not fussed whether Masten gets played or not, mainly because I have no control over it.
But what both amuses and confuses me is how he gets blamed for everything, whether it's a good
game or a bad game, it's ALWAYS Masten's fault. Quite bizarre. The new Priddis.
When he goes, who's next in line with their head on the chopping block every week?

When Lycett was here, Vardy played well (generally)..better than Lycett in the GF.
Now Lycett's gone with Hickey his on-field replacement, and Vardys not playing as consistently.
Hickey started well. So arguably both rucks are floundering/finding form, or trying to gel together?

I'm sure at one stage we had all our talls going for the mark together, if not it seemed like it.
Oscar was getting in JK's way, JD+JK often go together, throw in Vards+Hicks,
it's a tall order, a giant combo of confusion. It seemed there weren't enough smalls at ground level.
Port just dismantled us every which way, causing confusion and panic, they shut Cripps out
and went after Ryan, leaving only Petrol off the chain, only because of his speed-they caught him a few times. Port said they went in to play 'dirty football', to kick the ball in low and scrubby, then fight for it at ground level, thus avoiding our interceptors. They are #1 at contested possessions and we were missing a gun interceptor. No surprise at the result on a wet night. But every team will be studying Port's win now.

With Geelong- Schoey replaced Shep and was a like for like pretty much, but with Barrass out, we have no-one to replace that talent. Ok, there's Rotham, or Brander but they're still not up to Tom's standards. Actually Oscar down back to clunk marks wouldn't be crazy, if he can handle the pressure.
But it seems we need a new headspace, a better gameplan that's abreast of and ahead of the 6-6-6 run+gun thing, which is still evolving with coaches+players. It seems we need grunt, speed and a new dose of in-game footy smarts? We have skill and poise, maybe got spoilt with the chip-kick/mark thing, need to bring the blue-collar ethic, roll up the sleeves.
Cats will be in a rampaging mood, seeing Port's win and their last loss to us at Optus.

So what will it be, we could win by just scraping over the line, win by an arrogant margin (unlikely?)..or just lose (a respectable loss?), or get smacked again and lose embarrassingly....or a draw?
Just need the 4 points, to regain some composure and save face, but it doesn't look good.

Definitely feels like our structure is out of whack.

I'd be interested in putting Oscar down back and bringing in Waterman to play more up the ground to aid with our link up play.

Definitely agree re the mids. I think there are a few problems:
1) Having Gaff back in has thrown off the chemistry. As has replacing Lycett with Hickey. He and Vardy have no chemistry and Vardy is hopelessly out of form.
We need to figure out the best format of our midfield with Gaff back. Maybe move him to a wing and drop Masten as others have suggested (ad nauseam)

2) Yeo having a seriously interrupted pre season has hurt his preparation, which has lead to a serious drop in form. Redden is just simply out of form or being played out of position. Ditto Sheed in the last couple of weeks.

3) Not enough of a sample size to draw from yet, but replacing Mitchell with Rosa is quite an obvious drop in quality and nous. Rosa may yet blossom into the role beautifully, however when i read that it would be Rosa coming in to coach the mids after Sam's departure, i was fairly perplexed.

4) The rule changes have hurt us, and we have been slow to adapt. Very often last year we would run Le Cras or Willie off the back of the square at centre bounces to affect the contest. Obviously both players are missing but this tactic is now essentially redundant.

I have high hopes that we will adapt soon and pull our finger out but it has been a poor couple of weeks for sure. Several structural changes are indeed required. I'm fascinated to see what the coaching staff do over the next month or so.
 

Astro7

Official Halftime Oranges Man
Aug 6, 2017
4,162
5,227
AFL Club
West Coast
Definitely feels like our structure is out of whack.

I'd be interested in putting Oscar down back and bringing in Waterman to play more up the ground to aid with our link up play.

Definitely agree re the mids. I think there are a few problems:
1) Having Gaff back in has thrown off the chemistry. As has replacing Lycett with Hickey. He and Vardy have no chemistry and Vardy is hopelessly out of form.
We need to figure out the best format of our midfield with Gaff back. Maybe move him to a wing and drop Masten as others have suggested (ad nauseam)

2) Yeo having a seriously interrupted pre season has hurt his preparation, which has lead to a serious drop in form. Redden is just simply out of form or being played out of position. Ditto Sheed in the last couple of weeks.

3) Not enough of a sample size to draw from yet, but replacing Mitchell with Rosa is quite an obvious drop in quality and nous. Rosa may yet blossom into the role beautifully, however when i read that it would be Rosa coming in to coach the mids after Sam's departure, i was fairly perplexed.

4) The rule changes have hurt us, and we have been slow to adapt. Very often last year we would run Le Cras or Willie off the back of the square at centre bounces to affect the contest. Obviously both players are missing but this tactic is now essentially redundant.

I have high hopes that we will adapt soon and pull our finger out but it has been a poor couple of weeks for sure. Several structural changes are indeed required. I'm fascinated to see what the coaching staff do over the next month or so.
Yep, Rosa 'aint no Mitchell. He wasn't even a gun mid, a serviceable winger perhaps?
But maybe that doesn't always translate to coaching smarts?
There might be something in the fact that he's an ex-eagle, but at a big club you'd still have to have the credentials or showing form as a junior coach. But it does seem like a long way down the line from Mitchell. Looks like they're all playing catch-up re 6-6-6 and with Rioli and now Barrass out, it has thrown a spanner in the works. Willy would've been a major component in our 2019 gameplan I imagine, apart from being a Rioli in the team.
 
Nathan Van Berlo is the midfield coach and Rosa is stoppages

And for the record, with Mitchell in their coaching ranks, hawthorn are currently 2-3.
 
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