Team Mgmt. 2022 & 2023 injuries and availability - The bye has come at a good time - 13/6

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Cricket Australia took 6 years to get Cummins fot from his back issues, and Pattinson never got over his.

Not sure that's the expertise I am looking for tbh...
You missed the point

We are consulting to make sure we are injuring players as effectively as possible.

As part if this we are replacing Dr Bruce Reid with Bruce Reid
 
This Blanch fella moves pretty fast

hehe.

In all seriousness the timing of the players coming back (if all goes to plan) is paramount in the sense that it should line up perfectly with the fixture we've got ahead of ourselves with the bye becoming so clutch in the grand scheme of things.

Next 4 weeks:

West Coast
North Melbourne
Scum
BYE

Then, with the names listed all being on the park;

Fremantle
Port Adelaide
Adelaide
Geelong

Not saying we're a lock to beat the Eagles or Kangas, or even the bye, but provided we don't get any crucial injuries in the next month, the fitness of the list is likely to fall into place perfectly when considering our chances for the rest of the season.

I might have just put the mother of all jinxes on us but * it.
 
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Source: Official AFL App

Looks like Reid and Parish should be back via the seniors and/or VFL after the bye.

A couple of niggles floating around with Draper's hip, a foot issue for Stringer and rumours of some sore spots for Weideman and Phillips.

Bye has come at a good time apparently.
 
Stewart not far away….gets me wondering. Bit of a random thought.

Will AFL industry, any time soon, move away from this antiquated best 22 idea and start to take more of a squad approach?

Where Stewart got me thinking is that I think, when fit, he’s our best match up for a Dixon, Hawkins or Lynch. There are other games where BZT and Lav are the better match ups. Yet we will plough on and play those we deem best 22 instead of picking the best team to win that game.

It’s an area of immaturity across the competition, not just EFC.
 
Stewart not far away….gets me wondering. Bit of a random thought.

Will AFL industry, any time soon, move away from this antiquated best 22 idea and start to take more of a squad approach?

Where Stewart got me thinking is that I think, when fit, he’s our best match up for a Dixon, Hawkins or Lynch. There are other games where BZT and Lav are the better match ups. Yet we will plough on and play those we deem best 22 instead of picking the best team to win that game.

It’s an area of immaturity across the competition, not just EFC.
I think it’s a matter of quality depth. Clubs that have the depth do make unforced changes based on match ups.

But usually with injuries and project players, the available depth doesn’t leave that many choices for top teams, and bottom teams have less quality to choose from in the first place.

Like you have to name 22+4 emergencies, so 26 players you have to name every week. A full list is 44 including a handful of rookies. So every week there are 18 players that don’t get named. If 5 of them are rookies, they’re probably really under-developed project players. Another handful are young draftees that may or may not be ready to debut. And then you have 5-6 injuries.

Your 18 spare players thus leaves about 3-4 players who are medically fit and capable of playing at the level. Whether they’re in form or better suited to take a particular match-up in any given week is a complete lottery.

A few more whacks with the injury stick and you’re in a lot of trouble.

It’d why a club like Geelong that buys players or drafts them as mature rookies instead of developing them in-house probably has an advantage with their injury depth and ability to pick horses for courses.

And then you also have the nuffie brigade on most club boards who would have your head if you left a player taking home 5%+ of your salary cap to rot in the 2s… which is the immaturity factor you speak of.
 
Clubs that have the depth do make unforced changes based on match ups.
Do they though? I reckon it’s pretty much limited to occasionally going with two rucks.

There are only a few opportunities in AFL I guess to have targeted selections, but there are few - my sense is very few clubs do it.
 
Do they though? I reckon it’s pretty much limited to occasionally going with two rucks.

There are only a few opportunities in AFL I guess to have targeted selections, but there are few - my sense is very few clubs do it.
I’m sure I’ve heard coaches discussing their selection decisions at press conferences, usually it’s the 10-25 players that they mix and match, go tall or go short, bring in a tagger, and yes, sometimes a second ruck (that’s the fashion for 2023 with the tactical sub).
 

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Disappointing to hear Wanganeen's preseason is essentially screwed given the form he was showing through the middle part of this season before injury hit late. It's never good trying to play catchup with a body that's not yet properly conditioned when you're trying to take that next step.
 
Disappointing to hear Wanganeen's preseason is essentially screwed given the form he was showing through the middle part of this season before injury hit late. It's never good trying to play catchup with a body that's not yet properly conditioned when you're trying to take that next step.
It seems to be intended to put a full stop on the problem so probably for the best
 

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