- Nov 23, 2015
- 11,862
- 17,576
- AFL Club
- GWS
- Moderator
- #1
So, round 6 and it's desperation time already for GWS - deja vu from last year? St Kilda started with a poor loss in round 1 and the knives were quickly out for their coach, Brett Ratten, but he turned his season around with 4 good wins on the trot, and the Saints now sit in 4th position on the ladder, and playing good football. On the other hand, while GWS has shown glimpses of good footy, we've dropped off at crucial times in most matches to allow the opposition to go on goal-scoring runs. Against the Swans, it was late term 3 & term 4 that we gave away a 6 goal run; we did the same to Freo in round 4. Against Melbourne it was a 10-goal run in term 3 - 12 goals across terms 3 & 4. Even in the Suns game, we gave up 4 goals in a row to end the game. While we can blame the umps for some of that, it's a pretty clear indictment of the players in a 5-game selection.
What's the cause? It's inexplicable really. We should have had some hardened junior players after last year, and while suffering our usual list of missing players, there's enough talent in the team to not be losing as we have. Some blame has to go on the coach(es) - players being played out of position as we had against Melbourne with Keeffe and Haynes is just ridiculous. Not taking two rucks against Gawn and Jackson is inexplicable to me - even though Flynn did hold his own IMHO against Gawn. But our forwards are not being effective in the F50, and somewhat such as Flynn or Briggs who can take a mark would help. Toby returning will be a fillip - and hopefully he comes back in as the duty captain - but he cannot fix all of the problems.
The VFL team is flying, and I'd like to give some of those guys a run. It might not fix the first team, but surely it would shake any complacency from them, and give hope to the lesser lights that performance gets rewarded. Callaghan went OK in his first game, and others such as Fahey and Hamilton have been playing well. Of course, Preuss is back from suspension too.
The other thing is, if guys are not fully fit - as Whitfield & Haynes appear they may be - give them a rest and let someone who's fully fir get a chance.
So, what would I like to see?
Preuss for Stein; keeping Keeffe to cover Max King at times (given his height, although King is more mobile) & also Flynn as forward/relief ruck
Toby for Hill; he's not fully focussed, so see if he can regain it in VFL
Peatling for MdB; Dutchy's starting to decline with his age, whereas I love Peatling's competitiveness
I'd give XOH a spell in VFL too. Isaac Cumming should hopefully return, or I could give Jacob Wehr a chance, put him on one wing and drop Kenners back to do a defensive job on Jack Higgins. Lord knows we're not getting our wingers to work well. Leave Whitfield to be the other winger for most of the time, with Finn Callaghan spending some time at wing, HBF or HFF. The other consideration would be putting Cooper Hamilton onto Higgins as a defensive role - not sure how that would go for team balance though, but I like his grit.
If Haynes isn't right, let's debut Cam Fleeton and see how he goes, or Leek Aleer if he's deemed ahead of Cam.
That's probably enough changes. No doubt too many for the match committee, but we need to try some different things - other than just playing guys out of position!
What are your thoughts?
(* I reckon Flynn gets dropped not Keeffe or Stein; Bobby probably stays, MdB too. Preuss, Toby & Isaac in for Flynn, XOH and ? will probably be the real changes. Hopefully not Callaghan.)
What's the cause? It's inexplicable really. We should have had some hardened junior players after last year, and while suffering our usual list of missing players, there's enough talent in the team to not be losing as we have. Some blame has to go on the coach(es) - players being played out of position as we had against Melbourne with Keeffe and Haynes is just ridiculous. Not taking two rucks against Gawn and Jackson is inexplicable to me - even though Flynn did hold his own IMHO against Gawn. But our forwards are not being effective in the F50, and somewhat such as Flynn or Briggs who can take a mark would help. Toby returning will be a fillip - and hopefully he comes back in as the duty captain - but he cannot fix all of the problems.
The VFL team is flying, and I'd like to give some of those guys a run. It might not fix the first team, but surely it would shake any complacency from them, and give hope to the lesser lights that performance gets rewarded. Callaghan went OK in his first game, and others such as Fahey and Hamilton have been playing well. Of course, Preuss is back from suspension too.
The other thing is, if guys are not fully fit - as Whitfield & Haynes appear they may be - give them a rest and let someone who's fully fir get a chance.
So, what would I like to see?
Preuss for Stein; keeping Keeffe to cover Max King at times (given his height, although King is more mobile) & also Flynn as forward/relief ruck
Toby for Hill; he's not fully focussed, so see if he can regain it in VFL
Peatling for MdB; Dutchy's starting to decline with his age, whereas I love Peatling's competitiveness
I'd give XOH a spell in VFL too. Isaac Cumming should hopefully return, or I could give Jacob Wehr a chance, put him on one wing and drop Kenners back to do a defensive job on Jack Higgins. Lord knows we're not getting our wingers to work well. Leave Whitfield to be the other winger for most of the time, with Finn Callaghan spending some time at wing, HBF or HFF. The other consideration would be putting Cooper Hamilton onto Higgins as a defensive role - not sure how that would go for team balance though, but I like his grit.
If Haynes isn't right, let's debut Cam Fleeton and see how he goes, or Leek Aleer if he's deemed ahead of Cam.
That's probably enough changes. No doubt too many for the match committee, but we need to try some different things - other than just playing guys out of position!
What are your thoughts?
(* I reckon Flynn gets dropped not Keeffe or Stein; Bobby probably stays, MdB too. Preuss, Toby & Isaac in for Flynn, XOH and ? will probably be the real changes. Hopefully not Callaghan.)
