- Nov 23, 2015
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Well, what a gutsy round 1 win that was in the heat, with multiple injuries, and coming from 28 points down. Unfortunately, we may pay for it next week in hampering what is a winnable game against the Eagles. The west has never been a happy hunting ground for us, and we'll be three major injured players down (Perryman, Whitfield & Kelly). The Eagles had a very poor 2022, and lost to last year's wooden spooners in round 1, so they'll be primed to knock us over at home. Losing 3 of our top line midfielders will make it that much harder for us. Nevertheless, another good test for Adam Kingsley, and the team.
The midfield performance today was superb after the first quarter, and if we want to hope to beat the Eagles, they'll need to reproduce that best form. Cogs and Tom Green were enormous, with half of the team's clearances between them. Josh Kelly was the other mainstay, and he'll be out. What I expect is that Finn Callaghan will take on his role, so getting more inside time rather than the more outside role he's played. We'll also need to play much smarter on I50 entries than we did today - too much of the "bomb it into the F50", that was easily intercepted, and would give McGovern and Barrass a field day next week. When we played fast and smart in the second half, moving the ball forward like a chess game, we ended up with a much better result. We just need to have some deeper entries rather than marking it around the 45-50m mark, as most of our shots from there dropped short or were inaccurate. We also need to tighen up our defensive play - defending our man from too far away was giving too much easy ball to the Crows players, while they defended tightly on us and we couldn't get the ball. We needed the heat to tire them out in the second half to allow us to break up their defence - but we shouldn't need to rely on that.
We also need to see if there's any other niggles come from this game; Lloyd, Daniels, Haynes all mentioned at times, but it's possible they were all heat-related and more cramps than niggles.
With the late game in WA, it shouldn't be as hot as today in Sydney. Long range forecast for WA is 25 degrees, which would be good conditions to employ a running game. The big interest will be on the injuries from this game, and the replacements. Pez, Whitters and Chook are definitely out. XOH is now injured and not an option as a replacement. Options that I think Adam Kingsley would consider:
And then, are there any tactical changes? Buckley was excellent today, replacing Leek Aleer (who reported some quad tightness and elected not to play). If Leek is OK next week, does he get his spot? How does Haynes pull up? He looked shaky first quarter, but then pulled off two stunning intercepts in the second half that were reminiscent of his form of yore.
Aaron Cadman scored 6 goals in the VFL hitout. Is he a chance to debut in round 2? If so, he'd presumably take Jake Riccardi's spot. But is one game - that we ended up winning - enough time for AK to assess Ricca's value to the team? I suspect not, but you might have a different view.
So, what are your thoughts on changes, and what we need to do to beat the Eagles in WA?
The midfield performance today was superb after the first quarter, and if we want to hope to beat the Eagles, they'll need to reproduce that best form. Cogs and Tom Green were enormous, with half of the team's clearances between them. Josh Kelly was the other mainstay, and he'll be out. What I expect is that Finn Callaghan will take on his role, so getting more inside time rather than the more outside role he's played. We'll also need to play much smarter on I50 entries than we did today - too much of the "bomb it into the F50", that was easily intercepted, and would give McGovern and Barrass a field day next week. When we played fast and smart in the second half, moving the ball forward like a chess game, we ended up with a much better result. We just need to have some deeper entries rather than marking it around the 45-50m mark, as most of our shots from there dropped short or were inaccurate. We also need to tighen up our defensive play - defending our man from too far away was giving too much easy ball to the Crows players, while they defended tightly on us and we couldn't get the ball. We needed the heat to tire them out in the second half to allow us to break up their defence - but we shouldn't need to rely on that.
We also need to see if there's any other niggles come from this game; Lloyd, Daniels, Haynes all mentioned at times, but it's possible they were all heat-related and more cramps than niggles.
With the late game in WA, it shouldn't be as hot as today in Sydney. Long range forecast for WA is 25 degrees, which would be good conditions to employ a running game. The big interest will be on the injuries from this game, and the replacements. Pez, Whitters and Chook are definitely out. XOH is now injured and not an option as a replacement. Options that I think Adam Kingsley would consider:
- Josh Fahey or Cooper Hamilton to take Whitfield's place - presumably they've trained there and just awaiting an opportunity
- Connor Stone or Josh Fahey to replace Kelly, taking a more outside role, while Finn Callaghan pushes more inside to replicate Kelly's role
- moving Cal Ward to take Pez's midfield place, & bring Kenners into the forward line
- alternatively, Harry Rowston to replace Perryman directly (although when asked about Rowston being "first cab off the rank" as a replacement, AK said not first cab, but definitely an AFL player)
And then, are there any tactical changes? Buckley was excellent today, replacing Leek Aleer (who reported some quad tightness and elected not to play). If Leek is OK next week, does he get his spot? How does Haynes pull up? He looked shaky first quarter, but then pulled off two stunning intercepts in the second half that were reminiscent of his form of yore.
Aaron Cadman scored 6 goals in the VFL hitout. Is he a chance to debut in round 2? If so, he'd presumably take Jake Riccardi's spot. But is one game - that we ended up winning - enough time for AK to assess Ricca's value to the team? I suspect not, but you might have a different view.
So, what are your thoughts on changes, and what we need to do to beat the Eagles in WA?
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