Blessings in disguise

[Dazzler9]

warning: Controversial opinions ahead. Users proceed at their own discretion.

Gaff, NN and Shep going down/getting rubbed out was a blessing in disguise. Had any of these things things not occurred, then who knows how season 2018 pans out. Butterfly effect and all that.

Vardy replaces NN and has a GF blinder.

Sheed replaces Gaffy and has a September to remember, including that clutch goal. Not only that, his presence allows Redden to play a slightly different role which overall benefits the unit.

Schofield. What can we say? Defensive masterclass when it counted most. Although Shep is a proven big game performer, it's not possible to play a better defensive game than what we saw from Schofield.

It hurts that those three guys didn't collect a medal. It hurts mega. But you can't regret their absence when the outcome is a flag.

 

[flamingEMBERS]

2015 was Sheptember, 2018 we had Shuetember + Sheedtember

 

[omgfridge]

2015 was Sheptember, 2018 we had Shuetember + Sheedtember

And Schotember

 

[SirKarl0s]

I love hindsight.

Gaff (a Brownlow favourite) punches somebody in the face, then gets an 8 week holiday and his oft maligned replacement kicks the game winning goal in the GF.

The best writers in Hollywood can't come up with a script like that.

 

[Sabbathen]

What if all those players were available and we won by 100 points instead of 7?
What if Richmond, who were the best team for most of the year, beat Collingwood and then ended up flogging us?
What if...
If you replayed the grand final 100 times over and had the choice of playing Naitanui, Gaff and Shepherd, we would perform better more often than not.

 

[Dazzler9]

What if all those players were available and we won by 100 points instead of 7?
What if Richmond, who were the best team for most of the year, beat Collingwood and then ended up flogging us?
What if...
If you replayed the grand final 100 times over and had the choice of playing Naitanui, Gaff and Shepherd, we would perform better more often than not.

But who knows.

 

[Keys]

Football injuries or any sporting injuries for that matter suck balls especially when they happen to the best players

However, they do create opportunities for others - it’s the part of the yin and yang of sport

Naitanui and Sheppard would be devastated but it means Vardy and Schofield both get premiership medals they wouldn’t otherwise have. And both those guys have had to overcome their own fair of setbacks over the journey

Dean Cox was apparently all set to move to St Kilda because a bloke called Michael Gardiner was in front of him as no.1 ruck. Gardiner gets injured, Cox gets more opportunity and stays to become the games record holder for west coast

 

[FKASC]

Controversial but I do kind of think Schofield made us better down back.

Sheppard seemed to be playing sore already before he got injured whereas Schofield seemed fresh. His closing legspeed when chasing the loose ball yesterday was outstanding.

Schofield seemed to lock down on De Goey and Sidebottom better than I think Sheppard would have. Sheppard I find to be a brilliant third man up spoiler and he’s as brave as they come.
But I feel Schofield compliments McGovern and Barrass better in some ways because he is more likely to stay on his feet and stay on his man.

Shep deserved a medal but I’m extremely happy we replaced him with Schoey.

Don’t buy this Sheed playing Gaff role argument too much, so I don’t think it was in anyway strategically beneficial that Gaff missed.

I don’t see why Sheed couldn’t play like this all year - I think he improved because he knew he had more responsibility not because he was suddenly playing Gaff’s former role.

Vardy was brilliant and I do wonder how much better the NN/Vardy combo would be compared to the NN/Slyce combo. I think it could be damn strong.

 

[Godfather32]

Controversial but I do kind of think Schofield made us better down back.

Sheppard seemed to be playing sore already before he got injured whereas Schofield seemed fresh. His closing legspeed when chasing the loose ball yesterday was outstanding.

Schofield seemed to lock down on De Goey and Sidebottom better than I think Sheppard would have. Sheppard I find to be a brilliant third man up spoiler and he’s as brave as they come.
But I feel Schofield compliments McGovern and Barrass better in some ways because he is more likely to stay on his feet and stay on his man.

Shep deserved a medal but I’m extremely happy we replaced him with Schoey.

Don’t buy this Sheed playing Gaff role argument too much, so I don’t think it was in anyway strategically beneficial that Gaff missed.

I don’t see why Sheed couldn’t play like this all year - I think he improved because he knew he had more responsibility not because he was suddenly playing Gaff’s former role.

Vardy was brilliant and I do wonder how much better the NN/Vardy combo would be compared to the NN/Slyce combo. I think it could be damn strong.

If Vardy stays fit and Lycett leaves he could be the better player next year out of the two. Have Nic Nat and Vardy played together yet?

 

[flamingEMBERS]

If Vardy stays fit and Lycett leaves he could be the better player next year out of the two. Have Nic Nat and Vardy played together yet?

against GWS at home I think. JK was out so he played mainly forward.

 

[Woobla Stainz]

2015 was Sheptember, 2018 we had Shuetember + Sheedtember

And Schotember

Need to draft more players starting with Sh and Sch!

 

[avishka5]

This could be a blessing in disguise for Sheed going forward. After his last 5-6 weeks he could now have the belief that he has the ability to play elite football in high pressure games and take the next step us as very good inside midfielder. Really hope he completes his best preseason ever.

 

[flamingEMBERS]

would draft Sheed over Cripps 1000 times again/

 

[9294 0618]

We are now blessed with a four cup lead over the purple campaigners, which means they could even have a threepeat now and we'd still have more cups than them

 

[dave123]

Gaff would have been tagged ....which is hard to do

They left sheed alone

Shep would have been ok on de goey

Vardy was outstanding ....not sure Nic Nat could have played better

 

[avishka5]

Gaff would have been tagged ....which is hard to do

They left sheed alone

Shep would have been ok on de goey

Vardy was outstanding ....not sure Nic Nat could have played better

Teams rarely tag two players.

Pies used Sier to tag Shuey in week one with Greenwood playing in defence. This week they let Sier be and used Greenwood to tag Yeo for half a game and then sent Greenwood to Boots.

 

[dave123]

Teams rarely tag two players.

Pies used Sier to tag Shuey in week one with Greenwood playing in defence. This week they let Sier be and used Greenwood to tag Yeo for half a game and then sent Greenwood to Boots.

Gaff doesn’t get tagged

 

[FKASC]

Need to draft more players starting with Sh and Sch!

We tried with Schott Shellwood and Ash Schmith

 

[Woobla Stainz]

We tried with Schott Shellwood and Ash Schmith

Shpuds

 

[Sabbathen]

But who knows.

As I said, play the grand final 100 times over and if you had the choice to play those 3 you would every single time. You say blessing in disguise but I think you are selling short the overall depth of the team. People forget Naitanui played on fairly restricted game time for the first half of the year coming back from his initial knee injury. Darling and Kennedy missed something like 15+ games between them. Shuey missed a few, Barrass who takes the oppositions best forward missed a bunch, LeCras... The truth is they have struggled all year with injuries to best 22 players and yet the team still found a way to hold on to 2nd all season and then stand up on the last Saturday in September.

 

[flylikeaneagle]

We are now blessed with a four cup lead over the purple campaigners, which means they could even have a threepeat now and we'd still have more cups than them

why compare us to such mediocrity? does roger federer think about how many slams he has compared to tomic?

 

[Hai_Newman]

why compare us to such mediocrity? does roger federer think about how many slams he has compared to tomic?

 

[The Passenger]

If Gaff was still playing, Sheed would have been big a chance to come in for the preliminary final for Venables if he hadn't already replaced him at some point prior.

But Schofield and Vardy would have been on the sidelines if Shep and NicNat were available.

There's definitely no guarantee that the "first liners" would have matched or outplayed their replacements if they had been available. Sport can be funny like that.