Unofficial Preview Changes/discussion v Bombers Round 12

[dlanod]

Just a heads up, we need a preview writer for next week against Adelaide!

Please PM me or hop on the preview writers thread to let me know if you're up for it!

 

[GenericUsername202]

Perfect game to give a few of the older blokes a rest, and to give some of the VFL guys a chance. Even if we took out 4 players, we should be winning against a team missing half of their best players. I mean, come on. I actually kind of rate Essendon, but if we can't perform on this game, it would be the lowest moment in a few years for the club, even topping last season's carlton debacle.

 

[Berrygood]

So Dev finally gets less than 10 minutes of junk game time at the end and now people think he should be dropped? Yeah that seems fair..

I'd say he only got a run because Kiddy didn't pull up well enough to play. If Kiddy is up for it this week, he should come back in. If not maybe Dev gets another run.

He got 10min of, as you say junk time, because no mid, which is his best position, was underperforming or injured. Also the other area he could have come on for was as a pressure sm fwd, but again none were underperforming other than Lohmann to a degree but he needs the game time.

I've been a big Dev supporter over the years. I feel the lingering wrist injury he had from 23 that cost him a start in 24 really set back his progress and opportunity. Since then the Ashcrofts, Fletcher and possibly others have gone past him. I'd love to see him play more Afl, but the only genuine opportunity to do so I think would be if Dunkley got injured. He's probably the only other pure defensive, tackling, tagging mid we have. But even then he's got Bez infront of him that would more than likely be moved from the wing inside to cover Dunks and another winger brought in like Bruce.

So tough for Dev, no doubt. I would love to see him do a Ben Keays and go somewhere and thrive. Unfortunately with the developing Marshall and another academy kid expected to be drafted this year (can't think of name atm), the opportunity at the Lions is moving further away for him.

 

[redblueandgold]

I'd say he only got a run because Kiddy didn't pull up well enough to play. If Kiddy is up for it this week, he should come back in. If not maybe Dev gets another run.

He got 10min of, as you say junk time, because no mid, which is his best position, was underperforming or injured. Also the other area he could have come on for was as a pressure sm fwd, but again none were underperforming other than Lohmann to a degree but he needs the game time.

I've been a big Dev supporter over the years. I feel the lingering wrist injury he had from 23 that cost him a start in 24 really set back his progress and opportunity. Since then the Ashcrofts, Fletcher and possibly others have gone past him. I'd love to see him play more Afl, but the only genuine opportunity to do so I think would be if Dunkley got injured. He's probably the only other pure defensive, tackling, tagging mid we have. But even then he's got Bez infront of him that would more than likely be moved from the wing inside to cover Dunks and another winger brought in like Bruce.

So tough for Dev, no doubt. I would love to see him do a Ben Keays and go somewhere and thrive. Unfortunately with the developing Marshall and another academy kid expected to be drafted this year (can't think of name atm), the opportunity at the Lions is moving further away for him.

Thanks for that, good analysis. I also just think this is the game to rest a few, give Dev a full game, and get a some other VFL players into the mix for the experience.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

Hope this doesn't end up being similar to the WC/North/Richmond games where we go in thinking it's a done deal.

One way to protect against that is to include players who are hungry to prove themselves with a rare opportunity. They won't take it for granted. So I'd keep Dev in the team. I also think this is the week to give Gallop his debut, but the club probably won't do that.

 

[Berrygood]

Perfect game to give a few of the older blokes a rest, and to give some of the VFL guys a chance. Even if we took out 4 players, we should be winning against a team missing half of their best players. I mean, come on. I actually kind of rate Essendon, but if we can't perform on this game, it would be the lowest moment in a few years for the club, even topping last season's carlton debacle.

I don't think it's the quality of opponents that should determine whether we rest players. I think it should be the quality of the football we're playing. If we were playing great football, if we were cohesive across all lines and if we were winning comfortably, I'd be happy to rest and trial players.

As it is, we've been patchy, some players out of form but finding it, our focus and pressure has been off. Last week was the best 4qtr effort we've put in all season. Let's build on that before we start chopping and changing the team. Even then I wouldn't be resting 4 or so players at a time. That kind of disruption could be more detrimental. 1 or 2 at a time maybe.

 

[twhowler]

Thanks for that, good analysis. I also just think this is the game to rest a few, give Dev a full game, and get a some other VFL players into the mix for the experience.

It really has loomed as a game where we should be tactical with selection.

We had our earlier by canceled because of the cyclone and will be part of the last team to get a bye as a result. The GOOD news is we don't play any sides who have already had a bye before our own. But i still think we need to keep ourselves fresh where we can

No idea who is sore etc so my thinking would be:

-Keep Oscar in cotton wool given Goldstein is not going to dominate us

• Rest players on merit. Only if it will benefit them. We have an 8 day break before the crows game so we don't need to go overboard.
• Avoid resting 2 players from the same area (mids / small backs / small forwards)

Caveat being i have no idea who is really sore as per above, but would love to get a freshen-up for Neale, Ah Chee, Hipwood (has been great off the bye in the past and very important to us now) OR Logan morris (can't do both). Zorko just doesn't look like he needs one!

 

[GenericUsername202]

I don't think it's the quality of opponents that should determine whether we rest players. I think it should be the quality of the football we're playing. If we were playing great football, if we were cohesive across all lines and if we were winning comfortably, I'd be happy to rest and trial players.

As it is, we've been patchy, some players out of form but finding it, our focus and pressure has been off. Last week was the best 4qtr effort we've put in all season. Let's build on that before we start chopping and changing the team. Even then I wouldn't be resting 4 or so players at a time. That kind of disruption could be more detrimental. 1 or 2 at a time maybe.

I get thats fagan style and we should respect that, but Collingwood changes about 4/5 players each week, and it doesn't effect them at all. In fact, it makes them better, because when they face the bigger teams, their players will be a lot more fresher than their opponents. And the same goes for the smaller teams, except they don't even have to rely on their better players to get them over the line. Look at Collingwoods last few games, and the constant is that they always finish their games stronger than their opponent. Even the Geelong game (which they lost) had that game gone on for another 2 minutes, Geelong would have lost that too. I also look at Zorko (who played a great game against hawthorn and was pivotal for us in the second half), but he made some horrible mistakes that should have cost us a few goals. Remember when he squared the ball to the hawthorn player in the defensive 50? or when he shanked it out of bounds on the full? Zorko rarely ever makes these mistakes, but he's also 36. It wouldn't harm him to take a week off, or if he's so determined to get to 300, then start him as a sub, because Kiddy can play that exact same role, and probably better too. I know none of this will happen, and Fagan will probably keep the same squad, but we have a lot of good players in the seconds, and it would be nice to see them step up as well.

 

[braddsey]

Can we go the juniors approach of getting a few blokes to swap jumpers to make the 2nd half competitive?

You were gonna belt us by 15 goals anyway, but it could be that at half time.

I remember doing that playing U14’s cricket. I was not a good cricketer, but I could hold a catch. I managed to catch out our captain on that day… my one skill was a gift that could not be denied!

 

[OldLion]

Thanks for that, good analysis. I also just think this is the game to rest a few, give Dev a full game, and get a some other VFL players into the mix for the experience.

Dev as a run with tagger - play a role. Starc has left a big hole.

 

[Coastal Lion]

B.Mckay out for the Bombers.
Maybe bring in Gallop think they will be playing an inexperienced kid.
They have no one atm to fill key post in defence that i can think of..
..who to drop though.

 

[Sproj]

B.Mckay out for the Bombers.
Maybe bring in Gallop think they will be playing an inexperienced kid.
They have no one atm to fill key post in defence that i can think of..
..who to drop though.

Good time to do it, good call.

I'd like to see us also give a Marshall a proper run.

Maybe give a Levi a break. He is going great but you don't want him fizzing out in the back end of the season when you could get ahead of the game and give him a break now.

 

[p4p1]

I've been a big Dev supporter over the years. I feel the lingering wrist injury he had from 23 that cost him a start in 24 really set back his progress and opportunity. Since then the Ashcrofts, Fletcher and possibly others have gone past him. I'd love to see him play more Afl, but the only genuine opportunity to do so I think would be if Dunkley got injured. He's probably the only other pure defensive, tackling, tagging mid we have. But even then he's got Bez infront of him that would more than likely be moved from the wing inside to cover Dunks and another winger brought in like Bruce.

I like Dev as well but he is just stuck in a team that is strong in his best area. Can't help but feel like Hawthorn could have used someone like him on the weekend who is defensively responsible.
As for Bez in the middle, big fan of it. He is a bit like Ah Chee in that when you give him a shutdown job, he plays at his best and is more comfortable working off that player. Against Oliver is the best example. If we hadn't recruited Dunks, I could see that being his role. IMO in most other midfields Bez walks straight into that role rather than on a wing.

 

[Nathan Barley]

Thanks for that, good analysis. I also just think this is the game to rest a few, give Dev a full game, and get a some other VFL players into the mix for the experience.

I didn’t think he deserved to be in the 23

 

[mpal6]

Bruce is back from injury list and played a game in reserves last week. If he's back to full fitness, I see him getting picked ahead of Dev. Bruce has got Dev covered in running capacity and kicking.

 

[Section 5]

So Dev finally gets less than 10 minutes of junk game time at the end and now people think he should be dropped? Yeah that seems fair..

Dev just finds himself in a team that has pretty good depth including himself.

He was sub last week and i don't see any player that got a run v Hawks that he is in front of.

So, when posters suggest that Kiddy, Doedee or someone else might come into the side, Dev is the logical casualty.

 

[p4p1]

I remember doing that playing U14’s cricket. I was not a good cricketer, but I could hold a catch. I managed to catch out our captain on that day… my one skill was a gift that could not be denied!

I played in a really dominant team as a junior so our coach used to split up our best players inc our captain at least one time. If the other team forfeited from the start because they didn't have enough players then it would be from the first bounce. If they had enough and didn't want to forfeit it would be at half time when the game was over. Our boys were told to play 100%.
It was good for us because it meant we had to play on better players than we would normally, on both sides. It was good for the other team because normally a team is short of players because they're getting flogged every week but now they have a chance to play a bit of footy and not be getting well beaten at every contest.

 

[braddsey]

I played in a really dominant team as a junior so our coach used to split up our best players inc our captain at least one time. If the other team forfeited from the start because they didn't have enough players then it would be from the first bounce. If they had enough and didn't want to forfeit it would be at half time when the game was over. Our boys were told to play 100%.
It was good for us because it meant we had to play on better players than we would normally, on both sides. It was good for the other team because normally a team is short of players because they're getting flogged every week but now they have a chance to play a bit of footy and not be getting well beaten at every contest.

Absolutely the right way to coach. Kids just want to play a match and get involved. No one in junior sport enjoys a walkover, nor a pointless flogging once the game is done.

 

[Saucery]

Dev as a run with tagger - play a role. Starc has left a big hole.

Yes, but after last week it kind of looks like a big Darcy shaped hole. If Dev isn't playing in the squad, then he needs to go back to the VFL anyway to get a proper run, can't spend two weeks getting splinters (that's if we are playing VFL this week, I can't keep up with what's happening there).

 

[braddsey]

Dev just finds himself in a team that has pretty good depth including himself.

He was sub last week and i don't see any player that got a run v Hawks that he is in front of.

So, when posters suggest that Kiddy, Doedee or someone else might come into the side, Dev is the logical casualty.

just get rid of the bloody sub... if the sub rule remains in 2026, the clubs should overthrow the AFL commission.

 

[Saucery]

Good time to do it, good call.

I'd like to see us also give a Marshall a proper run.

Maybe give a Levi a break. He is going great but you don't want him fizzing out in the back end of the season when you could get ahead of the game and give him a break now.

Levi is on the Raynor train, get him to 50 games as fast as possible regardless. Will need to really stink it up to be dropped.

 

[GenericUsername202]

Sam Marshall strikes me as someone who performs better in the AFL than VFL. I also think some people may be forgetting just how good he is, considering he was outperforming Levi in the later half of the draft year, which saw him jump up a lot of spots. He's a genuine elite talent, and i really hope the club starts giving him games soon. Even in his brief stint during the collingwood game, he looked really good.

 

[mpal6]

Sam Marshall strikes me as someone who performs better in the AFL than VFL. I also think some people may be forgetting just how good he is, considering he was outperforming Levi in the later half of the draft year, which saw him jump up a lot of spots. He's a genuine elite talent, and i really hope the club starts giving him games soon. Even in his brief stint during the collingwood game, he looked really good.

He'll get his chance too. I think one more pre-season and he'll be in the playing 23.

Levi gets his chance this year obviously and I feel we won't be able to fit two fresh draftees in one premiership side. I'd say Levi is lucky to get his break and he's hanging on that spot really well. If McCarthy didn't hit another unfortunate ACL, I think Levi would be biding his time in 2s or as sub.

 

[mpal6]

My wish is for a nice, quiet win by 5-6 goals on a thursday.
So I can have a relaxing weekend keeping a side eye on the other games

 

[Sproj]

Levi is on the Raynor train, get him to 50 games as fast as possible regardless. Will need to really stink it up to be dropped.

I'm not talking about dropping him, I'm talking about resting him. He has been going great, doesn't deserve to be dropped.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

Aw shit, they're gonna pick Harry Arnold aren't they?