Changes for next Week

[relapse]

So now players shouldn't be dropped for poor form is their SANFL team has a bye?!

There is a hell of a lot more to form than kicking goals. Walker's problem is not kicking goals. He has kicked goal in every game this year. His problems are in other areas. Him kicking 7 in reserves will not get him a game in the AFL. Its the other areas that he needs to improve in dramatically.

He kicked 50 goals last year in the SANFL and still couldn't get a game with the Crows. That tells us that the Crows are not conerned with his goal kicking but with other areas of the game which are below par.

You missed my point or maybe I didnt make it clear enough we drop walker into the SANFL reserves he kicks a lazy 7 without him needing to put on any forward line pressure and what has he learnt ??? Nothing.

That was my point, if we drop Walker he plays SANFL reserves possibly could kick a bag and learn nothing in the process.

I think Walker needs to learn at an AFL level about what he needs to do when he doesnt have the ball. You point about kicking 50 goals last year clearly shows that him going back to the SANFL will ulimately mean nothing as far as his development goes.

 

[relapse]

Is he on the comeback trail from injury? Think I remember hearing that. May have played a couple of VFL games now.

He kicked 6 the other week in the VFL maybe he is injuried because I am surprised he wasnt getting a senior game.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Thank God Modra is not playing these days...his goal count would be halved because he would spend more time on the wing than at full forward

Back to Westies this week, Mods. You must learn some consistency.

 

[Stiffy_18]

I think Walker needs to learn at an AFL level about what he needs to do when he doesnt have the ball. You point about kicking 50 goals last year clearly shows that him going back to the SANFL will ulimately mean nothing as far as his development goes.

I couldn't disagree more. Define development for me?! Can he develop a better workrate in SANFL? Can he develop a better tackling technique in the SANFL? Can he learn to attack the contest better in the SANFL?!

Those are all the things that Walker needs to work on and those are all the things he CAN develop in SANFL.

When players are sent back to the SANFL they are given specific reasons why and specific instructions on what they need to improve on. I very much doubt that kicking goals is an instruction that would be given to Walker. His instructions would be very clear: lift your work rate, increase your defensive pressure, tackle better, attack the contest harder. It certainly won't be kick some goals and you will be back.

 

[TheLeftFist8]

Back to Westies this week, Mods. You must learn some consistency.

I'll bet the Crows mids enjoyed a commanding leading target approaching them

It's a novel idea...and don't say it can't be done in modern footy...look at Tredrea on the weekend.

 

[jackster83]

IN: Knights, Moran, Maric
OUT: Cook, Stevens, Griffin

Griffin's limpd!ck performance was unacceptable, and was far worse than how Maric played prior to being dropped. Stevens is a very important player but he is really down on confidence and looks worried going into marking contests. Moran should be fresh and will help out in the ruck as well as at either end of the ground.

Walker deserves to be dropped but he still looks more likely to kick goals than any of the other talls. Faster ball movement will help his cause.

 

[TheLeftFist8]

B: Otten, Rutten, Johncock
HB: Mackay, Bock, Reilly
C: Goodwin, Vince, McLeod
HF: Dangerfield, Tippett, Petrenko
F: Porplyzia, Moran, Edwards
1R: Griffin, Knights, Thompson
Int: Walker, van Berlo, Doughty, Cook/Jacky

IN: Moran, Knights, (Jacky if Cook injured)
OUT: Stevens, Douglas, "


- Midfield too slow on balance but we were smashed in clearances and we need some harder, older players to redress the balance. Bulldogs too fast and skillful for us if they win first possession regularly anyway.

- Plenty of small/medium defender options in the 22.

- Stevens only out until he recovers from the form slump directly attributable to the ugly Freo incident. Definitely a best 22 player. If Rutten doesn't improve i wouldn't mind seeing him at CHB once more.

- Griffin on his last chance. Another weak performance and it's off to the gym and some other form of courage building contact sport for the rest of the year. No point playing for Central. It's all about intensity at the contest.

- Against almost any other side I would have brought in McKernan instead of Jacky/Cook to give an extra tall. However, against the Bulldogs we may need to go shorter in defence thus necessitating Rutten to bench or forward.

 

[ruscy002]

In: Knights, Moran
Out: Cook, Stevens

It pains me to leave Cook out because he hasn't been our worst with regards to the game time he's been given, but we've got plenty of youngsters in there, Cook's the logical out for Knights.

Stevens out is harsh as we had a few shockers on the weekend, but Moran's form should be rewarded. As many have said, Stevens could do with the opportunity to get some confidence back.

However, if Craig isn't going to send Walker out there from the opening siren then I'd actually have him out with Stevens in. As a young forward, Tex needs to be given the opportunity to feel the tempo of the game from the start and work his way into it. It's the next logical step to get him into the game and get him to where we need him with regards to defensive pressure, as well as hopefully get a bag of goals out of him that he's been threatening to kick. Either way, its obvious that bringing him off the bench isn't working as we'd like it to (along with a host of other things really ).

Griffin out for Maric is on the cards, but despite his poor effort, dropping Griffin after one terrible game will be counter productive with regards to trying to get him to the level that we'd like him to be at. Young ruckmen require perseverance, and Maric will handle being in the SANFL for a few more weeks better than Griffin will handle being dropped after just two games.

Hell, Maric and Griffin are both only 23. As ruckmen, time is on their side, and they're both real talents. We should still be working towards a structure that accommodates them both.

 

[Mismatched]

Where does Rutten play this week?

The Dogs just don't have a big forward up there for him to match up on. Robert Murphy is their CHF, then you've got guys like Brad Johnson, Jason Akermanis, Daniel Giansiracusa and Mitch Hahn. Will Minson and Brian Lake occassionally moonlight as key forwards but you'd think that Bock could handle them.

Is this the week where Rutten goes to full forward?

We've done it before against the Dogs. With minimal success it must be said.

From memory Mitch Hahn is one who Rutten could go with, strong bloke who whilst not particularly tall, tends to play as a bit of a KPP, might be the go. Otherwise Rutten could perhaps play as a loose man in defence, he tends to read the ball really well and it wouldn't surprise me if he could play the Basset role quite well. Wouldn't be averse to playing him as a forward either, could do with a bigger more experienced body up forward who can take a decent contested mark and kick accurately.

Walker goes to the SANFL reserves ???

Will most probably kick a lazy 7 whilest providing no forward line pressure on the opposition.

For about the billionth time ONLY players on the return from injury every use the "bottom club in the SANFL reserves" rule, for players being dropped back to the SANFL, they simply just have a week off. And Stiffy is 100% correct, you DO NOT keep players in the side just because they're SANFL team has a bye in the local league. Maybe bring them as a traveling emergency over another player, but team selection cannot depend on the SANFL fixture, just stupid.

Walker IMO is lacking in confidence at the moment, reports from Tails_14 a few weeks ago had him within a bee's proverbial of being dropped, I wouldn't be surprised if that happened this weekend for a player such as Moran, who would allow Tippet to play as a more permanent forward.

Another point, when asked about his ruckman on the weekend, NC made a point of mentioning that had Tippet tried hard, he then quickly moved on. There was strangely no mention at all of Griffin, an oversight? No way. I would not be surprised at all if Griffin is back playing for Centrals this weekend. He is not in the good books.

 

[SellarStardom]

Interesting to see that Craig has come out calling the players soft and lacking in aerial toughness/contested possession. On the "soft" side I think Knights will come back in the provide some toughness, but other than that, there is very little "toughness" not in the side against Port so some tackling and pressure work on the track this week.

On the aerial side I think Craig may look for changes and look to have this over Western Bulldogs. The most likely candidate is Moran as he can cover for Ruck as well. I doubt Craig will bring Maric back just yet. The outsider for mine would be Sellar as a CHF option but this is really unlikely.

Likely
Out: Cook, Stevens
In: Knights, Moran

 

[Doctor Feel]

Stevens really didn't look right at all. A few contests he was involved in he looked very out of sorts. I really don't think he is all that well physically.

That said, you guys have some quality youngsters coming through. I rate Otten pretty highly, once be puts some muscle on his frame he will be a great rebounding player. I wouldn't be too disheartened by this loss (even though its against us, your mortal nemesis )

You've got a really tough fixture ahead, I hope you can win a few if not just for confidence.

 

[cmndstab]

The outsider for mine would be Sellar as a CHF option but this is really unlikely.

Really unlikely? I think Donnelly's as good a chance to play AFL this weekend as Sellar is.

 

[Wood_Duck]

I couldn't disagree more. Define development for me?! Can he develop a better workrate in SANFL? Can he develop a better tackling technique in the SANFL? Can he learn to attack the contest better in the SANFL?!

Those are all the things that Walker needs to work on and those are all the things he CAN develop in SANFL.

When players are sent back to the SANFL they are given specific reasons why and specific instructions on what they need to improve on. I very much doubt that kicking goals is an instruction that would be given to Walker. His instructions would be very clear: lift your work rate, increase your defensive pressure, tackle better, attack the contest harder. It certainly won't be kick some goals and you will be back.

Did he spend last year in the SANFL under no guidance whatsoever from the Crows? Surely the issues you raise were evident in previous years?

 

[brent-83]

Look there is no question that Walker needs to improve his defensive pressure in the forward line. In all honesty though, against Port, the way we moved the ball into the forward line, no amount of pressure was going to keep it in there.

Bombing into the 50 to a group of 10 is always going to make it cake for the opposition to run it out. I wasn't at the game so I couldn't really see if there were no leads on or if the FWD line was so crowded it made it impossible to kick to a target. Walker was not the culprit this week as far as fwd line pressure goes, the whole team was due to such horrible entry.

Out: Stevens, Cook
In: Knights, Moran

I really would like to see us play a Griffin/Maric combo one week with Tippet as a permanent forward, but it seems that is destined not to happen. Not sure which small would have to make way for this to happen either.

 

[cmndstab]

Did he spend last year in the SANFL under no guidance whatsoever from the Crows? Surely the issues you raise were evident in previous years?

Of course they were, that's why they didn't play him.


He has improved in these areas (reportedly, I didn't actually go and watch him in the SANFL last year) but he still has a way to go.

 

[Jars458]

In Knights Symes Maric

Out Cook (unlucky) Mackay(waits for the howls of derision) Walker.

Maic and Griffin to share the ruck. TIppett permanant forward. Realise that Moran may be a more versatile option than either Griffin or Maric.

Edit - perhaps Douglas should go before McKay. Both though are not doing enough IMO.

 

[Redline]

I don't really see what dropping Walker will achieve. He is actually the type of player we need we just need to set up a better structure in the forward line and deliver it better. While I think Craig might do it due to his game plan I'd be fairly dissapointed.

 

[Wood_Duck]

I don't really see what dropping Walker will achieve. He is actually the type of player we need we just need to set up a better structure in the forward line. While I think Craig might do it due to his game plan I'd be fairly dissapointed.

Agreed. If Walker was playing like he currently is in a winning team and stood out as a weak link it would be different. The fact is our game stinks and its not Walkers fault. There is not a forward on the planet that could play well in our team at the moment.

 

[Cap]

Out goal kicks reflect our current situation

Porps: 16
Walker: 9
Tippet: 7
Dangerfield:6
Petrenko: 4

So dropping 2 or 3 of our 5 highest goal scorers might prove dangerous

 

[DJ75]

Ok so let's look at our (afc) stats for Walker.
He has:
Kicked 9 goals (2nd highest in team)
Had 20 scoring shots (9 goals 11 points) (Highest in our team)
Contributed to 10 goals (either his own goal or goal assists - 2nd highest in the team)

As a team which really struggles to kick a score, why do we want him dropped again?

As a side note, our leading goal kickers are:
Porplyzia 16
Walker 9
Tippett 7
Dangerfield 6

 

[DJ75]

Out goal kicks reflect our current situation

Porps: 16
Walker: 9
Tippet: 7
Dangerfield:6
Petrenko: 4

So dropping 2 or 3 of our 5 highest goal scorers might prove dangerous

Damn you beat me to it. but obviously great minds....

 

[Cap]

Damn you beat me to it. but obviously great minds....

got to look after the young fellas from the Lynch mob.

If only walker would kick straight.

 

[Thylacinus]

Just to thicken the plot, Nick Gill is now listed on the AFC injury list as available. He has missed 3 games, but played the full game against Freo before doing the injury, did a good pre-season and has natural aerobic ability. Despite his poor finishing, he does provide a contest, and puts forward line pressure on. He could not be worse than Stevens was last week. He is not the long term answer, but could help team balance in the interim.

I haven't given the changes much thought yet, but Knights would have to be a definite inclusion, with Gill a possibility.

 

[Coopers]

Just to thicken the plot, Nick Gill is now listed on the AFC injury list as available. He has missed 3 games, but played the full game against Freo before doing the injury, did a good pre-season and has natural aerobic ability. Despite his poor finishing, he does provide a contest, and puts forward line pressure on. He could not be worse than Stevens was last week. He is not the long term answer, but could help team balance in the interim.

I haven't given the changes much thought yet, but Knights would have to be a definite inclusion, with Gill a possibility.

You'd think he'd be in the mix, but I'd rather see McKernan get a go.

 

[marvin]

In Knights Symes Maric

Out Cook (unlucky) Mackay(waits for the howls of derision) Walker.

No howls, just curious as to why him.

Edit - perhaps Douglas should go before McKay. Both though are not doing enough IMO.

I reckon both have had more good games than at least two of our senior player this year