Preview Changes/Preview, (post #449) Port Adelaide

[good4footy]

We are basically full strength.

no

 

[Collingwoodity]

Just finished watching the Essendon game again..........not sure how Thomas survived over Varcoe this week IMO.

Watching Varcoe not take a backward step against Hooker who tried to be “tough” was brilliant.

Line ball call for different reasons - both had good and very bad aspects to their games last week.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mike123]

So low tackles low possessions low metres gained and no scoreboard impact are not stats the coaches care about? Alright.

Those aren’t low tackles numbers. He’s had more tackles than any other forward. But do t let that get in the way of a good story.

 

[Kappa]

Those aren’t low tackles numbers. He’s had more tackles than any other forward. But do t let that get in the way of a good story.

He is a utility player, not a forward.. he has kicked 1 goal for the year, if he's a forward that's shocking.

He averages 3 tackles a game, same as Greenwood Brown Pendlebury Maynard, slightly more than De Goey Beams and Crisp, less than Adams Treloar and Grundy. If tackles are only thing he brings to the table then yes, 3 tackles per game is quite low.

 

[mike123]

He is a utility player, not a forward.. he has kicked 1 goal for the year, if he's a forward that's shocking.

He averages 3 tackles a game, same as Greenwood Brown Pendlebury Maynard, slightly more than De Goey Beams and Crisp, less than Adams Treloar and Grundy. If tackles are only thing he brings to the table then yes, 3 tackles per game is quite low.

The other aspects of his game have got nothing to do with his tackle numbers.

 

[Kappa]

The other aspects of his game have got nothing to do with his tackle numbers.

Okay.

 

[sr36]

Varcoe omitted?

How many times does Bucks need to learn not to drop Varcoe?

Stephenson to Varcoe's role, offers just as much pressure, much cleaner hands and thus much more offensive danger. Elliott to Stevos role, offers just as much. Its a win. I like Varcoe, but he can't pick the ball up off the ground at the moment, without three grabbing it. Needs to get some confidence back in the vfl.

 

[sr36]

Varcoe's value is grossly underestimated. The thing that he does (other than the tackling) that few others do is run to the spillage position at full pace, so that if the ball goes there, he is placed to do something really positive. It is the nature of such running that our oval ball often goes slightly elsewhere. The conservative player gets it more often, but can't do so much with it. I firmly believe that we need this characteristic in our team, and it is worth accepting the times the ball bounces away for the times when he gets it at pace and can really do damage. I am sorry he is the one to miss out, but somebody had to for Elliott.
Cox had to be replaced by another tall player. Reid does not provide the difference that Cox does, but he is no mug either.

Totally agree on Varcoe when he's in form, but at the moment, when he gets to the ball at the spillage, he fumbles it and the moment is gone. Needs a few games at a slower pace to get his confidence up - then bring him back.

 

[Deleted member 133504]

I implore everyone to go tomorrow night if you can. Member or not, Understand its at marvel I hate the place too but the boys need us tomorrow night.
Come on guys lets fill the place!!!

Have to spend the night teaching my Aussie/ American mate about AFL. His missus goes for the Eagles, so you know, hasn't had a lot of education on the matter.

I’ll be there.

When the stadium is filled quite a bit, it’s ok.
I don’t park there, as it’s a maze to find your car and it’s a real rip off.

That said the viewing is pretty good - and great when you’re winning

Well of course you don't park there! They don't have a stable

 

[sirlothie]

yes, we desperately need varcoes 9 handballs and 3 tackles for the game... He is so overrated by some its crazy

He's virile, ferocious, savage, fierce, cruel and violent. Everybody has to worry about Varcoe being rough with them if he's about.

 

[sirlothie]

Varcoe may not do much but everything he does has pain factor written on it. He only needs to bob up once or twice a quarter to make his presence felt. I reckon we have enough opportunist goalsneaks that Thomas could afford to miss. Varcoe makes them think twice about taking them on through the corridor though.

 

[jmac70]

We have a new whipping boy, hurrah!

 

[jmac70]

I implore everyone to go tomorrow night if you can. Member or not, Understand its at marvel I hate the place too but the boys need us tomorrow night.
Come on guys lets fill the place!!!

I applaud your passion, but I won’t be setting foot in that dung heap of a stadium.

 

[iGNITER]

Not too surprised with the changes really.

Reid in for Cox is a no brainer.

Elliott was always coming back in when fit - I always thought it would be out of Thomas, Varcoe or Brown so not that surprised. My initial thought was Brown but glad to see him go around again.

Elliott is an upgrade on Varcoe, we can push Stephenson up a little bit into the role Varcoe was trying to execute and Elliott plays closer to goal.

Don't change structure, Reid plays the forward role that Cox has been playing.

Grundy can ruck between the arcs, when the ball is in defence Moore/Roughead can ruck. When in the 50 someone like Reid could contest.
When Grundy needs a rest, Reid goes in and we play the smaller forward setup. It will only be for short periods.

As others have said, would consider Greenwood on Boak.

Would also start DeGoey in the middle when the heat is on early. Good to have a bull in there early. Beams can start at half forward then after 5 minutes or so swap with DeGoey.

How I hope we line up:

B - Langdon Roughead Howe
HB - Maynard Moore Crisp
C - Pendlebury DeGoey Sidebottom
HF - WHE Mihochek Beams
F - Elliott Reid Stephenson
R - Grundy Adams Treloar
INT - Phillips Greenwood Brown Thomas

Roughead to their ruckman that plays forward - Ryder/Lycett
Moore to Westhoff

Pretty decent line up to be fair.

 

[good4footy]

Not too surprised with the changes really.

Reid in for Cox is a no brainer.

Elliott was always coming back in when fit - I always thought it would be out of Thomas, Varcoe or Brown so not that surprised. My initial thought was Brown but glad to see him go around again.

Elliott is an upgrade on Varcoe, we can push Stephenson up a little bit into the role Varcoe was trying to execute and Elliott plays closer to goal.

Don't change structure, Reid plays the forward role that Cox has been playing.

Grundy can ruck between the arcs, when the ball is in defence Moore/Roughead can ruck. When in the 50 someone like Reid could contest.
When Grundy needs a rest, Reid goes in and we play the smaller forward setup. It will only be for short periods.

As others have said, would consider Greenwood on Boak.

Would also start DeGoey in the middle when the heat is on early. Good to have a bull in there early. Beams can start at half forward then after 5 minutes or so swap with DeGoey.

How I hope we line up:

B - Langdon Roughead Howe
HB - Maynard Moore Crisp
C - Pendlebury DeGoey Sidebottom
HF - WHE Mihochek Beams
F - Elliott Reid Stephenson
R - Grundy Adams Treloar
INT - Phillips Greenwood Brown Thomas

Roughead to their ruckman that plays forward - Ryder/Lycett
Moore to Westhoff

Pretty decent line up to be fair.

I get the point you are making but in the last 4 matches DeGoey has kicked our or the games first goal, 3 times. Last week he kicked our second goal. I think we leave him where he is dangerous early.

 

[neilk]

Varcoe may not do much but everything he does has pain factor written on it. He only needs to bob up once or twice a quarter to make his presence felt. I reckon we have enough opportunist goalsneaks that Thomas could afford to miss. Varcoe makes them think twice about taking them on through the corridor though.

His pressure against the Dogs was manic and he would often be harassing 2 or 3 of their players at a time when they were trying to use handball to get themselves out of trouble. This may not always show on TV but it's clear when at the ground.

 

[DaVe86]

I'm surprised with the varcoe omission. I like many here highly value what he brings to the team. I'd have him in over Cal Brown anyway...but I suppose Bucks is just giving Brown a solid run at it to see if he can cut it.

 

[jackcass]

This was the OP to gameday thread: https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/thre...ac-day-2019-thursday-25-4-mcg-3-20pm.1216722/

Awesome read.

Maybe we can compromise and have the person who will write the game preview initiate the changes thread and then add the preview into the OP at a later date.

 

[jackcass]

His aggro has resulted in 1 Free for and 7 free kicks against... So much for great "pressure". He has 17 tackles, 25 kicks and 1 goal for the entire season... Why are people so unable to rate him objectively?

Why are others so fixated purely on his stats?

 

[Maggie5]

Why are others so fixated purely on his stats?

Yep agree. His game against Essendon wasn't the best but he does things that don't get a stat but I reckon his team-mates appreciate it.

 

[jackcass]

Not too surprised with the changes really.

Reid in for Cox is a no brainer.

Elliott was always coming back in when fit - I always thought it would be out of Thomas, Varcoe or Brown so not that surprised. My initial thought was Brown but glad to see him go around again.

Elliott is an upgrade on Varcoe, we can push Stephenson up a little bit into the role Varcoe was trying to execute and Elliott plays closer to goal.

Don't change structure, Reid plays the forward role that Cox has been playing.

Grundy can ruck between the arcs, when the ball is in defence Moore/Roughead can ruck. When in the 50 someone like Reid could contest.
When Grundy needs a rest, Reid goes in and we play the smaller forward setup. It will only be for short periods.

As others have said, would consider Greenwood on Boak.

Would also start DeGoey in the middle when the heat is on early. Good to have a bull in there early. Beams can start at half forward then after 5 minutes or so swap with DeGoey.

How I hope we line up:

B - Langdon Roughead Howe
HB - Maynard Moore Crisp
C - Pendlebury DeGoey Sidebottom
HF - WHE Mihochek Beams
F - Elliott Reid Stephenson
R - Grundy Adams Treloar
INT - Phillips Greenwood Brown Thomas

Roughead to their ruckman that plays forward - Ryder/Lycett
Moore to Westhoff

Pretty decent line up to be fair.

I wouldn't be altering the way we use JDG too much but it would certainly play havoc with their matchups if he took the 1st bounce.

 

[jackcass]

Yep agree. His game against Essendon wasn't the best but he does things that don't get a stat but I reckon his team-mates appreciate it.

Agree, it's as much about the whole as it is about any 1 individual and Varcoe improves us. He's 1 of the few in our senior side who will offer repeat defensive pressure efforts rather than just sagging off after 1 feeble attempt. His form though has been a bit hit and miss so he was always at risk of being dropped.

I personally would have dropped Brown. Would have been more like for like with Elliott given the forward midfield role. Completely understand why they'd like to get a block of games into him though.

 

[Boris the Contradiction]

Varcoe's value is grossly underestimated. The thing that he does (other than the tackling) that few others do is run to the spillage position at full pace, so that if the ball goes there, he is placed to do something really positive. It is the nature of such running that our oval ball often goes slightly elsewhere. The conservative player gets it more often, but can't do so much with it. I firmly believe that we need this characteristic in our team, and it is worth accepting the times the ball bounces away for the times when he gets it at pace and can really do damage. I am sorry he is the one to miss out, but somebody had to for Elliott.

I agree that he runs to a position at pace, however I would argue he runs to the wrong position. With Varcoe the skills are there, the pace is there and the endeavour is there, but the football intelligence to pull it all together is not.

I understand what you're describing is a low percentage play, but he still doesn't get on the end of it anywhere enough to make himself valuable. He doesn't 'pick right' often enough.

There are players who are genuinely very good at what Varcoe is attempting to do. Beams when played forward is one. Willingham when played forward earlier in his career was great at it. For a taller player Mihocek is surprisingly pretty good at it. Stephenson has shown the ability to do it. With Varcoe it's all a little bit aimless.

 

[swoop42]

For all of Varcoe's perceived tackle pressure he has won the side 1 free kick for the season.

He's given away 7.

For the record.

Thomas 6 games. 7.2 goals. 14.83 disposal, 1.16 tackle average (well down on his career average of 3.08).
C.Brown 4 games. 3.5 goals. 14 disposal, 3.25 tackle average.
Varcoe 5 games. 1.1 goal. 11 disposal, 3.6 tackle average.

Geelong added Rohan, Dahlhaus, Miers and Atkins to their side over the summer in order to reinvent their forward line and bring more ground ball pressure.

For comparison.

Rohan 6 games. 15.2 goals. 9.5 disposal, 1.5 tackle average.
Miers 6 games. 8.2 goals. 15.33 disposal, 2 tackle average.
Dahlhaus 6 games. 4.4 goals. 20.67 disposal, 5.33 tackle average.
Atkins 6 games. 1.2 goal. 11.5 disposal, 4.83 tackle average.

So at best you could put Varcoe on par with mature aged first year player Atkins.

Problem is when you have de Goey, Hoskin-Elliott, Elliott and Stephenson all available as far better offensive weapons something will have to give and for the second time this season it's Varcoe.

 

[sr36]

We have a new whipping boy, hurrah!

It is good news, but the problem is he's been dropped. Who are we going to target tonight?

Langdon
Phillips

It's getting tough, hopefully Reid has a shocker.