I'm not fussed whether Masten gets played or not, mainly because I have no control over it.
But what both amuses and confuses me is how he gets blamed for everything, whether it's a good
game or a bad game, it's ALWAYS Masten's fault. Quite bizarre. The new Priddis.
When he goes, who's next in line with their head on the chopping block every week?
When Lycett was here, Vardy played well (generally)..better than Lycett in the GF.
Now Lycett's gone with Hickey his on-field replacement, and Vardys not playing as consistently.
Hickey started well. So arguably both rucks are floundering/finding form, or trying to gel together?
I'm sure at one stage we had all our talls going for the mark together, if not it seemed like it.
Oscar was getting in JK's way, JD+JK often go together, throw in Vards+Hicks,
it's a tall order, a giant combo of confusion. It seemed there weren't enough smalls at ground level.
Port just dismantled us every which way, causing confusion and panic, they shut Cripps out
and went after Ryan, leaving only Petrol off the chain, only because of his speed-they caught him a few times. Port said they went in to play 'dirty football', to kick the ball in low and scrubby, then fight for it at ground level, thus avoiding our interceptors. They are #1 at contested possessions and we were missing a gun interceptor. No surprise at the result on a wet night. But every team will be studying Port's win now.
With Geelong- Schoey replaced Shep and was a like for like pretty much, but with Barrass out, we have no-one to replace that talent. Ok, there's Rotham, or Brander but they're still not up to Tom's standards. Actually Oscar down back to clunk marks wouldn't be crazy, if he can handle the pressure.
But it seems we need a new headspace, a better gameplan that's abreast of and ahead of the 6-6-6 run+gun thing, which is still evolving with coaches+players. It seems we need grunt, speed and a new dose of in-game footy smarts? We have skill and poise, maybe got spoilt with the chip-kick/mark thing, need to bring the blue-collar ethic, roll up the sleeves.
Cats will be in a rampaging mood, seeing Port's win and their last loss to us at Optus.
So what will it be, we could win by just scraping over the line, win by an arrogant margin (unlikely?)..or just lose (a respectable loss?), or get smacked again and lose embarrassingly....or a draw?
Just need the 4 points, to regain some composure and save face, but it doesn't look good.