Preview Changes - Rd 18 vs West Coast

[1970crow]

I have gotta say that the omission of some of our youth in favour for retaining MacKay and adding Berg just leaves me wondering what is happening at the club. Its like we are back to our good old bad days. It kinda reeks of Roo having input into the selection process. I never expected Nicks to bend over. I thought he was all for developing the youth. Now I am questioning his strength to stand up and run the footy department. We need a strong coach and Nicks character comes across as Mr Nice Guy. Perhaps he is good at managing the guys but not so good at managing what the team puts out onto the field. The next 6 weeks could be very interesting for Mr Nicks.

I'm not sure why you'd have thought that. Nicks was employed by Roo, Chapman and Fagan. He naturally represents their footballing philosophies. Why would he be different to Pyke in that regard. I can guarantee that Nicks will become toxic as well. Nice guys going bad and under pressure always do.

 

[1970crow]

Did you see him last week? He looks unfit. Schoenberg is playing. Berry could be in there more often. Who else is there? I'd like to see Jones. Fog was a bust. McNuts has a run occasionally without showing much.

you should be embarrassed. How many players would you consign to the 2s before you looked at a pure midfielder winning 17 possessions from 89% TOG with over 200 games of your fabled 'experience'.

 

[1970crow]

The Apricot Slice Brigade going into overdrive to defend selections, "why get so worked up about MacKay".

They fail to realise/still don't understand this AFC coaching philosophy of selecting senior players who are out of form and/or injured over giving the youngsters a go is precisely why we are in the mess we are in.

If I had a dollar for every "MacKay/VB/Dougie/Wright/Thommo etc etc wont be the difference between winning and losing" comment on Thursday nights over the last 10 years I could pay off Ports debt.

What is funny is that the selection delusionalists use the exact same excuses for the exact same selection philosophy when contending or 'rebuilding'. Some numpty on the advertiser site tried to tell me how highly respected Pyke was recently. "You mean the guy thst took over an away finals winning side and turned them into spoon winning rabble in 3 years". People are so stupid. Even though they've been using contending for the 8 as a reason for our selection philosophy for years, the same dimwits now reckon bevause the philosophy hasn't changed it must mean we're tanking. Idiots.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

It doesn't seem like we're quite sure which direction we are going in

Is Sloane vacating the centre square or spending more time there? If he's vacating why is Pedlar dropped before he's had a proper go in there?

Are we rebuilding or contending? Wherefore art thou Sholl? Paying $15 for the Rising Star, = 6th favourite. From my quick scan of the odds, across the competition there's one other non-injured player in the top 50 rising star odds not playing this week.

Spoiler: Guess who?

Riley Thilthorpe

Are we cycling through the bottom end of our list (Davis, Frampton, Himmelberg) to see whether they've got anything to offer? Or investing games in our most talented youth? It can't be both because a spot for one takes a spot from the other. Are we clear on the direction we're taking?

Times we've seemed to pick a smaller, more mobile team and other times we've gone ultra tall. Is there a plan we're working towards?

Fog out then in then out again, now back in two games later. Is the yoyo approach really the best one?

Bleh. All over the shop

 

[Crowbots are dead]

14 touches and 200 meters gained is below average for a wingman of any experience.

Lachie Sholl is already averaging 325 meters gained this year and 3.7 score involvements (+1 on Mackay)

Totally agree. The thing is that hypothetically , even if McKay was slightly better that sholl at the moment then it would still make strategic sense to pick sholl over McKay because sholl is part of the future. It feels like we don’t have an underlying strategy with selection to the rebuild.

 

[Crowbots are dead]

I'm not sure why you'd have thought that. Nicks was employed by Roo, Chapman and Fagan. He naturally represents their footballing philosophies. Why would he be different to Pyke in that regard. I can guarantee that Nicks will become toxic as well. Nice guys going bad and under pressure always do.

Have you naturally represented the philosophies of any organisation that hires you? I don’t think so. People come with their own ideas and earlier in the season I could largely follow selections. Something seems to have changed and it’s fair to wonder if nicks is being pressured to select the old guard

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Totally agree. The thing is that hypothetically , even if McKay was slightly better that sholl at the moment then it would still make strategic sense to pick sholl over McKay because sholl is part of the future. It feels like we don’t have an underlying strategy with selection to the rebuild.

This!

Changes weekly

 

[1970crow]

It doesn't seem like we're quite sure which direction we are going in

Is Sloane vacating the centre square or spending more time there? If he's vacating why is Pedlar dropped before he's had a proper go in there?

Are we rebuilding or contending? Wherefore art thou Sholl? Paying $15 for the Rising Star, = 6th favourite. From my quick scan of the odds, across the competition there's one other non-injured player in the top 50 rising star odds not playing this week.

Spoiler: Guess who?

Riley Thilthorpe

Are we cycling through the bottom end of our list (Davis, Frampton, Himmelberg) to see whether they've got anything to offer? Or investing games in our most talented youth? It can't be both because a spot for one takes a spot from the other. Are we clear on the direction we're taking?

Times we've seemed to pick a smaller, more mobile team and other times we've gone ultra tall. Is there a plan we're working towards?

Fog out then in then out again, now back in two games later. Is the yoyo approach really the best one?

Bleh. All over the shop

we've not gone small up forward at all. Nicks loves a long deep entry, so he plays tall up forward. And there's no such thing as too tall. He's a firm believer that you can out-height your opponents and that, magically, the forward line operates in a vacuum and has no influence on defensive efforts against opposition transition from our 50. According to Nicks, our ability to apply pressure between the arcs has absolutely nothing to do with our forward line. He's happy to go short down back, but not up forward.

It's pretty simple to understand. Our selection philosophy is solely about the 4 points this weekend. What preceded it and what follows is totally irrelevant except for the emphasis on continuity and experience. Ask yourself this, "what would Neil do?" And yevwill find the truth ye seeks.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

we've not gone small up forward at all. Nicks loves a long deep entry, so he plays tall up forward.

Last week we did. Thilthorpe, Frampton and nothing

This week we've gone for four tall forwards

 

[Mismatched]

It doesn't seem like we're quite sure which direction we are going in

Is Sloane vacating the centre square or spending more time there? If he's vacating why is Pedlar dropped before he's had a proper go in there?

Are we rebuilding or contending? Wherefore art thou Sholl? Paying $15 for the Rising Star, = 6th favourite. From my quick scan of the odds, across the competition there's one other non-injured player in the top 50 rising star odds not playing this week.

Spoiler: Guess who?

Riley Thilthorpe

Are we cycling through the bottom end of our list (Davis, Frampton, Himmelberg) to see whether they've got anything to offer? Or investing games in our most talented youth? It can't be both because a spot for one takes a spot from the other. Are we clear on the direction we're taking?

Times we've seemed to pick a smaller, more mobile team and other times we've gone ultra tall. Is there a plan we're working towards?

Fog out then in then out again, now back in two games later. Is the yoyo approach really the best one?

Bleh. All over the shop

Its really quite worrying as we're starting to get a good idea of where the coaches minds are at, and building for long term success doesn't appear to be at the forefront.

4 weeks ago, we appeared to be balancing the rebuild with remaining competitive really well. There was a few wins, but not enough to have us compromising our draft position terribly much. The selections and gameplans lately though smack of a coaching staff that genuinely believed we were a chance of making finals and a full frontal approach on finals was in our best interests.

This is a significant concern, but its been clear as daylight that our rebuild was not going to be quick, yet it appears we've decided to chase the instant gratification of a premature rise, rather than stay true to the course. The light at the end of the tunnel is that all this approach is doing is making us more likely to finish lower on the ladder with a better draft pick. The concern is the prioritising of games to players whom likely won't be on our list next year.

 

[1970crow]

Don't hate the changes except for Sholl being dropped, which doesn't make a lot of sense, but they've shown a clear preference for Mackay over Sholl at this point.

as they have Mackay over Hamill this year and last. Remember the posters saying Hamill was being protected due to concussion despite pkaying scratch matches. Any chance they'd reconsider that totally wrong view now?

 

[1970crow]

Last week we did. Thilthorpe, Frampton and nothing

This week we've gone for four tall forwards

Last week we had no choice because a tall forward emergency didn't travel and Berg was an out on game day.

 

[1970crow]

stats against lions.. that I put up after the lions game the other week.

seedsman 21D, 13K, 8H, 2T, 5 cont poss, 71%DE, 12 pres. acts - 595m gained 2 goals
sholl 28D, 14K, 14H, 0T, 13 cont poss, 57%DE, 14 pres. acts - 465m gained.
smith 22D, 13K, 9H, 5T, 6 cont poss, 82%DE, 16 pres. acts - 549m gained.
mackay 14D, 10K, 4H, 5T, 8 cont poss, 79%DE, 17 pres. acts - 224m gained 1 goal.

one look at most weeks will show you that its like this most weeks.. mookay has half the possessions and gains barely half as many metres nearly every week. and his so called “pressure acts” are normally shithouse attempts at tackles that easily get broken.

are you sure you understand how to read stats?..

there's very little about football which that bloke understands. Total selection delusionist.

 

[1970crow]

Pedlar and Sholl dropped and Mackay stays?

you shouldn't really be out now. Every time we've had a choice between an experienced player and a kid, we've gone with experience. Regardless of injury, form and output. The SANFL is a place that experienced guys get a bit of touch for a couple of weeks, we don't drop them from the 1s to play there.

 

[jackster83]

Why even bother bringing Davis in for his one game of the year and then drop him straight after?

That's the kind of bullshit Sando used to pull.

 

[1970crow]

The strategic tank looks well and truly on .....

oh god, another delusionust who believes continuing to favour experienced players over kids is both a sign of tanking AND also necessary when striving for finals.

 

[Deaneus!]

Do we have a final team?

 

[1970crow]

Definitely not tanking.

Explain how these selection decisions differ to Pyke's when he was desperate for wins to make the 2019 finals series? It's exactly the same. We're doing the opposite of tanking, we're prioritising 4 points over developing our future.

 

[Crow till I die]

Have you naturally represented the philosophies of any organisation that hires you? I don’t think so. People come with their own ideas and earlier in the season I could largely follow selections. Something seems to have changed and it’s fair to wonder if nicks is being pressured to select the old guard

Is nicks using the tail end of the year to see the old guard and fringe players and who he wants to retain next year. I can sort of understand the pedlar call as he had come from a long way back fitness wise and has now had a taste at AFL level. He should be vastly better after the upcoming preseason providing no injuries. Thilthorpe should be in the side no matter what as he is not for SANFL and if they feel he is tired, give him the week off of all footy.

Is the thought of bringing in himmelberg to try and ensure he holds some trade value?. Is lynch there for the same reason?.

 

[1970crow]

Why have we gone from 2 tall forwards/medium forwards (one of those a teenager) to 4 in one week?

Not working towards any sort of structure presumably?

Lynch isn't deemed a tall forward. He defends and hunts ground ball like one, but he's a flanker. It's 3 key talls plus Lynch, which brings us back to the glory days of the 'red carpet' system for defending between the arcs. I cannot wait to watch this shishow unfold. Nicks totally deserves the drubbing he's about to experience. Every pained expression they pan to in the telecast will be a moment of joy for me.

 

[FullyBigKPro]

oh god, another delusionust who believes continuing to favour experienced players over kids is both a sign of tanking AND also necessary when striving for finals.

Cmon mate...

 

[Crow_68]

Once again we prove that we have no plan at all and have lost the plot.

Playing Mackay over Sholl is indefensible.

Lynch, Walker, Fog and Himmelberg in the F50 is 100% a panic reaction to last weeks awful score. Of course we had 5 kicks inside 50 in the entire first half. Not sure you can blame the forwards for not dominating...

We had a better % of scoring shots per inside 50 than Port, Gold Coast and Richmond last weekend - forwards were not the main issue.

 

[1970crow]

Sloane mentioned he will be playing more minutes forward to increase the midfield time for Schoenberg & Berry.

Hope it actually happens

Funny thing is they said it's already happened, which is total rubbish. Our coach fabricates a role change to protect the external view of a senior player. It's a performance industry, if you don't perform, you should be carnage on the side of the road. Not at our club though. Rory will continue to p,ay 90% TOG in the midfield and get his 18 touches and Nicks will say they're pretty good numbers for a half forward. It's a ******* joke.

 

[1970crow]

1) Selecting a bland senior over promising youth = AFC, unless Sholl is being managed (?).
2) Nicks must have been in an underground bunker somewhere over the last 24 hours, far away from the noisy squalls outside and the BoM.
3) The hope: he's banking on them to clunk marks and kick goals in spite of stark evidence to the contrary.
The reality: the ball will slip behind off hands with the wind for WC to clear easily, and the ball will drop short into the wind, where alert WC players will be camped to mark and rebound.

We've discussed Nicks' distaste for shallow entries before. Only Tex is authorised to be hit up 40m out. This is why lots of our entries are to what seem poor options. It's how the players are coached. It's only why they're coached that way that is up for discussion. I'm confident that it's purely because it's easier to defend a turnover deep inside you 50. Nicks is a loser coach, his greatest problem is delivery to forwards and his solution isn't to change the deliverers, it's to minimise the damage caused by the deliverers whilst making the forwards jobs harder. It's probably why he values Mackay ahead of Sholl. Sholl looks to hit up leading forwards, Mackay bombs deep to contests.

And let's not forget that our inability to pressure out of defence and then between the arcs makes defending in their 50 near impossible. Nicks refuses to address the source of the issue and instead creates strategies that ensures we'll go absolutely nowhere out of sheer fear of changing the midfield dynamic. That VB is our midfield ciach is of massive concern. We need to remove all traces of Neil Craig the coach from our club.

 

[1970crow]

Changes themselves aside... Why do they distinguish between Thilthorpe as managed, but everyone else as dropped? What purpose does that serve, why not say they're all omitted?

Thilthorpe will not be playing SANFL. He's being managed, omitted players will play SANFL to recapture form. It's honesty.