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Changes Rnd 1 - Vs Demons

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Why isn't anyone talking about the possibility of Watson up foward? .
I think we should introduce him in the position we envisage Sturt playing. Roaming forward flanker/3rd tall. Freedom to get up on the wing, marking ability, defensive and attacking, decent tank, good disposal, footy smarts. Beats the Hell out of being groomed in the wafl for a possible defender position. And if he isn’t going to be, then a couple of Logue, Watson, Duman or Hughes should be trialed forward.
 
If Hamling and Pearce are fit Cox has to play forward. Treacy is not ready. Tabs will have to pinch hit in the ruck .
Switta in Schulz out .Frederick half forward and Acres to the wing.
Hughes was close to best today, he will play .

Ryan Hamling Hughes
Wilson Pearce Young.
Acres Fyfe Aish
Frederick Cox Cerra
Switta Tabs Henry
Meek Mundy Serong
Brayshaw Tucker Colyer Conca.
Cox isn’t playing forward. JLo has almost certainly ruled that out. He’s not suddenly going to be up forward. He ll go to what’s already there. Treacy will get a chance. Logue may be the one to push into a forward out of the defensive squad.
Why suddenly the forward line looks bleak? List management dumb as. Been the case fo years. This sort of managing will hold Freo from potentially top 8.

Treacy and Tabs in with Tabs pinch rucking. Fyfe up forward. We have plenty in the middle.
Cerra, Brayshaw, Serong, Mundy, Acres, Aish, Walters if fit, Tucker, Conca. There’s enough to breakeven. This squad needs to step up and take the next step with not relying on Fyfe.

Hughes, Cox, Ryan
Young, Hamling, Wilson
Aish, Cerra, Acres
Schulz, Tabs, Frederick
Switta, Fyfe, Walters

Meek, Brayshaw, Serong
Int: Treacy, Tucker, Conca, Mundy.
 
Here’s a crazy idea, why don’t Freo play everyone in their natural positions?

Treacy is a key forward prospect - play him there. Chapman is key defender depth, he’s going to have to bide his time and come in once Pearce breaks down.
This is the problem. We would have an AFL level defence at peel and spud central in attack.
I actually think Jlo needs to loosen off a bit on his rule of only playing players in their natural positions. Some of the surplus AFL standard defenders need to be brought into the attack ASAP. Could Nathan o Driscoll be tried in the Zak butters/cam Rayner HFF role this year I wonder?
 
Melbourne looked pretty ordinary without three of their core midfielders, and the forward line was bog ordinary too. Bulldogs dominated them. Would be an amazing baptism for Meek and Treacy if they happened to debut and went head to head with Gawn and May though. They were both terrific although May went off injured (looked minor).
May might have concussion. If so he will be ruled out of the round 1 game due to the 12 day rule.
 

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Ryan Hamling Hughes
Wilson Cox Young
Acres Fyfe Aish
Schultz Tabs Cerra
Frederick Pearce Mundy

Meek Brayshaw Serong

Tucker Henry Treacy Conca
Emerg. Chapman, Colyer, Giro
If the injuries are as we think, then this is what I would go in with.

Obviously the controversial selection is Pearce forward, but we need a big body to compete here until we have other options. We have a list for a reason & we need to get creative as we still have Logue as well to come into the side defensively.

I want Frederick to play a purely attacking role up forward, only pressure if in the area & defend as per the structure, but I want him getting to as many inside 50 contests as he can.

Cerra, Fyfe & Mundy can rotate forward with Tucker & Conca giving them a chop out in the middle with Serong & Bradshaw. Henrys in to play up forward for that extra bench rotation for the mids & Frederick.

Treacy is in to ruck against their 2nd ruck option & to give Pearce & Tabs a chopout up forward.
 
I think we should introduce him in the position we envisage Sturt playing. Roaming forward flanker/3rd tall. Freedom to get up on the wing, marking ability, defensive and attacking, decent tank, good disposal, footy smarts. Beats the Hell out of being groomed in the wafl for a possible defender position. And if he isn’t going to be, then a couple of Logue, Watson, Duman or Hughes should be trialed forward.
Problem with Duman, Watson Hughes types are that they need the play to be in front of them, not up forward creating few chances. Hughes could be a forward. Great hands, fast off the first few metres.
Watson is almost like Banfield. Big workers but gee ordinary with the ball and/or without it
 
Its not just us though. Players falling down left right and centre.
Was just reading about the carnage in the Dogs/Dees game. Naughton injured wrist, May possible concussion/chest injury, Crozier shoulder, and Jay Lockhart needing surgery for a knee to the testicle. Plus Cam Rayner ACL in the Lions/Suns game.
 
Our crap forward line didn't just sneak up on us on the weekend, we only scored more than north and Adelaide last year and have been around the bottom 4 for scoring for the last 5 years. Even when we played finals our forward line was our glaring weakness
 
Here’s a crazy idea, why don’t Freo play everyone in their natural positions?

Treacy is a key forward prospect - play him there. Chapman is key defender depth, he’s going to have to bide his time and come in once Pearce breaks down.

If we always do, what we’ve always done, then we’ll always get, what we’ve always got


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If Darcy doesn’t get up for round 1 I’d be tempted to consider leaving Treacy out and playing Hamling as the second tall forward.

The rational:
Brennan Cox is on fire down back.
Pearce simply can’t kick at white posts and Hamling has the experience to understand our forward tactics.

It then becomes a Treacy or Chapman debate for the Sturt (by default Banfield) role.

As for ruck support (on proviso Darcy inj) keeping Hamling in allows the three-way switch for Pearce/Cox in ruck, Hamling back to cover, Fyfe forward and Meek to bench.
With limited rotations this works in our favour and gives us an extra mid


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I know its early and yes he'll get better. But Henry is pretty awful atm. Looks lost tbh. He shouldnt be anywhere near the MCG Saturday week.

Our Backline is the best in the AFL imho.

Midfield will line up the way we all envision it to and go alright with Serong, Brayshaw, Cerra, Mundy, Tucker, Aish and Acres...with Meek Rucking and Darcy could be in as Fwd/Ruck.

Fwd line is an absolute rabble. Ok so we've locked in the backline, Mids are on the magnet board ..now we go down the magnet board to the Fwd line. Six spots up for grabs.

Ok so we can discount Lobb and Walters for now. The first name ill put on is Tabs. He's a lock (fitness down but we'll lock him in possibly at FF). I'll then put Fyfe CHF for the whole game. That's 2 magnets so far. Big Sean darcy as a big target and alternate with Meek. Freddy gets the 4th nod to play rd 1. Shultz comes as he has the runs on the board with 2 majors on the weekend and 13 snags last season. Colyer sneaks in to the starting 6, with Crowden on the bench.

Missing Out: Banfield, Switta and Henry. I don't think we should play Treacy ( If Darcy is unavailable, our hands will be tied and he plays alongside Tabs Deep/offers ruck support when Gawn is resting. If Crowden misses, we look at bringing in Switta.

I'll add just one thing. If they decide to go full Malcolm blight (see Shane Ellen) and throw Chapman fwd to plug a hole. I'm all for it. Unfortunately Jlo does seem alot more conservative than Connoly throwing Mcphalrin around in the 2000s. Chapman seems to have a footy brain and i agree with the other posters he could be that medium size option until Sturt gets his body right.
Henry Might be Awful at the moment......

I agree with your views on the backline. when we got our best 6 available its one of the best backlines in the league and very good.

Midfield is fine. With inside mid stocks of Fyfe, Mundy, Cerra, Brayshaw, Conca and Acres rotated. Its not bad. Outside mids stocks of Aish, Tucker, Stephen Hill, Henry and a Fully fit Walters. Thats not too bad either.

It sucks that Walters and Lobb are injured. But I see some positives. I dont mind experimenting having pacy mids such as Henry being thrown on a forward flank

And I am glad you brought up the Malcolm Blight reference of Shane Ellen and that tactic. Shane Ellen played 11 games in 3 years with the Bulldogs from 1993-5. He then played 54 games and kicked 5 goals for the crows from 1996-2000. 5 of which was in the 1997 grand final vs the saints. Shane Ellen was a roatating fringe player in the backline at the time. He then spent the 1st half of the 1997 season in the SANFL playing in the forward line as Malcolm Blight experimented with that.



Why isn't anyone talking about the possibility of Watson up foward? The kid has natural talent and has the foundations to be built into a forward.

On another note we really need our mids to start kicking more goals. Premiership teams have their mids do just this and it really makes a difference.
You know what? you do have a Point. Give watson a game or 2 up forward. Or at the worst let Watson play up forward for 3-6 games at Peel to experiment.

I still remember that 2012 season. The forward line wasnt great. Zac Clarke kicked 13 goals that season. There was a variety of mids that kicked 10-15 goals each. We talk about the Role players in that team such as Clancee Pearce, Tendai Mzungu, Nick Suban and Matt deboer. 3 of those 4 blokes kicked 10-15 goals each in that 2012 season.

Clancee Pearce arguably had his best season stats wise in 2012. He averaged 19.5 disposals a game and kicked 16 goals and 6 behinds.
 
Hughes - Hamling - Cox
Ryan - Pearce - Young
Aish - Brayshaw - Acres
Crowden - Fyfe - Frederick
Treacy - Tabs - Walters
Meek - Cerra - Serong

Henry - Tucker - Mundy - Schultz

Could be a little undersized. Now that we have the midfield depth, time to see how Fyfe goes playing 65/70% forward and let the kids step up in the midfield.
 
I
Problem with Duman, Watson Hughes types are that they need the play to be in front of them, not up forward creating few chances. Hughes could be a forward. Great hands, fast off the first few metres.
Watson is almost like Banfield. Big workers but gee ordinary with the ball and/or without it
Hughes forward is worth rolling the dice on , especially in the absence of Sturt

Cox Hamling Ryan
Wilson Pearce Young
Aish Mundy Acres
Switta Fyfe Hughes
Schultz Tabs Crowden

Meek Treacy Conca
Colyer Blakely Freddy
 

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I

Hughes forward is worth rolling the dice on , especially in the absence of Sturt

Cox Hamling Ryan
Wilson Pearce Young
Aish Mundy Acres
Switta Fyfe Hughes
Schultz Tabs Crowden

Meek Treacy Conca
Colyer Blakely Freddy
Yeh Scrap that
I didn't read the injury list properly
Bring in whoever , give the newbies game time . Really ain't gonna make any difference this year
 
Problem with Duman, Watson Hughes types are that they need the play to be in front of them, not up forward creating few chances. Hughes could be a forward. Great hands, fast off the first few metres.
Watson is almost like Banfield. Big workers but gee ordinary with the ball and/or without it
Those guys aren't my preferred options (Chapman or Logue) but they are going to end up as list cloggers if they can't play elsewhere.
 
If Hamling and Pearce are fit Cox has to play forward. Treacy is not ready. Tabs will have to pinch hit in the ruck .
Switta in Schulz out .Frederick half forward and Acres to the wing.
Hughes was close to best today, he will play .

Ryan Hamling Hughes
Wilson Pearce Young.
Acres Fyfe Aish
Frederick Cox Cerra
Switta Tabs Henry
Meek Mundy Serong
Brayshaw Tucker Colyer Conca.

I like this team. Just replace Colyer with Chapman purely because I want give him every game possible this year. Just oozes class. There’s also an argument to having Brayshaw start centre with , Mundy to play CHF as has the size decent kick and include Shultz for Colyer.
 

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Colyer, Banfield will play ahead of Henry and Switta on the road. For all of our optimism it's another tale of a busted list come round 1
 
Assuming pretty much worst case scenario and all of Darcy, Walters, Logue, Crowden, Sturt and Lobb are missing from our clear best 22:

Ryan Pearce Young
Wilson Cox Hughes
Aish Cerra Freddy
Tucker Hamling Schultz
Switta Tabs Fyfe

Meek Brayshaw Mundy

Serong Acres Conca Henry

I dont think Treacy is quite ready yet, would benefit a lot from at least a month at Peel and Hamling is the best of the options to move forward where we dont lose much down back but get a smart footballer who has played forward before and can provide a contest.

Would rotate Cox into the ruck where his marking and mobility as basically an extra mid could be handy for bursts and Hamling down back when this happens.

Would not be upset to see Chapman instead of Conca but that's not going to happen
 
Assuming pretty much worst case scenario and all of Darcy, Walters, Logue, Crowden, Sturt and Lobb are missing from our clear best 22:

Ryan Pearce Young
Wilson Cox Hughes
Aish Cerra Freddy
Tucker Hamling Schultz
Switta Tabs Fyfe

Meek Brayshaw Mundy

Serong Acres Conca Henry

I dont think Treacy is quite ready yet, would benefit a lot from at least a month at Peel and Hamling is the best of the options to move forward where we dont lose much down back but get a smart footballer who has played forward before and can provide a contest.

Would rotate Cox into the ruck where his marking and mobility as basically an extra mid could be handy for bursts and Hamling down back when this happens.

Would not be upset to see Chapman instead of Conca but that's not going to happen
Seems good.
 
Ryan - Hamling - Cox
Hughes - Pearce - Wilson
Acres - Cerra - Aish
Switta - Fyfe - Frederick
Schultz - Tabs - Henry

Meek - Brayshaw - Serong

Mundy - Tucker - Conca - Young

In my mind Henry and Schultz are the biggest issues as they haven't shown any consistency. Switta as well but I'm somewhat confident in him if he can get on the park.

Henry swap with Walters
Schultz swap with Sturt
Conca/Hughes swap with Logue

Don't think Treacy is ready so I'd go with Fyfe and Tabs as our two forwards. Back in the young fellas+Mundy to win the midfield and get one of the tall backs to chop out in the ruck.

The problem is then if we struggle in the midfield and Fyfe goes back Tabs is left to be double teamed. I was a big advocate for Cox to be our swingman but he is looking so good in the backline. Maybe Hamling should get his wish for a couple rounds.
 

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Changes Rnd 1 - Vs Demons


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