Strategy Changes: Round 8 St. Kilda vs Fremantle

[Stinky Lomax]

Honestly, if you dont want Jackson playing midfield/ruck, the only reasonable alternative is to acknowledge Cornes and Ellis are right. Keep Darcy on the park the rest of the year and send him to a good home. Find a cheap depth ruck to plonk on the list in place of Reidy

I don’t think anybody is saying he shouldn’t be used in the midfield either as ruck or time as a mid. But he does have forward craft & is a real threat down there.

There definitely an opportunity to rotate through the middle with Young as I have no issue in seeing Young in our forward 50 more often. Young has the marking ability to play that mid forward we’ve been looking for & we lose nothing with him down there.

 

[E Shed]

Interesting suggestion in the West today to rest Darcy this week.
Is Darcy plays Friday it’s his 4th game in 20 days off no preseason and he only gets 6 days off before the Pies.

If we back Jacko & Oscar to take care of the Saints who only have Marshall in the ruck, Darcy can freshen up and come hard at Collingwood & Darcy Cameron

14

Darcy Cameron

Age

30

Ht

204cm

Wt

103kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

6.0

1star

K

3.3

1star

HB

2.7

2star

CL

0.3

2star

HO

5.3

5star

D

7.5

2star

K

4.5

2star

HB

3.0

2star

CL

0.5

3star

HO

3.5

5star

D

6.0

2star

K

3.3

2star

HB

2.7

3star

CL

0.3

2star

HO

5.3

5star

.

I actually like it.

 

[FreoMatt]

Then who goes for Jackson?
It’s unfortunate.

Definitely agree with Dudley being sub. He’s just not fit yet for the full game. Play Narkle in the 22. Feel like he can provide spark across half back/wing

I agree good teams have guys not playing who deserve to be in the 22, hopefully it will continue

 

[Taylor]

Interesting suggestion in the West today to rest Darcy this week.
Is Darcy plays Friday it’s his 4th game in 20 days off no preseason and he only gets 6 days off before the Pies.

If we back Jacko & Oscar to take care of the Saints who only have Marshall in the ruck, Darcy can freshen up and come hard at Collingwood & Darcy Cameron.

I actually like it.

Not a bad idea, but I'd still name him and pull him out right before the game so they have to plan for it.

 

[mightymouse75]

Not a bad idea, but I'd still name him and pull him out right before the game so they have to plan for it.

Nah. Jacko also coming by back.
They both will need to join forces.
Get Oscar off, & get another runner on.
Shame for Oscar but we gotta play to win.

 

[E Shed]

Not a bad idea, but I'd still name him and pull him out right before the game so they have to plan for it.

That would mean flying him & he’s probably better taking it easy at home unless he wants to go home for a while to Vic I guess.

 

[E Shed]

Nah. Jacko also coming by back.
They both will need to join forces.
Get Oscar off, & get another runner on.
Shame for Oscar but we gotta play to win.

The point is by resting Darcy Oscar can stay. He was very good against Adelaide.

 

[Nodgey]

I think Jackson can comfortably replace O'Meara's output on a wing. 50% wing, 30% ruck, 20% bench. Or something like that.

 

[Purpletown]

I hope the players and coaching staff are well aware of the intensity that is going to be coming our way on Friday night and ready to reciprocate it.

We can be pretty dozey at time. Everyone knew Geelong would be coming out strong in round 1, Melbourne were obviously backs to the wall and Saint Kilda will be wound up tight to step up against us too.

It's very concerning when the players admit the took Melbourne for granted.

This is the biggest game of the year for Freo so far, so be ready to go.

 

[Jezzitizle]

I don’t like giving Darcy a week off, prefer to reduce his tog and run Jackson in the ruck a bit more, maybe 40%.

With Bolton, Reid and Dudley in the team, putting Darcy up fwd for periods and telling him to bring it to ground is more dangerous than Sturt and Banners who aren’t really good roving the pack.

Darcy really needs fitness, everyone thought Gawn threw him around because he lost weight, I think he was just shattered.

Below explains how I want Duds setting up in front of Onions, all day.

 

[go_the_dockers]

Interesting suggestion in the West today to rest Darcy this week.
Is Darcy plays Friday it’s his 4th game in 20 days off no preseason and he only gets 6 days off before the Pies.

If we back Jacko & Oscar to take care of the Saints who only have Marshall in the ruck, Darcy can freshen up and come hard at Collingwood & Darcy Cameron.

I actually like it.

How much of a rest would he get by subbing him out half way through the 3rd.

Obviously, if you get an injury then it won't happen but I think everyone will blow up completely if we lose to the saints. Not sure we can risk it.

I would consider resting Dudley for the same reasons, plus he can't get through a full game.

 

[theGav56]

Eh?

Everyone can read the tea leaves mate.. oscar out Jackson in.

Unfortunate for Oscar but that's footy.

We need Banfield in so we can drop him.

 

[Cam Payne]

I reckon Amiss needs a bit of confidence and run at WAFL should do wonders.

 

[The Lobbster]

I reckon Amiss needs a bit of confidence and run at WAFL should do wonders.

I can’t tell if this is serious or not. He just had one of his best games for the season.

2 goals plus he was massively infringed on before Switta kicked his goal and caught a defender HTB before Dudley took advantage and I think missed everything.

 

[apuchar]

I’ve watched game 3 times now (firstly at Optus). At the game I thought overall it was his best game for Freo.

I recorded game (McLachlan & co commentating, not Pav) and searched the footage twice for the ‘bad’ game MJ is supposed to have had. Couldn’t find it.

Footage+ stats tell the story. Objectively, he had a pretty good game.

I have watched it 3 times and recorded the positive and negative actions and it was 21 pos, 15 neg.

 

[TheMcManusNose]

I think a lot of the concerns around his rucking can be attributed to body maturity noting rucks generally need to be 24+ to compete week in and out. He'll beat up the big boys (like how he always plays well against Gawn) eventually.

The midfield would effectively be in short bursts and it's why Darcy is needed to play that position, Darcy (once properly fit anyway) gives you first use almost all the time, negating a fair bit of the slow mid risk.

My concerns of him playing forward also are that JL seems to need his three tall set up. Maybe you can play Darcy forward a bit more but if you are doing Jackson with some kind of 40 ruck, 20 mid, 20 forward set up, what is he doing for the rest of the game for the third tall?

Well, with respect to the 3rd tall, nothing.

You have Jackson in the forward line roughly a third of the game and then Darcy sits forward for some of the time he isn't rucking (which he will actually be able to do much more effectively with a bit of match fitness).

It's not like him being in the midfield means he can't be an outlet kick down the line or playing a bit more of a CHF up the ground roll given that the majority of the game is more dynamic than just where he starts at a bounce.

 

[E Shed]

I must admit. A lot of the attraction about resting Darcy (other than the obvious benefit of freshening him up for Collingwood) is to give Oscar another run. He was so composed & made great decisions & executed his kicks perfectly.
The Quick Look then perfectly weighted kick out in front of Duds & Murphy for that goal was just one.

 

[ilikepotatoes]

I think a lot of the concerns around his rucking can be attributed to body maturity noting rucks generally need to be 24+ to compete week in and out. He'll beat up the big boys (like how he always plays well against Gawn) eventually.

The midfield would effectively be in short bursts and it's why Darcy is needed to play that position, Darcy (once properly fit anyway) gives you first use almost all the time, negating a fair bit of the slow mid risk.

My concerns of him playing forward also are that JL seems to need his three tall set up. Maybe you can play Darcy forward a bit more but if you are doing Jackson with some kind of 40 ruck, 20 mid, 20 forward set up, what is he doing for the rest of the game for the third tall?

If we keep running a backline of Pearce, Cox and Draper surely one of them goes forward for 10-15 mins if we feel we need another tall up front when either Darcy/Jackson are on the bench/middle.

 

[mattis117]

Interesting suggestion in the West today to rest Darcy this week.
Is Darcy plays Friday it’s his 4th game in 20 days off no preseason and he only gets 6 days off before the Pies.

If we back Jacko & Oscar to take care of the Saints who only have Marshall in the ruck, Darcy can freshen up and come hard at Collingwood & Darcy Cameron.

I actually like it.

I would still play him but low game time, like 50 to 60% if we can get away with it.

 

[freo84]

How concerning is this? Round 7 of the 6th year of the coach?

Great. They’ve had the conversation, but bullshit it takes this long for it to happen…

Now excuse the cynic in me
BUT

Enough talk…
To paraphrase Ross “Action not emotion”.

Do it. Show it. Every week. That’s greatness

I'm just sharing what I heard.

I agree with you that this is the standard and it should not have taken 6 weeks and 3 crappy losses to address.

But the band aid is off. The group put up and played well. Let's see if they back it up.

 

[Eski3]

Interesting suggestion in the West today to rest Darcy this week.
Is Darcy plays Friday it’s his 4th game in 20 days off no preseason and he only gets 6 days off before the Pies.

If we back Jacko & Oscar to take care of the Saints who only have Marshall in the ruck, Darcy can freshen up and come hard at Collingwood & Darcy Cameron.

I actually like it.

I like the logic but I think the better way to manage it is to limit his minutes and just have a genuine 50/50 split of ruck time with Jackson

 

[Farrand]

I've been hard on O'Mac in the past but it's going to be a real shame if we drop him. Looked good out there on Friday, made good decisions, and with game time that should only get better.

 

[FreoRicci]

ST Kilda had Marshall as number 1 ruck on Saturday with Caminiti as the second option.

Darcy could be rested but banking on Jackson to get through is a massive gamble. Just rotate the two and maybe have OMac forward anyway, and sub Darcy out in the third.

 

[Sherriff Incorporated]

ST Kilda had Marshall as number 1 ruck on Saturday with Caminiti as the second option.

Darcy could be rested but banking on Jackson to get through is a massive gamble. Just rotate the two and maybe have OMac forward anyway, and sub Darcy out in the third.

Im warming to the idea of having Murphy Reid rested for a week and playing O'Mac with Dudley as sub and Narkle in the 22.

 

[freo84]

Nah don't rest Darcy. He needs match fitness. Play both Jackson and Darcy. Wear down Marshall then sub Darcy late if we need to.