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Changes V Collingwood

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Out: Freeman, Robbo, Paparone and one of Close, Merrett or Clarke (if injured)

In: Lester, Beams, Leuenberger and O'Brien

Forward we have a ruckman, one of Merrett and Close and McStay as a third tall. Down back we have Maguire, Clarke or Merrett, Gardiner and Patfull. Playing Beams, ZOB and Lester gives us a second string midfield which would be handy. I've given up on us ever playing a tagger so I won't bother there.
 

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Out : Freeman (still a bit raw), Robertson (a work in progress), Merrett has plenty of fans on here but his done as a forward, some would say done as a back too, has lost his confidence at both ends of the ground. Needs to re-group during the off season and come back strong next year.

In : McGrath, Lester, Leuenberger (if his fitness is ok), i would normally say Lisle at this point but he looks like his papers are stamped so i went for Leuy instead to play the forward/ruck role.
 
Freeman has had his taste and knows what he will need to get to over the next 3 seasons. I would think the only players out would be rested rather than omitted. We are cooked as a young team. Paps and Robbo must play I think just cause they need to keep getting games into them. Luey for Freeman and then will see how they all pull up.
No need to panic. We are young
 
IMO Robbo will stay in the team, leppa has shown he has the patience to ride out a bad game, and we need to remember the jump from neafl to afl will be hard for 1st year players in particular to make in one week.

Freeman on the other hand is a 'project player' and may have just got a game as a taste. So he could be dropped (or not). For comparisons sake he did have 2 more possessions than close (for only 5 in total) and his 2 tackles was more than 9 other players.

I reckon Taylor and aish have slowed up the last few weeks and might be due a rest.

Maguire Clarke, gardiner, Patful, mcstay is too tall for defence IMO so maybe gardiner gets a rest (given mcstays swingmen potential with 4 goals in last two weeks)

Harwood has been shaky with disposal the last two weeks and might get chopped.

And to add to the debate Merritt out. 6 disposals, 0 tackles, had 4 kicked on him when switched back.

As I said in another thread tiredness might have started to catchup with Martin today so might need some more formal support from leueie but not sure if against collingwood is the best game to do it.

McGrath for Taylor (different type of forward, Taylor needs a break)
Lester for gardiner (another midfielder, rest for gardiner)
leuenberger for Merritt (can't be any worse)

Can't think of a player to bring in to play as a proper small defender so harwood survives but maybe we should let Adcock, Hanley or someone else take kick ins!

Option freeman or close for o'brien to get better height mix.
 
I'd be making minimal changes for the Pies clash; a Saturday night game at the 'G in front of potentially 50,000+ will be a great learning experience for our youngsters :thumbsu:
 
Out: Merrett, Bewick, Freeman, Harwood
In: Lisle, McGrath, Lester, ZOB

Give Lisle his last chance to prove if he wants to be an AFL player. The game has gone past Merrett and he is looking slow and tired give him a rest to regenerate his energy levels.

Bewick was given a task on Sloane apparently and got absolutely demolished. Sloane looked to be running free with no opponent all game and was delivering precision passes into their forward line all game. Bewick has to be punished for his bruise free footy.

Freeman has been given a taste and will hopefully learn from his experience would bring in McGrath to play as the smart lead up forward who can also crumb. Added flexibility to play on small forwards is a plus.

Harwood just keeps turning it over in the worst spots imaginable and gets beaten far too often by his opponents goal side.
 

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JDogg said:
Out: Merrett
In: Leuenberger

Keep in simple, let the kids experience the MCG, with a relatively big crowd.
Click to expand...
x2. Surely leppeitch cant justify merretts input. Although at the start of the game he seemed happy to have him there. But to have little impact forward in the first 30 mins than to go back and get 5 kicked on you isn't a great effort. I love the big fella and he has bled for the club but really cant justify another spot on the field.
 
In: McGrath, Paine, Beams, Lester, Bourke
Out: Robertson, Bewick, Merrett, McStay, Freeman

Whilst we're gifting games to players, I'd personally like to see Bourke elevated and given a crack. He looked good again yesterday in the reserves and surely he could do no worse than what a lot of others consistently offer up.
 
Out: Freeman, Robertson, Aish
In: McGrath, Lester, O'Brien

Taylor as the sub. Merrett and a few others extremely lucky, I'm just not sure if a raft of changes is the answer. Mindset needs a significant alteration.

Aish and Taylor both look very tired. Seeing how Aish has responded after a rest in the past I think giving him the week off is a good move. Taylor will have impact as the sub - I believe Paparone did enough to earn a full game.

I like Robertson a lot as a player but he looked too tentative today for mine. No shame in that, just needs more time and confidence.

Freeman's obvious. Will understand what is needed and can go back and work on it. Wasn't useless but isn't ready for regular senior footy just yet.

We need to bolster the midfield and get back to basics a bit more. I believe Lester and O'Brien are the right people to bring in for that. Disposal is a bit questionable but there are good ball users in this team, they just need to be given an opportunity.

Ash isn't fit, I know, but has performed his role well when starting games. Has good goal sense and adds something up there I feel.

Don't play Close in the ruck, let Merrett get involved any way he can that way to give Martin a rest. Leuey still seemed proppy on the ressies stream so I don't think the risk is worth it just yet. The backline feels too tall but they've functioned in the past - we need a huge improvement from them next week though across the board. They need to bloody spoil.
 
Don't think Robbo is going to gain much getting dropped. To me it just seems he needs time adjusting to the pressures of senior footy, going back for more 30+ possession games in the 2's won't do that. 3 games to go, give him those games. Conversely I think Freeman would be better off in the ressies, from what I saw, he isn't going to get much out of the handful of opportunities he will get each week in the seniors. Get the confidence up in the reserves, have a big preseason (hopefully learning from Browny), play a few preseason games and go from there.
 

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Am I the only one here that thinks apart from a few of the clangers, Robbo actually had a half decent game? I was particularly impressed with his one-on-one marking. I wouldn't be pulling the trigger straight away, he is the sort of player that will benefit greatly from a game in front of 50k at the MCG.

That being said, for me its:

Out: Freeman
In: Lester
 
Was a hard game for a dad to watch! Not because I thought he played a bad game but because I "know" what he can do.
To be consistent and play good football at that level, guess what you've got to play a lot at that level amongst the team. The hardest thing would be to consistently come in and out of reserves football into senior football against top eight teams and be expected to play as a third year player straight up.
This does nothing for a young players confidence but, I understand that's how it's done and you must adjust to make it in what is a very very intense industry.
Nick had a good first quater but he himself said I was shit after that.
He was in the midfield rotations early but was positioned out by a Rocky for most of the game which at the moment is Rockys lack of trust with Nick in that role ATM which I understand as he would be feeling he's carrying that whole midfield on his own shoulders ATM. (Rocky was awesome!)
I know after a loss like that it's easy to make strong cuts to try to rectify a 100 point loss.
Me, I really don't think any other combination we have ATM (not injured players) would have changed that result by very much at all.
I hope Nick plays again next week to get his confidence up and to get more of a taste of what he needs to do at that level. I have a feeling he'll get another gig. Just a feeling not information.
Our last 3 games are going to be really tough against teams rallying for top 4 and top 8 positions, it will be interesting to see how many posters will continue to throw the baby out with the bath water if we experience another loss like this weeks again and call for the immediate axing of a player the week before they thought was a revelation!
Welcome any and all feedback as I'm a big boy!!
 
Out: Harwood, Aish
In: Lester (push Hanley back to the HBF for more of the game), O'Brien

I think Robbo has shown all of the physical attributes to be damaging and the ability to execute his kicks when the decision is straightforward. He just needs to improve the speed and efficiency of his decision making. I suspect that would be better served playing in the seniors, since you just can't replicate the pace and pressure in the reserves.

Harzy needs a break I think. He just turns it over too often in dangerous positions. I know that has always been the knock on him, and he's had patches of improvement, but I feel like he's been trending worse over the last few weeks.

I'd probably give Freeman one more go to see if he has more scope for involvement against Collingwood, who are nowhere near as good a contested possession team as Adelaide ATM. I agree he looks to be off the pace, but I think we'd be better served having a look at him in a game we should at least be competitive in for longer. It's hard to judge a new KPF when we're being bludgeoned so dramatically in the midfield. Then, for the last couple of weeks, bring Ash or Leuey back.
 
Last edited:
John_Proctor said:
Harwood has been shaky with disposal the last two weeks and might get chopped.
Click to expand...

Fair crack. Yes he had a down game this week but have you actually been watching the last 6 weeks or so. He has been bloody good and has consistently outplayed Adcock. His skills have been excellent in that time. I have no idea where you got the idea that his disposal was shaky last week. Last week he had 24 disposals at 87% efficiency. The week before he had 25 disposals at 89%.

There is no way in hell he should be dropped. He is developing into a top range small defender and everyone has a down game every now and then.
 
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