Prediction Changes v Crows

Don't think Lipinski has been that much better than Roarke or Scott at AFL level. What he does at VFL is impressive, but it hasn't translated.
How do you work that out?
Edit ...... I see others have posted explanations. It seems to me he actually gets way more of the ball than Rourke , Scott and McNeil, uses it better, has reasonable amount of tackles / pressure acts etc
But he does the occasional poor tackle etc which people notice and label him as soft because of that
So Rourke applies better pressure but you don't see it on tv?? Hard to comment on what I'm not seeing :$ Ah well guess the MC agree with others
 
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Golden_6

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It's good to get Dunks & Wood back. Additions of a couple of players that should be a part of our first final side (even though we lost a couple others).

Changes to this side to week 1 of finals:

In: Keath, Treloar, Richards, Duryea
Out: Schache, R Smith, Hannan, Scott

There's still a few spots up for grabs like Martin/JUH, Cordy/Schache/Gardner and probably Garcia & JJ with guys like McNeil/VDM/Hannan. The rest is pretty settled by now.
 

suetonius

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The Bulldogs are contracted to play two games there per-season and they are sticking to their contract. Let's face it, it's a damn site cheaper to play the game at Mars Stadium without the expensive overheads of playing in an empty big stadium under lights. Heavens, this game could have been played at the Ballarat City Oval or any one of seven other ovals in Ballarat where the surfaces are all exactly the same as Mars Stadium's, save for the fact that there are no broadcast facilities at those other grounds. There is no advantage to playing in a big stadium with no crowd, none what so ever. Unless you want your team to ill-prepare itself for the finals by playing in the benign and petrified conditions of an empty Marvel Stadium.

I agree that they are contracted, but how does playing in front of an empty stadium help the people of Ballarat and their local economy? What benefit does it serve Ballarat to hold the team to the contract?

In addition, why do they also need tp play in Marvel "under lights"? They could just start at 1pm and have the roof open the entire game.
 
If bevo quits now, will it save him from the potential embarrassment of losing this game at the selection table?

no he selected the team. The Roarke Smith selection will be brought up at his next senior coach interview.
 
It's good to get Dunks & Wood back. Additions of a couple of players that should be a part of our first final side (even though we lost a couple others).

Changes to this side to week 1 of finals:

In: Keath, Treloar, Richards, Duryea
Out: Schache, R Smith, Hannan, Scott

There's still a few spots up for grabs like Martin/JUH, Cordy/Schache/Gardner and probably Garcia & JJ with guys like McNeil/VDM/Hannan. The rest is pretty settled by now.
Maybe MArtin - seemed to work well with him rucking and Timmy forwarding. Would like to keep JUH in tho :) And if Shak keeps improving at this rate he will. be our best payer in a couple of weeks :p
 

Charlie Bucket

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Expectations are higher for Lipinksi than what they are for some others. He’s not delivering on those expectations and so he’s sent back to become a better player.
There’s also team expectations he doesn’t nail. He’s lazy as * at times and doesn’t show a lot defensively. These would be absolute non negotiables in Bevos eyes.

Him missing out is a combination of not meeting team and individual expectations.

Clearly he’s a better player than some others that have been mentioned. He’s just not doing what’s required to be in the best 22. How on earth can some still ignore this and continually post their gripes about lipi being better than others and Bevo doesn’t know what he’s doing blah blah ******* blah.
FMD, it’s brain numbing.
 
Sep 4, 2014
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If bevo quits now, will it save him from the potential embarrassment of losing this game at the selection table?

No Mercy GIFs | Tenor


If we lose, we must call upon on the big footy firing squad.
 
Expectations are higher for Lipinksi than what they are for some others. He’s not delivering on those expectations and so he’s sent back to become a better player.
There’s also team expectations he doesn’t nail. He’s lazy as fu** at times and doesn’t show a lot defensively. These would be absolute non negotiables in Bevos eyes.

Him missing out is a combination of not meeting team and individual expectations.

Clearly he’s a better player than some others that have been mentioned. He’s just not doing what’s required to be in the best 22. How on earth can some still ignore this and continually post their gripes about lipi being better than others and Bevo doesn’t know what he’s doing blah blah ******* blah.
FMD, it’s brain numbing.
Wowsers I thought a heap of people had been anti Lipi and just a couple pro!
Sorry about being brain numbing :p
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How do you work that out?
Edit ...... I see others have posted explanations. It seems to me he actually gets way more of the ball than Rourke , Scott and McNeil, uses it better, has reasonable amount of tackles / pressure acts etc
But he does the occasional poor tackle etc which people notice and label him as soft because of that
So Rourke applies better pressure but you don't see it on tv?? Hard to comment on what I'm not seeing :$ Ah well guess the MC agree with others
I think that overall Lipinski has been slightly better than those guys this season. He does some things better than them and some things worse.
My point was that he hasn't been overwhelmingly better than them to really warrant any selection melts.
 
Wowsers I thought a heap of people had been anti Lipi and just a couple pro!
Sorry about being brain numbing :p
View attachment 1190965
Sometimes I get so befuddled when I see the team selections, I too stomp around the house wearing gumboots and a hankie on my head shouting: "my brain hurts". It's just what you do!
 
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I really need to get back to see us playing live; there are some important structures you just can't see on the tv. I would like to keenly observe what players such as Scott, R Smith, Hannan and even JJ are doing that keeps them in the lineup each week considering their low stats. Of course stats don't tell the whole story; these players must be contributing in ways we just cannot see in the narrow span of the camera lens. On occasions, these players have a 'breakout' game where you can see them quite involved on screen but these seem quite rare. Next time I see them live, I will endeavour to really focus on their work.
 
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I would be extremely disappointed if Ugle-Hagan was keeping a fit Stefan Martin out of the team for the finals.

Really, I don't think its that cut and dry. This is not the Martin of 5 years ago. This is a limited Martin who will give his all yet there has been signs his body is not holding up, apart from a few solid games early. Its a strong possibility that Ugle-Hagen will be playing finals instead of Martin. Bevo may prefer it as he likes mobile rucks. It could be a blessing.
 
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bobs head soup

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I would be extremely disappointed if Ugle-Hagan was keeping a fit Stefan Martin out of the team for the finals.
Martin has shown over the past 2 years that he is a 3 to 4 consecutive game proposition at best. Playing him 4 weeks out from a finals campaign makes no sense.
 

TMoney22

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R.Smith smothers a ball and has a few pressure acts and its good enough to keep him in the side. That's shouldnt even be bare minimum for all players. Surely we can expect more, and in a final thats a man down
 

Wetdog

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It's about cocky to presume a victory week 1 of finals but I reckon that's something like the plan. Maybe even back R23.

All the best players/teams have a healthy dose of confidence. It just needs to be kept in check.

We should be backing ourselves in if we put the hard work in.
 
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Just my opinion but if Rourke wants to have as minimal output offensively as he has then he needs to keep Petracca/Oliver level of players to 15 disposals and not Langdon who is a different level of player. Particularly as wet nights aren’t really suited to speedy wingman role.

Unfortunately he doesn’t have the ability in my opinion to be best 22. Not with our level of midfielders and last years elim forever sticks in my mind. With a full list Smith/Hunter/Treloar will be spending plenty of time on that wing and Rourke isn’t able to play forward. At all.
 
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