Opinion Changes vs Geelong

[Struggle]

No issue if we go the one ruck this week as long as Cordy isn't the one who comes in. He has just as little impact up forward while being much worse in the ruck.

Wouldn't mind if we ran O'Brien through there if English is going to be doing 85% and having Keath/Gardner both down back. He's done it at times with the Hawks

 

[jdz101]

I am a happy happy man.

 

[BEaston]

Boneheaded shot by Jimmy so early in the shot clock and only down 2. 24% on 3s for 3 years.

Should have attacked the rim for sure.

 

[yebiga]

I just hate watching us play with a single Ruckman.
For a team with our midfield depth it makes no sense conceding this advantage whilst our lone ruckman is resting. The best teams sweat on the period the single Ruckman is at rest and have routinely really hurt us. Not to mention what happens if your single ruckman is injured.

It would be great if Sweet could contribute more resting in the forward line and around the ground - and given opportunities I think he will get better - but either way - Tim is a real threat up forward. And there is something intangible about having a big strong lad on the ground at all times that I believe makes everyone walk taller.

 

[goodcop badcop]

Just not being in the right place at the right time? or loses contests?

I'm only looking on TV so it's a little bit harder to see, but it seems he has lapses in games and doesn't go at full intensity at times. That may be because he can't sustain the effort due to a poor aerobic capacity, I'm not sure. One moment he will look at ease intercepting or putting on a great spoil. A while later he completely losses his opponent when he shouldn't by a decent margin. He also has a tendency to panic when deep in defence, it's much more noticeable against better opponents. He can just throw it on the boot with not much thought and he rarely ever tries to take the opposition on when under pressure.

 

[immortalmike]

I disagree with the way you're trying to frame that the discussion about West was that he was AFL level, but we just couldn't find a spot for him. I recall quite a lot of criticism of his attributes generally. For example, this is what one poster had to say about him only a month ago:



Hardly sounds like an AFL player to me. Yet, here we are four weeks later, with West playing good footy at AFL level.

Glad someone else noticed them trying to slip that through the keeper. There was even a post late last year that said West may not be playing anywhere in a few years. But nah "always thought he was AFL level"

Almost as baffling as how someone can watch West and think poor skills and low footy IQ.

 

[Charlie Bucket]

There was a slow inside mid with poor skills, no aerial game or goalkicking ability at GWS called Toby Greene.
Funny how things can change

Not sure about that comparison.

 

[Virgin Dog]

The accolades we are giving Stewart on our board you would think he is a Ted Whitten and Chris Grant rolled into one. OK is a very good defender. All the talk before last years prelim final was how are we going to stop Alir. The dominance of our midfield and Schache took care of that. Just need to send a Cordy or Schache to him which would mean Sweet does not play.

He's legitimately one of the best defenders of the last decade. There's reasonable argument to suggest he's THE best of any that have debuted since 2010

 

[Doggy]

He's legitimately one of the best defenders of the last decade. There's reasonable argument to suggest he's THE best of any that have debuted since 2010

Weitering

 

[Virgin Dog]

Weitering

I'm picking Stewart ahead of Weitering every day of the week

 

[Charlie Bucket]

There's reasonable argument to suggest he's THE best of any that have debuted since 2010

Gardiner a bit stiff.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

He's legitimately one of the best defenders of the last decade. There's reasonable argument to suggest he's THE best of any that have debuted since 2010

"Why is everyone talking about a bloke who has been All-Australian in 2018, 2019 and 2021 while coming off a career-best game? He's not that good, he's only an okay player" - this thread.

Without Danger, and with an obvious solution to Hawkins (just hope Keath can physically go with him, and in the ruck, like he's done with some limited success for us so far), Stewart's the obvious question.

 

[ScottyDogg]

Do you just sit around sniffing your own farts all day and watching Jordon Sweets highlight reel?

Pretty much

 

[bullish23]

I just hate watching us play with a single Ruckman.
For a team with our midfield depth it makes no sense conceding this advantage whilst our lone ruckman is resting. The best teams sweat on the period the single Ruckman is at rest and have routinely really hurt us. Not to mention what happens if your single ruckman is injured.

This ^
Sweet enables the best midfield in the comp to play with a positive mindset 100% of game time.

 

[CDBulldog]

For all those dumping on Sweet, yes he was poor in vfl but he also showed some really good signs as well. Comparing to West, west also had many ordinary vfl games as well. Sometimes vfl form is not a great indicator. Not saying Sweet is a world beater but I think he’s better than his last performance.

 

[Del165892]

He's legitimately one of the best defenders of the last decade. There's reasonable argument to suggest he's THE best of any that have debuted since 2010

Fletcher Roberts has him covered

 

[Munnez]

If English can consistently take 75% of the ruck contests next season and beyond we might hope that Darcy will be ready next season to play 25% ruck/55% forward/20% bench???

With a solid preseason under his belt I can't see why he couldn't take on a worn down 1st ruck or the secondary ruck option and at the very least be competitive in that role. Injury free and a massive preseason is that too much to ask for.

 

[Lex22]

The easy/obvious solution to Stewart is to have one of Dunks/Bont forward at all times and have them as the direct matchup. Both good enough aerially, Dunkley can play more defensively on him and still be a marking threat, whereas Bont will command the defensive attention.

Stewart would run off the likes of Khamis/Schache/Cordy and would outmark the smaller types such as West/Mccomb.

I’d just give that role mainly to Dunks this week (seems a perfect fit) and play Bont a little more on the ball.

Curbing Stewart’s influence will go a long way to beating them.

 

[X_box_X]

Stewart was easily BOG when we played them last year. He was marking everything.

I'd like to think if Astro didn't get injured in the second quarter, it would have helped lessen Stewart's impact.

In game injuries have cost us in both of our matches against Geelong in our last two meetings. I know it's easy to say, "If you're good enough you win regardless", but when you're talking about Geelong, you need all the luck you can get. They're that bloody good that you can't just rely on skill, toughness, smarts and fitness alone.

 

[BeMoreBont]

Huge game for Naughton. Will have a 12 gamer on him in De Koning, who has been very impressive. But Naughty under the lid at Marvel... Big challenge for the kid.

 

[Dogsman16]

Huge game for Naughton. Will have a 12 gamer on him in De Koning, who has been very impressive. But Naughty under the lid at Marvel... Big challenge for the kid.

Will be very interesting how Scott instructs De Koning to play on Naughts. Does he tell him to attempt to hold/block Naughton or back himself in and play his natural game. Im not sure De Koning is the type to play that physical man on man style. Might give Naughts some opportunities.

 

[Libba39]

I'm a huge Tom Stewart fan. The guy is just a machine and probably the best all-round defender of his generation.

I don't have a solution as to how to nullify his influence, but all these comments about assigning a defensive forward to him seem a bit outdated to me. Doubt you can do that to a medium defender these days.

The most important thing playing geelong is to keep a forward structure and don't let them set up 2 or 3 defenders (including Stewart) behind the ball

 

[Libbaaaa]

I'm not worried about Stewart's run off half back, letting him intercept everything that comes his way though is what he has usually feasted on with us.

Like I’ve said at Marvel we have no excuses, have won our last 2 there against them and the other two losses have been that dirty dog Rohan after the siren and at Metricon after we blew a 40 point lead.

 

[Some Idiot]

Not sure about that comparison.

The only real point I make is the same sort of things were said of Greene but people were wrong. Not trying to compare them as players outside of that. Just a reminder that the average punter usually has no clue about a young player's attributes.

 

[Claudonious]

I'm not worried about Stewart's run off half back, letting him intercept everything that comes his way though is what he has usually feasted on with us.

Like I’ve said at Marvel we have no excuses, have won our last 2 there against them and the other two losses have been that dirty dog Rohan after the siren and at Metricon after we blew a 40 point lead.

Cats have won 17 of the last 20 against us. Our 3 wins by a total of 32 points.

Hopefully the wheel will finally turn.For 15 years they have owned us.

Our last win at Kardinia dump was in 2003. The 2 cats games this year will define our season.


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