Changes vs Port in Rd 7

[estibador]

I'd throw Ballas back into the forward line full time for a while before I'd even consider dropping him.

 

[prattsta]

Out: Griffin
In: Sandilands

B Ibbotson - Dawson - McPhee
HB Duffield - McPharlin - Johnson
C Mzungu - Mundy - Hill
HF Mayne - Pavlich - Ballantyne
F Neale - Clarke - De Boer
R Sandilands - Barlow - Crowley

IPearce - Broughton - Roberton - Spurr

IMO Crozier will be named as an emergency.

 

[DeanS]

Making Ballantyne the sub might be the shake-up Lyon is looking for.

 

[Big Animal]

If you go by the Port board, it doesn't matter who comes in or goes out, we should be a walk in. We had a bad game but took the win so are angry at the effort and poor execution by many of our players; but the poor port supporters just seem to have lost all hope. Feel for 'em. We've been there before many a time.

I'd give Sandi another week to rest up before the derby and probably Hill too. Leave in Spurr, bring in, I don't know, Crozier or Menag (upgrade) for a crack at the big time.

And put Ballas back in the forward line (HF) FFS. He is a star small forward and not a star midfielder as evidenced by the last few weeks. Also Crowley at HF to kick goals with his hospital passes if not tagging (who would you tag at Port since Gray is injured?) and DeBoer into midfield.

 

[RickSanchez]

Out: Griffin
In: Sandilands

B Ibbotson - Dawson - McPhee
HB Duffield - McPharlin - Johnson
C Mzungu - Mundy - Hill
HF Mayne - Pavlich - Ballantyne
F Neale - Clarke - De Boer
R Sandilands - Barlow - Crowley

IPearce - Broughton - Roberton - Spurr

IMO Crozier will be named as an emergency.

Yeah I like this. I also think Crozier will get rewarded and be named as emergency to indicate he's getting closer to selection.

I think Port will give us a solid hit out and it will be close for a large portion of the game. Hopefully we're switched on.

 

[prattsta]

And put Ballas back in the forward line (HF) FFS. He is a star small forward and not a star midfielder as evidenced by the last few weeks.

I'm a big advocate for Ballantyne playing predominately at HF, however I think it's worth persisting with him in the midfield for the time being. As a club we need to get more time into the support players, not less. The likes of Broughton, Ballantyne, Neale, Duffield, Ibbotson and Roberton should all be rotating through the midfield as much as possible given the current circumstances.

Fyfe is out, Morabito is out, Mundy and Barlow are building up their fitness, it's the perfect opportunity.

Also Crowley at HF to kick goals with his hospital passes if not tagging (who would you tag at Port since Gray is injured?) and DeBoer into midfield.

Boak? Hartlett? Every team has somebody worth shutting down.

 

[Dockernut]

Out: Griffin
In: Sandilands

B Ibbotson - Dawson - McPhee
HB Duffield - McPharlin - Johnson
C Mzungu - Mundy - Hill
HF Mayne - Pavlich - Ballantyne
F Neale - Clarke - De Boer
R Sandilands - Barlow - Crowley

IPearce - Broughton - Roberton - Spurr

IMO Crozier will be named as an emergency.

Just looking at that line-up, we are very "working class" these days. No real superstars (Pav excluded of course).

 

[Scham]

Just looking at that line-up, we are very "working class" these days. No real superstars (Pav excluded of course).

To be totally honest, he's no superstar these days either. You're right, atm we're very workman like.

 

[estibador]

Fyfe, Mundy, Hill and Sandi are pretty classy workers, to name a few.

 

[paccraig]

To be totally honest, he's no superstar these days either.

BigFooty is for opinions...and mine is that Pavlich has been a great servant , still has A grade glimpses , but one of the weakest defensive players currently playing AFL...which is increasingly becoming an issue.Mick Malthouse was similarly very clear about this 2 months ago.

 

[Fred Ziffel]

Out: Griffin, Duffield

In: Sandi, Crozier/Menegola

While I doubt duff will get dropped, he is weak as water in a one on one contest. Everytime you just know he will go to ground or be outbodied and it really isn't good enough for a supposed defender, especially a senior player. Spurr can play a full game and Croz/Menagola can be sub, reward for form in the WAFL.

We'll have to be on our game as Port are copping it big time in the press, you would expect them to come out with something to prove.

This isn't new for Port. They always cop it in the press.

This is our chance to scorch Port.

 

[Fred Ziffel]

I'd throw Ballas back into the forward line full time for a while before I'd even consider dropping him.

Completely agree.

Lachie is a better option on the ball than Ballas.

 

[malpaso]

Just looking at that line-up, we are very "working class" these days. No real superstars (Pav excluded of course).

Sandilands, Mundy, Hill, Pavlich and McPharlin are the elite players in that bunch. Not sure how they are 'working class'. You could make a case for Ballantyne as well.

 

[The Speaker]

BigFooty is for opinions...and mine is that Pavlich has been a great servant , still has A grade glimpses , but one of the weakest defensive players currently playing AFL...which is increasingly becoming an issue.Mick Malthouse was similarly very clear about this 2 months ago.

Pavlich has been tackling better than I've seen from him for a long time this year.

 

[willoblue]

This isn't new for Port. They always cop it in the press.

This is our chance to scorch Port.

I thought that about GC

 

[yakka man]

I thought that about GC

Same, I was so confident that we would smash the Sun's that I made Barlow my dream team captain. Boy did that backfire. Port are a lot better this year so I am not full of confidence.

 

[Dyslexic Emo]

Hopefully the boys have gotten over the flu that went through the team prior to the GC game. Also I would expect Lower to come in to try and play the role of extractor which he does so well.

All in all, if Sandi is back for Griffin, then Lower in as the sub with the flu well and truly passed on to the WCW then I expect a good game with lots of goals

 

[Seppo]

I'm calling it early guys, Freo by 13 points! (Our average winning margin)

QTR leader: PORT/PORT/PORT/FREO

We have won...
1 of 6 - 1st QTR's
2 of 6 - 2nd QTR's
5 of 6 - 3rd QTR's
5 of 6 - 4th QTR's

Port on the other hand have won
1 of 6 - 1st QTR's
1 of 6 - 2nd QTR's
5 of 6 - 3rd QTR's
1 of 6 - 4th QTR's

so by these trends it will start off a scrapy first half, Port to come out after half time with a spray from Primus, gain a small lead, but we'll have the legs to run out the game and win by a small margin.

amirite?

 

[Nickos66]

Sandilands, Mundy, Hill, Pavlich and McPharlin are the elite players in that bunch. Not sure how they are 'working class'. You could make a case for Ballantyne as well.

None of those names are playing like it, nor do the AFLCA votes indicate that this year.

 

[Big Animal]

I'm a big advocate for Ballantyne playing predominately at HF, however I think it's worth persisting with him in the midfield for the time being. As a club we need to get more time into the support players, not less. The likes of Broughton, Ballantyne, Neale, Duffield, Ibbotson and Roberton should all be rotating through the midfield as much as possible given the current circumstances.

Fyfe is out, Morabito is out, Mundy and Barlow are building up their fitness, it's the perfect opportunity.



Boak? Hartlett? Every team has somebody worth shutting down.

Sorry, but I'm not convinced. When the game was in the balance in the 4th on Sat, I saw Ballas create a certain goal for the Suns up the 'wrong' end, then i saw him cramping and being able to do very little of the past match winning quality we have been used to. What other players at FFC have the self-confidence and belief to take the defence on and create a goal out of nothing like Ballas, deep in the fourth surrounded by tired mids? Luckily, for once, DeBoer had confidence and a bit of luck (bounce) in front of goal to get us the win but I wouldn't want to depend on that every week. Do you think Garlett would have that super speed if he ran the whole game through the midfield. No, he would lose his advantage just like what we're doing to Ballas. Hence my unconvincedness (made that one up).

Others through the middle are ok for spurts but watching Duffield on Sat in the midfiled. WTF. I thought I had pressed the slow motion button and had to go into the menu settings to check it was running at the same speed. I swear that boy's brain runs at 6 km/h. I would rather have an unfit Mora or Lower in the middle than Puff

As for the tag, maybe Boak then but according to the fans, Hartlett would not even play this week if they had their way.

 

[sportsmaniac89]

Out: Dawson and Griffin
In: Sandi and Silvangi

These are the only 2 changes required unless Hill doesn't come up.

Would also like to see a more offensive game plan that actually allows us to blow a team out of the water and build up some percentage but I think I'll be predictably left disappointed here as blowing teams out of the water isn't Ross' style.

Also would like to see some semblance of a forward line structure this week too but again I think I'll be left predictably disappointed here as Ross rates Sumich far higher than he deserves

 

[jedi mind tricks]

Griffin may be needed as Clarke just limped off with what lookes to be a slight injury as training today.

 

[KePLOW]

Pavlich has been tackling better than I've seen from him for a long time this year.

This bloke obviously understands his footy and is probably more qualified to comment on the Dockers than many who post here. Not that I'm trying to have a go at fellow Freo people, but not being impassioned with the club has allowed him to see the impact Pav's truly been having minus the purple tinted glasses.

Pav's been fantastic this year, and as Glinn noted, has perhaps even improved by developing the defensive side of his game.

Part of me hates seeing him materialise around stoppages, but only because like everyone else I'm desperate to see him get his power forward game back. The thing is though, footy's changed vastly since he was last a stay at home forward so we've gotta adjust to the fact that he'll less frequently get into those spaces and one on one contests that he used to find. We've also gotta give him more time to find his swagger within this new breed of footy - he uncharacteristically fluffed a few marking chances on the weekend but I don't agree it's a sign that he's on the decline.

I've got West Coast mates gleefully pointing out to me that Pav's lost his shine this year, that he's not winning games off his own boot anymore. Rubbish! Those two final quarter goals against Geelong kicked our season off beautifully. Other contributions have been more subtle but no less significant, a result I assume of the playing group lifting around him.

Lyon said sometime last week that using Pav in the guts was a short term solution with little long term gain. I love this principally needs based mantra because it seems to have made Pav's shorter stints in the midfield have an even greater effect on the game.

Again, not many Dockers fans have pointed it out, but I personally think Pav was the close to the most significant ingredient as we finally managed to stumble past the post against the Suns on Saturday.

Karmichael was monstering us around the clearances. I think he had five or something to half time - and players were clearly shirking contests in his presence. So part way through the third Pav was sent straight to him to not only to nullify his influence, but actually make him accountable going the other way.

It was a masterstroke. Pav matched him for strength, disallowed him to build up any moment as the ball was on the move, and then used his greater footy wisdom to position himself better and win the footy first. It gave the K-man just a little too much to think about and his contribution clearly lessened from then on.

Pav went on to snap the goal from a stoppage to put us in front for the last time in the game, then win the clearance that set up Tendai's goal in the last second... Another game won off his own boot.

 

[prattsta]

Sorry, but I'm not convinced. When the game was in the balance in the 4th on Sat, I saw Ballas create a certain goal for the Suns up the 'wrong' end, then i saw him cramping and being able to do very little of the past match winning quality we have been used to. What other players at FFC have the self-confidence and belief to take the defence on and create a goal out of nothing like Ballas, deep in the fourth surrounded by tired mids? Luckily, for once, DeBoer had confidence and a bit of luck (bounce) in front of goal to get us the win but I wouldn't want to depend on that every week. Do you think Garlett would have that super speed if he ran the whole game through the midfield. No, he would lose his advantage just like what we're doing to Ballas. Hence my unconvincedness (made that one up).

Yeah...ummm....so errr...you're an advocate for Ballantyne at HF as well then?

My point was simply that whilst we have so many of our first choice midfielders out/underdone it is a pretty good opportunity to further develop rotational players e.g. Ballantyne. Fast forward to a similar situation next season and Lyon would then be able to rotate any number of players onto the ball to mix things up without the structure completely falling down around them because they have no f'n idea.

 

[malpaso]

I'm calling it early guys, Freo by 13 points! (Our average winning margin)

QTR leader: PORT/PORT/PORT/FREO

We have won...
1 of 6 - 1st QTR's
2 of 6 - 2nd QTR's
5 of 6 - 3rd QTR's
5 of 6 - 4th QTR's

Port on the other hand have won
1 of 6 - 1st QTR's
1 of 6 - 2nd QTR's
5 of 6 - 3rd QTR's
1 of 6 - 4th QTR's

so by these trends it will start off a scrapy first half, Port to come out after half time with a spray from Primus, gain a small lead, but we'll have the legs to run out the game and win by a small margin.

amirite?

On that basis I have the following:

1st QTR: tied : FREO @ home
2nd QTR: FREO
3rd QTR: FREO
4th QTR: FREO

Freo by 42 points