Preview Changes vs Richmond

Jul 26, 2007
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No way that happens they would have a field day, Schofield is vital down back

A field day just because Schofield gets replaced for a wet game against a small forward line with a smaller more agile lock down defender?

You obviously don't rate any of the other defenders? No Schofield = no Eagles?

OK.

We often play Nelson or Sheppard or Hurn on taller opponents and still allow Gov to do his thing. Especially in wet games.
 
Oct 1, 2007
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Guess what happened the last time we played in the wet?

Ah Chee played and we won by 91 points.

Not a coincidence.

Get him in already.
Guess who played last time we played Richmond...

 

avishka5

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The media were saying that would be our weakness in the 2018 finals series and we lifted to be the best at it over the 3 weeks 9f finals. It makes sense, Yeo, Shuey and Redden are great at winning contested ball.

I reckon we might surprise the tigers - pulling away to a 4 or 5 goal win in the 4th.
You forgot Dom. Dom's move into the guts and Redden move to a more outside role was a masterstroke in the finals.
 

WCE Wizard

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A field day just because Schofield gets replaced for a wet game against a small forward line with a smaller more agile lock down defender?

You obviously don't rate any of the other defenders? No Schofield = no Eagles?

OK.

We often play Nelson or Sheppard or Hurn on taller opponents and still allow Gov to do his thing. Especially in wet games.
Last time Mihocek and cox tore us apart.
But they both contributed well. Jets usually has important touches/kicks. Nelson did a commendable job on restricting Lynch. Petch still looking for his groove out there?

Nailed it! All the usual talk resurfaces about JK getting old and losing his touch etc, just because he doesn't nail a bag of goals every game. His role has changed, in a sense he's the sacrificial lamb or decoy that sucks in 1-2 good defenders with set tactics or running patterns, allowing the others to get loose. He's still doing tireless defensive work and goal assists...and then some games, he does all this, and, kicks a swag of goals! The coach, and other players have just come to his defence-again. He says he wants to play on next year. He's just as likely to have a big game against Tigers or in the finals.
* Interesting comment from Shuey -" If we win great, we move on. But if we lose, it is not the end of the world.”

yep jk is building for a big finals series he has still kicked 41 goals and works Damm hard. To be fair he just missed a couple of marks.
 

Pottering

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You guys are talking about Hutchings like he's a week by week proposition but he played 30-something games straight before injury. Clearly his defensive workrate is deemed valuable beyond the narrow question of whether he has a specific tagging role.
Hutchings either tags or he doesn't play, it's that simple.
 
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Ok serious hat on now...

The Eagles rule the air and the Tigers rule the ground, so obviously the weather will impact how this match gets setup.

Unfortunately the forecast is looking increasingly grim:

2019-08-14 18_54_02-Melbourne Forecast.jpg


At the very least conditions are going to be less than ideal for playing the possession football that is the West Coast trademark.

As a result this will end up being a game decided by clearances, territory and spread.

In order to sustain such a match over four quarters, the team in my opinion requires additional rotations to impact stoppages and provide attacking spread, particularly coming out of defence.

In defence, McGovern, Barrass, Hurn, Sheppard and Jetta pick themselves. The question is more how those five should be complimented.
In attack Richmond will play the two talls in Lynch and Reiwoldt with 7-8 smalls constantly rotating around them (likely D.Rioli, Castagna, Bolton, Graham, Baker, Caddy, Lambert and Martin). With the exception of D.Rioli, each of these smalls average over 15 disposals per game this season - they cover a lot of ground.
With this in mind, Nelson has to keep his place. He has been doing the job against opposition players in recent weeks, can run all day and is built for wet weather.

Schofield on the other hand, presents a problem. He is a lockdown defender that is comfortable hanging back and spoiling the overhead ball. If the ball goes to ground, or his opponent moves up the ground he can get exposed quite badly. Playing against the above-mentioned forward group of the Tigers with three stay-at-home defenders in McGovern, Barrass and Schofield in addition to Hurn's lack of pace is an open invitation to allow Richmond to gain ascendancy of the ground ball and post-clearance contests through loose players working up the ground. If that is allowed to happen and the Tigers dictate the terms of the territory battle, the situation can be expected to decay very rapidly and there would likely be no coming back.
With inclement weather in the forecast, this situation concerning immobility in defence is only compounded.

If Duggan is declared fit to play, he comes in for Schofield. If he is unable to make the trip, I'd still consider Cole or Watson ahead of Schofield as defence at ground level and breaking the Tiger press through offensive run from behind are going to be imperative to the team's chances in this match.

The midfield remains as it is. Hickey retains the ruck duties and Hutchings vs Masten would appear to be the only potential change. Hutchings however has a proven record of being able to effect a strong tag that can change a game in a way that Masten is unable to offer, so he keeps his place.

Up forward, Darling and Kennedy are automatic selections, as are Cripps, W.Rioli and Ryan. O.Allen gets a nod for being able to provide a secondary ruck option to Hickey and Waterman's return of 7 goals in his last 3 games are good enough to see him retain a place.

Petruccelle though, has to make way. He may be quick, but has laid just the one tackle over the past two weeks, missed several more that directly lead to opposition scores and his disposal on the run particularly, leaves a lot to be desired. In a pressured, tackling, contested battle he currently is a liability.

So who to replace him with then?
Cameron undoubtedly would provide superior tackling pressure and goal awareness, but would offer little further up the ground based on his past performances of averaging less than 8 disposals per game. Furthermore, I can't see him being able to get to enough contests to prevent the likes of Short and Houli from gaining easy possessions and rebounding at will.
Masten would be a left-field option to run with one of the Richmond rebounding defenders as his ability to cover ground is elite and could provide additional spread with ball, but he is completely deficient when it comes to tackling and ground ball gets for such a task.
Indeed the best option available for this position is Ah Chee. Big-bodied, tackles hard and has great hands - exactly the kind of player you want going into a wet weather slog. If his opponent pushes up to the stoppage as an extra, no worries - he just goes with them. If the opposition doesn't pay him any respect then he will present as a marking option due to his size and in turn alleviate Darling and Kennedy from many searching leads up the wing.


So changes can be summarised as follows:
In: Duggan, Ah Chee
Out: Schofield (omitted), Petruccelle (omitted)


Tactically I would place Yeo in a head-to-head with Martin, Shuey to Edwards and put a hard tag on Prestia through Hutchings.

I would be inclined to use the marking strength of Cripps, Ah Chee and Ryan to create mismatches in attack against Houli and Short and ultimately hold them accountable.

I would also deploy Nelson in a complete shut down role upon Lambert - wherever he goes, he gets followed. Lambert is the grease that keeps the Richmond machine from breaking down. It is him who finds spaces and opens things up through the link play generated (he is also the Tigers #1 player for score involvements per game this season).

As mentioned before, this will be territory game - win the clearance, get it forward quickly and get to work up forward.

Obviously, the key here is to win the clearance in the first place. Richmond's entire game plan is based around winning the centre bounce clearance and owning territory from there. Over 36% of their total number of clearances are centre clearances, which is the highest such proportion in the competition by a considerable margin. The first objective in this match should be to shut down the Tiger's set pieces at centre clearances and then proceed to attack the following stoppages with full force as this is where Richmond can be broken. Contrary to popular belief, Richmond are statistically the worst stoppage clearance team in the competition this season.

Kill the centre bounces. Dominate the stoppages. Win territory. Beat them at their own game.

This is how West Coast can win this match, regardless of the weather.
 

Rowan18

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Ok serious hat on now...

The Eagles rule the air and the Tigers rule the ground, so obviously the weather will impact how this match gets setup.

Unfortunately the forecast is looking increasingly grim:

View attachment 726623

At the very least conditions are going to be less than ideal for playing the possession football that is the West Coast trademark.

As a result this will end up being a game decided by clearances, territory and spread.

In order to sustain such a match over four quarters, the team in my opinion requires additional rotations to impact stoppages and provide attacking spread, particularly coming out of defence.

In defence, McGovern, Barrass, Hurn, Sheppard and Jetta pick themselves. The question is more how those five should be complimented.
In attack Richmond will play the two talls in Lynch and Reiwoldt with 7-8 smalls constantly rotating around them (likely D.Rioli, Castagna, Bolton, Graham, Baker, Caddy, Lambert and Martin). With the exception of D.Rioli, each of these smalls average over 15 disposals per game this season - they cover a lot of ground.
With this in mind, Nelson has to keep his place. He has been doing the job against opposition players in recent weeks, can run all day and is built for wet weather.

Schofield on the other hand, presents a problem. He is a lockdown defender that is comfortable hanging back and spoiling the overhead ball. If the ball goes to ground, or his opponent moves up the ground he can get exposed quite badly. Playing against the above-mentioned forward group of the Tigers with three stay-at-home defenders in McGovern, Barrass and Schofield in addition to Hurn's lack of pace is an open invitation to allow Richmond to gain ascendancy of the ground ball and post-clearance contests through loose players working up the ground. If that is allowed to happen and the Tigers dictate the terms of the territory battle, the situation can be expected to decay very rapidly and there would likely be no coming back.
With inclement weather in the forecast, this situation concerning immobility in defence is only compounded.

If Duggan is declared fit to play, he comes in for Schofield. If he is unable to make the trip, I'd still consider Cole or Watson ahead of Schofield as defence at ground level and breaking the Tiger press through offensive run from behind are going to be imperative to the team's chances in this match.

The midfield remains as it is. Hickey retains the ruck duties and Hutchings vs Masten would appear to be the only potential change. Hutchings however has a proven record of being able to effect a strong tag that can change a game in a way that Masten is unable to offer, so he keeps his place.

Up forward, Darling and Kennedy are automatic selections, as are Cripps, W.Rioli and Ryan. O.Allen gets a nod for being able to provide a secondary ruck option to Hickey and Waterman's return of 7 goals in his last 3 games are good enough to see him retain a place.

Petruccelle though, has to make way. He may be quick, but has laid just the one tackle over the past two weeks, missed several more that directly lead to opposition scores and his disposal on the run particularly, leaves a lot to be desired. In a pressured, tackling, contested battle he currently is a liability.

So who to replace him with then?
Cameron undoubtedly would provide superior tackling pressure and goal awareness, but would offer little further up the ground based on his past performances of averaging less than 8 disposals per game. Furthermore, I can't see him being able to get to enough contests to prevent the likes of Short and Houli from gaining easy possessions and rebounding at will.
Masten would be a left-field option to run with one of the Richmond rebounding defenders as his ability to cover ground is elite and could provide additional spread with ball, but he is completely deficient when it comes to tackling and ground ball gets for such a task.
Indeed the best option available for this position is Ah Chee. Big-bodied, tackles hard and has great hands - exactly the kind of player you want going into a wet weather slog. If his opponent pushes up to the stoppage as an extra, no worries - he just goes with them. If the opposition doesn't pay him any respect then he will present as a marking option due to his size and in turn alleviate Darling and Kennedy from many searching leads up the wing.


So changes can be summarised as follows:
In: Duggan, Ah Chee
Out: Schofield (omitted), Petruccelle (omitted)


Tactically I would place Yeo in a head-to-head with Martin, Shuey to Edwards and put a hard tag on Prestia through Hutchings.

I would be inclined to use the marking strength of Cripps, Ah Chee and Ryan to create mismatches in attack against Houli and Short and ultimately hold them accountable.

I would also deploy Nelson in a complete shut down role upon Lambert - wherever he goes, he gets followed. Lambert is the grease that keeps the Richmond machine from breaking down. It is him who finds spaces and opens things up through the link play generated (he is also the Tigers #1 player for score involvements per game this season).

As mentioned before, this will be territory game - win the clearance, get it forward quickly and get to work up forward.

Obviously, the key here is to win the clearance in the first place. Richmond's entire game plan is based around winning the centre bounce clearance and owning territory from there. Over 36% of their total number of clearances are centre clearances, which is the highest such proportion in the competition by a considerable margin. The first objective in this match should be to shut down the Tiger's set pieces at centre clearances and then proceed to attack the following stoppages with full force as this is where Richmond can be broken. Contrary to popular belief, Richmond are statistically the worst stoppage clearance team in the competition this season.

Kill the centre bounces. Dominate the stoppages. Win territory. Beat them at their own game.

This is how West Coast can win this match, regardless of the weather.
Great summary, I agree with those changes but feel they are no chance of happening unfortunately. I suspect we'll go in unchanged.

That is an interesting stat about centre clearances, says to me if we get Nic Nat back for a final against Richmond then we will cause them massive issues.
 
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Ok serious hat on now...

The Eagles rule the air and the Tigers rule the ground, so obviously the weather will impact how this match gets setup.

Unfortunately the forecast is looking increasingly grim:

View attachment 726623

At the very least conditions are going to be less than ideal for playing the possession football that is the West Coast trademark.

As a result this will end up being a game decided by clearances, territory and spread.

In order to sustain such a match over four quarters, the team in my opinion requires additional rotations to impact stoppages and provide attacking spread, particularly coming out of defence.

In defence, McGovern, Barrass, Hurn, Sheppard and Jetta pick themselves. The question is more how those five should be complimented.
In attack Richmond will play the two talls in Lynch and Reiwoldt with 7-8 smalls constantly rotating around them (likely D.Rioli, Castagna, Bolton, Graham, Baker, Caddy, Lambert and Martin). With the exception of D.Rioli, each of these smalls average over 15 disposals per game this season - they cover a lot of ground.
With this in mind, Nelson has to keep his place. He has been doing the job against opposition players in recent weeks, can run all day and is built for wet weather.

Schofield on the other hand, presents a problem. He is a lockdown defender that is comfortable hanging back and spoiling the overhead ball. If the ball goes to ground, or his opponent moves up the ground he can get exposed quite badly. Playing against the above-mentioned forward group of the Tigers with three stay-at-home defenders in McGovern, Barrass and Schofield in addition to Hurn's lack of pace is an open invitation to allow Richmond to gain ascendancy of the ground ball and post-clearance contests through loose players working up the ground. If that is allowed to happen and the Tigers dictate the terms of the territory battle, the situation can be expected to decay very rapidly and there would likely be no coming back.
With inclement weather in the forecast, this situation concerning immobility in defence is only compounded.

If Duggan is declared fit to play, he comes in for Schofield. If he is unable to make the trip, I'd still consider Cole or Watson ahead of Schofield as defence at ground level and breaking the Tiger press through offensive run from behind are going to be imperative to the team's chances in this match.

The midfield remains as it is. Hickey retains the ruck duties and Hutchings vs Masten would appear to be the only potential change. Hutchings however has a proven record of being able to effect a strong tag that can change a game in a way that Masten is unable to offer, so he keeps his place.

Up forward, Darling and Kennedy are automatic selections, as are Cripps, W.Rioli and Ryan. O.Allen gets a nod for being able to provide a secondary ruck option to Hickey and Waterman's return of 7 goals in his last 3 games are good enough to see him retain a place.

Petruccelle though, has to make way. He may be quick, but has laid just the one tackle over the past two weeks, missed several more that directly lead to opposition scores and his disposal on the run particularly, leaves a lot to be desired. In a pressured, tackling, contested battle he currently is a liability.

So who to replace him with then?
Cameron undoubtedly would provide superior tackling pressure and goal awareness, but would offer little further up the ground based on his past performances of averaging less than 8 disposals per game. Furthermore, I can't see him being able to get to enough contests to prevent the likes of Short and Houli from gaining easy possessions and rebounding at will.
Masten would be a left-field option to run with one of the Richmond rebounding defenders as his ability to cover ground is elite and could provide additional spread with ball, but he is completely deficient when it comes to tackling and ground ball gets for such a task.
Indeed the best option available for this position is Ah Chee. Big-bodied, tackles hard and has great hands - exactly the kind of player you want going into a wet weather slog. If his opponent pushes up to the stoppage as an extra, no worries - he just goes with them. If the opposition doesn't pay him any respect then he will present as a marking option due to his size and in turn alleviate Darling and Kennedy from many searching leads up the wing.


So changes can be summarised as follows:
In: Duggan, Ah Chee
Out: Schofield (omitted), Petruccelle (omitted)


Tactically I would place Yeo in a head-to-head with Martin, Shuey to Edwards and put a hard tag on Prestia through Hutchings.

I would be inclined to use the marking strength of Cripps, Ah Chee and Ryan to create mismatches in attack against Houli and Short and ultimately hold them accountable.

I would also deploy Nelson in a complete shut down role upon Lambert - wherever he goes, he gets followed. Lambert is the grease that keeps the Richmond machine from breaking down. It is him who finds spaces and opens things up through the link play generated (he is also the Tigers #1 player for score involvements per game this season).

As mentioned before, this will be territory game - win the clearance, get it forward quickly and get to work up forward.

Obviously, the key here is to win the clearance in the first place. Richmond's entire game plan is based around winning the centre bounce clearance and owning territory from there. Over 36% of their total number of clearances are centre clearances, which is the highest such proportion in the competition by a considerable margin. The first objective in this match should be to shut down the Tiger's set pieces at centre clearances and then proceed to attack the following stoppages with full force as this is where Richmond can be broken. Contrary to popular belief, Richmond are statistically the worst stoppage clearance team in the competition this season.

Kill the centre bounces. Dominate the stoppages. Win territory. Beat them at their own game.

This is how West Coast can win this match, regardless of the weather.

Duggan will play WAFL this week on monitored minutes ..


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app
 
Ok serious hat on now...

The Eagles rule the air and the Tigers rule the ground, so obviously the weather will impact how this match gets setup.

Unfortunately the forecast is looking increasingly grim:

View attachment 726623

At the very least conditions are going to be less than ideal for playing the possession football that is the West Coast trademark.

As a result this will end up being a game decided by clearances, territory and spread.

In order to sustain such a match over four quarters, the team in my opinion requires additional rotations to impact stoppages and provide attacking spread, particularly coming out of defence.

In defence, McGovern, Barrass, Hurn, Sheppard and Jetta pick themselves. The question is more how those five should be complimented.
In attack Richmond will play the two talls in Lynch and Reiwoldt with 7-8 smalls constantly rotating around them (likely D.Rioli, Castagna, Bolton, Graham, Baker, Caddy, Lambert and Martin). With the exception of D.Rioli, each of these smalls average over 15 disposals per game this season - they cover a lot of ground.
With this in mind, Nelson has to keep his place. He has been doing the job against opposition players in recent weeks, can run all day and is built for wet weather.

Schofield on the other hand, presents a problem. He is a lockdown defender that is comfortable hanging back and spoiling the overhead ball. If the ball goes to ground, or his opponent moves up the ground he can get exposed quite badly. Playing against the above-mentioned forward group of the Tigers with three stay-at-home defenders in McGovern, Barrass and Schofield in addition to Hurn's lack of pace is an open invitation to allow Richmond to gain ascendancy of the ground ball and post-clearance contests through loose players working up the ground. If that is allowed to happen and the Tigers dictate the terms of the territory battle, the situation can be expected to decay very rapidly and there would likely be no coming back.
With inclement weather in the forecast, this situation concerning immobility in defence is only compounded.

If Duggan is declared fit to play, he comes in for Schofield. If he is unable to make the trip, I'd still consider Cole or Watson ahead of Schofield as defence at ground level and breaking the Tiger press through offensive run from behind are going to be imperative to the team's chances in this match.

The midfield remains as it is. Hickey retains the ruck duties and Hutchings vs Masten would appear to be the only potential change. Hutchings however has a proven record of being able to effect a strong tag that can change a game in a way that Masten is unable to offer, so he keeps his place.

Up forward, Darling and Kennedy are automatic selections, as are Cripps, W.Rioli and Ryan. O.Allen gets a nod for being able to provide a secondary ruck option to Hickey and Waterman's return of 7 goals in his last 3 games are good enough to see him retain a place.

Petruccelle though, has to make way. He may be quick, but has laid just the one tackle over the past two weeks, missed several more that directly lead to opposition scores and his disposal on the run particularly, leaves a lot to be desired. In a pressured, tackling, contested battle he currently is a liability.

So who to replace him with then?
Cameron undoubtedly would provide superior tackling pressure and goal awareness, but would offer little further up the ground based on his past performances of averaging less than 8 disposals per game. Furthermore, I can't see him being able to get to enough contests to prevent the likes of Short and Houli from gaining easy possessions and rebounding at will.
Masten would be a left-field option to run with one of the Richmond rebounding defenders as his ability to cover ground is elite and could provide additional spread with ball, but he is completely deficient when it comes to tackling and ground ball gets for such a task.
Indeed the best option available for this position is Ah Chee. Big-bodied, tackles hard and has great hands - exactly the kind of player you want going into a wet weather slog. If his opponent pushes up to the stoppage as an extra, no worries - he just goes with them. If the opposition doesn't pay him any respect then he will present as a marking option due to his size and in turn alleviate Darling and Kennedy from many searching leads up the wing.


So changes can be summarised as follows:
In: Duggan, Ah Chee
Out: Schofield (omitted), Petruccelle (omitted)


Tactically I would place Yeo in a head-to-head with Martin, Shuey to Edwards and put a hard tag on Prestia through Hutchings.

I would be inclined to use the marking strength of Cripps, Ah Chee and Ryan to create mismatches in attack against Houli and Short and ultimately hold them accountable.

I would also deploy Nelson in a complete shut down role upon Lambert - wherever he goes, he gets followed. Lambert is the grease that keeps the Richmond machine from breaking down. It is him who finds spaces and opens things up through the link play generated (he is also the Tigers #1 player for score involvements per game this season).

As mentioned before, this will be territory game - win the clearance, get it forward quickly and get to work up forward.

Obviously, the key here is to win the clearance in the first place. Richmond's entire game plan is based around winning the centre bounce clearance and owning territory from there. Over 36% of their total number of clearances are centre clearances, which is the highest such proportion in the competition by a considerable margin. The first objective in this match should be to shut down the Tiger's set pieces at centre clearances and then proceed to attack the following stoppages with full force as this is where Richmond can be broken. Contrary to popular belief, Richmond are statistically the worst stoppage clearance team in the competition this season.

Kill the centre bounces. Dominate the stoppages. Win territory. Beat them at their own game.

This is how West Coast can win this match, regardless of the weather.
Ah chee in? Very long winded sponsor post!
 

Candiru

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How many of those have been as a tagger?
Quite a few. So it indicates that more often than not we've found a reason to pick him, doesn't it?

This line that "he tags or he doesn't play" - the fact is he's generally been picked to play.

Who are the other mids banging down the door to replace him? Should we drop him for Masten or Ainsworth?
 
Last edited:

Pottering

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You know what's really simple? He played 30-something games in a row before injury. What does that tell you?
It tells me he tagged in virtually all of them. When we played Carlton last year he played as a half forward and we didn't tag Patrick Cripps. Cripps dominated and Hutchings was back to tagging the next week.
 

avishka5

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I felt it was more Redden inside and Dom outside? Seems so long ago now.
Nah it wasn’t. Pre finals Dom came in for Gaff but was ordinary. They decided to switch him and Redden as Redden has a better tank and can play outside footy, while Dom is better in the clinches

Dom in the finals averaged 29 touches, 6.7 clearances and 14.6 contested possies.

Redden contested possessions and clearances were down.
 

Candiru

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It tells me he tagged in virtually all of them.
And has been picked every week he's been available for well over a year. You might even go out on a limb and suggest he's regarded as best 22 by those picking the team.

Assuming this pattern of 30+ games is meaningless, which midfielder would you bring in to replace him?
 

Pottering

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And has been picked every week he's been available for well over a year. You might even go out on a limb and suggest he's regarded as best 22 by those picking the team.

Assuming this pattern of 30+ games is meaningless, which midfielder would you bring in to replace him?
Where on earth do you get the impression that I reckon his 30+ games have been meaningless? He's been getting games to fulfill a very specific function, tagging. On the odd occasion over the past few years when he hasn't tagged he's looked out of place, imho. If he's not tagging then I'd pick Ah Chee ahead of him. Even in the tagger role Nelson has some recent claims to be considered. I'm happy for him to play as long as it is as a tagger.
 
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