Dawson Simpson now?

[Pure_Ownage]

Dawson said late last year that since being at the club he'd grown a couple of cms, that he was now 208.
Not only that, but he's physically powerful through his frame, what I'm saying is you don't find guys like this everyday. He's been at the club 3 years.

Apart from rotating midfielders through our ranks I think we've got to start seriously developing the likes of Dawson, what if Otto goes down 2 weeks before the finals?

Nobody's thinking of that! but you never know, let's hope not, cause Vardy couldn't go it alone in the finals.

This is a fair point given Otto's injury history but it doesn't mean you can play all three, with the interchange rule you just can't.

My solution is leave Otto at home for the three interstate trips we have left, take Dawson to give him those games to get up to speed in case he needs to be called on in finals.

 

[meto]

Thought it only fair, he gets a run this week, before facing the WCE duo on their home turf!

 

[LifeSpan-Void]

Should be playing games over the next month.

We have a huge basket named Brad Ottens and we are piling more eggs into it by the week.

I don't trust Brad's condition either, to be honest. in 08 and 09 we had the benefit of getting him fit for the finals. In '10 we were genuinely pushing shit up a hill as he was clearly not over his knee injury. I'd be inclined to just kick him out of the club for like a month, maybe hire him an inflatable castle to live in, and then bring him back about rd. 18-19 to get a few weeks of match fitness back before finals.

 

[Hinkley29]

Otto has proven time and again that he thrives on work. The years when he has gotten injured is when he has had poor preseasons and then couldn't get a solid fitness base during the year.

He is not the sort of player to be resting for long periods of time, a week off here and there is more than enough.

The best way to keep Otto on the park and (more importantly) firing is to keep his match fitness up without flogging him to death.

Rest him from the Perth trip, plus he has the bye in round 23. Those 2 short breaks (plus maybe one more week off) is about perfect in my view.

 

[Gaz_Brownlow]

Whilst I do like the inflatable castle approach, Otto does seem to require serious grunt work over a season to get the best out of him. Would be sensible to have a few scheduled one week breaks and bring in Dawson. Liked the look of damson in his games last year, surprised that he didn't get a shot more often....the biggest criticisms I have heard have been that he doesn't quite clunk the marks. If he does play this week I would love to see some serious aggression!

 

[Belisarius]

Whilst I do like the inflatable castle approach, Otto does seem to require serious grunt work over a season to get the best out of him. Would be sensible to have a few scheduled one week breaks and bring in Dawson. Liked the look of damson in his games last year, surprised that he didn't get a shot more often....the biggest criticisms I have heard have been that he doesn't quite clunk the marks. If he does play this week I would love to see some serious aggression!

Thought Dawson played reasonably well last week in the VFL and when Ottens gets some soreness - deserves a go.

But from what I have seen - he does not have the same aggression as Mummy.

 

[catswhiskers]

Thought Dawson played reasonably well last week in the VFL and when Ottens gets some soreness - deserves a go.

But from what I have seen - he does not have the same aggression as Mummy.

Agree, but he does get involved once the ball hits the deck unlike Blakey. He can also get around the ground well for a huge unit. Deserves a game at home against good average ruckmen - not Sandilands or Cox.
Hope he goes well.

 

[Vdubs]

Agree, but he does get involved once the ball hits the deck unlike Blakey. He can also get around the ground well for a huge unit. Deserves a game at home against good average ruckmen - not Sandilands or Cox.
Hope he goes well.

You have selective memory for what Blake actually did. No need to bring his name into this Simpson discussion, as Dawson deserves a lengthy spell in the firsts. But the ongoing digs at Blake as if he did nothing after the hitouts are incorrect. 99 games and a premiership in there. Blake, IMO, suffered from having to come off after 10 minutes of work. It clearly frustrated him and today's interchange / sub rules, ironically, would probably suit him, given more game time.
Similarly, Simpson looks great in the 2's as he has a larger workload. Pretty hard to get really involved and confident if you have to expend as much energy sprinting off the ground as regularly as these guys do, compared with their time on the ground.