Opinion Is It Time?

[Tackle Bag]

Prestia has shown that he is still our best mid when fit. We can only hope he stays fit.
The kids will learn infinitely more from him as they gain more inside experience.

Ridiculous. He has been no good bar a couple of exceptions. This weeks game a clear exception.

His leadership in terms of workrate and stoppage structure etc has been poor

 

[Cdog71]

Some issues I've been thinking about over the last few weeks and I thought I'd put them to everyone and see what peoples thoughts are.

1. Should we play only 1 of Hopper or Prestia in the line up moving forward? If so does the other go and play VFL as a result?

2. Can we afford to play both Broad & Vlastuin in the line up together?

3. Should we have a tough discussion with Broad and/or Prestia about early retirement to open up spot/s for the MSD?

4. The club talks about how the 2nd half of the year is something to look forward to with the young kids working their way back from injury, but is it time now to flick the switch and make the kids the priority when it comes to selection and build up some continuity and cohesion before the 2nd half of the season?

FWIW, my thoughts on the above

1. We should only play 1, with the other playing VFL as a mentor to the younger players

2. We need to make the call and play just one of them and give younger players the chance to grow into the role.

3. We should have the discussion but be respectful of their decisions if they want to continue playing. However they should be made aware that VFL time is likely as the club priorities are now on developing the kids.

4. Nothing to lose by making the switch now, in fact it probably helps long term to get 3/4 of the season to develop the kids. Yze constantly mentions that players gain more from playing at senior level than VFL, so give as many kids as possible the chance to play at the higher level.

1. If Prestia wants to I’d have him as long as he wants to play though I expect it’ll be Hopper unless there’s a major falling out between him and Yze. He’s contracted for another three seasons after this.

2. I think they’ll both be managed at times but they will be the main stays.

3. I’d be surprised if Broad plays for us again next year but I he’s a long way off it and maybe he’ll need to have a pretty real conversation with Yze if he wants another year.

4. Still need to ease players into it and we don’t want Gryl, Lalor, Cumming, and players coming back from injury to break down because they’re being over loaded.
We still need to balance it even when some may be available.

 

[Wooden Robot]

Yes, only 1 of Prestia and Hopper. Give Prestia a rest this week, then swap them back and forth. Prestia retires at end of year and becomes our midfield development coach.

Hopper stays for 2027 and then trade him to Tassie as a mature body. They can afford his contracted salary, plus we get a draft pick and free up a spot in the midfield rotation.

Vlas and Broad stay for now. Short moved to wing to accommodate. Trainor in regardless (for Tresize).

News flash: Hopper is already slower than my grandmother - and she’s deceased!
How slow will he be in 2027????
Any recruiting manager or coach thinking he will be value in two years time has no respect for their job.
No one wants a slow, unaccountable midfielder from a team poised to claim the wooden spoon.

 

[Vassp]

as far as learnings, there are no senior players on our list good enough to teach the kids midfield craft bar Prestia.

id say the most creative out of all our established (older) players in the midfield is ROSS atm, followed by Prestia.

The least creative players in the midfield are Hopper and TT. theyre about 30% what id expect from a modern midfielder.

Short needs a reboot, Vlaus is struggling, and broad is too. not sure if they have it in them atm. \

So we are left with only a few senior players that are at 90% - 100%. so kids need to climb quick cause our balance of youth vs oldies is starting to look too far tilted to one side.

 

[Infamy]

Some issues I've been thinking about over the last few weeks and I thought I'd put them to everyone and see what peoples thoughts are.

1. Should we play only 1 of Hopper or Prestia in the line up moving forward? If so does the other go and play VFL as a result?

2. Can we afford to play both Broad & Vlastuin in the line up together?

3. Should we have a tough discussion with Broad and/or Prestia about early retirement to open up spot/s for the MSD?

4. The club talks about how the 2nd half of the year is something to look forward to with the young kids working their way back from injury, but is it time now to flick the switch and make the kids the priority when it comes to selection and build up some continuity and cohesion before the 2nd half of the season?

1. Right now it's hard to make that call given how few players we have to pick from at the moment. It will be very interesting to see how this plays out in the 2nd half of the year as we start to get players back. I have to wonder if Hopper is playing hurt as he's reverted back to some of his poor form when he first joined the club and he wasn't 100%. The reality is players like KMac2 have been on the list long enough to start taking more of the workload of a senior player now, sure Lalor & Cummins only need cameos, but between Prestia, Ross & Kmac2, that's enough senior players in the midfield to rotate a kid or two through there at every ball up. Taranto & Lalor should just rotate between mid & forward and keep progressing the % split as Lalor's fitness gets better and better.

2. Yes, though maybe we can start resting Broad for away games to give Trainor more games. Short is the senior player that needs to get out of the backline and give the distributor role to someone else (Brown or Banks when healthy).

3. No, we have enough injuries to leverage the inactive list. Judson Clarke would be my lead candidate given the number of ACLs he's had. Give him as long as possible to build up strength in his knee and even rookie him if needed.

4. I'm happy to see how it plays out. We need to give the kids a few wins in the back half of the year, losing by 10 goals every week is terrible for a club's culture, so I don't want to go full tank mode, but we cannot be gifting senior players games. Given we are getting to see a few players who probably wouldn't be getting a game if we didn't have this injury list, we need to have already made a decision on a few careers before we start getting troops back. I know most of our turnover will come from some older players moving on, but there's a few others that will be making way as well and we can't be gifting them games later in the year to be still evaluating them at senior level.

 

[wegetpumped]

Some issues I've been thinking about over the last few weeks and I thought I'd put them to everyone and see what peoples thoughts are.

1. Should we play only 1 of Hopper or Prestia in the line up moving forward? If so does the other go and play VFL as a result?

2. Can we afford to play both Broad & Vlastuin in the line up together?

3. Should we have a tough discussion with Broad and/or Prestia about early retirement to open up spot/s for the MSD?

4. The club talks about how the 2nd half of the year is something to look forward to with the young kids working their way back from injury, but is it time now to flick the switch and make the kids the priority when it comes to selection and build up some continuity and cohesion before the 2nd half of the season?

FWIW, my thoughts on the above

1. We should only play 1, with the other playing VFL as a mentor to the younger players

2. We need to make the call and play just one of them and give younger players the chance to grow into the role.

3. We should have the discussion but be respectful of their decisions if they want to continue playing. However they should be made aware that VFL time is likely as the club priorities are now on developing the kids.

4. Nothing to lose by making the switch now, in fact it probably helps long term to get 3/4 of the season to develop the kids. Yze constantly mentions that players gain more from playing at senior level than VFL, so give as many kids as possible the chance to play at the higher level.

1 Prefer both gone, but Prestia offers more in one game than what Hopper has produced for us in his time with us.
2 To be honest, Broad was always my favorite, but his time is up, and Vlastuin, since he came back, has done nothing to help the team. But maybe he's not right from his injury, so next season will tell us more.
3. Both should go.
4. Yze has shown nothing of the sort. When a guy like Fawcett is given no chance while Faul, who is useless, gets a game, why not play both? I don't trust YZE or the committee to do any of the sort you suggest.
In my opinion there are more problems than the above as players Like Brown, Banks, Ralf, Green, Lefau, Sonz, and Ryan and, to a lesser extent, Ross are no way the future.
I go back to my other opinion: the kids should progress together in the VFL for a season, mature together, get confidence, and see what happens. This in-and-out getting injuries when their bodies are not right is just stupidity, not development.
What does the club have to lose by doing that? It's not like we are flying, and a season at the bottom would be more beneficial as a whole. Anyway, only my opinion. As a part of the players, there is much more wrong at the club.
Now back at been laughed in the street cause i wear my tigers gear lol

 

[choldy]

Taranto, Prestia and Hopper as a midfield trio doesn’t work with the modern game.
Taranto is a first hand to the ball player, he is elite at this and his in close contest work. He’s also a very handy forward (which is what he was drafted as) so I think he has a lot of value still going forward with the right mix around him and I would argue he’s the only one of the three that would get a game at any other club. His weaknesses are clear and obvious (spread from contest, field kicking) but having elite traits somewhat negates that.
Hopper has lost any explosiveness that he used to have. His one wood used to be (in his GWS days) diving on the ball and getting back to his feet quickly to dish out to runners. He also had good evasiveness (albeit not fast). Now he just forever seems to be on the ground and getting torched defensively. He also lacks positional versatility. I think the game has overtaken him now.
Prestia is a link player and was always effective with the right team around him. Nank was crash and bash, Cotch elite defensively, Shedda evasive and Dusty was Dusty. Unfortunately now he’s playing with a different mix and injuries have also caught up with him and I’d probably argue he’s unable to compete defensively at an adequate level now due to fitness. David Kings footage highlights what I’ve been seeing the last few years with his one paced defensive ‘running’ and complete lack of pressure despite his still high level ability to get the ball out of stoppage.
Melbourne have pivoted perfectly to the new rules and way the game is being played by offloading Petracca and Oliver and embracing a faster game style. Time will tell how this holds up as the season progresses.
I know we’ve got injuries but persisting with these three as our top midfield mix is not propelling us forward in wins or development and I would argue that we are actually sacrificing potential wins. Controversial but I’d like to see us push Short into the midfield, I forget what year it was but Dimma flirted with it a bit and I think his strengths could counter some of our current weaknesses and we need our backline to evolve and grow without him, Vlas and Broad. As youth returns we need to start rotating these guys (including Short) out of the team.

 

[Damo80]

3. No, we have enough injuries to leverage the inactive list. Judson Clarke would be my lead candidate given the number of ACLs he's had. Give him as long as possible to build up strength in his knee and even rookie him if needed.

The issue with our injury list is that most currently on it will have missed the first half of the season, and players and club will be itching for some games in the back end of the season. Not sure the time frame on Juddy, but would be cruel for him to do all the rehab work only to be benched for the remainder of the season, unable to play. Remind me, can they even play VFL if on the LTI list?

 

[Tiger_Of_Old]

Of all the Vets I must say Vlas looks the most cooked.
Maybe the last injury has taken its toll.
Would not surprise if he pulls the pin.

 

[Roachy8]

Do any of us really believe that Hopper could/will be dropped?
Rested last week was a stretch - dude is only 29 FFS

Did we notice the performances of Pendlebury and Gunston and others on the weekend?
How come only Tiger guys start to struggle in their 30's - let alone 29....

 

[TiggyTig]

Of all the Vets I must say Vlas looks the most cooked.
Maybe the last injury has taken its toll.
Would not surprise if he pulls the pin.

No more posting from you please.

 

[Tiger_Of_Old]

No more posting from you please.

Obviously it motivated Vlas.
Should I try it on Sampson?