Agree - it would be crazy to play him as the sub. He needs all the match fitness/sharpness he can get to make a meaningful contribution in the next few weeks. Wouldn't be against them holding him back in the VFL 1 more week but they know a lot more about how ready he is than I do.
Agree - it would be crazy to play him as the sub. He needs all the match fitness/sharpness he can get to make a meaningful contribution in the next few weeks. Wouldn't be against them holding him back in the VFL 1 more week but they know a lot more about how ready he is than I do.
Not going to argue that he's got scrappy contested disposal but will argue that we've been a better side with him in than out.
Also happy to debate that our aggression at the contest has been very ordinary recently and that is something he provides. Zaka obviously plays when fit. He and Lonergan are in a different league. Winderlich i'm less convinced about. Really hope he can come in and make a difference but don't think him over Lonergan is a no brainer.
reports that crameri wont play, if so could we see Nick O'Brien?
Stewy out pretty much garuantees we get another week of Hille out of the square, which im sure we all enjoyed
Winders is a must for mine, richmond showed the way to demolish the hawks is to move the ball quickly, which is what we have to do, also he's fit and best 22 easily, and i love the bloke
Not going to argue that he's got scrappy contested disposal but will argue that we've been a better side with him in than out.
Also happy to debate that our aggression at the contest has been very ordinary recently and that is something he provides. Zaka obviously plays when fit. He and Lonergan are in a different league. Winderlich i'm less convinced about. Really hope he can come in and make a difference but don't think him over Lonergan is a no brainer.
It's more the fact that we haven't really replaced Zaka's run since he's been out. Up until he injured himself, we had Zaka averaging 24.2 touches, 5 inside 50s and 1.1 goals contributed per game plus Stants averaging 28.3 touches, 4.9 inside 50s and 1.4 goals contributed. Since then, Stants has been a one man band on the outside, and his numbers have dropped to 22.8 touches, 4.7 inside 50s and 0.5 goals contributed. It's no surprise that Stants has been easy to shut down without any support (I'm not making excuses and nor should anyone be looking to condemn him for it. It is what it is and the focus should be on trying to improve the situation) and that's why I believe Winders has to come in, ahead of literally every other option. Zaka won't be back until very late in the piece, and even that's assuming no further setbacks of a nasty injury, so we need to try and replicate at least some of his run and carry. Even if Stants still gets shut down at least Winders might offer something on the rebound. We're facing the very real prospect of not having Zaka for finals, or having a restricted or underdone version. The most important thing that needs doing this year is trying to replicate his run, even if we need 3 players to do the work 2 were doing early in the year.
As for Lonergan, I'd be tempted to throw Kav in the deep end. From all reports he's a classy inside/clearance player so what better test for a kid who is no doubt part of the long term future of our club than against Mitchell and Sewell?
reports that crameri wont play, if so could we see Nick O'Brien?
Stewy out pretty much garuantees we get another week of Hille out of the square, which im sure we all enjoyed
Winders is a must for mine, richmond showed the way to demolish the hawks is to move the ball quickly, which is what we have to do, also he's fit and best 22 easily, and i love the bloke
Looks like it could be Carlisle forward, Pears back. Pears seems a cert for selection given the differences in opinion from posters who watched Bendigo and the club's (public) opinion that Pears was BOG.
Carlisle for first goal bet again this week, and once again I curse Heath Shaw. Coulda got 80s I reckon.
^^ this completely.
all these people that are ragging on stants don't realize that he's basically been a one man band on the outside since zaka went down.
plus it's not as if we'd just be bringing him in for some speed, at full capacity he's in the top 10 players on our whole list IMO
I agree they might look at bringing Lonergan back in. Kav for Sub, NLM to be named as a forward but Carlisle to be the one who lines up there. They won't drop Hille. Ricky D might get the chop for mine.
I agree they might look at bringing Lonergan back in. Kav for Sub, NLM to be named as a forward but Carlisle to be the one who lines up there. They won't drop Hille. Ricky D might get the chop for mine.
I hate bringing in first gamers as subs. If he plays, he plays from the get go IMO. Loath to mess with our best back structure. Would prefer to try Pears forward and leave Carlisle back. Not saying Pears is going to be overly damaging up there but should be able to provide a contest and maybe snag a couple. Carlisle is developing well and should be kept there IMO.
^^ this completely.
all these people that are ragging on stants don't realize that he's basically been a one man band on the outside since zaka went down.
plus it's not as if we'd just be bringing him in for some speed, at full capacity he's in the top 10 players on our whole list IMO
I think we get carried away with players being classified as inside or outside. Reality is that within our structure, everyone needs to do both. Stanton played the best footy of his career earlier on when he was getting busy in the contest, tackling and doing alot of the inside work that he isn't renowned for. He was then obviously spreading very well forward of the ball and being dangerous.
Stanton's performance has suffered more as a result of receiving closer attention and by the fact that we haven't controlled the ball over the past month or so. This is always going to hurt a player like him and TBH most players on an individual level.
Absolutely agree. The reason it's hurting the team is that the line breaking stuff is left to him alone, and he's being shut down too easy. That makes us too static and too predictable. Early in the year we had the kick mark play on stuff going, but we also had Zaka and Stants running and bouncing. That's dried up with Zaka out and closer attention on Stants.
"This week it was a very different story. It will be interesting to look at the tape and see which guys wanted to defend and which guys didn't want to and why it went the way it did."
Small forwards didnt put enough pressure on the ball carrier, and Melksham has been carried for too long now. Axe will be swung - I'd see we will see something like;-
Not sure where Reimers, Dyson, Lonergan & Hibberd are at in terms of recovering from injuries but if they are right you'd think they might be up for selection given our performance over the last couple of weeks.
May as well just play Bellchambers as a solo ruckman and have Hooker or Gumby pinch hit for 15%. Hille is a liability at present and doesn't deserve to be in the side.