Maintenance is the key to a successful year

[daics cousin]

Guys i welcome your opinions on the following thread.

Yes we have lost the Krak and the caff.The Krak is a loss his cameo appreances worked well becuase of his x factor.The Caff would have been an added bonus this year if he was fit and well but alas not to be.

The media and alot of others have already written us off.Crap!

With supposed injuries to Reid,Didak,Johnson,Tarrant,Obrien,Elliot,and a few peripherals,do you all really believe we are already in trouble before the season starts ?

I personally don not believe so.As Buckley said,we are in the same mould as we were in last year. Yes Davis and Leroy are gone.Who replaces them?

Now this is the time for the peripheral players to come in and breathe some life into our already existing team.Players like Keefe,Sinclair,Ugle,Josh Thomas (who better show something this year after 4 years at the club)
Macnamara, Cam Wood and a few others must now step up to help out so our senior injured players are managed well throughout the year.

If these players can step in and help out if we manage everyone well come September .well all i will say is look out,

To use the old Malthouse Line,it's a marathon not a sprint race.
Ok your replies ?

Never give up Pies!

 

[JOELY]

There are a bunch of guys that have to step up after the injuries, and it feels good to rev up them up saying they must take their opportunity, but chances are they won't necessarily be able to fill the hole. It suppose it depends how you rate the next line. I like a lot of them, but as far as making an impact at AFL level I'm not sure now. Josh Thomas can't get on the park, Keefe is really talented but an awkward size. Sinclair I'm not confident on. Remember, if the back up guys start playing well enough, they'd get a game anyway, and with the added bonus depth of the guy getting replaced. Most of the injured guys seem to be right for Round 1 anyway, so as you say the newer players will just be filling in so it's not such a big deal.

It's not a positive outlook, but I see nothing wrong with saying, yes, we got some injuries and there are no positives to it. It's bad luck, and we're a little bit worse off now, but we deal with it.

The thing that annoys me is that injuries are inevitable as the season goes on. You can't escape it, and we're going to get some more. The fact that we've already had a our share before the thing has even started is bloody frustrating. I'd laugh if we get a really good run for the rest of the season though, while other teams fall down. I think the further we go with good luck the more it dilutes the loss of Macaffer and Krak. We'll be okay.

 

[Avatar]

Agreed with JOELY it's bad luck, makes us a little worse but it will be dealt with.

Even with Krak and Caff injured, Leroy retired the team is really not that different from the winning GF team. Throw in Tarrant and a couple of others and the 22 can compete and beat any team out there.

I'm confident we are that much better than all but a few teams in the comp that we can get that top 4 spot even with a heavy rotation policy of the younger gets in and out of the 22. This will limit the injury chances and hopefully keep all the key players fresh for the finals.

The pre-season has been going slow, and with these injuries it's just making everyone a bit on edge. Hence plenty of these types of threads/discussions.

I'm staying positive until results say something else.

 

[Ed D]

When you look at the amount of players who were missing or injured during the grand final the team currently is in a better position. The unfortunate thing is that Krak & Caff sound like season ending injuries, so if the team picks up more over the season then obviously it compiles.

 

[doppleganger]

It is overly simplistic, however the key to a successful year is playing our best football in September.

Maintenance plays a part, discipline, focus, desire and luck with injuries are more important.

Some players thrive on big workloads, others can be 'managed' and 'rested' along the way.

Silly suspensions, a focus on MM and bad timing with key injuries hurt us in 2011....in 2010 we didn't have any of them and won.

No doubting out list is in top 4 in terms of quality, so we need to get things right at the end of the year.

 

[Swooop]

Agree with doppleganger's post; also i doubt it hurts us one iota that people are writing us off.

Let them focus on the Hawks, Cats, Eagles, Blues even - I think one thing is close to certain and that is we'll improve our timing this year.

 

[Cousin of Daicos]

What also matters is playing the way we should be playing.

As I've said, we never played our press last year, and yet West Coast did, and are continuing to do so if the NAB Cup is any indication.

If it had been 'worked out' then why did it work so well for them? Especially given how 'worked out' it is.

Given we have the better personnel to put it into practice, then it's only logical that it should carry us through fine, with or without injuries. Last year we had tonnes of injuries, and still were in that GF without applying our press.

The structure holds up, we just need to apply it.

 

[Avatar]

Yep, pretty simple.

Play the right way at the right time with the right players.

We have the chance to do that, and we all hope we will!

 

[dayna36]

we all said after thr gf loss ..our lead up to the finals was far from ideal..too many good players missing for too long (whether it be due to injury, suspension or stupidity) u need the main group playing together so that by seasons end they have jelled and know how each other plays..it's so important otherwise how can be consistent if the ...2 to 3 changes between matches is ok for fringe players and those that need a break (rotation policy to rest the better players) but we were losing gun players for big chunks of the season (and that being the business end) I mean daisy was flying then with the bye he misses 3 and his form suffers no doubt..we can not afford this type of a run...bloody hell the stars need to align for us ..big time in 2012 GO PIES

 

[lgarth80]

What also matters is playing the way we should be playing.

As I've said, we never played our press last year, and yet West Coast did, and are continuing to do so if the NAB Cup is any indication.

If it had been 'worked out' then why did it work so well for them? Especially given how 'worked out' it is.

Given we have the better personnel to put it into practice, then it's only logical that it should carry us through fine, with or without injuries. Last year we had tonnes of injuries, and still were in that GF without applying our press.

The structure holds up, we just need to apply it.

I think the sub rule made it harder to implement the press fully.
WCE has a side that I think is a touch fitter across the board, but with less high-end skill (hence not quite able to win in September).

I'm hoping with a tweak of Arizona, a better managed year keeping the best players on the park, only unleashing the true force of the press in big games, and getting wins against average teams with a "ho hum Skilled Stadium" attitude, then we will be there when the whips are cracking.

The other thing to remember is time waits for no man. Our brilliant press was actually St Kilda's concept, and they did it better than us for 2 years, just fell at the final hurdle.

To be honest our only competitive advantage tactically was the combination of better fitness and the bench. This masked a weakness of high end talent.

Now we have a better talent mix, and hopefully our fitness has again raised enough to counter the sub rule off-set.

Time will tell whether we have a few more years, or whether new tactics (e.g. Hawthorn chip-charge total football) will win the day.

 

[Bay Pie]

The concern most 'so-called' experts have on us at this point, is our depth compared to the other favoured teams. Generally you need around 32/33 players to get you through an AFL season.

From our GF 22, we have lost Leroy, Leon & Krak for this season. That leaves us the 19, plus proven AFL players in:

Beams
Wood
Goldsack
Nate Brown
Marty Clarke

That's only 24 players

We need to get solid contributions when called upon from these guys who appear most likely to make those contributions for this year:

Rounds
Young
Buckley
Elliott
Sinclair
Yagmoor

Less so expecting these guys to make contributions.

J.Thomas (injury permitting)
Paine
Seedsman
Ugle

The key is obviously a bit of luck with injuries, especially having to call upon too many of these guys at the one time.

I don't think we'd like to have to play Witts or Ceglar this year. I haven't included Keefe, as we already have 3 Key backs ahead of him, nor Corey Gault (just too light at this point) or any rookies as that is a pure bonus if any show enough to warrant an AFL game, even though Williams and Mooney have shown signs.

 

[Ed D]

Actually the club has said they'll get games into Ceglar & Witts this season. I know what you're saying, that the depth isn't as strong as other years, but I think that's similar across the board as well. It's really all about which players are available going into the finals.

 

[Baltimore Jack]

In addition we generally get a player "that just comes out of no-where". Last year it was Fasolo, the year before it was Blair, the year before that we were lucky with two of them, in Beams and Sidebottom.
If I had to put my money on who it might be this year, I think its out of 3. Elliott, Paine or Witts

 

[mattys123]

If I had to put my money on who it might be this year, I think its out of 3. Elliott, Paine or Witts

Marty Clarke is this years "out of nowhere" man.

He'll get better as the season goes on, just watch him.

 

[Baltimore Jack]

Marty Clarke is this years "out of nowhere" man.

He'll get better as the season goes on, just watch him.

Yeah, I agree with that matty, his game against Adelaide was 100 times better than his half against Melbourne:
I had him included in my list of recognised senior players.

 

[Obese Arachnid]

Actually the club has said they'll get games into Ceglar & Witts this season. I know what you're saying, that the depth isn't as strong as other years, but I think that's similar across the board as well. It's really all about which players are available going into the finals.

Is depth really similar across the board?

I'd argue Geelong, miles in front, Hawks, reasonably in front & Carlscum, in front.

Wether that actually means anything is another debate.

 

[Ed D]

Is depth really similar across the board?

I'd argue Geelong, miles in front, Hawks, reasonably in front & Carlscum, in front.

Wether that actually means anything is another debate.

I wouldn't say Geelong or Carlton are miles in front at all, but perhaps that's just me. Hawthorn didn't have much depth last year until they played a bunch of kids and got games into them. I guess it's just how you view things.