our team moving forward

[WEARECOLLINGWOOD!]

changes that need to be made:

obrien presti goldsack

shaw n brown maxwell

thomas swan wellingham

didak cloke davis

medhurst dawes dick

jolly ball pendelbury

inter: fraser beams johnson sidebottom

obree toovey reid maccaffer wood simply not up 2 it...wood/reid maybe in a year or too they have time, but not up 2 it,,,

anthony is done and has been found out..send him back to the vfl and play him in defence..see if he can make it from there

obree toovey should never get a game again

play the aggressive style of footy and move the ball quick....

 

[ralu]

In what way exactly has Anthony been found out by opposition?

I think youll find that hes just not strong enough or fast enough to make it as a tall forward. Im sure the coaches have a strategy for him. Its also very hard to play well when you play one week, then are dropped. Confidence and faith in your position does wonders

 

[doppleganger]

Sick of these threads that come out every time we lose a game.

Beat the dogs next Sunday, all of a sudden we are 8-3 and looking strong for top 4 and if we have a good second half of the season we are a massive show for top2.

Apart from last year, which was one out of the box.....the team finishing second usually has 5 losses and in some years has had 7 losses. The Lions never went through a home and away season better than 17-5.

Fact is even the good teams lose games.

The important thing is to learn from losses during the H&A season and change things for finals.

If we make top 4, we need to ensure that our key players are fit and in good form.......anything else doesn't matter.

Our team looks fine, for the present and the future.

 

[Rummy]

I thought Reid held himself up pretty well last night, on 2 guys who were much physically stronger than he was. and one goal kicked on him where Brown clear as day pushed him in the back was the umpires fault, not his. Then another mark and goal to Brown was so pinpoint/fluke that no defender in the league would have had a chance of spoiling.

Previously I really lamented the fact that we had the draft pick after Joel Selwood, and got Reid instead. Though in the last few weeks I am hardly disappointed at all, and think that he is playing extremely well, and will be a club champion defender for 10+ years. At this point I'd only interchange him in and out of the team with N Brown, depending on match ups.

I used to be a vocal supporter for Toovey and B Johnson, but not any longer, these two are clearly two of the weakest players in our 22 (with their costly turnovers) and if we are to win a priemership, we cannot have one below average player in the side. Malthouse needs to forget about playing favourites and replace these two unless their form in the VFL warrants inclusion. And in the next trade period I'd be looking for a quality tagger, as this seems to be mainly their roles.

I dont agree with Dick being in the team though, and think anyone could have scored the goals he did last year when he was put in the forward pocket during games that we absolutely smashed the opposition, heck even Presti would have gotten heaps. I lost count of the amount of times he failed to kick the ball over the head of defenders on the goal line from 30-35 metres out! and I think he only ever stuck a complete tackle one out of 6-7 times, seriously! I think were much better off getting Lockyer back into the side as a forward flanker/pocket where he is best suited, instead of playing him out of position. and once Medhurst gets back in (who is sooo much better than Dick) then the forward line will be full of small forwards.

and I also agree with the OP that O'Bree appears to be past it, though I dont watch many of the VFL games, and dont know who could be brought in to replace him in a midfield role

 

[half_back_flank]

Can a MOD please sticky a thread titled, "Alan Toovey will not be dropped no matter how many times it is suggested."?

The bloke is playing his role well and is far from getting dropped at the moment.

 

[knightwheelrqr]

This was my writeup for our side come finals time. For the time being see Johnson remaining in the side instead of Dick while he plays atleast another good week or two in the 2s. I also see Ben Reid retaining his spot till later in the season when I think Nathan Brown could prove to be the better choice. But ultimately this is my team going into the finals as opposed to what we should be necessarily playing in round 11:

F: Paul Medhurst Chris Dawes Brad Dick
HF: Leon Davis Travis Cloke Alan Didak
CEN: Steele Sidebottom Luke Ball Dayne Beams
HB: Nick Maxwell Nathan Brown Heath Shaw
B: Harry O'Brien Simon Prestigiacomo Alan Toovey
FOLL: Darren Jolly Scott Pendlebury Dane Swan
BENCH: Josh Fraser Dale Thomas Sharrod Wellingham Jaxson Barham
EMG: Ben Johnson Jack Anthony Brent Macaffer
Close: Ben Reid Cameron Wood Tyson Goldsack

This is ofcourse my interpretation, but I don't see it being far off if at all.

I'll just highlight the interesting or what some will not agree with and give my interpretation as to why. The underlined names are the ones that some might consider as being debatable.

Adding Dick into the side gives the forwardline adds allot more speed, class and tackling pressure which against Geelong in particular will prove very handy considering their bigger bodied backman who will have trouble having to cope with Davis, Dick and Didak all in the one forwardline.

Nathan Brown I have elected over Reid because I see him more likely against the better quality forwards to be able to hold his positioning in contests than Reid which I think come finals time will give him the edge. I see Reid playing the majority of the season ahead of Brown, but I see Brown becomming favoured later in the season these reasons. A good example was last night how Reid simply was not yet good enough to handle J.Brown, while N.Brown previously has had success against J.Brown as well as others like Pavlich.

The Josh Fraser, Cameron Wood debate like the N.Brown and Reid one is another 50/50 call for many but I'm positive Fraser can break back into the side and get his form back.

Chris Dawes I have a sneaking suspicion will make it. Structurally is very much complimentry to Cloke which I consider to be the key reason why he will be selected over Jack because it takes so much pressure off Cloke and allows him more opportunities.

Jaxson Barham is a speculative one but I see it happening. Has the speed, endurance, tackles and is simply a machine. Macaffer to me is more a 24th/25th player, but I still see a tackling machine as being vital if we want to knock of the best teams and I think Barham can be just that. In a straight comparison Macaffer has a better disposal no question, but Barham can impact games to a greater extent with his run and constistant intensity.

Ben Johnson no doubt requires explaination and I intend to provide one. With this model side it all comes down to forwardline rotation which I consider the most important element to this side. So in effect the direct replacement for Johnson was Dick. Johnson has been great so far this season, but I just don't see him being able to keep his spot and see him being the 23rd man.

Just continuing on with the forwardline rotation. Dawes and Cloke will be the bigs. Fraser will split time between playing forward and midfield. Didak and Davis will start forward, then be rotated into the midfield with Sidebottom and Beams also being shifted forward at times. So while some might say we will miss Ben Johnson's run we have Davis who will be given midfield time due to the greater forwardline rotation which will allow him to do so, and at the same time our forwardline pressure will not be compromised which will be of upmost importance if we are to release him into the midfield which is why I like this team chemistry so much for this specific lineup.

With the 2 ruckman, having a 3rd tall in JA is too top heavy as shown last night and against the top sides such as Geelong and the Western Bull Dogs they have a tall enough backline to handle this many bigs, but can have trouble with the smaller faster players as Carlton showed earlier this year against Geelong because they were just too slick for them.


Feel free to ask for any more clarification on my ideas, but I see this being a very, very hard to beat side.