Opinion Parker, Mills, Reid, Adams... best 22?

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Strange things happen. How many of us wondered when (if) JJ would get his first game. He's not setting the world on fire but he's having an impact, he's reliable, consistent, a good user of the ball and he'll only grow with opportunity.
This is no knock on Jordon, but he's going pretty much exactly as I expected him to go. There are times I watch him and I can see why Melbourne were OK with letting him go, and there are other times where it feels like he's fitting really nicely into what we're trying to do. I'm not at all shocked he's in the team but I also wouldn't at all be shocked if he was out of it at some point.

Re Adams, I agree that it's not dumb to think he won't be in the team, but I'm extremely confident he will be. Our work in and around stoppages hasn't been up to the standard it could be, and is it any wonder when we are running about five wingmen/outside types through our midfield? A pure inside player like Adams will clearly be more suited to that sort of play, and it's going to become more important. Worth remembering that the first month or so of the season is always the most free-flowing, and ball movement is key. But as the season progresses and teams tighten up defensively, there's more stoppages and the contest and defence becomes more crucial. So I think we've done well to capitalise on a fast-paced game while that is the state of footy, but we'll need to get tougher and harder in the coming weeks, especially on the inside.
 
This is no knock on Jordon, but he's going pretty much exactly as I expected him to go. There are times I watch him and I can see why Melbourne were OK with letting him go, and there are other times where it feels like he's fitting really nicely into what we're trying to do. I'm not at all shocked he's in the team but I also wouldn't at all be shocked if he was out of it at some point.

Re Adams, I agree that it's not dumb to think he won't be in the team, but I'm extremely confident he will be. Our work in and around stoppages hasn't been up to the standard it could be, and is it any wonder when we are running about five wingmen/outside types through our midfield? A pure inside player like Adams will clearly be more suited to that sort of play, and it's going to become more important. Worth remembering that the first month or so of the season is always the most free-flowing, and ball movement is key. But as the season progresses and teams tighten up defensively, there's more stoppages and the contest and defence becomes more crucial. So I think we've done well to capitalise on a fast-paced game while that is the state of footy, but we'll need to get tougher and harder in the coming weeks, especially on the inside.
See Caesar, here's why I enjoy your posts. You don't just throw out a bone. You serve the whole roast chicken. The bone is still in there but you serve it with meat on it.

Staying on the meat analogy, I guess you're saying Jordon is akin to stuffing? He fills a role.

I agree with your thoughts on Adams. I just took umbrage at Wolfie declaring King's bone was so evidently a roast dinner that anyone would be dumb to think otherwise.

There will be injuries, there will be ins and outs of form and pressure for positions. There will be differient needs for differing teams and styles of play. It's great that we have the depth and flexibility
 

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Our next VFL game after tomorrow is April 21

Because of Gather Round, we have a "practice match" out at GWS' training oval next weekend, then a scheduled VFL bye

That is an absurd break.the vfl is name and bias.
 
yes, he does ... but in his defence/favour, he looks far more likely than dylan stephens generally did
that may not be saying much, but you're right in that he gets to the ball and gets to the contest with far more energy and hunger
which probably says more about the wisdom (or lack of it) in drafting stephens at 5
Been so much said about Stephens at 5 but the big thing is that he just didn't develop as we hoped.
 
See Caesar, here's why I enjoy your posts. You don't just throw out a bone. You serve the whole roast chicken. The bone is still in there but you serve it with meat on it.

Staying on the meat analogy, I guess you're saying Jordon is akin to stuffing? He fills a role.

I agree with your thoughts on Adams. I just took umbrage at Wolfie declaring King's bone was so evidently a roast dinner that anyone would be dumb to think otherwise.

There will be injuries, there will be ins and outs of form and pressure for positions. There will be differient needs for differing teams and styles of play. It's great that we have the depth and flexibility
I'm a vegan RD, so I'm afraid I'd disappoint you in real life :p
 
Gather Round is a Rep Round for the VFL and SANFL so no teams are playing at that level. Then we are on our bye to make up for playing Opening Round.

The club has been proactive in arranging a practice match against GWS to ensure that there is a match in this period.

2s did not play an Opening Round Ressies game iirc.

Yes the aClub and Giants are being proactive. Loss of Gather Round for the 2s is fine but keeping continuity and getting match fitness into blokes returning from injury is vital. Is there a rule that says the Ressies must have a bye when the Seniors have theirs?
 
2s did not play an Opening Round Ressies game iirc.

Yes the aClub and Giants are being proactive. Loss of Gather Round for the 2s is fine but keeping continuity and getting match fitness into blokes returning from injury is vital. Is there a rule that says the Ressies must have a bye when the Seniors have theirs?

For the mid season bye the entire club is off as it is a mandatory rest period in the CBA.

For these early byes the AFL/VFL have tried to keep the clubs on the bye together for fixturing purposes. Brisbane and Collingwood are the only two clubs who played opening round who have their VFL side play on the bye.
 
For the mid season bye the entire club is off as it is a mandatory rest period in the CBA.

For these early byes the AFL/VFL have tried to keep the clubs on the bye together for fixturing purposes. Brisbane and Collingwood are the only two clubs who played opening round who have their VFL side play on the bye.

It is having our bye adjacent to Gather Round. If the plan is to give Parker (and Gus for that matter) a run on limited minutes as is the case with Adams, there is a fair old break before there is an opportunity. I wonder what the Clubs view is.
 
Really Wolfie? Adams will walk straight into the team "and it would be plain dumb to think he won’t" So any other opinion is dumb and there can be no debate? Yet neither you nor King have put up any arguments as to why Adams is a walk up start.

The whole point of a footy forum is to welcome opinions, even opinions that disagree with you, King (or me). The forum is a place to debate opinions, to agree or disagree and put up arguments in support of our opinions. Neither you nor King put up any argument for why Adams is a walk up start.

When the midfield is zinging, it doesn't seem at all "dumb" to wonder what Adams will add that can offset the downside of disturbing the balance of a winning team. In the immortal words of Confucius, "If it an't f_cked, don't fix it".

In what way is our midfield f_cked? What specific deficiencies do you (and King) think Adams can immediately address? How does he get us a net positive given the potential interruption to a harmonious midfield? Adams came here to play midfield time, so who has to come out of the midfield for him?

How fit does Adams have to be to make a positive difference? 100%, 90%, 75%? He's had an interrupted pre-season and he's never played with this team outside of practice games. There are several genuine reasons to wonder if he's such an obvious walk-up. My personal view is I'd like to see Adams debut as soon as he's ready, but I'm not so entirely convinced he's a walk up start that I won't entertain any other viewpoints. It's not guaranteed.

Sheldrick could be ready to play in two weeks and Parker will be re-assessed soon. At least Parker and Sheldrick have been able to run and keep their fitness up. Parker could be right to go in as little as three weeks time. Sure, it's unlikely, but if Adams isn't fully fit by the Suns game in round 6, he may be fighting Parker and Sheldrick for a spot, if there is one. Horse is going to want to get games into Sheldrick at some stage and Parker can play both midfield and forward.

There is alway room for debate without it being labelled dumb. I expect Horse invites his players and staff to put forward opinions that challenge his own. Good leaders surround themselves with smart people who challenge them. I bet the first thing he asks when confronted with a differing viewpoint is something like "Why do you say that? Explain your reasoning"
First things first.
Adams was Identified to bolster our inside midfield. He was approached by the club for that reason and hence recruited, relocating to another state as the vice captain of a premiership side and on better than an average salary. This would say the club have put some weight into their investment. You think when Adams is declared fit he is not walking into this side as a starting Mid ? If you do put your cap on.

Secondly I was not calling anyone in particular dumb as I was not responding or replying to someone's post. It was my observation and my opinion. Would It appease you if I used the word naive instead of dumb ? Just as a matter of interest I stand by dumb.

Lastly, spare me the sermon on etiquette. If I want a sermon I will go to church, if I want to be pontificated to I will just turn on the nightly news and listen to the BS of our politicians and if I need a dressing down I will go see my mother.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed reading the sound of your own voice.
 

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It is having our bye adjacent to Gather Round. If the plan is to give Parker (and Gus for that matter) a run on limited minutes as is the case with Adams, there is a fair old break before there is an opportunity. I wonder what the Clubs view is.
Exactly. We are the only AFL-aligned VFL team that has a bye after Gather Round, so there's little to no opportunity for Adams, Parker, Sheldrick, Buller, etc. to get any match fitness.
 
First things first.
Adams was Identified to bolster our inside midfield. He was approached by the club for that reason and hence recruited, relocating to another state as the vice captain of a premiership side and on better than an average salary. This would say the club have put some weight into their investment. You think when Adams is declared fit he is not walking into this side as a starting Mid ? If you do put your cap on.

Secondly I was not calling anyone in particular dumb as I was not responding or replying to someone's post. It was my observation and my opinion. Would It appease you if I used the word naive instead of dumb ? Just as a matter of interest I stand by dumb.

Lastly, spare me the sermon on etiquette. If I want a sermon I will go to church, if I want to be pontificated to I will just turn on the nightly news and listen to the BS of our politicians and if I need a dressing down I will go see my mother.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed reading the sound of your own voice.
True, you weren't calling anyone in particular dumb, just anyone who disagreed with your opinion. I don't have an issue with your etiquette. It's the arrogance to denigrate any opinions but yours as dumb. It reminds me of that classic ad "I know boats"

Clearly the club didn't consider Adams a walk up to play this weekend, even though he's available. The coaches aren't dumb. He clearly needs to build his tank, to find his touch or both. It's not common for a player to walk into the seniors after two consecutive injuries with no game time unless there's a desperate hole to fill. Adams will get a game when the coaching staff are confident he's in good enough form to add something to the team. If they still don't feel he's shown enough or is fit enough after the bye they may still not consider him worth the risk. He could even end up competing with Parker for a spot.

Your suggestion that the Swans approached Adams is incorrect. Adams' management approached the Swans. You can forget what he was paid at Collingwood as a vice captain. Our club wouldn't have paid overs for an injured 30 year old player who was not considered good enough to hold his spot in another team's midfield. We recently shat on the Pies from a height and we've beaten them in every game but one over the last four years. That one game we had many of our senior KPPs injured or struggling

The Pies clearly saw enough of a decline to sideline Adams, but statistically Adams' odds of resurrecting his career at Sydney are probably no better than Nick Daffy. Adams comes to Sydney two years older and two years further past his 2018 club B&F than Nick Daffy's were was when he came to Sydney in 2002 (1998 club B&F). Daffy's salary was half-paid by Richmond and he came as part of a multi-club deal that netted us Barry Hall. Of course we'll all be disappointed if Adams doesn't get early games and have an immediate impact, especially after his tyres have been pumped so much. Sadly, the history of injured older stars who have begun to lose form and have switched clubs looking for a fresh start is not good. Most will never regain that former glory. Nick Daffy, Stephen Tingay, Dermott Brereton...One of the reasons we took Adams is his leadership in and around the club. We've got a truck load of talented young players who would benefit from mentors. With Mills out and Parker playing more forward we could do with extra leadership in the midfield.

Bottom line. Adams is at least insurance but hopefully more. When we lost Mills Adams' management saw an opportunity for a win-win. We couldn't be sure how our young midfield would fare in the absence of both Parker and Mills. Heeney had trained more midfield over the preseason to give us another option, but we couldn't be sure how much fire power we'd lose from our young developing midfield. We couldn't know that Heeney would be in early Brownlow contention for his work in the midfield yet still able to go forward and impact the scoreboard. We couldn't be sure that Grundy would the impact he has. We couldn't be certain that Roberts would hold his spot so well or that, even with all our senior mids out, there would still be pressure on spots.

As much as I'd like to see Adams tear up the midfield and give a poke in the eye to Collingwood. I'll be even happier if we can keep winning regardless. If Adams could have just walked into this weekend's side it would suggest we were struggling. Fortunately for us, he still has to earn a spot.
 
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True, you weren't calling anyone in particular dumb, just anyone who disagreed with your opinion. I don't have an issue with your etiquette. It's the arrogance to denigrate any opinions but yours as dumb. It reminds me of that classic ad "I know boats"

Clearly the club didn't consider Adams a walk up to play this weekend, even though he's available. The coaches aren't dumb. He clearly needs to build his tank, to find his touch or both. It's not common for a player to walk into the seniors after two consecutive injuries with no game time unless there's a desperate hole to fill. Adams will get a game when the coaching staff are confident he's in good enough form to add something to the team. If they still don't feel he's shown enough or is fit enough after the bye they may still not consider him worth the risk. He could even end up competing with Parker for a spot.

Your suggestion that the Swans approached Adams is incorrect. Adams' management approached the Swans. You can forget what he was paid at Collingwood as a vice captain. Our club wouldn't have paid overs for an injured 30 year old player who was not considered good enough to hold his spot in another team's midfield. We recently shat on the Pies from a height and we've beaten them in every game but one over the last four years. That one game we had many of our senior KPPs injured or struggling

The Pies clearly saw enough of a decline to sideline Adams, but statistically Adams' odds of resurrecting his career at Sydney are probably no better than Nick Daffy. Adams comes to Sydney two years older and two years further past his 2018 club B&F than Nick Daffy's were was when he came to Sydney in 2002 (1998 club B&F). Daffy's salary was half-paid by Richmond and he came as part of a multi-club deal that netted us Barry Hall. Of course we'll all be disappointed if Adams doesn't get early games and have an immediate impact, especially after his tyres have been pumped so much. Sadly, the history of injured older stars who have begun to lose form and have switched clubs looking for a fresh start is not good. Most will never regain that former glory. Nick Daffy, Stephen Tingay, Dermott Brereton...One of the reasons we took Adams is his leadership in and around the club. We've got a truck load of talented young players who would benefit from mentors. With Mills out and Parker playing more forward we could do with extra leadership in the midfield.

Bottom line. Adams is at least insurance but hopefully more. When we lost Mills Adams' management saw an opportunity for a win-win. We couldn't be sure how our young midfield would fare in the absence of both Parker and Mills. Heeney had trained more midfield over the preseason to give us another option, but we couldn't be sure how much fire power we'd lose from our young developing midfield. We couldn't know that Heeney would be in early Brownlow contention for his work in the midfield yet still able to go forward and impact the scoreboard. We couldn't be sure that Grundy would the impact he has. We couldn't be certain that Roberts would hold his spot so well or that, even with all our senior mids out, there would still be pressure on spots.

As much as I'd like to see Adams tear up the midfield and give a poke in the eye to Collingwood. I'll be even happier if we can keep winning regardless. If Adams could have just walked into this weekend's side it would suggest we were struggling. Fortunately for us, he still has to earn a spot.

On managed minutes today. Needs match fitness before his debut with us.

Thought that was clear.
 

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