Playing the fixture

[dugrene]

We all have our opinions on the fixture.
What our club should have is a plan to win home games and be willing to use some of our away games as games to give some fringe players their chance to impress.

I posted some ideas last year and didnt (and dont expect) much support. Nevertheless this how I would approach our first 6 games. Operating on the assumption the weather will be wet and slippery for our away games.

Game #1The crunch to our season is winning against Hawks in Tassie. I think the bookies will have us a favourites. I would get our best team on the ground and have the team playing like it is a final. This is a must win game.

Game #2 against the Blues we should win.

So i'd have our best teams on the field for games #1 and #2.

Game #3 against Port even though we may believe we have a better than even chance at AAMI the reality is we should send a buch of fringe players. Probable loss.

Game#4. After resting a few players we should have a win against the Crows . They have to back up to Subi after playing Dees in Carrara with a six day break. They will be vulnerable. That is why we should be planning two weeks in advance.


Game#5. Saints in Tassie. Again send our fringe players. They get game time, team bonding and become familiar with travel. Saints will be on their second road trip but theirs is nothing with what we and the slime have to do, so should have no noyicable affect on their performance.

Game#6. Derby. We come back from Tassie. 6 day turnaround with the slime having 7 days after a home game they will think we should be easy pickings. We can have a full squad of fatigued players or have a few fresh players.

Games 5 and 6 create the dilema. Depending on form and injuries Saints could be seen as a better chance to win, allowing for for the fact they are travelling again. If that is the case then we roll the dice and go hard at the Saints leaving the Derby harder to win.

Even though the Club's line is 'one week at a time' we should be planning at least a month in advance how we plan fixture management.

 

[chook2734]

You have got to be kidding. We are not even close to being able to flick the form on or off quickly enough to be playing around with things.

Maybe if we have 15 wins by round 18, you can rest a few for a game or two, but until that happens, you play your best team every week.

We've finally reached a point where after 12 years we have a bit of depth - no one should be getting a game unless they deserve it - be they senior players or fringe players.

Every game this year is winnable and every game this year needs to be treated as the most important game of the year - that's the only way we are going to achieve what we all know we can.

What happens if you drop one or two of the games you suggest we can win, and we've lost the two or three you don't expect us to win - all of a sudden we are 1-5 or 0-6 and it's season over

 

[dugrene]

You have got to be kidding. We are not even close to being able to flick the form on or off quickly enough to be playing around with things.

Maybe if we have 15 wins by round 18, you can rest a few for a game or two, but until that happens, you play your best team every week.

We've finally reached a point where after 12 years we have a bit of depth - no one should be getting a game unless they deserve it - be they senior players or fringe players.

Every game this year is winnable and every game this year needs to be treated as the most important game of the year - that's the only way we are going to achieve what we all know we can.

What happens if you drop one or two of the games you suggest we can win, and we've lost the two or three you don't expect us to win - all of a sudden we are 1-5 or 0-6 and it's season over

I only mentioned the first 6 games.

The concept of tweeking playing groups is nothing new.

The good thing about having depth is proving it is there.

By saying we have depth means you already agree with our ability to cover injury suspension or other unforseen or planned selections.

All we have to do is win all our home games and one other and we guaruntee a final game. The focus should be on winning home games. As the year progresses The club will identify winnable away games then backing up to home games.

Remember 2004 at Kadiniya. Wet, cold and raining. We came home and got flogged by the slime. If we had of sent our reserves team away the end result of the derby might have been different.

Last year wet and windy against Saints. Second half against in the Derby we got over ran.

All i'm saying is we should manage the fixture.

To expect to win every game is foolish.

 

[dominguez]

Judging a teams draw is a waste of time prior to the season. Whose to say port won't be this years easy beats? We'd be wasting a golden opportunity to get a vital away win by sending our B team. The mob up the road wouldn't have had the great start to the season they had if they rested their best players for away games.

Our problems are more mental than physical. All but 1 of our poor performances last season came after a 7 or 8 day break. We beat the pies by 112 then played terrible against the bombers and hawks the next 2 weeks, then beat the cats away on a 6 day break. If we sent our fringe players to Geelong I doubt we would have won.

After a tough game we should take a cautious approach with any players who are sore or have a slight injury. If one of our midfielders gets a cork and can't train all week by all means, bring in someone who has been red hot in the WAFL. But anyone who is fit and playing well should be in the side every week. With advancements in training, recovery and preparation we should be able to play to our best every 6-7 days. In other sports they play much more frequently. NBA basketballers play 82 games in 6 months and they cope. Sure it's not as physical as footy, but all that travel would take it's toll when many players are taller than Sandilands.

 

[theGav56]

So, just checking, you'd "rest" Pav and MacPharlin to give Gilmore and Polak a run in the forward line, and Bell and Haselby so that Haines and Schofield can get a look in. There would be no point "resting" other fringe players; it would only make sense to rest your matchwinners.

Luckily there are some very stupid posts get put on Bigfooty, so this one is safe from being nominated for that honour.

 

[theGav56]

How about another idea; play your best side at home and away, with a little variety depending on the opposition and the ground. That way, when we get to the finals, your best side is used to playing together in all conditions and against all oppositions, and won't be phased by having to play at the MCG on the last day in September.

 

[Jetau]

Never mind the "percentage" concept we have in AFL. If we send all our fringe players to get flogged by 100+ points by the top teams, this helps who exactly? How about we use our 30 or so AFL quality players by resting anyone who is injured and then selecting the others based on current form, as well as matchups for the coming game. Hey, it's genius if you think about it. That way we can win as many games as possible.

 

[dugrene]

So, just checking, you'd "rest" Pav and MacPharlin to give Gilmore and Polak a run in the forward line, and Bell and Haselby so that Haines and Schofield can get a look in. There would be no point "resting" other fringe players; it would only make sense to rest your matchwinners.

Luckily there are some very stupid posts get put on Bigfooty, so this one is safe from being nominated for that honour.

To play a scenario that suites your perception and then dismiss someone elses ideas as 'stupid' does nothing to show you ability to think outside the sqare. Quite the opposite.

You focus is 'quote' "rest" Pav and MacPharlin ' to create some form of display of "i'm sticking with the favourites' playing to crowd is for the childish bully tactics..

Think about the variations that may arise both with opponets and our own team when the time to have your strenght might not necessarily be at the time you fight your toughest opponent.

Footy isnt about winning with your best team, Its about winning against the weakest teams. This gets you into a position that you get to play the important games against the best teams.

Soccer has been doing it for years. Basketball likewise.

We have 11 home games. Make sure we win them and we make the finals. You dont have to be a Rohdes scholar to work that out.

 

[Ripper]

I can see where you are coming from dungrene.

It would cause all sorts of havoc with the playing group though.

i. Most consequetive games
ii. Brownlow votes
iii. Danger of losing their spot.

And if we lose one that we had penciled in , What then?

 

[dugrene]

I can see where you are coming from dungrene.

It would cause all sorts of havoc with the playing group though.

i. Most consequetive games
ii. Brownlow votes
iii. Danger of losing their spot.

And if we lose one that we had penciled in , What then?

We lost a few pencilled in last year and we won a couple no one pencilled us in for.
No one really knows how much those away games take out of the players.

Would we have won the games against Brissy, Hawkes or Roos if our player managenet had been different with the preceding games ?.

As for i.Most consequetive games
ii. Brownlow votes
iii. Danger of losing their spot.

These things dont come into the equation. Winning is all that matters No matter who you drop, move sideways or replace.

 

[Ripper]

Would we have won the games against Brissy, Hawkes or Roos if our player managenet had been different with the preceding games ?.

I have a theory that perhaps we pencilled those game in and upped the training too much in the week prior.

 

[dugrene]

I have a theory that perhaps we pencilled those game in and upped the training too much in the week prior.

For someone who lives in Meeka you know far too much about what happens 800ks away

I get my goss from here. You must have spys everwhere.

 

[Ripper]

For someone who lives in Meeka you know far too much about what happens 800ks away

I get my goss from here. You must have spys everwhere.

I have my sauces

 

[dominguez]

Teams in soccer are able to rest their players because the big clubs (eg Chelsea, Barcelona, Real Madrid) have so much money they have 3 players for each position. It's equivalent to an AFL team having 50-60 quality experienced players, which is impossible with a draft, a salary cap, and a game played in a country of only 20 million people.

 

[dugrene]

Teams in soccer are able to rest their players because the big clubs (eg Chelsea, Barcelona, Real Madrid) have so much money they have 3 players for each position. It's equivalent to an AFL team having 50-60 quality experienced players, which is impossible with a draft, a salary cap, and a game played in a country of only 20 million people.

I concede the idea is harder to implement in AFL.

I believe there is enough evidence over the years to show it has been done.
I cant think of any just now but with time it we all find some occasions where players had been rested.

Just this one game...... We play Port round 3 Its been raining in Adelaide for 4 days. The weather report says rain hail sleet.
Our next game at Subi against Crows. They have played their best team in rain, hail and sleet to a tough 1 point game they have a six day turna round with 2 flights in between. Common sense says rest half our team and rip the them apart. Better to incease your chances to win one game than have equal chances for two games.

 

[theGav56]

To play a scenario that suites your perception and then dismiss someone elses ideas as 'stupid' does nothing to show you ability to think outside the sqare. Quite the opposite.

The Dockers have done plenty of thinking outside the square, and need some practice thinking inside the square.



[/QUOTE] Footy isnt about winning with your best team, Its about winning against the weakest teams. This gets you into a position that you get to play the important games against the best teams.[/QUOTE]

This is where for me you come undone totally. Footy is so not about "winning against the weakest teams". Getting into the finals may be achieved by that. But the idea that you signal to your playing group that they are not good enough to (eg) beat St Kilda in Melbourne would be a very poor result come finals time. Not to mention depriving some of your best players the opportunity to get to play on grounds where they need to compete when finals comes around. Supposing we end up playing a final in Brisbane and several of our players have no been there.

Hey, I am all for using your depth to rest players who have niggling injuries, but the idea of a Aussie cricket style rotation policy is something that a team who have not yet learnt how to play well together on a consistent basis cannot even think about.

 

[Ripper]

I reckon we will see more rotations based on form (less tolerance of bad games) and injury (more likely to rest someone with a niggle) this year anyway without re-inventing the wheel purely because of increased depth.

 

[dugrene]

Ok OK

I'll bring it up again in 2007.

 

[theGav56]

Ok OK

I'll bring it up again in 2007.

LOL

Persistant aren't you. I promise not to call it "stupid" in 2007 (and not meaning that you are stupid by the way).

 

[ThePope]

We have 11 home games. Make sure we win them and we make the finals. You dont have to be a Rohdes scholar to work that out.

We have 11 away games too. (well 12 home and 10 away if you mean game with travel). We won 9 of 12 home games in 2002. Unfortunately the 0 from 10 away meant we came 13th. We've missed the finals for the past 2 years with 11 wins.

We need to pick sides for the job. We need to train for the weeks ahead. I think you might be onto something there Rip with the train hard before the "easy game" idea. You often see the top teams start to lose games around Rounds 16-20 as they increase the training load before backing off for the finals.

Port in Adel isn't as tough now as it was in the past, especially if Tredrea is out. But I agree that if a player is on one leg (like Hase/Bell/DJ etc last year) you are better off giving them time to recover rather than playing them at 75% effectiveness, or injecting them Clem Michael style to get them through the game. We have the squad now, with up to 30 players able to play at AFL level... lets make them earn their spots and only play the fittest, most in form players.

 

[malpaso]

After a good solid preseason, no AFL team will be 'resting' top 22 players in the first 6 weeks of the season.

Ludicrous suggestion.

 

[Dr Ralph Dagg]

We all have our opinions on the fixture.
What our club should have is a plan to win home games and be willing to use some of our away games as games to give some fringe players their chance to impress.could be seen as a better chance to win, allowing for for the fact they are travelling again. If that is the case then we roll the dice and go hard at the Saints leaving the Derby harder to win.

Even though the Club's line is 'one week at a time' we should be planning at least a month in advance how we plan fixture management.

So how did we all go at tipping last year? Nailed it did we? 8 out of 8 every week.

Look, there are no easy games in the AFL. You only need to be off a fraction and even Carlton can nail you. Similarly, the opposition only need to be off a fraction and you can win. St Kilda were a premiership favourite lasy year, and we lost by a point and won by 5 points over two games. They got to a prelim final. We finished 10th. It's that close.

We are no longer in development mode. We are aiming for a premiership and you get there by finishing in the top 4, and preferably the top 2. Every game must have our best 22 on the park and playing at 100%. KISS priniciple applies.