Preview R10: Changes vs. Collingwood

[119others]

He needs to be consistent.

As does Rankine, TT and Dawson. Do they ever play underwhelming games?

Serious question which I don’t know the answer to. Jnr is a defender - how many goals has his direct opponent kicked in re$nt weeks?

 

[119others]

I'm on the rotate the squad bandwagon.

For example, Tex. It's easy to think we can't rest him vs Pies as we need our "best team" out there, but reality is the way he's playing he won't do anything vs Pies and we still won't have rested him.

OUT:
Walker (Rest)
Curtin (Rest)
Soligo (Rest)

IN:
Pedlar FWD
Draper GUTS
Dowling WING

Bring 'em back after 1 week though, physical/mental refresher, no SANFL I don't think.

And pls let's rotate more guys through the middle, esp. if they are tagging Dawson/Rankine, they can be dangerous outside of the middle.

The following week against Weagles is the time to rest a couple. Tex and Soli seem obvious choices,

Luckily (in a sense) many of our players have already had a week off due to injury or suspension - Peatling, Fog, Hinge etc

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Seriously? Apologise? What about all of Dawsons errors in recent weeks. Does he also apologise? And I agree last night was underwhelming after a very good few weeks. Wasn’t he in coaches votes last week? Other players - who I rate highly long term - like Curtin get all the love despite averaging less than 10 possessions per game over extended periods. Last night he hardly touched it

Jnr often gets the ball under immense pressure - clearly identifiable when watching the replay - and is probably best in our team (or close to) at one grabbing, showing composure and distributing accurately to a good option.

Will gladly cut off someone’s kahunas (ideally not my own) if he gets dropped this week.

Huh? Dawson is leading the competition and one of the Brownlow favourites

Curtin and Milera are playing completely different roles.

Milera is being gifted the easiest ride in the team and should be offering plenty but is just chugging along, having minimal impact most weeks.

 

[Scorpus]

A couple of years ago we dropped Thilthorpe for making the exact same mistake Milera made

An unforgivable error from a senior player that brought Port back into the game.

His supposedly good body of work has been fairly average really considering his experience and where he plays. Certainly hasn't been good enough to avoid the axe for a terrible mistake and we should be playing Cumming down back in his place

 

[Firewalker]

Hold very little hope for this game especially given history and what Nicks not tagging the Daicos brothers will lead to (expect the brothers might get near a combined 70 disposals). Also given history will probably hang in there somehow until being heartbroken again.

Out:

Soligo (rested) - cooked at the moment, learn from last year and don’t destroy him, will they learn? I doubt it.

Laird or Milera (rested) - both their legs looked totally gone in last quarter against Port & almost cost the game. If they think they’re both important cogs & want them to be able to last the year they need to manage them.

Tex (rested) - falling over & can barely move/beyond cooked at the moment

In:

Draper - and here’s a novel idea play him in the midfield & for more than 60% game time.

Bond (to take Hill & free up Michalanney for Elliot) - this would be a smart play, so doubt it even crosses Nicks mind

Dowling in with Taylor sub or Pedlar in & as sub


Also honestly never thought I’d say this but would also seriously consider Burgess as an option to come in for Tex too, he’s in ridiculously good form at the moment & if they want to keep the 4 tall structure which I think would be a valid tactic against Collingwood on the wide expanses of the MCG he’s a better specialist option for this game than Tex is, who’s currently running on his knees with his tongue hanging out, jumping with one arm up and also falling over every 2nd contest.

Ideally would like to also see Cumming moved into his actual position in the backlines and Dowling to come in on that wing, but that looks hard to orchestrate unless they have the balls to move a lot of pieces.

 

[119others]

Dropping Curtin off 1 poor week ?? Nit gonna happen, or shouldn't.

Edwards has to play, Draper back in for sure

For clarity, Curtin averaging the grand total of 7 possessions per game over the last 5 weeks.

Which is the poor game you are referring to?

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Tex can't play week in, week out.

Needs smart management

 

[1970crow]

A couple of years ago we dropped Thilthorpe for making the exact same mistake Milera made

An unforgivable error from a senior player that brought Port back into the game.

His supposedly good body of work has been fairly average really considering his experience and where he plays. Certainly hasn't been good enough to avoid the axe for a terrible mistake and we should be playing Cumming down back in his place

We’re famous for settling for mediocre output from senior players. We’d be better off churning younger players through that spot trying to unearth a B grader or better. But we love our experienced C graders. Dining out on hapless opponents will keep him in the side though. Got West Coast coming up, we’ll be marvelling at his brilliance again.

Playing Berry over Draper is obscene. If he was terrible in those 3/4 in the SANFL, then sure. But he torched them.

 

[1970crow]

Tex can't play week in, week out.

Needs smart management

300 games. That’s his and the club’s priority.

 

[Scorpus]

Tex can't play week in, week out.

Needs smart management

If we rest him we'll need to give up on him getting to 300 games and I don't think we'll do that

 

[davos44]

Out: Curtin, perhaps Tex for a rest?
In: Dowling and Draper

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

If we rest him we'll need to give up on him getting to 300 games and I don't think we'll do that

We're not even subbing him out of games though (outside of the Rnd 1 curb stomp)

It's as though we're determined to make him ineffective

 

[NSolis]

Wouldn't mind Curtin getting a rest if there's a feeling he needs it, with Walker resting the following week against West Coast. Just the week and back the following week, and only if needed, with Draper or Dowling the replacement. Hopefully that's a decision for fitness staff for the most part.

Also think Keane getting suspended is a possibility, in which case it will be Borlase in.

Otherwise the only change I can see happening would be Draper or Dowling in for Taylor, which I wouldn't do personally. Everyone else who had a poor game yesterday has enough runs on the board so far in the season to be retained, and they aren't going to make significant changes off 2 wins in a row at 6-3. Berry good again as sub.

 

[WeeBlake]

Out - Tex (rest), Milera (had enough chances)
In - Draper, Edwards

Curtin/Dawson to cover Tex

If there’s something wrong with Soli, he should have a spell too.

 

[GROTTO]

Tex can't play week in, week out.

Needs smart management

If we rest him we'll need to give up on him getting to 300 games and I don't think we'll do that

I could appreciate "carrying" Tex to 300 if were not a Finals chance, but surely given that we are, the greater good is us not only making Finals but also having Tex in a position to be able to perform in Finals. Thats also not taking into consideration we need Tex to have the capacity to perform well, should we ever encounter another scenario where we lose TT and/or Fog.

There are games coming up especially against the Eagles at AO and on the smaller ground SCG vs Sydney, where we should be resting him at least.

To get to 300, Tex would need to play every game from here and it would lead to his 300th vs the Roos in R24 and if he misses a game, that would be pushed to W1 Finals should we make it.

Bite sized Fun Fact which is worthy of consideration here, Tex has played just one season in his entire career where he played in every game in a season.

 

[The Karma Bus]

Tell me, is Keane going to be suspended for his kicking report?

It was very similar to what Ginnivan did a couple of weeks ago.
Ginnivan got a fine so naturally, Keane will be suspended.

 

[The Karma Bus]

With the way our midfield lacked energy today, I'd be disappointed if Draper didn't come in for a game on the MCG against the Daicos brothers after two good SANFL games, but we all know he won't.

That's the exact scenario this club is scared of. Never will look at it the other way.

How will Sid or any young guys cope on the scary G and against the Magpies etc etc..

 

[Cromulant]

For clarity, Curtin averaging the grand total of 7 possessions per game over the last 5 weeks.

Which is the poor game you are referring to?

Ahhh disposals, the metric of the supercoach player.

 

[119others]

Ahhh disposals, the metric of the supercoach player.

Oh, he is playing a non statistical role then is he?

Don’t sugarcoat it, he has been sucky overall for weeks. Blind Freddy can see that

 

[Cromulant]

Oh, he is playing a non statistical role then is he?

Don’t sugarcoat it, he has been sucky overall for weeks. Blind Freddy can see that

Ok sure, I'll take your word for it.

 

[1970crow]

If we rest him we'll need to give up on him getting to 300 games and I don't think we'll do that

Don’t we have 2 up our sleeve though. Needs 13 from 15 more games? I don’t think we’d rest him this week anyway. Maybe against Eagles, but they’d be worried if he did a hammy and missed a couple they’ll have burned the most important thing this year.

 

[119others]

Ok sure, I'll take your word for it.

Why are you so defensive and deflecting?

How do you rate Curtins last 5 games?

 

[Scorpus]

Don’t we have 2 up our sleeve though. Needs 13 from 15 more games? I don’t think we’d rest him this week anyway. Maybe against Eagles, but they’d be worried if he did a hammy and missed a couple they’ll have burned the most important thing this year.

13 from 14 games unless we make finals

 

[NSolis]

Why are you so defensive and deflecting?

How do you rate Curtins last 5 games?

Not the person you asked, but I think he has been fairly good when graded on a curve that he's a second year developing tall. Thought he was poor last night - didn't do anything too bad but did not impact the game.

His four games before that have been good enough to hold his spot, occasionally a bit better than that. I think sometimes people on here are too generous with young players based on potential alone but Curtin has shown a fair bit at times this year. Keen to persist with him, give or take the occasional rest.

 

[Cromulant]

Why are you so defensive and deflecting?

How do you rate Curtins last 5 games?

He was fantastic last week.

Even last night he created a mismatch which allowed us to mark almost every ball inside 50

I'm not defensive, I just don't rate your opinion