Preview R18: Changes vs. Western Bulldogs

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

If that is confirmed about Rachele not being an ACL, then I'd say it's great news. Anything that doesn't impact 2026 would be fantastic. Anything better than that would be a bonus.

 

[Archie87]

If only we had a coach who would proactively rotate the side and look for opportunities to give other players a shot so we didn't get to the latter part of the year having to take risks on largely untried players....

 

[pjcrows]

If it's not ACL that's great news. Would've put him out for most of 2026.

Rehab strongly and see what happens for September but don't risk him in any way. We aren't winning the flag this year and it gives someone an opportunity in the mean time.

 

[1970crow]

Nah, Pedlar is so obviously the player that should come in this week for Rachele especially if you're dropping Taylor as well.

Pedlar had a block of 4 games and got progressively worse. Happy for him to get another crack, but the confidence in him becoming anywhere near the player he looked is gone. I'm more confident on Jones at the moment.

 

[1970crow]

On his first possession I heard some boos in the crowd and then he kicked it out of bounds. It was a kick that lacked effort and focus when he had many other options.

It's a pretty impressive effort. Half a game of football for 2 uncontested possessions that he managed to turn into 3 turnover clangers. If it didn't sum up why we've been such an average club for so long it'd be hilarious.

 

[WeeBlake]

We can by shifting Rankine forward, who has mostly been a midfielder this season. But that would require us to find another midfielder, and not just going back to Crouch, who will make us worse

O god, this is exactly what Nicks will do, as soon as Crouch is fit

 

[Slim258]

Where has this been stated?

Hasn't yet - I work with his best mate, so found out from him.

 

[Scorpus]

O god, this is exactly what Nicks will do, as soon as Crouch is fit

I wouldn't be surprised if our conservative approach to Crouch's injury suddenly accelerates and he becomes available this week

 

[1970crow]

Indeed, but he wouldn't be ready for finals then.

Not sure about that. Isn't the 8 weeks the period that it'll take before he's ready to play again. It's not 8 weeks rehab and then start preparation, you'd assume that the final 3-4 weeks are slowly building up to return to play. Would think there's a fair chance that he could sneak into the sub role by the time finals roll around.

 

[1970crow]

Gotta love positivity

Referencing lived experience isn't being anti-positive, it's being realistic.

Matt Crouch at end of April was 3-4 weeks

Today

 

[Cromulant]

Referencing lived experience isn't being anti-positive, it's being realistic.

Matt Crouch at end of April was 3-4 weeks

Today
View attachment 2361671

Weve had guys come back early previously.

My apologies for looking on the bright side, I shall stop that now.

 

[1970crow]

Matthew Nicks refusal to rotate the squad was always going to be an issue the second we copped even one medium term injury

If he can't bring himself to rotate players when we're playing scrubber teams half way through the season, what chance now that we're ratcheting up to finals. He's locked himself into rotating Taylor, Pedlar, Murphy and maybe Draper as sub for the rest of the year. It's exactly what Don Pyke did leading into 2017, kept playing injured players chasing continuity and we got found out on the big MCG on a warm, dry day.

 

[1970crow]

O god, this is exactly what Nicks will do, as soon as Crouch is fit

Couldn't disagree more strongly. He'll do it 2 weeks prior to Crouch being fit.

 

[ams4crows]

Weve had guys come back early previously.

My apologies for looking on the bright side, I shall stop that now.

Its important to have positivity on the board so please do continue looking on the bright side.

Some bitter people are unable to see this as a win as it's not as serious as we once thought

 

[Smart Fella]

Matthew Nicks refusal to rotate the squad was always going to be an issue the second we copped even one medium term injury

Agreed, so disappointing that we may not see a debut from Edwards. There is no reason he couldn't have played a handful of games.

 

[Scorpus]

Weve had guys come back early previously.

My apologies for looking on the bright side, I shall stop that now.

It's funny to see Strachan running around in our SANFL side after he "retired" due to a "season ending injury"

 

[Cromulant]

It's funny to see Strachan running around in our SANFL side after he "retired" due to a "season ending injury"

It really is.

Im not sure too many SANFL clubs are laughing mind you.

 

[Mostyn]

If it's not ACL that's great news. Would've put him out for most of 2026.

Rehab strongly and see what happens for September but don't risk him in any way. We aren't winning the flag this year and it gives someone an opportunity in the mean time.

Why are we definitively not winning the flag this year?

There are others who deserve to be favourites ahead of us, but everything statistically says we should think that we're in the mix.

 

[Crow54]

It's funny to see Strachan running around in our SANFL side after he "retired" due to a "season ending injury"

It is, and he’s doing pretty well, too.

 

[pjcrows]

Why are we definitively not winning the flag this year?

There are others who deserve to be favourites ahead of us, but everything statistically says we should think that we're in the mix.

We're not going to beat Collingwood, Brisbane or Geelong in away finals.

 

[Cromulant]

We're not going to beat Collingwood, Brisbane or Geelong in away finals.

Get 2 home finals (big stretch I know) and we might only have to beat one of them.

 

[Samcro24]

Why are we definitively not winning the flag this year?

There are others who deserve to be favourites ahead of us, but everything statistically says we should think that we're in the mix.

We’re poorly coached and our depth is non existent.

 

[ams4crows]

Can I just say thank god this game has been moved from Ballarat to Marvel, it actually gives us a decent chance to win the game.

 

[Cromulant]

We’re poorly coached and our depth is non existent.

Our depth has won the last 2 SANFL games by nearly 200 combined points.

 

[Cromulant]

Can I just say thank god this game has been moved from Ballarat to Marvel, it actually gives us a decent chance to win the game.

Weve won at Ballarat