Prediction R8: Changes vs Saints

[TheInjuryFactory]

I could understand why Johnson should be playing.

I said this way back in the start of 2016 many times. I posted this many times. Once McPharlin retired, That meant Johnson and Dawson were the 2 main key defenders. Then the 3rd defender was a young tall like a Tom Vandeluer, Alex Pearce and Sam Collins that was rotating for that 3rd tall defender spot and getting games.

Then Injuries happened in 2016. Then Freo were down to the Bare Bones in KPDs in Zac Dawson and Sam Collins, who we arguably the worst to key defenders on our list at the time. A lot can happen unexpectedly in one season. To be Brutally honest I didn't think we wouldn't of got Joel Hamling fresh after winning a flag at the Western Bulldogs... Well... Not cheaply anyway.

Last year the back line worked out well in some games.

It was unexpected to a degree that Michael Johnson played all 22 games last year considering in 2016 he only played a handful of games. I would of expected him to play 15-17 games last year and given 5-7 games to guys like cox, which happened anyway.

I wasn't surprised with Hamling playing all 22 games last year as he is in the prime of his career and isn't injury riddled unlike some players on our list.

I didn't mind on how last year panned out: Johnson and Hamling both played 22 games each as experienced talls while Collins, logue and cox got games but Alex Pearce was still injured. Collins is now delisted.

This year, Johnson is managed, Hamling is best 22 So Is Alex Pearce. Cox cant get a spot in our back 6 so that means he plays up forward. That shows you Freos current KPD depth at the moment which isn't a bad thing.

Cool, but nah. Johnson is f#%ked. Can hardly move.

 

[Johnny Dalmas]

That would be a reasonable position to hold if Danyle and MJ had shown any evidence of a capable on field performance this year.

Out of the players not in last week's team, D.Pearce has been our best performer at Peel.

 

[ydraw]

Out of the players not in last week's team, D.Pearce has been our best performer at Peel.

That's great, but there's no improvement in him. He's in his final year on our list. We are rebuilding. That means we should be getting games into our young players. It's really that simple.

 

[freo_leo29]

Ross mentions Acres a WA boy, could be on our radar

 

[Square Peg]

If Danyle versus abD (anyone but Danyle) is the difference between winning and losing against St Kilda at home, we are in worse shape than I thought.

 

[mike91]

Ross mentions Acres a WA boy, could be on our radar

We talked to him last year, few months later he signed an extension with the Saints.

 

[sherrif]

Forced his way into the side at Peel then dropped after a single game for a player who will retire at the end of the year.

This is not what rebuilding is about.

When we cop a flogging and posters make excuses for it saying how "inexperienced" our team is, well, this is why our team is inexperienced.

The 'play all the kids at the same time every week method' DOES NOT WORK when rebuilding a team. That method has failed terribly, terribly, ridiculously terribly for Gold Coast, Carlton, Brisbane, Melbourne and St Kilda in recent times. What actually works is having a balance between experienced heads who can use thier experience to provide direction on the field and giving young players experience. (see Melbourne who went round in circles rather than progressing when they had Grimes and Trengrove as captains). See how GWS did this better than Gold Coast as well. The reality is players all develop at different rates. Many players actually benefit from working on their skills for a few years at a lower level before being exposed at afl level on a regular basis. Ironically, Taberner is one of the best examples of this fact as he treaded water with small development each year when gifted AFL games in his first few years on the list, but when he was sent back to a lower level to work on some weaknesses last year his development was actually enhanced.

 

[kingswood71]

That's great, but there's no improvement in him

He may well discover that after years of thinking he is a left footer that he is actually a right footer and suddenly learn to kick better

 

[DeanS]

That's great, but there's no improvement in him. He's in his final year on our list. We are rebuilding. That means we should be getting games into our young players. It's really that simple.

If it was that simple we wouldn’t be playing Ballas, Sandi or Mundy as they won’t be there when we next challenge for a GF spot. Birth certificates can’t be the only factor in selection.

 

[Unique Name]

Johnson's saving grace is how poorly St Kilda have been moving the ball into the F50. They love the long bomb.

Hopefully Johno hasn't forgot how to read the play. Should challenge Ryan as our leading interceptor for the game.

 

[Taylor]

Johnson's saving grace is how poorly St Kilda have been moving the ball into the F50. They love the long bomb.

They do, which is where we will hopefully be able to gain ascendancy through marking power out of our much taller backline.

This is the sort of game where Gresham will kick 4 goals though, our small defense has always worried me more than the tall.

 

[Unique Name]

Yeah agreed. Really unsure why Nyhuis isn't getting more of a chance in that role.

 

[Taylor]

Yeah agreed. Really unsure why Nyhuis isn't getting more of a chance in that role.

I was wondering how much it would kill our run from defense if we have three players who are mostly covering their single man. Hamling plays like a glove and not much else, Alex Pearce is equally defensive but gets involved in creating play a bit, Nyhuis is like a pair of jeans - can we afford all three to be hanging around their forward?

 

[Nolo180]

I dont know bout u lot but i didnt get too excited wen ross mentioned spurr wasnt too far away even though the freo website says 2-3 weeks

 

[WilloTree]

Genuinely confused. We've been told selection will be influenced by needs. BUT, I had a look at the St Kilda team and there just isn't a matchup to 3 tall defenders. Hughes 'out' and Johnson 'in' is a headscratcher.

A) They don't have a tall forward line.
B) Hughes needs games.
C) Johson is 33

Madness.

 

[Johnny Dalmas]

That's great, but there's no improvement in him. He's in his final year on our list. We are rebuilding. That means we should be getting games into our young players. It's really that simple.

Fine, but he is the one who has shown the most evidence of performance so far.
Some of the other players at Peel should be bitterly disappointed this week -- because they can't perform their way past a 30-something player in his last year.

 

[Taylor]

The WAFL doesn't punish turnovers as much as AFL. The AFL is turning into tennis in that regard, the side that has the least unforced errors usually wins, close games might be decided by that against the top, the lower sides get beaten by forcing them into errors.

Field position players like Pearce gain distance and that's going out of vogue, but the further and further down the table of competitions you go the more valuable a player like that is. Grade footy is a scrap like AFLW and having a player to put the ball 70m further up the ground a couple of times in a row moves the scrap within a lucky snap from goal range instead of a risky marking set shot against range.

I'm not expecting much from Danyle Saturday night but if he provides some drive and puts the ball inside fifty with such shankness that nobody can mark it, we could actually do very well off it. Pearce to have 10 inside fifties to grass, Matera to kick 6.

 

[tonygeeks]

Matera to kick 6.

Pigeons ?



On iPad using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[wayToGo_]

I don't understand why they brought Hughes in last week if they were willing to drop him the week after. I'm not a fan of bringing in the travelling emergency from the week prior and especially not with a player like Ethan who has shown he needs time to build a body of work in the past. Peel had the bye before last week so you're basically bringing in a guy who has played one game of football in 4 weeks to play against the clear in form AFL team on their home turf. And he's really only played one good game at Peel since coming out of rehab. I can't imagine why that didn't work out?

Despite being his buddy I thought they should have waited for him to build a body of work at Peel first. But he's a disciplined trainer and preparer so I have no doubt he'll go back to Peel and build and dominate from HB and earn another shot. His best games definitely have him B22, he just needs to show far more consistency. Gut feel is he's a bit like Tabs (they were both rookies) - persist and it should hopefully pay off.

 

[purplerunsdeep]

Let’s give Pearce a look and a final hurrah at the new stadium, he deserves that


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Frank J Moose]

Game profile
<50 = 12
50-100 =1
100-150 = 3
150+ = 6

Its pretty obvious why we arent playing two new players. 12 players under 50 games is a few two many as it is

 

[Fred Ziffel]

That would be a reasonable position to hold if Danyle and MJ had shown any evidence of a capable on field performance this year.

But Danyle has at Peel.
I'd rather Danyle in than another performance from Stephen Hill like last week....so does Ross by the looks of it.

 

[Patty_Moz]

Game profile
<50 = 12
50-100 =1
100-150 = 3
150+ = 6

Its pretty obvious why we arent playing two new players. 12 players under 50 games is a few two many as it is

Good post it goes to show how light our depth is and how we have a heap of guys gaining experience this weekend which is a positive for me. Also a good chunk of our players will be moving into that 50+ games in the next year or so which is going to be great for the team.

Reading those RTB threads is depressing so some positives for me so far this year are getting games into Cerra, Brayshaw, Banfield, Duman and Crowden, the early form of Tabs (damn injury), our traded players performing and the fantastic return of Pearce.

I’ll be gutted if we don’t win this week cos it then looks really tough for the next month so c’mon Dockers let’s smash these guys.

Oh yeah Fyfe’s playing alright as well...

 

[sherrif]

I don't understand why they brought Hughes in last week if they were willing to drop him the week after. I'm not a fan of bringing in the travelling emergency from the week prior and especially not with a player like Ethan who has shown he needs time to build a body of work in the past. Peel had the bye before last week so you're basically bringing in a guy who has played one game of football in 4 weeks to play against the clear in form AFL team on their home turf. And he's really only played one good game at Peel since coming out of rehab. I can't imagine why that didn't work out?

Despite being his buddy I thought they should have waited for him to build a body of work at Peel first. But he's a disciplined trainer and preparer so I have no doubt he'll go back to Peel and build and dominate from HB and earn another shot. His best games definitely have him B22, he just needs to show far more consistency. Gut feel is he's a bit like Tabs (they were both rookies) - persist and it should hopefully pay off.

If it is a similar situation to Tabs then there it is definitely highly likely that the coaches think Hughes will develop better if given time to develop and improve his defencies at a lower level where the pace of the game is slower. The best thing to ever happen to Tabs in my view was getting dropped for a run of games last year. It is certainly wasn't working just playing him because we needed a tall forward.

 

[Rion]

If it is a similar situation to Tabs then there it is definitely highly likely that the coaches think Hughes will develop better if given time to develop and improve his defencies at a lower level where the pace of the game is slower. The best thing to ever happen to Tabs in my view was getting dropped for a run of games last year. It is certainly wasn't working just playing him because we needed a tall forward.

That might be valid but why bring him in for one game against Richmond at the MCG (we we're going to get smashed) before dropping him back to the WAFL?