Land of the Giants
Premiership Player
Disappointing to lose against Footscray, but we’re being coached to play a more aggressive, free-flowing game which takes a bit of getting used to. That’s what the AFL wants and it arguably suits our list. But it tends to produce a lot of turnovers, and only really good teams are able to overcome that. We're not quite there yet.
McVeigh is promising as a coach, and being from NSW (I doubt whether the Pennant Hills crowd would be that comfortable describing themselves as “western” Sydney), hopefully we won’t need to replace him. With finals now firmly in the realm of mathematical possibility it’s also clear the rest of our season will be spent sorting out who stays and who’s tradable/de-listable, with the aim of assembling a squad to have a reasonable crack next year. Hence the blooding of players like Wehr and Angwin and extended game time for Bruhn.
I thought we looked pretty good against the Bulldogs up until the 11-12 minute mark of Q3, when Brander, having pulled down a great contested mark right in front of me, proceeded to kick the ball straight to a team-mate with no chance of effective disposal. That led to a run of five unanswered goals for the Bulldogs, with three in two minutes, and we were finished.
With all that in mind, Sunday against Collingwood won’t see much change in personnel because there’s too many injuries. Preuss and perhaps Thor Himmelberg might even get a smack or two from the AFL's puppet MRP.
Brander will probably line up against Collingwood anyway, as there’s so many first-choice players we cannot select, we just have to focus on getting everyone used to the new game style. Hopefully Flynn will be back from his late-withdrawal quad injury, as Preuss will either be out injured and/or suspended for yet another one of those sling tackles he seems to specialise in. I saw de Boer wandering around the Members Stand and he looked fine, and will probably be back in place of either Peatling or Sproule. TT might also return, and surely Lloyd must be close to recovering from his arm injury.
Collingwood are coming off the bye and will be rusty at the start, so we need to come out hard and convert all our chances. Looking at the percentages, the key to us winning will probably be the performance of the backline, which was noticeably down against the Bulldogs. Otherwise I think everyone's got the message about getting the ball forward through the corridor. We just need to persist.
It will be an intriguing Sunday afternoon.
Thoughts?
McVeigh is promising as a coach, and being from NSW (I doubt whether the Pennant Hills crowd would be that comfortable describing themselves as “western” Sydney), hopefully we won’t need to replace him. With finals now firmly in the realm of mathematical possibility it’s also clear the rest of our season will be spent sorting out who stays and who’s tradable/de-listable, with the aim of assembling a squad to have a reasonable crack next year. Hence the blooding of players like Wehr and Angwin and extended game time for Bruhn.
I thought we looked pretty good against the Bulldogs up until the 11-12 minute mark of Q3, when Brander, having pulled down a great contested mark right in front of me, proceeded to kick the ball straight to a team-mate with no chance of effective disposal. That led to a run of five unanswered goals for the Bulldogs, with three in two minutes, and we were finished.
With all that in mind, Sunday against Collingwood won’t see much change in personnel because there’s too many injuries. Preuss and perhaps Thor Himmelberg might even get a smack or two from the AFL's puppet MRP.
Brander will probably line up against Collingwood anyway, as there’s so many first-choice players we cannot select, we just have to focus on getting everyone used to the new game style. Hopefully Flynn will be back from his late-withdrawal quad injury, as Preuss will either be out injured and/or suspended for yet another one of those sling tackles he seems to specialise in. I saw de Boer wandering around the Members Stand and he looked fine, and will probably be back in place of either Peatling or Sproule. TT might also return, and surely Lloyd must be close to recovering from his arm injury.
Collingwood are coming off the bye and will be rusty at the start, so we need to come out hard and convert all our chances. Looking at the percentages, the key to us winning will probably be the performance of the backline, which was noticeably down against the Bulldogs. Otherwise I think everyone's got the message about getting the ball forward through the corridor. We just need to persist.
It will be an intriguing Sunday afternoon.
Thoughts?
