Prediction Round 15, 2024: Changes vs Essendon

[sharps24]

That was by far the most interesting but strangest part. And I believe it was only Barra pushing those questions as if he knew Baz might be due a stint in the twos to hone his forward craft. Did we feed him that line of questioning to get it out there?

I think it was more just that he talked himself into a bit of a corner because they were asking him so much about the talls. He kind of tried to sell it early that we're not really too tall because Jake isn't really a tall because he used to play as a high half forward, so its just kind of like just 3 talls now with him Darling and Oscar and a little bit of Williams. Then someone said yeah but also Maric is still in there too. So he said yeah but we see Maric as being able to play a lot of roles, even back. I don't think this means Maric is going to play back. He's literally just picked 5 tall forwards and is trying to pretend it's a non issue and it became a bit of a farce.

Barra's question was more a leading question about whether Jack Wiliams was the better back up ruck but Simmo was kind of turned about and somehow his answer morphed into maybe with Oscar coming in we'll have to play with one ruck. He literally said "If Bailey Williams doesn't play who is your back up ruck, is it Jack [Williams]" Simmo literally had no idea who he was talking about so said "Yeah Darling's been craving to play ruck" then finding himself having said that started talking about teams playing undersized rucks. We are not going to go down to playing Flynn as a solo ruckman.

 

[Mature Age Rookie]

Very happy with what he had to say about the 2nd ruck, been waiting years to hear it tbh

Ideally you have a tall who is good in their position who can back up in there but should never be shoehorning an extra tall into the team just so you can have someone tall take a handful of ruck contests a qtr.

Mix it up in there, play an extra mid keep the oppo guessing.

yes, same. And if its a choice between a Darling and BWilliams, its easily Darling whose 100x better forward and arguably equal quality back-up ruck. Until BWilliams can kick goals in the WAFL or Flynn gets injured, he should be in the wafl.

 

[sharps24]

Very happy with what he had to say about the 2nd ruck, been waiting years to hear it tbh

Ideally you have a tall who is good in their position who can back up in there but should never be shoehorning an extra tall into the team just so you can have someone tall take a handful of ruck contests a qtr.

Mix it up in there, play an extra mid keep the oppo guessing.

Don't get your hopes up. Barra was asking him whether Jack Williams was the best option if Bailey isn't playing. Simmo thought he was talking about Darling playing ruck and answered as if it was a serious question. ie teams playing a main ruck plus a decoy for 5 minutes out of 25.

 

[Dark Sharks]

Gaff has been dropped everybody

 

[ziad]

Gaff has been dropped everybody

Here ends BF

 

[southcoast]

Gaff has been dropped everybody

What will we talk about now?


On iPad using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[KERRPOW]

We might see a world record number of fumbles in the midfield this weekend

Why is cripps in the middle?

 

[Shueygod]

yes, same. And if its a choice between a Darling and BWilliams, its easily Darling whose 100x better forward and arguably equal quality back-up ruck. Until BWilliams can kick goals in the WAFL or Flynn gets injured, he should be in the wafl.

You think Darling is as good as Williams in the ruck? Are you ******ed?

 

[Chris_6678]

Does Nic Nat have a role at the club?

Noticed he was boarding the plane with the team?

 

[Cuzz09]

1992 GF goalkeeping vibes please:

Waterman 6
Oscar 5
Cripps 3
Darling 2


On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Mature Age Rookie]

You think Darling is as good as Williams in the ruck? Are you ******ed?

No, my argument is as a Back-Up Ruck, so someone who might ruck 20% of the game against another 2nd Ruck BWilliams would not offer that much more value than Darling, when Darling would offer so much more value than BWilliams up forward where the 2nd ruck would spend the rest of game when not on the bench.

 

[lmach]

Does Nic Nat have a role at the club?

Noticed he was boarding the plane with the team?

Backup ruck

 

[Keys]

Link to the Simpson press conference

Might be worth people listening to it themselves as there’s been some, let’s say interesting takes on what was said

 

[InTheWings]

I think it was more just that he talked himself into a bit of a corner because they were asking him so much about the talls. He kind of tried to sell it early that we're not really too tall because Jake isn't really a tall because he used to play as a high half forward, so its just kind of like just 3 talls now with him Darling and Oscar and a little bit of Williams. Then someone said yeah but also Maric is still in there too. So he said yeah but we see Maric as being able to play a lot of roles, even back. I don't think this means Maric is going to play back. He's literally just picked 5 tall forwards and is trying to pretend it's a non issue and it became a bit of a farce.

Barra's question was more a leading question about whether Jack Wiliams was the better back up ruck but Simmo was kind of turned about and somehow his answer morphed into maybe with Oscar coming in we'll have to play with one ruck. He literally said "If Bailey Williams doesn't play who is your back up ruck, is it Jack [Williams]" Simmo literally had no idea who he was talking about so said "Yeah Darling's been craving to play ruck" then finding himself having said that started talking about teams playing undersized rucks. We are not going to go down to playing Flynn as a solo ruckman.

Pretty sure Barra meant Jack Darling as well. Jack regularly rucks in the forward line.

 

[Cuzz09]

Simpsons post match presser is up:

• Pleased with the effort, efforts there
• Thought we fought back (got out the blocks) well but disappointed (to give away such a bad start) late goals blew out the margin
• Didn't see any footage of the incident so couldn't comment
• Thought Oscar will be better for the run
• Synergy is building
• Looking forward to getting Harley back

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[garlic munchers]

No, my argument is as a Back-Up Ruck, so someone who might ruck 20% of the game against another 2nd Ruck BWilliams would not offer that much more value than Darling, when Darling would offer so much more value than BWilliams up forward where the 2nd ruck would spend the rest of game when not on the bench.

Wouldn't worry to much.

For starters Shueygod thinks:

1. Chesser will reach Kelly levels;
2. Treacy is shite;
3. Last years best draft result for WC was:

GC lose pick 5 - Gain 16, 19 and a guarantee that Walter won’t be bid on the 1st 3 picks
North lose 2, 3 and 16 - Gain 1 and 5
WC lose 1 and 19 - Gain 2 and 3

Eagles get Mckercher and Curtin
north get Reid and Watson/Duursma
GC get a points boost

 

[DanWCE]

Does Nic Nat have a role at the club?

Noticed he was boarding the plane with the team?

Chief UberEats Orderer

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

Does Nic Nat have a role at the club?

Noticed he was boarding the plane with the team?

He could be the sub.

 

[MrsBlueSky]

Gaff and Sheed not playing this week. That should be in the bible thread as an answer to prayers and where another prayer could be had for my mate Clay Hall to get a call up

 

[Seadog]

Simmo on how Jake will go with Oscar in the side:

Jake has been playing well because of Darlings mentoring him and playing really good footy.

Oscar should complement our forward line but that might not be straight away.

Is Darling going to now be the 3rd tall and benefit from drawing the 3rd defender?

Maybe, he seemed to play ok when Josh Kennedy was around. [um, wot? I think Simmo thought this question was a criticism of Darling]

Darling is on his back 9 but hitting all his KPI's, doesn't lose many contests [scratches nose] probably hasn't taken the clunks he used to take but I don't think he's far off. Oscar will help with that, it might not be straight away but for our future I see positive signs. [Darling club 350 confirmed, nose really itchy now]

Do you leave Jake where he is now because he is playing well and fit Oscar around him?

[furious nose scratching now, and smirking] A bit of both, Oscar wants to complelent our side and help us win. I don't think it's about Jake kicking goals, and he's really clear on that and so are we. He's had a good season on the scoreboard but I think when he was at his best its what he does off the ball with his pressure and his work rate, that's the stuff Jake does really well and he's been mostly good at that. I'm not worried about Jake winning the Coleman and I hope he's not either. It's about the collective and Oscar is really clear about that and so is Jake and Jack.

He really is an elite motivator of men is Simmo, never seen a poppy he hasn't wanted to cut down.

Basically its upstart Waterman needs to go back to playing a sacrificial game and I don't really care for the goals he's kicked, we should be celebrating Darling more, Oscar is really really clear on whats best for the team and so are we, for that reason he'll be taking back over but its going to take a while for the team to adjust so expect it to go backwards before it goes forwards. **** me.

Cherry picking. Fancy getting your **** in a tangle about a throw-away comment in an interview. By the way he actually said
"and I hope he isn't either although he probably is in the back of his mind"

 

[Keys]

Our forward line mix is going to be a work in progress over coming weeks. Ideally it would’ve been resolved this far into the season but the injuries to Flynn and Allen meant the trial and error only starts now

Complicating things has been the unexpected form/impact of Waterman as a true marking forward in Allen’s absence. It means (as Simpson said today) that Waterman is now considered a tall rather than a medium forward

Now Allen returns we have an extra KPF than we’d planned for and we have the dilemma of finding the best mix

Initially it appears we’ll play Allen, Waterman and Darling with Williams rolling through there as well. Aside from personnel it will also be a matter of finding how best the utilise those talls and n combination. The question in the press conference re Darling being 3rd tall was a good one as we might find he starts taking more marks against the third defender

So yeah, I fully expect post game there’ll be questions about how the forward line functioned and the answer to be it’s something we’re working on. Because it is

At stages we might see Maric as the 3rd tall instead of Darling. Or J-Will might come into the side as second ruck instead of Bailey. Or we use a makeshift second ruck instead of a genuine tall

Allen might start out of the goal square with Waterman further up the ground. They might switch or they might not

Where does Hutchinson fit in to this. Or Culley. Or what if Barnett starts killing it in the WAFL

Anyone expecting it all to click on Sunday so it all becomes clear what our best lineup is, is delusional

 

[flyinghi64]

Going off that interview I would say Bailey needs to kick a few goals and clunk a few f50 marks this weekend, if he plays.

 

[KERRPOW]

Allen, Waterman, Darling, Maric & williams.

just missing Mitch brown in the forward pocket.

F50 pressure will be interesting....the ball is just gonna slingshot out of their aint it.

 

[Truly Lazuli]

Our forward line mix is going to be a work in progress over coming weeks. Ideally it would’ve been resolved this far into the season but the injuries to Flynn and Allen meant the trial and error only starts now

Complicating things has been the unexpected form/impact of Waterman as a true marking forward in Allen’s absence. It means (as Simpson said today) that Waterman is now considered a tall rather than a medium forward

Now Allen returns we have an extra KPF than we’d planned for and we have the dilemma of finding the best mix

Initially it appears we’ll play Allen, Waterman and Darling with Williams rolling through there as well. Aside from personnel it will also be a matter of finding how best the utilise those talls and n combination. The question in the press conference re Darling being 3rd tall was a good one as we might find he starts taking more marks against the third defender

So yeah, I fully expect post game there’ll be questions about how the forward line functioned and the answer to be it’s something we’re working on. Because it is

At stages we might see Maric as the 3rd tall instead of Darling. Or J-Will might come into the side as second ruck instead of Bailey. Or we use a makeshift second ruck instead of a genuine tall

Allen might start out of the goal square with Waterman further up the ground. They might switch or they might not

Where does Hutchinson fit in to this. Or Culley. Or what if Barnett starts killing it in the WAFL

Anyone expecting it all to click on Sunday so it all becomes clear what our best lineup is, is delusional

Delusional = Bigfooty SOP

 

[Cuzz09]

Langford 6+ goals $19?

I'll tip Ess to get 60+ i50s so will be chances



On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app