If it was entirely up to me:
Outs: Ronke, Jack, McCartin, Sinclair
Ins: Rose, O'Riordan, Melican, Cameron
Here are my ranting thoughts:
- I liked Dawson off the half back line and we're crying out for someone who can kick it more than 30m. He's got the height so shouldn't be exposed one on one like Lloyd. If my options are Dawson getting 25 touches back there VS Lloyd getting 35 touches I'm taking Dawson every single day of the week.
- Move Lloyd to the wing. I'm sorry but this whole "Let's use Jake Lloyd as our major ball winner in defence to launch our attacks" strategy is an absolute disaster. Him getting 30 touches every game triggers me in a way I can't explain. Put him back on the wing where he belongs, where he can use his running ability and when 20m kicks going into the forward 50m might actually have some value instead of 20m kicks into the back pocket. Also he won't get completely exposed one on one like he does now.
I'm serious, if I have to watch Jake Lloyd continue to rack up 35+ useless possessions in the backline while we finish bottom four I'm going to go nuts.
- Move Mills into the midfield. At this point it's not only because we need something different in the midfield, but because Mills has become completely average in the backline and is giving us nothing. So I'd either play him in the midfield rotation or not play him at all. O'Riordan to come in and take his spot in defence.
- I'm not sure what we're getting playing both McCartin & Reid in the same side. Probably tough on McCartin and it's certainly not because Reid is great, but he still offers more at this stage.
- I know Melican had a couple of poor games early but I think we really need him in defence. I think people are forgetting how good he was in 2017. He didn't get the meme for nothing. I'm still not sold on Aliir as a lock down key defender, and even so I think he's wasted in that spot. I think playing Melican will allow us some more flexibility on how to use both Aliir and Rampe. I saw Melican was named in the bests in the reserves game so I'm hoping he's shaken off the rust.
- Ronke, sadly, has been invisible so I can't see how we can continue to play him. I know by bringing in Rose we lose some speed but Ronke hasn't been using his speed in any way so we're not losing anything really.
- Sinclair looks cooked. Which is great since we just signed him up for three years. But it would be great if we could get a ruckman who could catch the ball at some stage in his life. I don't know if Cameron can do it, but doesn't hurt to try.
So I guess my side would line up like this:
B: O'Riordan Melican Rampe
HB: Dawson Aliir Cunningham
C: Lloyd Heeney Florent
HF: Rose Franklin Parker
F: Papley Reid Hewett
Fol: Cameron Mills Kennedy
Int: Thurlow Rowbottom Clarke Jones
What I'm really expecting:
Out: Ronke
In: Blakey
Structural Changes: None