Prediction Round 8, 2025: Changes vs Melbourne

[stallon]

I think we should drop Maric he is giving away to many goals a game with his kicking

Keep maric, he has the odd turnover but he is taking the game trying to be a bit creative more than anyone else in our backline

Bring in Brock for him gives us another genuine tall in the backline that we need

I hate at the moment we are sacrificing Ginbey game because we are making him play on talls
We lose Ginbey drive when we play him on talls

Agree with this but not at the expense of maric

 

[Total_Juddshanks]

I know people have this circled as a potential win, but I am low key concerned about this week.

Our least competitive games this year (Carlton, Gold Coast) have come against teams with elite ruckmen and strong contested ball units. There are a lots of different gameplans but against a team with uncomplicated 'win ball, kick forward' approach and the cattle to do it well, we are very susceptible because of how hopeless our rucks and onball division is.

Melbourne have hit some form over the last fortnight and I'm genuinely afraid what Gawn/Trac/Oliver/Viney are going to do to us in the centre square.

 

[squashface]

Geez imagine chipping a 20 year old for making mistakes doing kick ins?

 

[bzparkes]

Geez imagine chipping a 20 year old for making mistakes doing kick ins?

Could be worse...

 

[Cuzz09]

I know people have this circled as a potential win, but I am low key concerned about this week.

Our least competitive games this year (Carlton, Gold Coast) have come against teams with elite ruckmen and strong contested ball units. There are a lots of different gameplans but against a team with uncomplicated 'win ball, kick forward' approach and the cattle to do it well, we are very susceptible because of how hopeless our rucks and onball division is.

Melbourne have hit some form over the last fortnight and I'm genuinely afraid what Gawn/Trac/Oliver/Viney are going to do to us in the centre square.

Yeah this is exactly what I thought too

Feels like hope, feels like rd1, feels winnable.

But similar make up of sorts although maybe not as dynamic as GC.

Also big tall fwd (petty) and clever small (pickett) like GC had (King 6 goals)(Long 4 goals)

No HEdwards and 7 games under our belt... so maybe we've warmed into the season to be ready?

 

[Cuzz09]

lol Sheezy ball

We would be bowing down if we had a 20 y.o getting 30+ and nearly 400m gained every week.

I don't think Kornes is deliberately being a dick I think he genuinely wants the game and players to be better but he only knows the harsh way to point it out

*plus he wants clickbait and all that

 

[Marlin01]

I think we need to settle Ginbey, Hough and Maric all into the backline. That’s 3 spots that we can fill and lock away for the next 5 years.

In all likelihood, they could each play other positions, but we could also piss away the next 3 years going around in circles to find out.

Lock them in, let them grow and develop together and commit resources to fixing up other areas of the squad.

 

[southcoast]

The H midfield - Hough, Harley, Hewett, Hutch, Hunt and Hall..
Hough is a tough nut..

Needs more height.

 

[Cuzz09]

Needs more height.

Harris Andrews

 

[Cuzz09]

I think we need to settle Ginbey, Hough and Maric all into the backline. That’s 3 spots that we can fill and lock away for the next 5 years.

In all likelihood, they could each play other positions, but we could also piss away the next 3 years going around in circles to find out.

Lock them in, let them grow and develop together and commit resources to fixing up other areas of the squad.

I thought Hedwards was starting to shows some ok signs last year but has been worse this year.

He's played 44 games now, should really be starting to beat or break even with his man more.

Cant be easy v forwards on the end of no pressure i50s though.

Seems as though we are gonna stick with Ginbey and Maric down back for sure.

Hough sounds like he'll be in the middle in the near future

Could try Archer down there but it'll take him ages to get decent.

Reckon we need to stick with Hedwards , things will look better with more mid pressure and help back there

 

[eaglesnutcase]

Who the hell wants Billiams back? He is one of, if not the worst AFL player in history to get regular games. Flynn may get beaten in the ruck but he plays well around the ground. Maybe the mids should make sure they are glued to their opponents at stoppages if they expect to lose the hitout.....like how teams used to play WC when Naitanui was rucking. Billiams should never see another AFL field

Different ruck rules help monsters like Gawn.NNs leap would have been nullified to some extent ( without going into his 2nd efforts)
BBW played really well in Brisbane and it was his aggression at the Big O that paved the way for our improved showing.
Gawn is Meek with added extras and we know how that went.
Flynn was better last week around the ground

 

[jdisc]

I think we need to settle Ginbey, Hough and Maric all into the backline. That’s 3 spots that we can fill and lock away for the next 5 years.

In all likelihood, they could each play other positions, but we could also piss away the next 3 years going around in circles to find out.

Lock them in, let them grow and develop together and commit resources to fixing up other areas of the squad.

Strong agree, it's the start of a premiership winning backline. Hopefully Bazzo and Bo can come through and we can pick up a solid KPD somewhere

 

[jdisc]

I thought Hedwards was starting to shows some ok signs last year but has been worse this year.

He's played 44 games now, should really be starting to beat or break even with his man more.

He can be a bit too cute at times in my opinion, always playing in front and trying for the intercept mark instead of just playing back shoulder on his opponent and focusing on spoiling. Trying to play like prime McGovern when he should just try to play like Glass

 

[WCErevival]

my god

the takes on here are hitting an all time low

I knew it would be a controversial take and I said it more to get a reaction I dont actually thinks he's bad.
He is an upgrade but atm he fits a similar mould as the average defender/above average kick player in our back line that we hope becomes the main outlet. His ceiling is higher than old Witherden's was especially given his height.

 

[Cornelius Roy]

I know people have this circled as a potential win, but I am low key concerned about this week.

Our least competitive games this year (Carlton, Gold Coast) have come against teams with elite ruckmen and strong contested ball units. There are a lots of different gameplans but against a team with uncomplicated 'win ball, kick forward' approach and the cattle to do it well, we are very susceptible because of how hopeless our rucks and onball division is.

Melbourne have hit some form over the last fortnight and I'm genuinely afraid what Gawn/Trac/Oliver/Viney are going to do to us in the centre square.

We’re not winning this game.

Our midfielders aren’t containing Gawn, petracca, Clarry etc no matter how out of form they may be.

 

[Broken_Chairs]

Long had a really good first season, was projecting like a range from absolute star down to good, crafty player at the worst.

View attachment 2299391

(Know player ratings aren't everything but just an example that matched the eye test of most on here).

Then had a year wiped out by injury, and then is 5 games into a winless year this year.

There's players on our list that a more ruthless club would have cut, for sure, but don't think any club in the AFL would be writing off Long at this stage. You do sometimes need to invest years in players before you start reaping the fruit.

Love Long and think he will be very good.

Unsure if he's playing that definsive runing role this year but to the eye (on TV) he seems a bit off the pace at the moment.

Totally fine with him having a run in the WAFL - but you'd be mad to write him off now.

V comfortable with getting back to a place where we have players develop in the WAFL where needed rather than being parashuted into the AFL team because of injuries.

 

[BeeTee]

Owies out - PLEASE

 

[eaglesnutcase]

If it’s wet who would you rather have working round the ground? Flynn or BBW?
Flynn won’t be taking too many grabs and I thing BBW is better at ground level

 

[RookiePick]

I know people have this circled as a potential win, but I am low key concerned about this week.

Our least competitive games this year (Carlton, Gold Coast) have come against teams with elite ruckmen and strong contested ball units. There are a lots of different gameplans but against a team with uncomplicated 'win ball, kick forward' approach and the cattle to do it well, we are very susceptible because of how hopeless our rucks and onball division is.

Melbourne have hit some form over the last fortnight and I'm genuinely afraid what Gawn/Trac/Oliver/Viney are going to do to us in the centre square.

I think you are spot on. Melbourne are going to run over us like a speeding truck.

 

[EvilBeagles]

Smarts

I remember talking to a parent who's kid played underage footy with Petch. He mentioned when he was drafted that yeah he was quick but had serious reservations he would make it due to lack of footy nouse. Seems he was on the money.

 

[Alesana]

Out: Owies, Cripps
In: Kelly, Gross

 

[RanaNaved]

Lol SheezeyBall

 

[twce13]

I think we need to settle Ginbey, Hough and Maric all into the backline. That’s 3 spots that we can fill and lock away for the next 5 years.

In all likelihood, they could each play other positions, but we could also piss away the next 3 years going around in circles to find out.

Lock them in, let them grow and develop together and commit resources to fixing up other areas of the squad.

whilst i understand what you're saying, i think hough absolutely needs to be persisted in the middle.
it's simply the more valuable position and early indicators are that he can handle it in there.

imagine we kept yeo backline his whole career because we wanted to lock away the position forever.

 

[EagleEgo]

Some observation:
1) Melbourne lost both Optus Stadium away games last year.
2) Melbourne has not won any away game yet in 2025
3) Melbourne relied on small forwards to win their 2 games this season
4) According to Adam Simpson, Gawn always hit the ball forward in the centre bounce. We might like to find a way to intercept his HO.

 

[UseR2006]

lol Sheezy ball

We would be bowing down if we had a 20 y.o getting 30+ and nearly 400m gained every week.

I don't think Kornes is deliberately being a dick I think he genuinely wants the game and players to be better but he only knows the harsh way to point it out

*plus he wants clickbait and all that

Maric - in the 7 rounds so far this year

Rd2 - 26d - 511 MG
Rd3 - 28d - 445 MG
Rd4 - 22d - 558 MG
Rd5 - 21d - 524 MG
Rd6 - 20d - 384 MG
Rd7 - 25d - 356 MG

(In Rd1 he was the sub and had 9 touches and 100MG in a qtr. )

It's actually an interesting comparison when comparing Sheezel and Maric.

Maric gets the ball moving forward with consistently higher meters gained totals per round.
Isn't too far off in average possession totals round by round (Sheezel gets plenty more but the effectiveness of moving it forward is diminished).
Similar turnover numbers (though marics hurt more as we dont have the talent to cover and since he's down back the turn overs hurt more).

Overall though it'll be interesting to see if Maric moves more to a roaming HB if we ever get some serious KPD.