Prediction Round 9, 2026: Changes vs Melbourne

[Bleedblueandgold]

Young is not a Key Defender. The guy has zero 1v1 skill at all.
He's 27 and unlikely to get much better than he already is.
He gets out bodied easily, gives way too much space to forwards that he's constantly torched on leads and gets out marked under high balls.

If his only job was to sit off and intercept all day he'd be fine but that's not what his role is.

He's Ben McKay from Essendon levels of bad. Worse if you compare his disposal stats.

Why did we recruit him again? Apart from the obvious reason.

 

[Bleedblueandgold]

as long as we win the inside 50 count I will be happy

And stay out of a rut.

 

[UseR2006]

Why did we recruit him again? Apart from the obvious reason.

Honestly, no idea. It wasn't as if he was tearing it up at Richmond either.
Felt like a desperation move more than anything.

 

[Smotie2]

Already having nightmares about what Gawn and the Pickett's are going to do to us.

Melbourne- 21.14(140)
West Coast- 8.10(58)

Nothing to see here...move along...no rut...

 

[Smotie2]

Young is not a Key Defender. The guy has zero 1v1 skill at all.
He's 27 and unlikely to get much better than he already is.
He gets out bodied easily, gives way too much space to forwards that he's constantly torched on leads and gets out marked under high balls.

If his only job was to sit off and intercept all day he'd be fine but that's not what his role is.

He's Ben McKay from Essendon levels of bad. Worse if you compare his disposal stats.

Young is going ok. He's not barrass or McGovern clearly.

This is on the coaching staff though as he is all we have right now.

Why not bring in bazzo and have ginbey a loose in defence.
His running power and intercept marking would be almost impossible to cover and they would have to counter it.

There are so many ways to counter weaknesses in a team but the coaches have to be inventive throughout a game and not just set and forget.

 

[ziad]

Young is going ok. He's not barrass or McGovern clearly.

This is on the coaching staff though as he is all we have right now.

Why not bring in bazzo and have ginbey a loose in defence.
His running power and intercept marking would be almost impossible to cover and they would have to counter it.

There are so many ways to counter weaknesses in a team but the coaches have to be inventive throughout a game and not just set and forget.

We have one stopper for the game winners - lets loosen him up. By the way he doenst have lizard like run and his kicking is 50:50 at best if he takes the game on.

 

[Bacchus]

Why did we recruit him again? Apart from the obvious reason.

Not many players want to come to our train crash of a club.

We are not a destination club and can only recruit dregs at the bottom of the barrel like Young and the dashing fp Owies.

We don’t have any star kpds’ s now so we replace them with Young and Brock. Fitzroy on steroids.

 

[ghostbat12]

Young is going ok. He's not barrass or McGovern clearly.

FB with 1 tackle in 4 weeks. makes sense, forwards just take the marks, no opportunity for ball to get to ground and tackle.

 

[Smotie2]

In
Edwards bazzo gross

Out
Hewett, cole, Schoenberg,

 

[UseR2006]

FB with 1 tackle in 4 weeks. makes sense, forwards just take the marks, no opportunity for ball to get to ground and tackle.

100% Spoiling clearly not an option as well if they are taking marks.

 

[Ilkka Sinisalo]

FB with 1 tackle in 4 weeks. makes sense, forwards just take the marks, no opportunity for ball to get to ground and tackle.

Harris Andrews averages 1.4 tackles per match in his career. Weitering 1.2. Barrass 0.8.

Tackles are not an important statistic for key defenders.

 

[HellsBells88]

Out: Cole, Young, Hewett, Schoenberg, Champion
In: Gross, Williams, Hutchinson, Bazzo, Dewar

This might ruffle a few feathers, it’s just a thought. I don’t know if Hutch is even quite ready to come back but I’m looking at a structural change.

Bazzo swaps with young, Yeo takes Coles spot in half back. Shanahan goes to defence. This gives us some intercept marking, line breaking, leadership and some mongrel. It would also free up Ginbey. I wouldn’t be surprised if Duggan might feel a bit more confident having Yeo back there like he must have felt with our defence in the past. Even chuck baker in defence and push a McCarthy further up the ground for some quality inside 50s.

Dewar, Williams and Hutch into the forward line. Williams deep for structure and second ruck with waterman coming up higher. Dewar for champion as a small forward, champion is a bit off being ready and at least dewar has some experience at the level. Hutch could be a defensive forward or he would just be someone who can work up and down the ground tirelessly like Cripps in his prime.

Gross to play in his proper spot in place of Yeo going back. Hewett can find some form and earn his spot back.

The young mids need to play together more and it’s actually the area we are in best shape funnily enough. Stick with the spots, no more cramming guys into odd spots just to get them in like Hewett as a forward. A mid from the wafl plays mid in the team, a tall defender for a tall defender etc. The players need some definition and continuity, everyone looks lost. Play in the spot where you were drafted for and where you play in the wafl.

Those defenders don’t push up high, let the mids and forwards defend up the ground. They just clog the 50 on a turnover. For all of our sanity leave some room in the forward line and less space in our back half.

 

[SAweagle]

Deckchairs on the Titanic

In- Spuds

Out- Spuds

Carloltoon are currently playing with more balls and spirit than this rabble.

 

[Mighty Eagles]

In
Edwards bazzo gross

Out
Hewett, cole, Schoenberg,

As much as we need a great key defender, and Edwards leads that list for us, he won’t be recalled on Sunday.

He played reduced in his first game back on Sunday. We’ve given guys three weeks in the twos before returning them to AFL level this year.

 

[wctorp]

 

[txbyhull]

23 I would have looking something like this:

Ginbey, Edwards, Hough
Lindsay, Bazzo, Allan
Duurs, Yeo, Maric
Murdock, Waterman, Baker
Champion, Shanahan, Owies

Baz, Reid, Kelly

McCarthy, Davis, Duggan, Gross, CDT

Cole, Schoenberg, Hewett, Young all dropped. Could also drop a Davis for Hutchinson maybe.

Hough and Duggan both playing like they should be dropped.

 

[ghostbat12]

In: Edwards, Hutchinson, Allan, Flynn

Out: Schoenberg, Cole, Hewett, CDT

Hutchinson to play forward. Flynn needed to tag Gawn.

 

[Bleedblueandgold]

If Harry is completely ready, then by all means bring him in.
I would still drop Cole and Young for him and Bazzo. I think it's time for Young to be dropped after offering very little.
I would leave Bo in the WAFL to get more form. Need him to get 20+ touches a game, which I believe he is capable of.
Hutchinson should come in very soon, if not this week. Most likely for Schoenberg, but 5 changes might be too many.
I doubt Mini will drop CDT, but he has not scored a single goal since round 2... Something has got to give.
Hewett for Gross I'm doubtful about too, but something is not right with Hewett at the moment, he needs to find some form or motivation.

In: Edwards, Bazzo, J Williams, Gross
Out: Young, Cole, CDT (rest), Hewett

 

[frenchconnection]

If Harry is completely ready, then by all means bring him in.
I would still drop Cole and Young for him and Bazzo. I think it's time for Young to be dropped after offering very little.
I would leave Bo in the WAFL to get more form. Need him to get 20+ touches a game, which I believe he is capable of.
Hutchinson should come in very soon, if not this week. Most likely for Schoenberg, but 5 changes might be too many.
I doubt Mini will drop CDT, but he has not scored a single goal since round 2... Something has got to give.
Hewett for Gross I'm doubtful about too, but something is not right with Hewett at the moment, he needs to find some form or motivation.

In: Edwards, Bazzo, J Williams, Gross
Out: Young, Cole, CDT (rest), Hewett

Doubt whether Harry will play being an away game and having to fly.

23 I would have looking something like this:

Ginbey, Edwards, Hough
Lindsay, Bazzo, Allan
Duurs, Yeo, Maric
Murdock, Waterman, Baker
Champion, Shanahan, Owies

Baz, Reid, Kelly

McCarthy, Davis, Duggan, Gross, CDT

Cole, Schoenberg, Hewett, Young all dropped. Could also drop a Davis for Hutchinson maybe.

Hough and Duggan both playing like they should be dropped.

I wonder what’s wrong with Hough as he has been a shadow of his former self this year.

 

[Cuzz09]

I like the idea of giving CDT a rest

 

[Boohemian]

I also like the idea of not running our kids into the ground.

 

[Dark Sharks]

To be fair, it's not like Edwards is a Steven Silvagni quality full back out there.

He's an incredibly average defender at AFL level.


That still makes him at least 40x better than Young and Brock though, so get your ass to Mars Marvel Harry.

 

[Haydos#3]

Out: Schoenberg (should not play at AFL level again), Hewett (Love him but can not possibly persevere with someone that has 2 touches post qt), Davis (early season form has dissipated), Champion (Might be something to work with here but is too small for AFL currently), CDT (Rest)
In: Gross (Mid/fwd rotation), Grego (Back rotation), Edwards (Key back), Flynn (Ruck & ruck only), Macrae (Wing)

Let’s reward WAFL form & try a 2 headed ruck setup against another & see how it stacks up.

 

[wadistance]

I like the idea of giving CDT a rest

Max Gawn played 6 games in his first season. CDT already has 8. Good things take time and need a rest.

Let’s also be honest, we ain’t changing up 6 players. Even though they played like shit, the players need synergy and to learn their running patterns. It will be 4 changes at most. I’d say young (Bazzo), Flynn (CDT), hewett (gross) and maybe Edward’s for Davis, giving us one extra defender

 

[amazingjoshy]

Team that moves the ball super quickly and likes to score big vs our defense

Hmm

Another fun Sunday coming up