Unofficial Preview Semi Final Saturday 7:35pm vs Gold Coast @ GABBA

[Nathan Barley]

Ridiculous.

The AFL has turned this into a game for supporters

 

[StevoJenkins]

With Lachie out, you can't keep Marshall as the sub. Reville is more adjustable and seems to be a better fit as the sub. I would also throw Mckenna up forward. Go for a smaller more chaotic forward line and tell oscar to stop flopping for free kicks. Just bring the ball down.

The issue I had with Sharp is the same issue I have with Marshall. You have a guy whose strength is running out games, and you want to play him as the sub.

Marshall either plays at the start of the game, or you put in any of our other professional subs (McKenna/Reville/Tunstill/Dev) in that slot.

 

[Elixuh]

The issue I had with Sharp is the same issue I have with Marshall. You have a guy whose strength is running out games, and you want to play him as the sub.

Marshall either plays at the start of the game, or you put in any of our other professional subs (McKenna/Reville/Tunstill/Dev) in that slot.

I think it undersells Marshall, a lot. I don’t think the running capacity is a reason not to make him sub. He has really good skills and can get involved in games. Far more strings to his bow than Sharp and he’s only in his first year.

 

[braddsey]

The AFL has turned this into a game for supporters

Accept the fine and move on.

You're spot on though... say something offensive to a player to get a reaction, post it to social media, AFL get's $1000 into their coffers at the expense of a player (in this case a player who's season just ended).

...but we can have Craig Mcrae, Nick Daicos and Mabior Chol dropping F-bombs on national tv (plus whatever expletives Dimma drops on a pretty regular basis). What a f-bombing joke!

 

[M Malice]

Spectators that hang over the fence abusing players whether your own or opposition really are intellectual minnows.

Get a life you numbskulls.

 

[Nathan Barley]

The issue I had with Sharp is the same issue I have with Marshall. You have a guy whose strength is running out games, and you want to play him as the sub.

Marshall either plays at the start of the game, or you put in any of our other professional subs (McKenna/Reville/Tunstill/Dev) in that slot.

I'd love to bring Dev or Tunstill into the 23 for Marshall but I don't think their form warrants it

 

[Saucery]

Spectators that hang over the fence abusing players whether your own or opposition really are intellectual minnows.

Get a life you numbskulls.

Sadly, that is their 'life', with a little 'l'.

 

[Saucery]

Bailey must be about to get a big fine for his antics then

Yeah, you would have thought he'd 'cottoned on' to it by now!

Sorry, I will see myself out..........

 

[StevoJenkins]

I think it undersells Marshall, a lot. I don’t think the running capacity is a reason not to make him sub. He has really good skills and can get involved in games. Far more strings to his bow than Sharp and he’s only in his first year.

I agree that he has good skills too, but my point stands. Guy's got run. Don't play a guy who has run as the sub, you start that guy on the ground, especially as a winger who is playing for our team.

The skills he has are a bonus, but if you only put on the sub at the start of the 4th/the mid of the 4th, you want an impact player for that spot. A McKenna or a Reville are better at that historically.

I'd love to bring Dev or Tunstill into the 23 for Marshall but I don't think their form warrants it

Reville or McKenna provide more impact, whereas you put in Tunstill or Dev when you want to try and give a mid a spell. We don't really use our sub in the ways other teams have this season. You have Collywobble or Grubthorn, who either inject an impact player or experience into the team at half/three quarter time. We seem to, begrudgingly, just take a guy off the ground and put another on at 4th quarter time.

 

[Darren Downunder]

Hoping to see

In: McInerney
Out: Day

In: McKenna
Out: Gallop

In: Reville
Out: Neale

Keep Marshall as the sub

Bailey as the 4th midfielder with Rayner going into centre bounces occasionally

Smaller forward line will put a lot of pressure on our ball movement working so we don't need to bomb it long but will help us lock the ball inside 50

Gold Coast aren't tall in the forward line so shifting Dizzy forward is a backup option and even starting him forward might be a better option than Gallop

Marshall stays the sub. Isn't strong enough in the contest to stand up in finals pressure. Reville isnt much better but at this stage hes a slightly better option. Was hoping Tunstill could be an option but his finish to the season was poor

Oscar for Day is a hail Mary but hopefully the team walks a bit taller with Oscar out there

I love Oscar
But I really REALLY don’t want us to go in with two rucks.
It didn’t work during the home and away season and I don’t think it will work on Saturday.

 

[M Malice]

On reflection I'm crossing my fingers that the team announcement tonight is what a couple of posters have suggested on here this week.

Outs- Day, Neale, Gallop.

ins- Marshall, McInerney, McKenna.

Sub- Reville.

 

[M Malice]

I love Oscar
But I really REALLY don’t want us to go in with two rucks.
It didn’t work during the home and away season and I don’t think it will work on Saturday.

I think O could do just as good a job in the forward role Sam Day has been playing, so Fort does most of the ruck work and O only 20% max.

 

[Happy_Neale]

I think O could do just as good a job in the forward role Sam Day has been playing, so Fort does most of the ruck work and O only 20% max.

I could see it being the other way around with Fort playing forward along side Day and O taking 60-70% of the ruck work. Depends if they think he can get through a final with a workload that high

 

[braddsey]

I love Oscar
But I really REALLY don’t want us to go in with two rucks.
It didn’t work during the home and away season and I don’t think it will work on Saturday.

Will it work more or less than what we went with against Geelong?

I also don't like 2 rucks, but Oscar should provide at least what Day has been able to provide and has an ability to take a few marks closer to goal. Plus he will do better as backup ruck than Day.

Edit: this is Oscar vs Sam for 2025. While they didn't play the same role (Oscar was more #1 ruck when he played), it shows they've been pretty similar (Oscar slightly ahead for most stats other than marks). I thought Sam was building well into the season and improving until he did his hammy. Since then, he's looked like a player who tried to retire last year.

Player

MT

K

Avg

H

Avg

D

Avg

M

Avg

HO

Avg

T

Avg

FF

FA

G

Avg

B

SC

Rat

Avg

Oscar McInerney

11​

63​

5.7​

44​

4​

107​

9.7​

18​

1.6​

307​

27.9​

33​

3​

13​

12​

4​

0.4​

3​

27​

774​

70.4​

Sam Day

13​

61​

4.7​

43​

3.3​

104​

8​

41​

3.2​

93​

7.2​

23​

1.8​

9​

18​

3​

0.2​

4​

22​

554​

42.6​

 

[DERRINALPHIL]

Day and Gallop have played at least 15 games between them and kicked a max of 6 goals. Anyone or any thing is an improvement.
One problem the seconds have is that Smith doesn’t get enough ruck time. He and Fort or O should split it 50 50.
Would give us a look at both roles. Too late now but should be done next season.

 

[Nathan Barley]

I agree that he has good skills too, but my point stands. Guy's got run. Don't play a guy who has run as the sub, you start that guy on the ground, especially as a winger who is playing for our team.

The skills he has are a bonus, but if you only put on the sub at the start of the 4th/the mid of the 4th, you want an impact player for that spot. A McKenna or a Reville are better at that historically.



Reville or McKenna provide more impact, whereas you put in Tunstill or Dev when you want to try and give a mid a spell. We don't really use our sub in the ways other teams have this season. You have Collywobble or Grubthorn, who either inject an impact player or experience into the team at half/three quarter time. We seem to, begrudgingly, just take a guy off the ground and put another on at 4th quarter time.

Well I have those 2 in the starting 22 so not really sub options

 

[Nathan Barley]

I love Oscar
But I really REALLY don’t want us to go in with two rucks.
It didn’t work during the home and away season and I don’t think it will work on Saturday.

Part of the reason why it didn't work was because neither of them rucked well. They've both found form and fitness so I don't see that being an issue.

We also didn't try it with a smaller forwardline around the resting ruck. We still had Hippy and Logan. I think having an extra small down there will help

So it's a bit simplistic to say it didn't work. What didn't work was the 2 rucks in combination with a bunch of other stuff

No rucks has worked well in the past but I don't think we'll ever deliberately not select a ruck

 

[Elixuh]

Day and Gallop have played at least 15 games between them and kicked a max of 6 goals. Anyone or any thing is an improvement.
One problem the seconds have is that Smith doesn’t get enough ruck time. He and Fort or O should split it 50 50.
Would give us a look at both roles. Too late now but should be done next season.

I don’t know how much credence we give to player ratings, but as a general guide, Day was by far our highest rated forward in the first final. I’m happy to run Day for the rest of the season and I think we need Gallop to harass. Our forward issues will only be resolved next year.

 

[Happy_Neale]

I don’t know how much credence we give to player ratings, but as a general guide, Day was by far our highest rated forward in the first final. I’m happy to run Day for the rest of the season and I think we need Gallop to harass. Our forward issues will only be resolved next year.

How does that work when we had Rayner who DESTROYED the cats with his first half dominance?

 

[Elixuh]

How does that work when we had Rayner who DESTROYED the cats with his first half dominance?

The crooked VFL data nerds probably took ranking points away from him for the free kick goals.

 

[Dom PC]

The problem I see with Gallop is that he doesn't really seem to be a marking threat at all at AFL level yet (I'm sure he is better at VFL level). That is a big reason why Morris got his games last year - he would clunk a difficult mark or two most games and be a goal threat.

Personally I'd prefer our key forwards to be Morris, Day and Big O. The main reason I think the Big O needs to come in is because if our midfield is struggling, the kick it long option is a valid one, with Oscar much less likely to be out marked compared to Gallop. It felt like vs Geelong Gallop wasn't strong enough to bring the ball to ground which is a big problem in evenly matched finals games.


I do think Gallop is a decent prospect, but he isn't AFL quality yet (Morris was last year).

 

[mattsmob]

The problem I see with Gallop is that he doesn't really seem to be a marking threat at all at AFL level yet (I'm sure he is better at VFL level). That is a big reason why Morris got his games last year - he would clunk a difficult mark or two most games and be a goal threat.

Personally I think I'd prefer our key forwards to be Morris, Day and Big O. The main reason I think the Big O needs to come in is because if our midfield is struggling, the kick it long option is a valid one, with Oscar much less likely to be out marked compared to Gallop. It felt like vs Geelong Gallop wasn't strong enough to bring the ball to ground which is a big problem in evenly matched finals games.


I do think Gallop is a decent prospect, but he isn't AFL quality yet (Morris was last year).

I think Gallop is less likely to be out marked than both Day and Oscar. He’s just physically able and willing to get to contests those other guys can’t. There were a couple goals against Geelong that he helped create just by getting to contests that we wouldn’t have with Day and Oscar.

I thought his impact was reasonable in a game where the midfield were beaten and the ball coming in was poor.

 

[Nathan Barley]

Bruce and Oscar for Day and Neale

 

[Nathan Barley]

Bit disappointed with no McKenna

Continuing with a very young team

 

[Elixuh]

Bit disappointed with no McKenna

Continuing with a very young team

McKenna just mustn’t be quite right physically