Snos

[Big Animal]

it's ross lyons cautious approach & maybe he is holding his cards closer to his chest than we think & doesn't want other clubs to know his plans for round 1

maybe this is his plan after all, our back line is looking good & has depth on most levels
in some ways it seems like anthony would be a better option to turn into a tall backman if we can cement silvani a spot into our forward line

either way it's good to have more options open & perhaps easing silvani into the new role might be easier on him in the wafl than the afl. not so much pressure before the season starts.

I agree. I have had the feeling that Ross has been holding his cards close to his chest in relation to a few players through the NAB. We all know that our forward line with even one injury becomes very concerning, particularly to a Pav or Bradley whereas the backline looks well backed up. Clarke is not there yet for a KPF role (all evidence to date shows he creates much more havoc in the midfield ala NicNat). Silvagni has played most of his footy in the backline but has forward potential. There is limited footage and reports on WAFL games and so it is the perfect opportunity for Ross to try him out as a goal kicker with no one (but us - and those reading BF) much the wiser. It the expt fails, nothing is lost and he returns to the backline where he is still primed to perform. It's a no loss scenario (unless he gets further injured but he could do that in R4 preseason).

Re: Mundy and Barlow. I think they were always going to be ready for R1 (maybe Mora too) and past games have shown these two can come straight in and perform immediately. They are coming off injury and so have been cottonwooled with absolutely no risks (it's not that I don't think the Barlow soreness call was a fake, it's just that I think Barlow is now always sore and will play anyway and that was just used as an excuse to leave him out). I expect both to line up against Geelong and have for a month or so now. I will be unhappy to be proven wrong though for obvious reasons.

I think Ross has used the preseason to push 2nd tier players up a notch and take responsibility for games, introduce part of the new game plan, with R1 to see the introduction of our best 22 (minus Lower-for which Ross has no influence). Ross knows we/he can't afford to start the season badly and I think we will come out hard in R1.