Willow

[Voice of Reason]

Originally posted by Black Thunder
I dont know about that one.

The majority of players (probably 75%) in any sport, prefer to know they are in team for a certain amount of time, regardless of the performances they come up with.

There are the occasional guys who love the pressure, and then there are some guys who just HAVE to have the pressure applied to them.


When we are talking about young guys, which Hansen is, however, it's almost always the best thing to put as little pressure on them as possible. He would already be under enough pressure as it is, playing his debut match against the defending premiers at their home ground (this is an example as if he were playing this weekend). Then if Woosha tells him, he must do something or else its back to the WAFL, it's just too much for a 20 year old in his first game of AFL football.

I concur with all of that about pressure to perform.

My tip this weekend is that Wilson or Lynch will play FF.

 

[Mead]

Hmm, I remember i knew absolutely squat about Hansen until I saw him this preseason- he looks pretty bloody good at training, so much so I thought he was basically AFL ready- contrast that with the preseason game he played against Hawthorn, where he didn't do anything good at all, and during the time he played FF, he frequently led under the ball- pretty much a definite sign of a youngster not reading the pace of AFL play correctly.

I'd like to see Willow this weekend, and I think the club will go down that path. Without Fido, we need at least one bona fide option who *can* kick a decent score. If we take a young'un like Doogs or Hansen, we're in a situation where unless they burst onto the AFL scene with flying colors and have an awesome debut game, we won't win. So yeah, go for the known goal kickers, in either Wilson or Lynch, and based on what the Ozz said about the latter, I don't think he deserves a game.

 

[Jabber]

Originally posted by Mead
Hmm, I remember i knew absolutely squat about Hansen until I saw him this preseason- he looks pretty bloody good at training, so much so I thought he was basically AFL ready- contrast that with the preseason game he played against Hawthorn, where he didn't do anything good at all, and during the time he played FF, he frequently led under the ball- pretty much a definite sign of a youngster not reading the pace of AFL play correctly.

I'd like to see Willow this weekend, and I think the club will go down that path. Without Fido, we need at least one bona fide option who *can* kick a decent score. If we take a young'un like Doogs or Hansen, we're in a situation where unless they burst onto the AFL scene with flying colors and have an awesome debut game, we won't win. So yeah, go for the known goal kickers, in either Wilson or Lynch, and based on what the Ozz said about the latter, I don't think he deserves a game.

I don't think we can judge Hansen on one game of leading under the ball (a pre-season one at that), lets not forget Willow was doing the same before he was dropped.
Willow is probably the safest option, but we should give Hansen at least one game at FF before the season is out - I'd hate to see him leave back to Victoria at the end of the season through lack of opportunity (his contract ends this season I believe).
His WAFL form shows he can play FF

 

[roostersgal4eva]

Originally posted by Voice of Reason
I concur with all of that about pressure to perform.

My tip this weekend is that Wilson or Lynch will play FF.

They'd both be good @ FF for you guys from an opposition supporter point of view - what took WCE (or any other team for that matter) so long to get Wilson is beyond me

@ least if Wilson's there, the commentators wont get confused

btw - i read on another board that phil matera isnt playing cause of injury, is that true or just a furphy

who'd ever thought that phil would be leading the goal kicking?

 

[Streaker]

At what point do we play these young players who are finding form in the WAFL?
Do we wait and play one every now and then off of the bench? Do we wait until we have enough games up our sleeve to play finals?

Do we wait until we are out of finals contention and then chuck them into the team to see what they have got?

Do we wait until we are up against a strong/weak team where we know we are going to lose/win and then give them a run?

I suppose that whilst you would like to reward players for good form you also don't want to upset the team balance by changing from a small forward line to a big forward line.

With Fido out we need to have a player up forward who can play defensively and lock the ball in. We need to keep the pressure on in the forward line and when we lose Matera we seem to lose this aspect of the game. The ball rebounds too easily and we are caught out. The Essendon game was a good example of this.

 

[Kenny_01]

Originally posted by Sera
Folks,

I was kidding. Look at Roger Hayden. If he had played only average that derby he would have been delisted and the Dockers would have lost a player who is now proving his worth. You can't judge a player on one game, it takes at least a few games for a player to gel with his team mates and understand how they play.

Connolly wouldn't have delisted him even if he had a poor game, it was just a tactic to get the best out of him.

Like earlier this year, Connolly said if this one player plays another poor game away from home, he won't travel again. There was no player singled out, it was just a tactic to get everyone to lift their game and what do you know, we got up by 83.

 

[jod23]

Id like to see Wilson back in the side but to not give Doogs a game would be criminal IMO. He has played really well at WAFL level and was an emergency last weekend. He surely must play.

With Matera and Gaspar out I would like to see this forward line.

Sampi Wilson Haynes
Embley Doogs Chick

Suppose we will find out tomorrow...

 

[Voice of Reason]

Originally posted by West Coast Stre
Do we wait until we are up against a strong/weak team where we know we are going to lose/win and then give them a run?

Wash your mouth out with soap and water.

There are no weak teams (need I mention a certain game last Sunday?) and we can beat anyone. It doesn't work like that.