Preview AFL Round 21 - West Coast v Geelong, Subiaco, 5:40PM local (7:40PM AET) Saturday 17 August

[footscore]

Ok you're in the camp to keep playing Hawkins. Fair enough. What if he's ruled out on medical advice this week? How are you going to set up then?

I think we would then have to bring in Blicavs so he can help out West and just play Vardy and Pods as the two key talls but have Bartel push forward to assist with the marking until Chappy makes his return down there.

What do you reckon?
You want either Brown or Kersten I presume?

 

[Goggin Our Best]

Changes I would make (minimal as possible as the no.1 priority is for the team to be settled):

Out: walker (obvious one - has no impact in the ruck and its now the business time).
Stringer (not best 22 for business end)
In: west (despite what some are saying he is our most experienced and best ruck given injuries. Will compliment vardy which would be our best ruck set up. West needs valuable AFL game time to get into form).
T.hunt (been out of form but had a good game in the VFL and offers more than stringer).

No further changes required.

For the following game against Sydney I would bring chappy in (possibly for t.hunt if his form doesn't improve). I would not make any more changes until finals barring injuries. Only blitz to come in for west if he is not performing.

Couple notes:

- Hawkins: we know his story but he still kicks goals, takes the best defender and is a pretty good decoy. I also subscribe to CS and see why he is in - you CANNOT play kersten (0 games) or walker (7 games, can't kick etc) over a player with Hawkins' history in finals.

- varcoe: if we have to suffer a few games with not much return if it means travis finds form in time for first week of finals then I take that every day of the week. Varcoe is unfairly judged on these boards, yes he is out of form after missing 3 months but when on song he is one of our most important and damaging players. Keep him in and only drop if there are 0 signs of improvement by round 23.

- rivers: MUST keep in the team. A defensive structure with a genuine 3rd tall is a finals winning structure. Rivers can hold his own, allows Taylor to go forward and means we even better control the air. Also the teams we are most likely to meet have 3 big tall fwds.

- blitz: bring in should west or vardy drop out of form. Simple.

- smedts, thurlow, Murdoch, kersten, HS: thanks for the year and look forward to seeing you guys cement yourselves in the team in 2014. It is business time and your time will come.

Id prefer Josh Hunt -just a better allround footballer

But to all the Rivers supporters -this is his acid test ( and i dont think hes up to it) this week at Subiaco-fast track -Darling and Keenedy -quality forwards -plus Cox goes down there-it will be a high pressure game -the Eagles like every other team -would love to knock over Geelong

Looking at Rivers yesterday -he basically did nothing -not that he had much to do - i think hes a tad slow -lets see how he handles the pressure at Subiaco (if picked)

 

[footscore]

Looking at Rivers yesterday -he basically did nothing -not that he had much to do - i think hes a tad slow -lets see how he handles the pressure at Subiaco (if picked)

reckon he's a little harshly judged, only his 5th competitive match and 1st senior game since returning from a knee injury.
Like Poodle and Varcoe, he will take a few weeks to build on his form and gain match fitness at the top level.

Reckon he'll be given a good month to prove his worth for the team before the finals begin.

 

[Zuta]

Cowan.
Almost bog 3 weeks running, 20 possessions to half time the week before, 3 goals today,...and all you can say is "no chance" ....sorry you'd rather play that 7 possession superstar!!
If we play away first final you can blame guess who!

If the MC are that negative we deserve to lose that benefit!

Lol Cowan didn't kick 3, in fact he kicked none..

 

[Lana]

I thought that early on Vardy was really good; while he was beaten in the tap-outs they weren't to the other ports advantage, his second efforts once the ball hit the ground were really good and a few times he won the clearing running with the ball in hand through the middle of the ground. The problem was he couldn't keep it all all of the game. Kind of like Simpson in his first game. I would bring in West to give him a some help but i would have Vardy playing as the first ruck.

I thought that Walkers game showed heaps of promise. He moves to the right places despite missed a few marks that he should of taken. He also doesn't seem to back himself at this level, too often he took too long looking to hand pass the ball of to someone else. However with a few more games at afl level his confidence should grow. Even if he doesn't look like scoring many goals, his mobility would be an excellent addition to our team.

While Rivers didn't do much with the ball his importance structurally can't be undersold. Simply he free up Taylor to allow him to move into the forward line or to play loose man in defense which reminds me so much of Tom Harley its scary.

Hawkins body is shot this year; it seems like we are playing a man down when the other team has the ball, it really messes with our zone when the opposing team just runs around him like his isn't there and kicks it long. Podsiadly's year has been excellent. Has been playing really high doing almost enough running for the both of them. The only reason he has scored less goals this year than the last few is that he spends a lot less time in our forward 50. Simply we can't play 2 ruckmen while Hawkins is in his current condition

In hindsight Hawkins shouldn't have been playing. Since we beat hawthorn he should have rested him, we should have been testing other forward-line structures and combinations to find one that works. Now we have little time to prepare and experiemnt Back to the present I wouldn't play him till round 23 against Brisbane. This is the structure we should go with until then

Key defenders
Lonergan Rivers
Key Forwards
Podsiadly Walker
Ruckman
Vardy West
Utility
Taylor

 

[meto]

Lol Cowan didn't kick 3, in fact he kicked none..

No you're right but around BOG again!... in fact 5 of the boys kicked 3 goals, any one would be a good replacement to improve the team.
Knights is doing a great job for us no doubt.

Congrats Joel Corey 28 possessions, there's life in the old fella yet!

 

[FredLeDeux]

No you're right but around BOG again!... in fact 5 of the boys kicked 3 goals, any one would be a good replacement to improve the team.
Knights is doing a great job for us no doubt.

Congrats Joel Corey 28 possessions, there's life in the old fella yet!

Listed as our 5th best, not our bog.

 

[dymot]

Think we'll lose again.

 

[meto]

Listed as our 5th best, not our bog.

I think that's pretty much a random list....as I said 3 weeks running since comeback, 20 poss to half time the week before as quoted!....not bad for a twig!
Speaking of players halted by injury, still hasn't stopped him getting hands on the ball, typical tough Ballarat kid.

 

[FredLeDeux]

I think that's pretty much a random list....as I said 3 weeks running since comeback, 20 poss to half time the week before as quoted!....not bad for a twig!
Speaking of players halted by injury, still hasn't stopped him getting hands on the ball, typical tough Ballarat kid.

The list comes from the club and is intended to be in order.
Whether or not it's accurate or not is another question.
But I have not heard or seen a single report saying Cowan was our best.

 

[meto]

If you read closely you'll see clearly I stated "among the best", I think that's the why that list is constructed, it's not meant to be a one to five!
If you pay attention to our VFL results you shouldn't have any probs with Cowans extremely good and consistent form, unless you prefer to??

 

[Hoffy95]

No knock on Cowan meto but the list is intended to be 1-5. Same as every competition in the country that use Sportingpulse.

 

[FredLeDeux]

No knock on Cowan meto but the list is intended to be 1-5. Same as every competition in the country that use Sportingpulse.

Correct.
And no knock on Cowan from me, either.
And one of life's mysteries why comps continue to use that sportingpulse abomination.

 

[PatrickBateman]

Id prefer Josh Hunt -just a better allround footballer

But to all the Rivers supporters -this is his acid test ( and i dont think hes up to it) this week at Subiaco-fast track -Darling and Keenedy -quality forwards -plus Cox goes down there-it will be a high pressure game -the Eagles like every other team -would love to knock over Geelong

Looking at Rivers yesterday -he basically did nothing -not that he had much to do - i think hes a tad slow -lets see how he handles the pressure at Subiaco (if picked)

Apart from J.Hunt's defensive ability, which has proven to blanket the best smaller forwards over the years, he's averaging 15+ touches at 84% efficiency this year. That's 12 out of the 15 effective and I believe those stats account for him being sub at least once maybe twice. Sorry, it's ludicrous.

Chris Scott is showing deficiencies as a coach. Persisting with players who refuse to find form, and thinking he can fill our defence with midfielders to take dangerous, respectable smaller forwards. It's cost us games this year, I truly believe that.

 

[dazbroncos]

West and vardy to ruck. Hawkins won't travel as the plane time will do the back no favours. Kersten could be a swap for him or leave walker and let him play lead up hf.
Rivers to stay for structures. Josh hunt back in for stringer. Hyphen in for Mitch with concussion.
Would like to see Cowan as a sub at some point. Kid is a missile.
Where does chappy come in however...
Go Catters

 

[meto]

No knock on Cowan meto but the list is intended to be 1-5. Same as every competition in the country that use Sportingpulse.

Have to think that list is somewhat subjective so he's in the mix of top performers.
I haven't seen him of late, but like to think he's put a couple of kilos on since I saw him smashed in the seniors. Puts his head over the ball, and runs well, I remember Blitz commenting on his running ability, 'like he tries to take him on'!

 

[CatTricks]

this is the advantage of Rivers in the side, he'll be able to take Darling as Darling is quite a strong bloke...not quite a KPF but he certainly plays like one at times.
I like Mackie playing as a the creative runner from the back-line, very much like Milburn and Scarlett did for many years and then Lonergan will play on Kennedy. That will be a great battle imo, Lonergan is such an underrated defender, brilliant coverage and just so good at timing his runs and spoils.

Enright will watch a LeCras or we may put Guthrie on LeCras, Taylor Hunt could come into the side and play on Hill as it seems Varcoe will play the wing or half forward flank.

Taylor will control the air and also contend with Cox when he rests forward, if Lonergan is getting beaten by Kennedy then we can switch that particular match-up.

Agree with all this. IF Varcoe stays in the side, I hope they tell him to hunt Gaff all night.

 

[SleazySimon]

I've given up trying to pick a side. The worst AFL players arnt always dropped and the BOG VFL player is almost never picked.
Eagles have a good forward line, I can just imagine their smalls like wellingham and le cras kicking a few. I'd like to see some defensive minded players picked for this one.
I can't stand the nasty Perth crowd, I want to win this. Eagles will lift because its against us. Come on fire up boys!

 

[CF]

I don't see too many changes to the side that played Port. I can only see Stringer and Walker as possibly being dropped. I think they do need to try Vardy/West at some stage as the ruck duo. The problem with our good performing VFL side is that the jump to AFL still seems to be enormous. So while some guys have great VFL form some of them haven't been able to take that into the AFL at times.

CS did say on the Sunday FS that they were trying to play Varcoe into form, but he will be dropped if his form doesn't improve. So I took heart in that. This week Trav will need to bring it.

Cats can win this game of that I have no doubt. But it will be a good test for them.

 

[catempire]

On Smedts: I've seen him a few times in the VFL and he seems to try too hard to show that he's a class above. Tries to break three tackles and weave through traffic when sometimes the best option is the handball off to a player in better position. I can understand why he does it but someone needs to have a word to him and tell him to just focus on the basics.

 

[CF]

The team needs to treat this game as rehearsal just in case we end up having to travel to Paterson's Stadium to play Freo in the finals.

 

[candiehappy]

just reading the tea leaves - Selwood's turn to get suspended?

 

[Hoffy95]

Chappy is in the clear. Wonder if they'll risk him just yet. Big ask to bring him straight in against the Swans the week after though.

 

[Partridge]

- Hawkins: we know his story but he still kicks goals, takes the best defender and is a pretty good decoy. I also subscribe to CS and see why he is in - you CANNOT play kersten (0 games) or walker (7 games, can't kick etc) over a player with Hawkins' history in finals.

Tom Hawkins was held goalless in his last final. And his form and fitness prior to that game were way above what they are right now.

- varcoe: if we have to suffer a few games with not much return if it means travis finds form in time for first week of finals then I take that every day of the week. Varcoe is unfairly judged on these boards, yes he is out of form after missing 3 months but when on song he is one of our most important and damaging players. Keep him in and only drop if there are 0 signs of improvement by round 23.

Varcoe is nowhere near unfairly judged. He is unjustly praised far ahead of others, and unjustly selected in the seniors way ahead of all other players. Since he's been back in the team he's gathered 8, 4, 15, 8, and 7 disposals in his games. He's reached double figures ONCE.

At the same time, Smedts was dropped after last week. His stats for his 3 full games before being a sub were 15, 11, and 15. Two less games, one less possession.

- rivers: MUST keep in the team. A defensive structure with a genuine 3rd tall is a finals winning structure. Rivers can hold his own, allows Taylor to go forward and means we even better control the air. Also the teams we are most likely to meet have 3 big tall fwds.

Rivers has been touted all year as a mandatory component in our backline, even though we've managed to win an awful lot of games without him (including great wins over Hawthorn and Fremantle). One attribute agreed on in his favour is his experience and being more reliable than Mitch Brown. Rivers made a howler that handed Monfries a goal on Saturday worse than anything Brown has done this year. He also had 6 possessions for the match, which Brown has exceeded in all of his last 4 appearances. So while he might be the right guy for finals, Saturday wasn't the most conclusive evidence.

 

[Partridge]

I think we would then have to bring in Blicavs so he can help out West and just play Vardy and Pods as the two key talls but have Bartel push forward to assist with the marking until Chappy makes his return down there.

What do you reckon?
You want either Brown or Kersten I presume?

I think Blicavs is done for this year. If we're to be even vaguely competitive in the ruck from now on we need West AND Vardy. There are no other sane options.

Your last question is spot on. I'd prefer either Taylor and Pods forward, with Lonergan, Brown and Rivers playing in defence; or Pods and Kersten forward, with Lonergan, Taylor and Rivers in defence. We're playing a man down with Hawkins right now, unfortunately our match committee can't (or won't) see this.