News Changes for Showdown

[Quadzilla]

Re: Pearce dumped for showdown

We have no idea what has been expected of Kane in the first three rounds. If Primus believes he hasn't delivered on those expectations then he is right to drop him. It is as simple as that.

... not picked for Glenelg, 5CC said ( i think) ... alluded to Kane 'tired' and needing a break???

 

[Powerstufff]

Re: Pearce dumped for showdown

Am I the only person who didn't mind what I saw in O'Shea against the Cats? He looked like he knew how to move in congestion which is impressive for a big man......

O'Shea is average size at best and assuming we are talking about the same player yes you are the only one. For some reason he was sent up forward a good part of the game and forget any idea of competitiveness, I reckon he was outmarked at least six times from behind. Not even nudged out of position, just a gentle "Excuse me while I reach over you".

Pearce is being punished for not running harder to be on the recieving end of posession....

Pearce is fast, tough for his size, a good extricator of the ball in congestion, and a complete waste afterwards. He runs into trouble needlessly and mostly fluffs it or passes to a teammate already under pressure. He does have the occassional shot at goal which puts him ahead of Kane Cornes at that point but this year he misses.

 

[Waspy79]

Re: Pearce dumped for showdown

O'Shea is 197cms according to the very reliable source that is FanFooty. That is large.

 

[Waspy79]

Re: Pearce dumped for showdown

Pearce is fast, tough for his size, a good extricator of the ball in congestion, and a complete waste afterwards. He runs into trouble needlessly and mostly fluffs it or passes to a teammate already under pressure. He does have the occassional shot at goal which puts him ahead of Kane Cornes at that point but this year he misses.

Are you sure you aren't talking about Rodan? Pearce is not tough and not good at winning his own ball in congestion, but is at his best afterwards when on the receiving end.

 

[The Slingshot]

Good start Matty, now keep going.

Keep the Bast@rds honest.

Don't care if we lose every game this year as long as a new(old) culture is instilled in the playing group.

Too many of our players are just going through the motions, even our good ones. This has got to be stamped out or they can just as well pi$$ off to the GWS and we'll take the draft picks thanks.

 

[Powerstufff]

Re: Pearce dumped for showdown

Are you sure you aren't talking about Rodan? Pearce is not tough and not good at winning his own ball in congestion, but is at his best afterwards when on the receiving end.

Waspy, it's a good thing we aren't on a live footy panel together.

 

[Tex200]

Hate to say it but I reckon thats about the best balanced side you have put out this year, looks pretty good on paper.

We have min. 6 out, with another 4 under a cloud. Will be one of the great Showdown wins if we can get up, but Im very doubtful.

 

[Waspy79]

Re: Pearce dumped for showdown

Waspy, it's a good thing we aren't on a live footy panel together.

If nothing else it would make for interesting listening

 

[Schulzenfest]

Re: Pearce dumped for showdown

I strongly agree with Waspy79 on this one too.

Will be one of the great Showdown wins if we can get up, but Im very doubtful.

Lol. You could have 20 players out and still probably beat us right now.

 

[Waspy79]

Hate to say it but I reckon thats about the best balanced side you have put out this year, looks pretty good on paper.

We have min. 6 out, with another 4 under a cloud. Will be one of the great Showdown wins if we can get up, but Im very doubtful.

Talking your own teams chances down never guarantees wins, but if I was you, go and place 100 large on Port for an 'each-way' bet.

 

[PJ Power]

Hate to say it but I reckon thats about the best balanced side you have put out this year, looks pretty good on paper.

We have min. 6 out, with another 4 under a cloud. Will be one of the great Showdown wins if we can get up, but Im very doubtful.

Our midfield still looks very sparse on any ball-winning talent, but I agree that the balance is starting to look better.

I don't know what to make of playing O'Shea, Paul Stewart and Pettigrew in the same team - I had them all ear-marked to play as medium/tall defenders. I suspect O'Shea will be used in a non-defensive role to take some pressure of him - possibly sub?

Otherwise I like what Primus has done, and would suggest that Rodan, Westhoff and Paul Stewart are on high alert that the same fate is around the corner for them if they fail to deliver.

Kane and Pearce had no influence on the first 3 games. Each had meaningless possessions and not enough of them, which is a change for Kane . More damningly, Kane had no defensive influence on matches and Pearce's laziness has been well highlighted. Kudos to the excellent post above comparing Pearce to Stephen Hill. That's the exact sort of running player we needed him to be, irrespective of tag status.

Daniel Stewart out was on the cards. Leaves us short in the tall dept, but we also look more dangerous. We can't wait and wait and wait for the one match where Stewart will take 5 inside 50 marks and kick 4 goals again. It may never come, based on his pathetic start to this year.

Davenport - a big meh. Play him against WCE and that's it IMO.

Irons - bit rough that O'Shea stays and he goes, but his form had been on the slide a bit. Hitchcock has been looking lively, albeit ineffective. The forward line will benefit from his run though.

 

[FishingRick04]

I noticed Pearceinthe Geelong game just din't run or take he game on. A player woul just stnd in fron of him and he looked to dish the ball off and tat was it.

I agre with others, 3 years we ave put up with crap, surely the same people can be plaed each week with the young ones dropped.

 

[Frank Spencer Clone]

Daniel Stewart out was on the cards. Leaves us short in the tall dept, but we also look more dangerous. We can't wait and wait and wait for the one match where Stewart will take 5 inside 50 marks and kick 4 goals again. It may never come, based on his pathetic start to this year.
.

I just don't get the love for this bloke on here. One brief flash of supposed potential in a couple of years is all we've seen. The rest of what he has produced has been so bad it is embarrassing. The fact he is even on an AFL list is a sad indictment on the club. Would be easily the worst player on the list not only now but since day one.
Surely now it must be pretty obvious this much vaunted ' potential ' is nothing more than empty lip service.

 

[PeacefulWarrior]

Well done Matty!!

Exactly what I was hoping for! This group has become lazy and uninspired and the lack of talent in the squad has made the old stagers think they can go out there and have a chimps tea-party and no ill effects will be felt.

Well now I hope its the A-bomb some of these blokes needed. Great work Primus, how about a bit less whinging and a bit more support for one of our favourite sons guys.

Like it or not, he's the coach and he's entitled to try and make his own impression, bit early to be thinking we all know better yet I would have thought

 

[BYZA]

Hi Frank, I am back this year to bring you back to earth .
You have had it in for this kid ever since he was drafted. I have a feeling you know him from his days at Labrador. I have been at the last 3 matches and I will give my biased opinion.

Stewie and Hitchy had full shoulder reconstructions at the end of 2010 and in turn has resulted in limited weight training and confidence building. Stewie was drafted as a forward but due to ruck limitations has had to rotate with Broges.

Round 1 You may not have seen on the TV but he made coutless leads and ignored. Totally outclassed in the ruck by Jolly as he is not a ruckman then again who hasen't been. Coaches play loose man in defence and he has 2 defenders on him in the forward line. Should have kicked 2.

Round 2 Very average game except for great mark and goal in the last qtr.

Round 3 Ignored again which deflates your confidence.

I expect he will rebound with a great North game this week if played only in the forward line.

Tredders said on twitter this week it is a confidence issue with him.

Lets hope he proves you wrong and we see an apology from you.

 

[finbarr]

I noticed Pearceinthe Geelong game just din't run or take he game on. A player woul just stnd in fron of him and he looked to dish the ball off and tat was it.

I agre with others, 3 years we ave put up with crap, surely the same people can be plaed each week with the young ones dropped.

Good evening sir. Take a deep breath and blow into this tube until i tell you to stop thanks....

 

[PeacefulWarrior]

Good evening sir. Take a deep breath and blow into this tube until i tell you to stop thanks....

hehe I was thinking the same thing. Or FR04 was typing with a keyboard that had half its keys missing

 

[Lightning_Rod]

lol rick u are a crack up

"drink posting, you bloody idiot!"

 

[Frank Spencer Clone]

Hi Frank, I am back this year to bring you back to earth .
You have had it in for this kid ever since he was drafted. I have a feeling you know him from his days at Labrador. I have been at the last 3 matches and I will give my biased opinion.

Stewie and Hitchy had full shoulder reconstructions at the end of 2010 and in turn has resulted in limited weight training and confidence building. Stewie was drafted as a forward but due to ruck limitations has had to rotate with Broges.

Round 1 You may not have seen on the TV but he made coutless leads and ignored. Totally outclassed in the ruck by Jolly as he is not a ruckman then again who hasen't been. Coaches play loose man in defence and he has 2 defenders on him in the forward line. Should have kicked 2.

Round 2 Very average game except for great mark and goal in the last qtr.

Round 3 Ignored again which deflates your confidence.

I expect he will rebound with a great North game this week if played only in the forward line.

Tredders said on twitter this week it is a confidence issue with him.

Lets hope he proves you wrong and we see an apology from you.

No, I don't know him from his days at Labrador. Yes, I don't rate him, and am probably pissed more by the fact he is keeping a genuine goal kicking, strong marking and tough forward in Salter out of the forward line ( and indeed the side ) simply on account of an extra 5 inches in height, which means naff all really.

I want to see more from him than a flash in the pan, before I change my attitude. That means 25 - 30 solid games and some sort of evidence he is a genuine show of holding down a key forward role and has some idea what he's doing. At the minute, he's sadly lacking in all of that.

IMO we stand to lose more if we persist with him and keep Salter kicking around at Woodville, where the Crows are circling like sharks ( if my sources are correct ) ready to snap him up if Taylor goes to GWS, than if we put him up for trade, maybe back to his home patch of Gold Coast for a couple of picks, and place Salter in the key forward role.

 

[TheFVK]

Kane is no doubt a favourite son of Port. That's why I view his omission as a real sign that Primus is taking action on his words and making the hard calls when necessary (and not necessarily the popular ones either, as evidenced by some negative reactions in this thread).

While his work ethic at training is an example to all fact is he adds nothing on the field currently as he is being played. He is the main reason why our lead-up play is so slow and stilted and I cannot ever remember him breaking the lines or running with the ball without visibly slowing and looking like he is preparing to kick a field goal for the wallabies. And it hurts me to say that as I have a lot of admiration for his willpower and who he is as a person battling with his own personal problems.

Dropping Pearce on the other hand... not having an on song Pearce really hurts. But he's not on song and has shown that he can react positively from a kick up the bum. Not drafted, BAM rising star winner. Dropped and lampooned in press, BAM most consistent and career best year. We'll now learn if he wants an AFL career bad enough to suck it up and work for it.

Whatever Primus' real competencies as a coach (and how much do we really know?) I know three things for sure:
1) He has made transparent his coaching philosophies (i.e. blood youth, play them for consecutive games and drop those out of form) and is being true to them
2) He has well developed pectoral muscles
3) He was the epitome of on-field leadership and makes those around him walk taller

Long term, sustainable on-field development every day of the week.

 

[CrimsonRaven]

I can understand people being upset that Kornes is gone, but how much is simply astonishment that a player who hasn't missed a game in 7 years is out?

Glad he's been dropped, even more-so Pearce, both need to learn how to be more damaging, more imposing on the game, need to be our match-winners, not the kinds of players they've both been the last few years.

Would like to see how O'Shea goes if out back line isn't bombarded every 20 seconds with long kicks to his position. If the rest of the team lift a bit, then I think our defense will a lot better.

After all, Carlile and Chaplin have also been getting a bit of a lash. I think a lot of it is simply poor defense around the ground leading to our defense being overwhelmed.

 

[King_Tredrea]

Kane has been very, very ordinary for a long time now. Pearce needs a reality check too. Ballsy move by Primus, and one that should be applauded by all our supporters.

 

[Jakko]

Well done matty!

Kane, for all his effort and dedication is a black hole when it comes to moving the ball with fluency and hasnt exacly been keeping his man quiet lately.

He will be back and hopefully plays tighter, and stops calling for the ball in situations that his skills cant get out of.

 

[Alberton_Magpie]

It seems like Primus just can't win here.

If he maintains the status quo of the last 3 years he gets blasted for being the second coming of Choco, but when he swings the axe, and rightfully so considering we are 16th after 3 rounds, he gets slammed for making ridiculous decisions!

Last week's effort after quarter time was pathetic. Heads needed to roll. They have. Music to my ears!!!

This

 

[Toots Hibbert]

Very happy to see a couple of senior players dropped. Shows that Primus is backing words with deeds.

Pearce has had it coming. Kane a little unlucky and I would have dropped Rodan instead but there you go. Daniel Stewart being dropped was also well deserved. We want more than cameos thanks. Hopefully he can go back to the SANFL and dominate.

Irons has had a taste of the big time which will be good for his development.

On paper this is a good side. But will they play to their potential or come off needing another kick in the arse?

Oh yeah I nearly forgot:-

Go Petters!!!