Prediction Changes: Round 11 Vs Port Adelaide + pre-match discussion

[Madas]

There's no way Acres is getting dropped.

I feel Aish has a far greater impact forward of centre and he's been played defensively.

Conca's punishment period needs to end he's been a consistent lockdown defender bar a couple of games. I'd back him in to return and make an impact.

Does Conca take Robbie Gray ?

 

[Madas]

Without Butters and Duursma (and seems like its touch and go if Fantasia makes it back from injury this week), just a little bit of polish and excitement comes off their style of play and missing Lycett leading their ruck they have to grind it out with their mids a bit more, and it gives us a chance to cause an upset.

Still think Port are a Top 4 team but we get them on a bit of a lull having lost their last one at home and just scraping over the line against the Pies.

You’ve got me interested
With those outs I reckon we should be competitive but the mind crowd will probably get them over the line

 

[Madas]

Just need to keep out of the way of their idiot full forward, he like to injure people.

Can’t stand him
Hopefully Logue can sort him out

 

[Madas]

Dockeroo, you are spot on with your summary, Acres is soft as butter and i would much rather see Blakely on the wing
Also think if we had our full back line playing Griffo would be great on the wing given his size , leg speed and attack on the ball

Connor is too slow for the wing role and disposal, fast decision making not great .
Saying that I think he could bring some grunt and tackling to this game which would give us an advantage against a fast running side like Port . Acres will stay in . Is soft but contributes enough to keep his place

 

[Bring back Drum]

Port can have form slumps throughout the season, usually towards the end. I feel like our players are starting to get a feel for the way the coach wants them to play, unfortunately without the scoreboard impact.

Hopefully we can put scoreboard pressure on them & there might be a surprise result on the cards if Port are just marginally off.

 

[Freomaniac]

Out: Tabs
In: Brayshaw

Fyfe forward more to keep Aliir busy who has been a beast lately.

Too risky atm to make any more changes forward when we have our real only goto play out.
Watson still better than Duman in my opinion and will be better this week.
Meek still a chance though so Darcy can go forward, but I would rather our mids get silver service from Darcy so the ball is in our possession and getting to our forward half first.

i am keen for Tobe Watson to play up forward

 

[UYD 4 Life]

Regarding acres - you're favoured and best 22 until you're not. People didn't see Conca being dropped before it happened.

My current preffered order of wingers would be:
Hill
Cerra
Aish
Acres
Bewley
Giro

So for now I'd go with Aish and Cerra as my 2 main wingers with Brayshaw, Mundy, Walters, Henry rolling through there when they need a rest.

If/when western comes in he's another who can roll through there

Bring Duman in if you need another defender to replace Aish

 

[theGav56]

Every week I see posters defending Acres then every game day he drives everyone crazy and there are calls to get rid of him.
I’m in the latter camp. I think he is soft, a poor disposer of the ball by foot and even sometimes by hand (handballs to players feet etc though to be fair he’s not alone there), and is not a guy you could ever count on in the trenches in a finals-like dogfight of a game. I have yet to see Acres diving full length to smother an opposition kick like most of our other players do when they are up and about (including role players like Crowden and Switta). He is a big body who floats around getting touches that are not impactful in the main, with the odd exception.
Every now and again there are flashes of ability - when he breaks forward after a quick turnover sometimes he looks good but then you cannot trust his disposal by foot. Plays midfield but barely ever kicks a goal, not sure if he has ever kicked a goal for freo (again not alone as most of our mids are a bit shy kicking goals). Good wingmen regularly chip in with goals.

I don’t think he would get a starting place on any team outside the bottom 5 or so sides. Ed Langdon had his flaws but is a much superior player and has improved his kicking a lot this year.
Someone said Longmuir likes him and would never drop him. That might be true on the evidence of 2021. However that says more about the deplorable state of Fremantle's alternative wing options than anything else.
Who is putting pressure on Acres?
Bewley - hasnt been sighted in 21 due to injury and hardly a world beater anyway - a 4th round mature age pick.
S Hill - Acres wouldn’t be worthy of tying the shoelaces of peak Stephen Hill but chronic injury has ensured those days are sadly over.
Giro - appears to be a WAFL level player at best, another rookie draft pick who is surely getting the chop at the end of the year.

We have players like Aish, Tucker and even Cerra being shoehorned into wing positions for various periods despite not being natural wingers (or not wanting to play there).

A bunch of others are either kids with no tanks or injured - Frederick, Henry, Walker Western fit in this category.

So in summary, this might be very unpopular but I think Acres is one of the weakest players in the side but we won’t be dropping him as there is literally no one else. At age 26 he is what he is now and won’t really change or improve much. I’m sure he’s a nice fella off the field and I don’t like being too critical of lads but from a footballing point of view, when you consider the standard required to win a flag (which is what we all want) I don’t rate him.

Bollocks. Not particularly defending Acres, more just reacting to the out of whack criticism. Plus you have sprinkled in nonsense ideas like there is ‘literally no one else’ to justify yourself.

Acres isn’t simply playing every week, he is best 22, demonstrated by the coach routinely selecting him. Oh, and the small detail of actively pursuing him in the Hill trade.

And you clearly love being critical of Acres, relish it, and indulge more criticism about him than any other poster. Go for it. But rationalizing about his selection is ridiculous. Longmuir just doesn’t agree with you.

 

[Purple Jesus]

This round is fast becoming a favourite of mine. Love what the AFL are doing to bring awareness to culture. Government and education should be taking notes. It’s a disgrace that it wasn’t (hopefully it is now?) taught in schools.

 

[Dockeroo]

Bollocks. Not particularly defending Acres, more just reacting to the out of whack criticism. Plus you have sprinkled in nonsense ideas like there is ‘literally no one else’ to justify yourself.

Acres isn’t simply playing every week, he is best 22, demonstrated by the coach routinely selecting him. Oh, and the small detail of actively pursuing him in the Hill trade.

And you clearly love being critical of Acres, relish it, and indulge more criticism about him than any other poster. Go for it. But rationalizing about his selection is ridiculous. Longmuir just doesn’t agree with you.

Didn’t say you had to agree with me. It’s a opinions forum and opinions are like aresholes - we have all got one.
I have nothing whatsoever against any freo player. Just articulating the footballing reasons and backing them up with evidence as to why I don’t rate him.
Would be delighted if he proved me wrong but I doubt it.

 

[Freoforever86]

I feel like if Taberner doesn’t get up, meek needs to come in.
Lobb and Treacy will get easily outclassed by Ports talls, similar to the essendon game. so the extra tall forward is probably needed unless wet.
A lockdown back pocket is clearly needed too.

In - Brayshaw Meek Conca
Out - Crowden Tabs Watson

Ryan Cox Conca
Wilson Logue Tucker
Acres Fyfe Cerra
Walters Lobb Colyer
Treacy Darcy Henry
Meek Mundy Brayshaw
Serong Aish Switta Shultz

Blakely Sub again, though i wouldn’t be upset if him and Acres flipped

 

[E Shed]

Think Henry will make a terrific winger once he’s strong & fit enough. He’s so creative & elusive & has shown he can take a contested mark on the lead to provide an outlet from defense.


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[Joao]

It's where we've been playing him

He's just been filling in midfield in general as per the injury. I don't think we are playing him on the wing for any large stretches and nor should we. Doesn't have the key attributes for it.

 

[Taylor]

Blakely can play as the skinny side winger just fine. That player who impacts the contest once it's spilled outside of the initial ruck tap. I don't think he would be the player we want breaking out with the ball and kicking inside fifty - but he should be able to handball to one of our stoppage mids following up with a second effort as they then kick sideways to the fat side winger or half back on the other side.

 

[FreoMatt]

There has to be someone, ANYONE, who could replace Acres. Bring back Conca and move Tucker up to the wing? Acres has No power in the contest whatsoever. Very ordinary disposal by foot. Always fumbles when there any hint of contact.
Crowden has been a whipping boy and was poor in the games before this, but give me 10 Mitch Crowdens before Acres.

I know he won’t be back until
after the bye, but I would love to see Young play on a wing rather than HB. With his penetrating kicking, run and overhead marking he could dominate. Not sure how big his tank is but he’s got the build to have good endurance


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[FreoMatt]

I’m confused at how people can say bringing in Meek would help forward structure tbh. He looked ordinary anywhere but the ruck at AFL level so much so Longmuir thought he was better off playing Meek 50% of game time rather than rest him forward.

There’s more to being a forward than being tall. Treacy to me looks a very good prospect forward for an 18 year old.

I’m not for drafting spud talls in the MSD just for depth but it’s been done to death how urgent it is for the club to add quality KPF prospects at seasons end. Goes without saying that is a topic for the list management thread.

As for this week’s changes if Taberner goes out we bring a midfielder in (Brayshaw or Blakely depending on Brayshaws fitness) and we see extra forward minutes from Fyfe, Mundy and Walters.

I think they’re think bringing Meek in allows Darcy to go forward more often, he’s done ok when going forward this year. But I agree with Lycett out do we need two rucks, Treacy can give Darcy a chop out when needed. I would also like to see Blakley given a full game


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[FreoMatt]

He played there as a junior so it isn't foreign to him but I think he'll go back to the midfield once we get a few defenders back from injury.

I think Tucker is doing well at HB but one thing as a mid is he always finds
It hard to get a heap of ball. I don’t know if that is because he is more defensively minded but he would regularly put up games with 10-15 possies interspersed with better games. A good mid should be getting it 20-25 times every week, so maybe he is better off at HB where the ball finds him


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[freo1997]

How long will Port Adelaide players be in isolation? This could help us a bit.

 

[Taylor]

How long will Port Adelaide players be in isolation? This could help us a bit.

They will produce a negative covid-19 test and be back at work near immediately.

 

[arsesmart]

How long will Port Adelaide players be in isolation? This could help us a bit.

It'd be good if the Pies are willing to share a little IP on how they played against Port given the connections our coaches should have there. They went alright.

 

[Alota]

I think they’re think bringing Meek in allows Darcy to go forward more often, he’s done ok when going forward this year. But I agree with Lycett out do we need two rucks, Treacy can give Darcy a chop out when needed. I would also like to see Blakley given a full game
Lynette not included in the latest injury list for Port

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[Alota]

Lynette not included on latest injury list

 

[GingerDocker]

Lynette not included on latest injury list

Pretty sure he's still suspended

 

[Square Peg]

They will produce a negative covid-19 test and be back at work near immediately.

The logic of making people quarantine for fourteen days and get tested on day 11 in other circumstances of close exposure seemingly not applicable to players on a plane with a case.
McGowan"s head will be spinning at the permutations

 

[showemhowtorock]

what's the earliest round young can come back?