Changes Vs Scum

[Kangalicious]

I reckon you have to take Watt's performance last week in conjunction with this week. He was horrible last week, and while he did a good job stopping Welsh I don't know if it enough to save him. He offers nothing going the other way.

Lower stopped a very dangerous Dogs rebounder and while he missed the shots on goal, the fact that he got himself three in his first game back in the seniors has to be a good thing not a bad thing. Plus he is 21 and a part of our future. Most people flame Laidley for bringing a young guy back and then dropping them when they don't perform - Ed did perform.

The thing is Lower's favour is that he can do the same kind of job on one of the rebounding Blues players (they had plenty last week) or move into the middle or back.

They thing is Watt's favour is it gives us more tall defenders which allows us to release Spud up the ground (although I think that can still happen without Watty)

I don't think either call will win or lose us the game, but Watt is not consistently at a high enough level to demand a spot, Ed did a good job and is potentially a bigger part of our future so I would go Ed

If McIntosh comes back presumably that frees up Petrie to go back, which presumably frees up Firrito, so Watt could easily be dropped. Which would leave Lower in.

 

[The Zebra]

If McIntosh comes back presumably that frees up Petrie to go back, which presumably frees up Firrito, so Watt could easily be dropped. Which would leave Lower in.

I was a massive Petrie for CHB man at the start of the year, but I think we would be mad to take him out of the ruck role now. And it is much harder to push up to a relief ruck role from CHB compared to doing it from a forward position.

I think if Hamish comes in it will be largely in a forward role (replacing Thommo) and he and Hale will share relief ruck duties. At least until Hamish gets a couple of games under his belt, but if Drew continues on with his form Hamish would probably play the relief ruckman role for the rest of the year.

 

[Kangalicious]

I was a massive Petrie for CHB man at the start of the year, but I think we would be mad to take him out of the ruck role now. And it is much harder to push up to a relief ruck role from CHB compared to doing it from a forward position.

I think if Hamish comes in it will be largely in a forward role (replacing Thommo) and he and Hale will share relief ruck duties. At least until Hamish gets a couple of games under his belt, but if Drew continues on with his form Hamish would probably play the relief ruckman role for the rest of the year.

All of which is fair enough, and Watt may well be dropped on the basis of the previous week, but he has been pretty solid this year, and if Firrito is to play further up the ground, we're running out of options, given the precarious situation with Pratt's shoulder.

I don't have an argument with Lower playing ahead of Watt on the basis of the future, but he's a different sort of player (cue half dozen posts slagging off Watt) and it will depend on the sort of set-up Laidley wants.