Unofficial Preview Elimination Final Discussion

[dlanod]

LF preview writers since I didn't want to jinx anything, let me know!

 

[KissKiss]

Playing Berry inside mid can create a few issues.
You don't want two defensive midfielders in Dunkley & Berry along with Neale together for extended periods.
What happened during this time being R7-16. Dunkleys time dropped and so did McCluggage.
You could argue we won 6 of those 8 games with 1 draw & 1 loss.
Ashcroft returned in round 16 and Berrys % dropped to 35% with Ashcroft getting just 23% on his return game.
With Ashcroft back Berry pretty much was sole wing from R17.
Lions won 6 and lost 2 during this time

I think we just leave it to the coaches, but it will not surprise me if Berry gets some inside mid time but not guaranteed.


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Interesting to see how Rayner's CBA has gone up the last month of games by nearly double. Does this seem to align with a slight drop off in his form? I feel like his best form this year has been when he was only ticking through the middle around 15% of the time with most of the rest coming up the ground out of the 50

 

[Section 5]

Interesting to see how Rayner's CBA has gone up the last month of games by nearly double. Does this seem to align with a slight drop off in his form? I feel like his best form this year has been when he was only ticking through the middle around 15% of the time with most of the rest coming up the ground out of the 50

If we believe Fagan, Rayner has stints in the middle when he feels the time is right.
His yearly percentage average is 23% at CBA's so a little hard to gauge if he is playing better when more forward.
He is an impact player, so we just have to live with that until he becomes more consistently good.
In reality he has had a marginally better year than 2023. That's better than going the other way. It's been a slow upward ride.

His form may be relative to the opposition.
Rayners purple patch was Eagles, Swans, Suns & Saints also kicking 9 goals & 20 tackles in that period.
The media then had him as a $1 million plus PA player.
Then he dropped off the next 3 games Giants, Pies & Bombers with zero goals & 3 tackles in that time.
It is possible opposition coaches put more into containing Rayner after that purple patch

It would be great if he could string together another 4 good games this year.

 

[martinson]

If we believe Fagan, Rayner has stints in the middle when he feels the time is right.
His yearly percentage average is 23% at CBA's so a little hard to gauge if he is playing better when more forward.
He is an impact player, so we just have to live with that until he becomes more consistently good.
In reality he has had a marginally better year than 2023. That's better than going the other way. It's been a slow upward ride.

His form may be relative to the opposition.
Rayners purple patch was Eagles, Swans, Suns & Saints also kicking 9 goals & 20 tackles in that period.
The media then had him as a $1 million plus PA player.
Then he dropped off the next 3 games Giants, Pies & Bombers with zero goals & 3 tackles in that time.
It is possible opposition coaches put more into containing Rayner after that purple patch

It would be great if he could string together another 4 good games this year.

The Giants and Pies particularly put time into him. I wish people and then the media would just shut up about him every time he has a good game because it brought unwanted attention in games where we needed him to fire up.

Something else he has to learn to deal with. As you say it's been a slow upward ride generally with the ACL putting his progress back a couple of years.

 

[Perrip]

Doc is 1 inclusion for Carlton.

AFL team news: Docherty to return

 

[Grasshopper17]

Hard to take these clips seriously at times. They splice together whatever set of clips they like to try to tell the story. They have the bit at the start where we are doing badly and the wheels are falling off. Included in that bit is Joe's tired/lazy soccer off the ground that trickles out of bounds in the forward pocket.

The catch is that this event is from the last quarter of the St Kilda game where we're 70 points in front! So, believe whatever you want

 

[Squizz89]

It's a good game to show where the maturity of the group is at really. They're going to come out guns blazing and will probably get an initial adrenaline hit with the guys they (may) have returning. Unfortunately for them adrenaline can only sustain you for so long, and eventually the lack of match fitness/general carrying of injuries for a lot of their key guys should tell.

We basically need to hold up in the first half and then hopefully we should have the legs in the second. I'd be pretty disappointed if we didn't finish the game off strongly. If we are in the game at HT there really should be no excuses for our guys not to go on with the job.

 

[Grasshopper17]

Then he dropped off the next 3 games Giants, Pies & Bombers with zero goals & 3 tackles in that time.
It is possible opposition coaches put more into containing Rayner after that purple patch

It would be great if he could string together another 4 good games this year.

I'm absolutely certain the Giants were double teaming Rayner at times at the Gabba. Hard to tell when as fans we tend to get caught ball watching (well, I do a lot of the time), but that's how it felt to me on the day.

We can expect to see more of this during September, however long we last.

 

[Gadzorks]

I'm starting to feel excited. Damn, I'm peaking too early. I'll be a mess by Saturday

 

[Grasshopper17]

there really should be no excuses for our guys not to go on with the job.

 

[T Rick]

Doc is 1 inclusion for Carlton.

AFL team news: Docherty to return

Finding this hard to comprehend - I can't recollect anyone in the AFL ever coming back from an ACL so quickly.

 

[Lion_LegacyXL]

Dumb decision if he ends up reinjured.

 

[Helicon1]

Finding this hard to comprehend - I can't recollect anyone in the AFL ever coming back from an ACL so quickly.

risk v reward. BIG risk

 

[Nathan Barley]

Doc should play the long game. They'll be in finals next year and probably be in a better position to go all the way. He shouldn't be putting that at any risk

 

[Elixuh]

This is either going to turn out to be a shrewd vossy move or a crazy vossy move. Too early to say.

 

[Mr Ripper]

Finding this hard to comprehend - I can't recollect anyone in the AFL ever coming back from an ACL so quickly.

Libba snr, Greg Healy, Fridge Roberts, David Schwarz (shouldn’t have), and that’s before LARS was a thing.

 

[lionsrules]

The last time players came back this quickly was when the AFL players were having that LARS surgery that didn’t really do much help for them. More re injuries. But that’s more on the surgery than the time frame from memory.
Huge gamble still

 

[Grasshopper17]

Libba snr, Greg Healy, Fridge Roberts, David Schwarz (shouldn’t have), and that’s before LARS was a thing.

David Schwarz is the one I remember. He did his 2 or 3 times during the mid 90s. Seemed like he missed virtually 5 years when he should have been in his prime.

 

[Mr Ripper]

David Schwarz is the one I remember. He did his 2 or 3 times during the mid 90s. Seemed like he missed virtually 5 years when he should have been in his prime.

Tragedy for footy, that was. Have a look at the highlights of his Quali Final in 1994. Jaw-dropping.

 

[Lion_LegacyXL]

Could potentially be a Tom Dodee situation and reinjure himself in the captains run.

 

[Squizz89]

Happy for them to continue to name as many underdone players as possible. A lot of these guys have carried soft tissue injuries all year, so they're already going in mentally scarred by that no matter what anyone says. If you've carried an injury before or had a repeated injury that plays on your mind before you even get out there; Doc's case is heightened even more given he's coming back so soon, and not only that but to the place where he did it originally; Let's face it the Gabba hasn't been great on knees the past 12 months.

I also understand it from their point of view. They've really got nothing to lose in this game given they didn't expect themselves to be here, but I'm happy for them to take as many risks on underdone players as they want. We just need to be professional about this and get it done.

 

[janty]

Prediction? Payne.

 

[martinson]

Prediction? Payne.

He'll be playing.

 

[Chief]

 

[iBeng]

Crazy to risk Doc on this game imo

 

[Lion_LegacyXL]

Time for us to finally put together the finals series we've been waiting 6 seasons for. Tired of falling so close to a premiership year after year. Our last 2 finals series for the most part have been very mature and much improved on our previous finals campaigns. I want to see us put together 4 fantastic performances. We're more than good enough, we just need the maturity and poise to get the job done for 4 games.