Preview Gold Coast Suns v Adelaide Crows, Saturday 16th of March, People First Stadium, Gold Coast, 7.40pm Adelaide time.

[cleanhands]

Nicksy just dealing with the water bottle that is Jake
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That’s impressive

 

[Jeffcrowe]

Both Hinge & Max are capable of playing on mid sized forwards & Worrell can handle 2nd tall.

Agree

 

[Coopers]

All the negativity around Scholl, I think he has come into the preseason really well. Yes he will fatigue and his form will drop and in turn need to be dropped, but that's fine in a squad of players. Some guys start strongly and fade, some start and then fade and then come back, some are troopers.

It's only cos he's had some awful games, with worse moments.
The news in the preseason was that he's done well, so maybe he will have a breakout season.

Clearly the coaches think he's been good enough, so good luck to him.

There are a few guys who are vying for those last 2 spots, so hopefully some of them step up and make them their own.

 

[Jeffcrowe]

I reckon sub should be the player on the way out.
Last chance for them to make an impact.
Bringing an inform player in to get half a game doesn’t seem ideal to me.

I’d prob go a guy we don’t really want in the team but commits to the sub role well and performs it well

Someone like Ned who I wouldn’t pick in starting 22 unless we had lots of injuries , has some decent form as sub

Sholl is another I don’t really want in starting side but would be happy as sub

Guys that can torch people late in games with their running

 

[Jeffcrowe]

Wonder if we’d even swing Burgess back in the last depending how hes going up forward?

Might need him forward I’d say

 

[Jeffcrowe]

Doubt Hinge will be the sub because we need a 7th defender... so would mean pushing Jones back into defence.

It's either Murphy or Soligo if we are looking to manage him.

Maybe Jones is planned to play in defence , they have a few dangerous smalls

 

[GreyCrow]

The only other real option is probably Crouch if they decide to have a plan

That would mean Crouch running at near 100% until he is subbed off.

I can't see it

 

[FR0GGY]

Might need him forward I’d say

Not with Rankine kicking 6 and fog 8

 

[Thylacinus]

Even though down at three quarter time, if Carlton run over the top of Richmond as I suspect, it will certainly only further confirm our decision of not taking somewhat injured older players or underdone players to the Gold Coast.

 

[Burtonsgottago]

Another one who had an interrupted preseason.

Doesn’t mean he should play

 

[FR0GGY]

Even though down at three quarter time, if Carlton run over the top of Richmond as I suspect, it will certainly only further confirm our decision of not taking somewhat injured older players or underdone players to the Gold Coast.

Isn’t that what soligo is?

 

[Golumless]

So it seems like Soligo is the sub.

Looks like we're reliant on our outside mid this week and Fog going nuts with Tex out.

 

[Thylacinus]

Isn’t that what soligo is?

I would still back Soligo in to run rings around Dusty Martin fitness wise.

 

[Golumless]

All the negativity around Scholl, I think he has come into the preseason really well. Yes he will fatigue and his form will drop and in turn need to be dropped, but that's fine in a squad of players. Some guys start strongly and fade, some start and then fade and then come back, some are troopers.

I actually back the idea of using the squad effectively and rotating players. We might even move to a model of rotating Laird and Crouch throughout the season, giving these players rests across certain games so they can go harder for longer.

We've been here before with Sholl where he's had a good preseason, then fades as the year goes on. Equally there wasn't much to say he's solved his Achillies heel in the offseason which is he lacks strength.

I get why coaches would like Sholl. As a winger, the upside is there as he'll run all day, flashed a good amount of accumulation in what can be an inconsistent position to do so and is always willing to change the angles and look inside. He'd be a damn fine winger if he had a solid contested game and could reliably defend.

Nah, we won't move to a model where we rest Crouch or Laird. Too important, especially when the only day that matters in football is today. We may move to one where we're willing to give them limited midfield minutes against the puss of the league though.

 

[AFC979810]

It's a very safe side really, no risks being taken to try and accelerate the rebuild. Sticking to the known players injury permitting

Rebuild is done. Its time to start winning.

 

[Golumless]

Rebuild is done. Its time to start winning.

Bingo.

Any notion of us "'rebuilding" ended once Jordan Dawson broke out as an elite midfielder.

Mind you, a rebuild isn't about risks. It's just about purposely kneecapping your list to allow a side to be shit to get top tier draft picks and building a core of players . A coach knows their list, what they want to do and who they like. The notion of "try this kid out, who knows if he'll be good" is just straight up nonsense. If they were good enough to demand it, they'd be lighting up.

 

[Scorpus]

Rebuild is done. Its time to start winning.

A rebuild being done before we make finals* is certainly ambitious

*our side is made up entirely of players available to us last year (except Burgess)

 

[ams4crows]

Anyone else concerned we don't have any small lock down defenders for other teams pacy small forwards??

 

[Sanders]

Rebuild better be done. Its time to start winning.

Correction

 

[Scorpus]

Bingo.

Any notion of us "'rebuilding" ended once Jordan Dawson broke out as an elite midfielder.

Mind you, a rebuild isn't about risks. It's just about purposely kneecapping your list to allow a side to be s**t to get top tier draft picks and building a core of players . A coach knows their list, what they want to do and who they like. The notion of "try this kid out, who knows if he'll be good" is just straight up nonsense. If they were good enough to demand it, they'd be lighting up.

Our current core as it stands right now is made up almost entirely of players we had before the rebuild, and Dawson

Our starting midfield is O'Brien, Laird, Crouch (all pre-rebuild players) and Dawson. Our two main KPFs are Walker and Fogarty (pre-rebuild). Our KPDs are Butts (pre-rebuild) and Murray (SSP)

Seven of our eight leadership group players are pre-rebuild

We simply have not finished transitioning our top draft picks we "purposely kneecapped" the side for into core players. Thilthorpe is currently our third tall forward, we've got Pedlar and Rachele in largely fringe forward roles, Curtin, Cook and Edwards can't make the team, Michalanney is a back pocket and Soligo (who we contracted for 6 years) is firming as the sub

So far the rebuild has mostly been adding players around the edges of what we already had, not transitioning the core.

The rebuild won't be done until the players we rebuilt for make the team theirs

 

[dylan123]

As an fyi, the sub no longer has to come from the bench.

 

[ABAB]

A rebuild being done before we make finals* is certainly ambitious

*our side is made up entirely of players available to us last year (except Burgess)

Rebuild is done when you contend for Finals so we are probably a few years ahead given this was a total rebuild and was always going to take longer than the usual rebuild timeframe, the only unknown is Walker as he is still a very important player and is near retirement.

 

[ABAB]

Anyone else concerned we don't have any small lock down defenders for other teams pacy small forwards??

MM played the lockdown defender on the opposition quick small forwards while also provided offense.

 

[Danger in Texas]

Anyone else concerned we don't have any small lock down defenders for other teams pacy small forwards??

Doesn’t Michalanney basically play that role?

 

[adelaidecrows]

Its really hard to gauge exactly where the first team sits for quality in comparison to other variations. So Im going to not make a judgement just yet. Ultimately a winning team is a good team. The loss of Walker is the most interesting. It will be the first real opportunity Nicks has to test a post Walker forward line line up...sadly without Thilthorpe.