Autopsy Marsh Community Series - Game 2, 2020: Collingwood v St.Kilda

[SaintersUnite]

With all due respect mate, I highly doubt your social media posts played any part in Longs game yesterday.

Marsh Cup 1 was his first full game at AFL level in that position so it's no surprise it took him a couple of games to get into it.

He was still solid enough last week and was best on ground at half time yesterday.

The coaches clearly see something there so let's give him time.

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Long played at half back against the Swans late last season.

 

[toxic]

You likely asked the question but couldn't match the amount the Dogs are paying him.

There was a big rumour that Pies were close to getting him after the 2018 season but the deal was called off after Beams wanted to come back to Victoria.

Such a good move too - not

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Harsh? His kicking is atrocious for an AFL player! Ratts has explicitly asked for better skills.
I like Dunstan as a person don't get me wrong, nothing personal. Hard ball gets and clearances ok. But he can't hit a target 20m away.
The only thing he is consistent with by foot is missing targets. Sorry people, truth hurts sometimes.

Bet you he plays round 1.

 

[plugger66]

Different kettle of fish against a full strength pies midfield.
Sure we were missing seb and gresh, but our inside mids will be our achillies heel again this year.




Did manage 12 possies in 50% game time though.
To me that suggests enough progress for ratts to continue the jason blake everyman experiment. (Unfortunately).

Seeing how much work king needs to do on his endurance, if I had it my way, this year I'd do with king what WC do with nic nat.

Which is- only play him ~50% of the game and have him on the bench the other 50%.

Nic nat come off the bench exploding with power and energy for WC- I'd much rather at this stage king running around full of energy for half a game than plodding around knackered for a full one.

Battle can play 50% of time king is on the bench at CHF and 30% of the game plugging holes elsewhere.

My opinion is strong on this. Only sides with good midfields can have a tall on the bench for half a game especially as dunstan and Steele are very limited to where else they can play. I really want battle to play but just can’t see a spot yet.

 

[plugger66]

I loved how grundy wasn't able to utterly destroy us for 5 minutes of every quarter against bruce or acres.

Was there any proof sides scored more when they ducked. Love to see some figures. Also last year when Bruce rucked we only had membery down there If for example Ryder didn’t play and battle rucked we would have membery and king down there. So the forward line would still have 2 marking players instead of one

 

[Jade Buddha]

My opinion is strong on this. Only sides with good midfields can have a tall on the bench for half a game especially as dunstan and Steele are very limited to where else they can play. I really want battle to play but just can’t see a spot yet.

Instead of Kent

 

[plugger66]

Bet you he plays round 1.

Of course he is playing round one. They didn’t recruit a replacement for a start so no one is pushing him out

 

[The_Steadier]

My opinion is strong on this. Only sides with good midfields can have a tall on the bench for half a game especially as dunstan and Steele are very limited to where else they can play. I really want battle to play but just can’t see a spot yet.

Good news is that endurance running is a major strength of steele and ross- they can (and have) played 85-90% time on ground every week, all year long.

Plus marshall, hill and battle as we know are endurance animals able to play high TOG every week.

Plus gresh and dunstan look to have lifted their ability to withstand more TOG.

So we save on rotations keeping those guys out there for longer- allowing us to do what WC do with nic nat- and bench king for half the game.

 

[plugger66]

Instead of Kent

Not sure he plays anyway but that would make our forward line to tall imo

 

[plugger66]

Good news is that endurance running is a major strength of steele and ross- they can play 85-90% time on ground every week, all year long.

Plus marshall and battle as we know are endurance animals able to play high TOG every week.

Plus gresh and dunstan look to have lifted their ability to withstand more TOG.

So we save on rotations keeping those guys out there for longer- allowing us to do what WC do with nic nat- and bench king for half the game.

Doubt it happens. King has played 82 and 70 % with 6 on the bench. Can’t see it dropping to 50% with 4 on the bench

 

[Jade Buddha]

Not sure he plays anyway but that would make our forward line to tall imo

Tall yes but Battle is as mobile as Kent IMO

 

[The_Steadier]

Doubt it happens. King has played 82 and 70 % with 6 on the bench. Can’t see it dropping to 50% with 4 on the bench

I didn't say it will happen.
I said if it were up to me that is how I would solve our battle problem.
Have he and king jobshare the same spot where battle is at CHF for the 50% of the time king is on the pine.

When king is on the ground, battle is off plugging holes elsewhere.

Win win- we get a fresh king jumping on blokes heads in Q4 and battle gets a decent chunk of time where he belongs as a key forward or back in the ones.... instead of being wasted at sandy or playing the whole game in the ones out of position as a winger etc.

 

[pebblesofsand]

Marshall/Ryder combo worked a treat - gave us dominance over arguably the best ruckman in the league. With our mid tier midfield that sort of outcome is invaluable and without it we'd never have won the game yesterday.

Some people argue that Ryder did nothing forward - well Lonie kicked 4 goals and he didn't get them by taking screamers over Jeremy Howe - someone had to be there contesting the mark and making sure the ball came to ground.

Assuming King plays like he did yesterday - then Battle at best will be on the bench - anything more than that will upset what is clearly a better structure than what we had last year.

 

[Harvey to Hayes]

[QUOTE="PoppedCorn, post: 64570143]

And im not confident on hanners at all
Seriously all jokes aside from the last fortnight i was expecting to see him not dominate but be quite involved and was a little disappointed tbh
Obviously taking it slow but apparently its been his best preseason in years, although i dunno how with a foot injury


Selection night is going to see some massive melts lol


Edit then u look at the stats and see hanners actually did ok
18
9 contested
A goal
Some clearances
All from 62% game time

Tbh i dont notice alot of the stuff he does
Just watch the man make a decision and kick the football- it's poetry.

He is the best kick in our team, better than hill

I don’t like Hanners’ moustache it’s gotta go, everything else is exemplary (except his hammies)

 

[bird_man]

Perhaps you need to reread what i said or are you suggesting i am social media.

Long has been ordinary his entire career with flashes of what he can do from time to time. It's easy to swing things out of context to suit an argument but come on be honest we are riding a high and expect good things from the team. Long played well yesterday and lets hope his form continues.

I don't think I need to re read. I got it the first time. Whether you are referring to your social media posts or the general public, I highly doubt it played any role in him lifting his game from his first to his 2nd in the back line.

Almost as laughable as your suggestion he's being gifted games because he's black .

Think it has more to do with the coaches backing him all pre season and not throwing the toys out of the cot after one average pre season game.

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[bird_man]

Agree but it makes far more sense for king to be the one sitting on the bench for 50% of the game, not ryder- as he is the one struggling to run out games.

Disagree as King is at least having an impact up forward.

He will still get significant time on the bench when Ryder is rucking and Marshall is forward but I'm not sure he needs half a game there.

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[AirWinmar]

Harsh? His kicking is atrocious for an AFL player! Ratts has explicitly asked for better skills.
I like Dunstan as a person don't get me wrong, nothing personal. Hard ball gets and clearances ok. But he can't hit a target 20m away.
The only thing he is consistent with by foot is missing targets. Sorry people, truth hurts sometimes.

Did you miss seeing all the targets he hit yesterday? Agree he want drafted for his sublime foot skills, but to say he cant hit a 20mt kick is over the top. He seems to be hitting quite a few targets to me though although thankfully he isnt trying to hit 40mt darts, which he would be likely to miss a few

 

[Geary Is GOAT]

I didn't say it will happen.
I said if it were up to me that is how I would solve our battle problem.
Have he and king jobshare the same spot where battle is at CHF for the 50% of the time king is on the pine.

When king is on the ground, battle is off plugging holes elsewhere.

Win win- we get a fresh king jumping on blokes heads in Q4 and battle gets a decent chunk of time where he belongs as a key forward or back in the ones.... instead of being wasted at sandy or playing the whole game in the ones out of position as a winger etc.

The thing is the 'Battle problem' is only a problem if you're trying to force Battle into the side.

I think Battle has tons of potential and lots of talent already but not enough to build a forward line around him and especially not enough to reduce King's TOG from 70-80% down to 50%.

We have guys on our list that can play the same role as him and not take TOG from King and for me that means they play in front of Battle.

 

[bergholt]

I'd love to see stats of centre clearance plus/minus when Dunstan's in the middle vs when he isn't. I reckon his bash and crash is crucial to us winning first possession, even if his kicking and composure are sometimes in question.

 

[The_Steadier]

The thing is the 'Battle problem' is only a problem if you're trying to force Battle into the side.

I think Battle has tons of potential and lots of talent already but not enough to build a forward line around him and especially not enough to reduce King's TOG from 70-80% down to 50%.

We have guys on our list that can play the same role as him and not take TOG from King and for me that means they play in front of Battle.

Battle will be a great risk of being elsewhere in 2021 if he plays at sandy a lot this year I think.

It would be tom lynch to the crows all over again

 

[Ducky Tie]

Bruce and Marshall kicked 44 between them last year. I’ll be surprised if we can’t get that many between Marshall, Ryder and King this year.

 

[Squirtles]

Incredible his disposal compared to last week. Like chalk and cheese. Seeing as i don't watch Port games i am leaning towards last week being an abberation. If that's the case we have a geniune quality KPD without weakness.

I still see a spot for Brown in the team when we are to play teams like Richmond or West Coast however if Howard keeps this up Browns number is up.

Reckon it would have been nerves playing with a new side for the first time, as a SA saints man I’ll have a lot of angry Port mates at work tomorrow haha

 

[Geary Is GOAT]

Battle will be a great risk of being elsewhere in 2021 if he plays at sandy a lot this year I think.

It would be tom lynch to the crows all over again

I agree but that isn't reason enough to play him (and in my opinion) damage the balance of the side.

If he spends the first 5 weeks at Sandy and kicks down the door playing HFF then bring him in, but if he needs to be playing minutes as a key forward at Sandy to be effective then i just don't see room for him as our injury free list currently stands.

 

[AirWinmar]

My opinion is strong on this. Only sides with good midfields can have a tall on the bench for half a game especially as dunstan and Steele are very limited to where else they can play. I really want battle to play but just can’t see a spot yet.

We just smashed the pies midfield with 2 of our best out and belted the Hawks mids including Tom Mitchell, Worpel and Jaeger so we should be ok then. Only preseason of course. Steele looks to have worked on his fwd game and Dunstan on his spread so hopefully they add more value to rotating to wing or hff

 

[plugger66]

Marshall/Ryder combo worked a treat - gave us dominance over arguably the best ruckman in the league. With our mid tier midfield that sort of outcome is invaluable and without it we'd never have won the game yesterday.

Some people argue that Ryder did nothing forward - well Lonie kicked 4 goals and he didn't get them by taking screamers over Jeremy Howe - someone had to be there contesting the mark and making sure the ball came to ground.

Assuming King plays like he did yesterday - then Battle at best will be on the bench - anything more than that will upset what is clearly a better structure than what we had last year.

Ryder get an easy pass mark if he only has to make a contest as a forward. Surely he also has to kick goals. So far he has had one shot at goal in 2 games.