NAB Cup Squads: Port V Brisbane

[ExpectToWin]

Port Adelaide v Brisbane Lions, AAMI Stadium, 2pm Saturday 11 March

Port Adelaide squad: Warren Tredrea, Darryl Wakelin, Steven Salopek, Gavin Wanganeen, Brendon Lade, Adam Thomson, Peter Burgoyne, Shaun Burgoyne, Aaron Shattock, Daniel Motlop, Danyle Pearce, Stuart Dew, Kane Cornes, Dean Brogan, Michael Wilson, Josh Mahoney, Brad Symes, Damon White, Domenic Cassisi, Toby Thurstans, Troy Chaplin, Brett Ebert, Nathan Lonie, Chad Cornes, Michael Pettigrew, Fabian Deluca, Jacob Surjan, Peter Walsh

Brisbane Lions squad: Michael Voss, Ben Fixter, Brad Scott, Tim Notting, Ash McGrath, Justin Sherman, Jason Akermanis, Richard Hadley, Mal Michael, Jonathan Brown, Jared Brennan, Anthony Corrie, Jamie Charman, Daniel Merrett, Justin Leppitsch, Wayde Mills, Joel Macdonald, Clark Keating, Troy Selwood, Robert Copeland, Cameron Wood, Jayden Attard, Michael Rischitelli, Daniel Bradshaw, Josh Drummond, Marcus Allan, Nigel Lappin, Scott Harding

Ins:
Wanganeen
Wilson
Wakelin
P.Burgoyne

Outs:
Logan
Alipate Carlile
Ezard
Bishop

Port almost full strength but with Brisbane bringing back Voss, Lappin, Brown, Leppitsch, Keating, Scott and Drumond it should be a good hit out.

 

[Portia]

OK, I think I missed something there.

IN: Wakelin
OUT: Bishop, Carlile

Don't Brisbane have about a billion tall forward prospects at the minute? Haven't they named, oh, all of them?

 

[Andre]

OK, I think I missed something there.

IN: Wakelin
OUT: Bishop, Carlile

Don't Brisbane have about a billion tall forward prospects at the minute? Haven't they named, oh, all of them?

Yeah, but how many can play at once ? With our named squad we can rotate Wakelin, Chaplin, Pettigrew and Thurstans down back, without having to resort to throwing Chad back there.

I'm probably being overly optimistic, but it's pleasing to see Bishop excluded when Wakelin, Chaplin and Pettigrew are all up and fit to play. Hopefully it's a sign of Bish being a backup this year.

 

[oporto]

Yeah, but how many can play at once ? With our named squad we can rotate Wakelin, Chaplin, Pettigrew and Thurstans down back, without having to resort to throwing Chad back there.

I'm probably being overly optimistic, but it's pleasing to see Bishop excluded when Wakelin, Chaplin and Pettigrew are all up and fit to play. Hopefully it's a sign of Bish being a backup this year.

Agree. Hoping this is an earl sign of gold pass cancellations

 

[oporto]

Yeah, but how many can play at once ? With our named squad we can rotate Wakelin, Chaplin, Pettigrew and Thurstans down back, without having to resort to throwing Chad back there.

I'm probably being overly optimistic, but it's pleasing to see Bishop excluded when Wakelin, Chaplin and Pettigrew are all up and fit to play. Hopefully it's a sign of Bish being a backup this year.

Agree. Hoping this is an early sign of gold pass cancellations

 

[Portia]

Yeah, but how many can play at once ? With our named squad we can rotate Wakelin, Chaplin, Pettigrew and Thurstans down back, without having to resort to throwing Chad back there.

Wakelin = fine
Chaplin = fine, but he's an attacking defender
Pettigrew = entirely unproven in defence, can he stop an opponent?
Thurstans = Thurstans. I doubt he's a fullback's ****************, and would be more likely to relieve Chaplin.

The main thing that fullbacks need is level-appropriate experience, and right now Carlile is our #2 fullback. Scary, huh?

Right now this looks like Wakelin coming back into the side and playing the full game. That seems a dangerous move to me.

I'm probably being overly optimistic, but it's pleasing to see Bishop excluded when Wakelin, Chaplin and Pettigrew are all up and fit to play. Hopefully it's a sign of Bish being a backup this year.

Agreed.

 

[Malibu#27]

Chaplin = fine, but he's an attacking defender

If hes going to play in defence for us surely this isn't an issue. I'm looking forward to seeing how he goes against a class forward again .... its part of his growing process. Basically - if hes going to play at CHB for us - then he should be playing there "all game" in this trial.

It seems your only concern with the squad is that Alipate has gone out .... I take it your not worried about Bish being "rested".

Alipate is probably not our #2 fullback at the moment - hes being groomed for F/B but hes a pup. If come round 1 we were down Wakelin, I imagine some juggling would be done .... I dont imagine Alipate would be getting a game.

We only have 2 trials left ... its time to "start" forming our preferred structure.

 

[Portia]

If hes going to play in defence for us surely this isn't an issue. I'm looking forward to seeing how he goes against a class forward again .... its part of his growing process. Basically - if hes going to play at CHB for us - then he should be playing there "all game" in this trial.

Agreed. So why are the extra backmen the guys most likely to substitute for him?

It seems your only concern with the squad is that Alipate has gone out .... I take it your not worried about Bish being "rested".

Not much. These are my concerns.

1) Wakelin in as our only experienced tall defender
2) Wakelin in as our only experienced tall defender, likely to have to play all game
3) Wakelin as our only tall defender with a background as a stopper

Alipate is probably not our #2 fullback at the moment

Nah, he is. Its just that Choco will play other guys out of position rather than suck it up and use him.

We only have 2 trials left ... its time to "start" forming our preferred structure.

Hmm.

 

[Malibu#27]

Agreed. So why are the extra backmen the guys most likely to substitute for him?

I am of the opinion they wont be substituted for him. AFAIK he has pretty much played CHB permanently all pre-season. So the question changes from "is he going to be swapped for one of these other players" to "will one of these other players spend some time at fullback if Wakelin is rested".

If it came to absolute pinch and this was a game for points, and Wakelin went down, (after the start of the game, so we had to go with who was in the listed squad) - I'd be tempted to throw Chaplin to Fullback and Chad, or prefferably White to CHB. The two positions are not as far apart as you may think, major difference is the "lead up" nature of Full forwards, as opposed to the "roaming" nature of CHF's, however generally you need to be able to handle both.

Not much. These are my concerns.

1) Wakelin in as our only experienced tall defender
2) Wakelin in as our only experienced tall defender, likely to have to play all game
3) Wakelin as our only tall defender with a background as a stopper

I'd be more inclined to develop the players who have a couple years under their belt ... Chaplin/White/Willits etc, rather than throw Alipate to the wolves ....

Hmm.

I take it you disagree.

 

[Portia]

If it came to absolute pinch and this was a game for points, and Wakelin went down, (after the start of the game, so we had to go with who was in the listed squad) - I'd be tempted to throw Chaplin to Fullback and Chad, or prefferably White to CHB. The two positions are not as far apart as you may think, major difference is the "lead up" nature of Full forwards, as opposed to the "roaming" nature of CHF's, however generally you need to be able to handle both.

I will use a different category then...I use fullback and CHB because they're shorter. The two types of defenders I am really talking about are stopping defenders and zoning defenders.

Wakelin stops (because we need him to), Chaplin zones, Bishop does a bit of both but doesn't like playing tall, Carlile stops. As has been noted in various articles, Chaplin is trying to learn to stop more, but its definitely a work in progress.

I'd be more inclined to develop the players who have a couple years under their belt ... Chaplin/White/Willits etc, rather than throw Alipate to the wolves ....

Thats where we differ. I'd rather throw Alipate to the wolves (though it would be much less so this week than last considering Wangas, Wilson and Wakelin are back), than give gametime to other untried players playing out of position.

I take it you disagree.

I think the merits of doing so are debatable.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Leaving out desert-head was probably a humanitarian move to save him from heat stroke.

 

[Macca19]

Wakelin needs to play at some stage this season to get back up to the pace of the game. Last time he played no pre season games - 2004 - he was bloody terrible for the first half of the year.

Would have been nice to keep Carlile in the side and have a defence of Wakes, Chaplin, Chad/Pettigrew and Carlile but ah well. This is Choco remember.


Ford - Good call

 

[Toots Hibbert]

I will use a different category then...I use fullback and CHB because they're shorter. The two types of defenders I am really talking about are stopping defenders and zoning defenders.

Wakelin stops (because we need him to), Chaplin zones, Bishop does a bit of both but doesn't like playing tall, Carlile stops. As has been noted in various articles, Chaplin is trying to learn to stop more, but its definitely a work in progress.

Thats where we differ. I'd rather throw Alipate to the wolves (though it would be much less so this week than last considering Wangas, Wilson and Wakelin are back), than give gametime to other untried players playing out of position.



I think the merits of doing so are debatable.

I saw a lot of Carlile up close against Willits in the internal trial. I might be proven wrong but I simply can't see Alipate being ready for AFL football this year. Willits worked him over and got free consistently. God help Carlile against the likes of Hall, Nietz, Bradshaw, etc., even Lynch from WCE.

We'd have to look at Toby I think, if Wakes went down, unappealing as that sounds.

 

[Portia]

I saw a lot of Carlile up close against Willits in the internal trial. I might be proven wrong but I simply can't see Alipate being ready for AFL football this year.

All the more reason to play him now! This is not real football, so start getting games into him now when he has beatable opponents.

Also given the fairly high odds of Wakelin and Wanganeen and Wilson retiring, this is still going to be a better year to play him than next year, even if he is more ready for it next year. Next year he'll be in an all-new defence, this year he can learn and get support and if he ********s up there will be experienced players to help him out.

Ultimately this comes down to one question: can we win the premiership this year? If yes, then no Carlile, because we can't afford the possible mistakes. If we can't, then get as much Carlile as possible while the defence has a good support in place.

We'd have to look at Toby I think, if Wakes went down, unappealing as that sounds.

Would we? If that happens, we'll probably be bottom four by year's end anyway.

 

[Toots Hibbert]

All the more reason to play him now! This is not real football, so start getting games into him now when he has beatable opponents.

Also given the fairly high odds of Wakelin and Wanganeen and Wilson retiring, this is still going to be a better year to play him than next year, even if he is more ready for it next year. Next year he'll be in an all-new defence, this year he can learn and get support and if he ********s up there will be experienced players to help him out.

Ultimately this comes down to one question: can we win the premiership this year? If yes, then no Carlile, because we can't afford the possible mistakes. If we can't, then get as much Carlile as possible while the defence has a good support in place.

Would we? If that happens, we'll probably be bottom four by year's end anyway.

Maybe I've got an affliction but I still haven't quite given up on Tobes. I think if played as a defender he might be able to achieve something.

 

[portly]

Maybe I've got an affliction but I still haven't quite given up on Tobes. I think if played as a defender he might be able to achieve something.

I must have that affliction too!

 

[Portia]

Maybe I've got an affliction but I still haven't quite given up on Tobes. I think if played as a defender he might be able to achieve something.

I'm rereading my post, and figure I need to clarify this: I'm not saying that Thurstans is so bad that he'd single-handedly send us to bottom four. I'm saying that Wakelin is so required in that backline right now that losing him would send us down there, no matter which player we got to fill in, so it might as well be Carlile.

Another thought is that all of the great fullbacks come into the side pretty early on.

 

[Malibu#27]

I'm rereading my post, and figure I need to clarify this: I'm not saying that Thurstans is so bad that he'd single-handedly send us to bottom four. I'm saying that Wakelin is so required in that backline right now that losing him would send us down there, no matter which player we got to fill in, so it might as well be Carlile.

Another thought is that all of the great fullbacks come into the side pretty early on.

How many of them came in at 18. Carlisle does have time on his side, and I'm guessing he will play a full game at full back with his SANFL side. I just like to see my players crawling before we expect them to walk. I do expect however that his development will need to be fast tracked a tad.

 

[Portia]

Fullback debuts
Steven Silvagni was 17
Ashley McIntosh was 17
Jonathan Hay was 17
Simon Prestigiacomo was 18
Dustin Fletcher was 18
Darren Gaspar was 18
Matthew Scarlett was 19
Alastair Lynch was 19
Chris Langford was 20
Mick Martyn was 20
Stephen Paxman was 21
Danny Frawley was 21
Jamie Shanahan was 24

 

[Mr Magoo]

OK, I think I missed something there.

IN: Wakelin
OUT: Bishop, Carlile

Don't Brisbane have about a billion tall forward prospects at the minute? Haven't they named, oh, all of them?

I'm pretty sure they said on the channel ten news tonight that Bish was being rested for this game. No sign of Francou yet, which means that he should regain match fitness playing for the cockadoodle doos. I would imagine that Wanganeen & Wilbur wouldn't be playing any more than say 2 quarters.

Here's a quote from foxsports.news.com.au
Rested from the side that lost by nine points to Melbourne in the NAB Cup quarter-final are Chris Johnson, Luke Power, Simon Black

Still the Lions have named a very strong side on paper & hopefully choco will throw down the challenge to our more inexperienced players like Ebert, Salopek, Thomson by giving them a chance to play on established stars like Ackermanis, Voss, Lappin etc. If choco does do that, it'll help the players development of the game immensly as a champion player like Voss will take you to the ball.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

It is interesting tho to compare ... Wayde Mills, a player Port must have rated behind Carlile, has been playing for Brissie this pre-season and despite being worked over by Russell Robertson last week, has been picked again for this game even tho Leppitsch and Michael are available.

FWIW I would've played Carlile this week - given him a half on Bradshaw or Merrett. And if I'd dropped Carlile I would've brought in Willits. Preferably, I'd have played both. Seems Choco's just trending back towards the mean again.

 

[Port01]

Any coach that needs to delist a player because he knows he will pick him every week and stifle development isn't going to just turn around and start running with youth at every oppurtunity.

That said, Wakelin needs some time under his belt before rd1, Chaplin needs all the experience he can get. Would have been a good chance to play another young tall with Brown, Merret, that other guy whos name i dont remember all sure to play.

 

[portentous]

It would appear that Choco isn't worried about match-ups as such, more about getting some game time into players who you'd expect to be picked for round 1.

I'd imagine that most of the senior players (and we have SO many!!), won't get much more than a half anyway though.

 

[Powerstufff]

Maybe I've got an affliction but I still haven't quite given up on Tobes......

 

[*PAFC*13]

Play Wakelin at FB, Chappy CHB, and Damon to take Third tall. Willits at FF Tredrea at CHF and Pettigrew in either a FP or HHF. Thurstans is ********house, Should retire. He is now fully developed and still crap. Trade him off at the end of season. Bishop is way over used by date, should hopefully retire at the end of year. Bishop will most likely not be needed during the season.