Preview Pies V Saints (team in OP, 4 changes, Goody and Howe debut)

[Soups]

White takes a few decent marks in a VFL practice game and suddenly all is forgiven. He will need to show a lot more than that before getting back in the seniors.

People have short memories I feel. He shouldn't play at all this year.

 

[Temploar]

Strange to believe that we are missing 5 of our best 22.

Sidebottom, Elliott, Varcoe, Swan, Howe, also plus premiership players in Toovey and Goldsack and players with AFL experience in Broomhead, Goodyear and White.

We could make a fairly decent side with those players alone, hopefully we get Varcoe and Elliott back soon. Would make a huge difference to our team. Our depth is really good.

 

[jmac70]

Imo he is still 10x better than the Corey Fault... I mean Gault, that we saw last night. At least Jesse doesn't get rag dolled every time the ball comes his way.

I agree he is better than Gault but he is clearly being trialled as a defender now. He will be given weeks in the VFL to try and develop him in this role. I would be shocked if he was suddenly brought back in the third tall/ruck role.

 

[DAWESOME!!]

Gotta say, a part of me is loving the direction this thread has gone. All last year there was a steady stream of posts saying "White is a spud, he must never play seniors again" to which I and a few others kept replying "he's the best of the bad set of options we have".

With Moore's emergence, White or Gault are really now playing that third tall/second ruck position which White was recruited for, but never got to play.

Maybe give him another shot there if Gault keeps stinking it up? At least til we get a better option on the list.

 

[jmac70]

Strange to believe that we are missing 5 of our best 22.

Sidebottom, Elliott, Varcoe, Swan, Howe, also plus premiership players in Toovey and Goldsack and players with AFL experience in Broomhead, Goodyear and White.

We could make a fairly decent side with those players alone, hopefully we get Varcoe and Elliott back soon. Would make a huge difference to our team. Our depth is really good.

Varcoe should be fine but I doubt we will see much of Elliott this year unfortunately.

 

[Temploar]

I agree he is better than Gault but he is clearly being trialled as a defender now. He will be given weeks in the VFL to try and develop him in this role. I would be shocked if he was suddenly brought back in the third tall/ruck role.

Who else do we have? Cox isn't ready yet. Do we go with witts as the #1 ruck and Chuck Grundy up forward?

I wouldn't mind that actually, he did kick 2 goals, and 2 is probably the same amount of possessions that Gault got. He needs to go seriously, the Nab form was an enigma.

 

[jmac70]

Gotta say, a part of me is loving the direction this thread has gone. All last year there was a steady stream of posts saying "White is a spud, he must never play seniors again" to which I and a few others kept replying "he's the best of the bad set of options we have".

With Moore's emergence, White or Gault are really now playing that third tall/second ruck position which White was recruited for, but never got to play.

Maybe give him another shot there if Gault keeps stinking it up? At least til we get a better option on the list.

I think Cox is far more likely to be given a chance at the third tall/ruck role than White. Personally I would prefer we just go with Witts and Grundy, leaving Cloke, Moore and Fasolo to play as the main forwards.

 

[Temploar]

Varcoe should be fine but I doubt we will see much of Elliott this year unfortunately.

Hurts to read that. Would have loved to see him and this "new" fasolo combining together. The loss of him and swan will definitely be felt in our forward line for most of the season.

Let's hope we get them back sooner rather than later.

 

[jmac70]

Who else do we have? Cox isn't ready yet. Do we go with witts as the #1 ruck and Chuck Grundy up forward?

I wouldn't mind that actually, he did kick 2 goals, and probably the same amount of possessions that Gault got. He needs to go seriously, the Nab form was an enigma.

With four players on the bench now we don't need to always have three talls in the forward 50. Let's give the Grundy/Witts partnership a chance to develop and let Cloke, Moore and Fas work together to kick a score, along with a decent contribution from our mids. I liked on Friday night how Cloke and Moore were able to drag their opponents away from the forward 50 and create room for Fas to lead.

 

[jmac70]

Hurts to read that. Would have loved to see him and this "new" fasolo combining together. The loss of him and swan will definitely be felt in our forward line for most of the season.

Let's hope we get them back sooner rather than later.

Lucky we recruited Howe

 

[Temploar]

These were the players I think went missing a fair bit on Friday night:

Gault
Macaffer
Aish
Blair
Adams
Crisp
De goey

That's really not good enough, Gault is the obvious out, Macaffer is way too vanilla and provides nothing, Blair should have went a long time ago but Buckley is persistent about keeping him for some reason, and Aish I can make excuses for as he's still young and it was his first game in front of a big crowd.

What I'm most surprised about is our 3 mids in Adams, Crisp, and JDG.

They're playing /well/ below their best, I hope this isn't a common occurrence and I can't see why they're so ineffective right now. Structure? Our midfield hasn't won the clearances much since burns got the job as midfield coach. Not blaming him just saying I'm not sure if some of the things we're doing in the midfield is right.

One player I was very happy about on Friday night is Sinclair. Used to knock him all the time but if he keeps playing like that then wow, mongrel. I like it!

 

[Temploar]

Lucky we recruited Howe

Hopefully he stars for us.

 

[Temploar]

Not sure what Macaffer brings to the team...

Hats...

 

[Saintly Viewed]

Imo he is still 10x better than the Corey Fault... I mean Gault, that we saw last night. At least Jesse doesn't get rag dolled every time the ball comes his way.

Yes this is true.
Jesse for all his faults does get involved and is seen.
He's harder to match up than Corey in my view.

 

[Saintly Viewed]

Strange to believe that we are missing 5 of our best 22.

Sidebottom, Elliott, Varcoe, Swan, Howe, also plus premiership players in Toovey and Goldsack and players with AFL experience in Broomhead, Goodyear and White.

We could make a fairly decent side with those players alone, hopefully we get Varcoe and Elliott back soon. Would make a huge difference to our team. Our depth is really good.

One of the interesting notes you raise:

"Our depth is really good"

This is very true. However, our depth is really more in the middle range, good competent types . Or foot soldiers.
So we have numerous capable middle of the road types to slot in and out BUT like all sides the elites are much harder to replace.
Swan is huge as a loss. In reality we can't replace him.
Even Varcoe for his elan, and that touch of magic pressure is tough to replace.

For every Macaffer we have a Goldsack, Sinclair, Maynard etc
Our depth in key tall players is also good, but no real elite.

Hence, Cloke needs to return to his monster best, take lots of marks, roam, create etc.
Hence the importance of Reid and Brown feint together.
Frost is a plodder, adequate but limited.

So depth terrific but middle of the road. Like most sides.
Watch Hawthorn struggle with no Roughead, Hodge it will hurt them (happy!)

 

[7ft Cox]

These were the players I think went missing a fair bit on Friday night:

Gault
Macaffer
Aish
Blair
Adams
Crisp
De goey

That's really not good enough, Gault is the obvious out, Macaffer is way too vanilla and provides nothing, Blair should have went a long time ago but Buckley is persistent about keeping him for some reason, and Aish I can make excuses for as he's still young and it was his first game in front of a big crowd.

What I'm most surprised about is our 3 mids in Adams, Crisp, and JDG.

They're playing /well/ below their best, I hope this isn't a common occurrence and I can't see why they're so ineffective right now. Structure? Our midfield hasn't won the clearances much since burns got the job as midfield coach. Not blaming him just saying I'm not sure if some of the things we're doing in the midfield is right.

One player I was very happy about on Friday night is Sinclair. Used to knock him all the time but if he keeps playing like that then wow, mongrel. I like it!

Caff vanilla??
Not up to it perhaps. Slow. Lack of talent perhaps.
But not vanilla

 

[TW Sherrin]

These were the players I think went missing a fair bit on Friday night:

Gault
Macaffer
Aish
Blair
Adams
Crisp
De goey

That's really not good enough, Gault is the obvious out, Macaffer is way too vanilla and provides nothing, Blair should have went a long time ago but Buckley is persistent about keeping him for some reason, and Aish I can make excuses for as he's still young and it was his first game in front of a big crowd.

What I'm most surprised about is our 3 mids in Adams, Crisp, and JDG.

They're playing /well/ below their best, I hope this isn't a common occurrence and I can't see why they're so ineffective right now. Structure? Our midfield hasn't won the clearances much since burns got the job as midfield coach. Not blaming him just saying I'm not sure if some of the things we're doing in the midfield is right.

One player I was very happy about on Friday night is Sinclair. Used to knock him all the time but if he keeps playing like that then wow, mongrel. I like it!

Harsh call on Adams. 21 disposals and 7 tackles.

 

[TwisTz]

Harsh call on Adams. 21 disposals and 7 tackles.

Agreed, Adams was one of our best in the middle I thought.

 

[AmellyPies]

These were the players I think went missing a fair bit on Friday night:

Gault
Macaffer
Aish
Blair
Adams
Crisp
De goey

That's really not good enough, Gault is the obvious out, Macaffer is way too vanilla and provides nothing, Blair should have went a long time ago but Buckley is persistent about keeping him for some reason, and Aish I can make excuses for as he's still young and it was his first game in front of a big crowd.

What I'm most surprised about is our 3 mids in Adams, Crisp, and JDG.

They're playing /well/ below their best, I hope this isn't a common occurrence and I can't see why they're so ineffective right now. Structure? Our midfield hasn't won the clearances much since burns got the job as midfield coach. Not blaming him just saying I'm not sure if some of the things we're doing in the midfield is right.

One player I was very happy about on Friday night is Sinclair. Used to knock him all the time but if he keeps playing like that then wow, mongrel. I like it!

No.

 

[boxy99]

Toovey for frost we need the run. Yes toovey isnt great by foot but his 10 times better then frost

Howe for caff if available the game is to quick for caff

Varcoe for aish if available. Aish is small not quick and isn't great by foot. I worry about aish but his still young

Gault should be dropped but who for? We need a second ruck and I'd rather not play Moore or cloke there so do we play 2 rucks or do we bring in the big falla who isn't Really doing much in the Vfl.

Grundy is also one who is getting overrated by some. If he didn't kick that goal he would have had a real stinker. Hampson beat him easily which is worrying.

 

[donnie5]

IN: Goldsack, Howe, Witts
OUT: Langdon, McCaffer, Gault

 

[rupink06]

Pretty sure Langdon will be dropped considering what Bucks said in the presser!

 

[CasuallyDressed]

IN: Howe, White, Varcoe (if fit)
OUT: Macaffer, Gault, Aish (if Varcoe is fit)

I didn't think I'd ever want to see White back in the side but he's AT LEAST a better option as a second ruck than Gault is.

I want to see what Howe actually has to offer.

Varcoe is an obvious inclusion when he's ready, it's just a matter of who he replaces, extremely important player.

 

[rupink06]

Is it just me or is Adams one of our better kicks now? He seems to be hitting those trigger kicks these days. Good in him!

Out: Gault, Macaffer, Langdon
In: Howe, Varcoe, Phillips

 

[robertg22]

Reading through the VFL stuff I would say that Howe is still unlikely to be ready fitness wise. Goldsack will probably come in but as a forward replacement for Gault. If Frost is dropped it will most likely be for Toovey. I also think they will be conservative with Varcoe and give him another week off. I am hoping Witts is fit and can come in to partner with Grundy, drop Caff.

I don't think Witts deserves a recall straight into the senior team. He was deplorable against Sydney, injury or no injury. Grundy can ruck for the majority of the game against Hickey and get help from one of the tall forwards.

Fair call on Howe.

IN: Goldsack, Toovey, Varcoe
OUT: Gault, Frost, Macaffer

Regarding White, if we were considering him to come in as a forward replacement, I don't think we'd still be playing him down back in the VFL. I don't think he'll be coming back in, although he would undoubtedly be an upgrade on Gault.