Prediction Round 3, 2024: Changes vs Western Bulldogs

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Would love hall in but It would be interesting if he would be given that Edwards role. He does have an outside game but I really want to see him play a balanced inside/outside role. Didn’t mind Duggo on the weekend but would be more than Happy to see him go back into defence.
 
I thought JJ played okay as hb. His disposals were off but he offered speed and pushed the ball forward even if it was untidy
Thought he got to the ball really well but just stuffed a few kicks.

Hopefully better 2nd up.

Cole is so jittery lately. Maybe he needs a run in the WAFL and give Rotham a go?

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Prob could lose a tall or two to support the mids.

Hall in for Jamo, duggen to go back.
Think it's important we give jamo an extended run in Def at afl level. It's the only position he has a future with us imo and I think he's been alright. He's a competitor for sure. And has the height and athletic profile to make the grade down back.

KPD is a dire need.. jamo succeding there would be a big help.

Barnett for hall is the more obvious change imo. Bwilliams has to man the ruck until Flynn returns.
 
Think it's important we give jamo an extended run in Def at afl level. It's the only position he has a future with us imo and I think he's been alright. He's a competitor for sure. And has the height and athletic profile to make the grade down back.

KPD is a dire need.. jamo succeding there would be a big help.

Barnett for hall is the more obvious change imo. Bwilliams has to man the ruck until Flynn returns.
They have 206cm Sam Darcy and Tim English over 200cm with Naughton and Ugle Hagan. Can't see dropping Barnett to put in a mid is going to help defending and rucking against Darcy.
 
I expect to see Barnett dropped but I don't regret playing him. It's worth him getting a game every now and then so he gets to experience exactly what it takes to be an AFL ruck. Then he can go back to WAFL a few weeks and work on his craft at a more appropriate level for his development.
I was happy with Barnett, i thaught he had a real crack. He should get another chance.
 
They have 206cm Sam Darcy and Tim English over 200cm with Naughton and Ugle Hagan. Can't see dropping Barnett to put in a mid is going to help defending and rucking against Darcy.
Barnett is not going to nullify those guys, he isn't ready.

I liked Harry's effort, can't fault that. There's no shame in a ruckman not being ready in his 2nd year of afl.
 
I'd like to see hall in he looks to me as not only a clearance winner, but in open play a connector player which i feel like we dont have much of
 
Barnett has to stay in even if its only on the bench at least he had a crack, he now knows a little bit of what it takes to compete at the next level. Pyke was right we still have a way to go to get our squad fit enough to run out a full game.
 
Unfortunately we have no other ruck choices that can complete as the number 1 ruck apart from Bwilliams and Flynn.

Until Flynn is back we need Bailey to be that number 1 and jamo back up .

Jack Williams should be our FF . He is the only player we have who would be a genuine power forward size without sending gov or barrass forward .

Darling and waterman are too short and get outsized by modern defenders

Maric is more of a tall utility.

Bulldogs play tall and its under the roof so I would rather go in with an extra tall then sub a tall out

In jwilliams
Out Barnett

Sub Jones

Maric to start

Maric can play back when jamo rucks and use his kicking out of defence then rotate forward to cover forward who are benched .
 
Barnett is not going to nullify those guys, he isn't ready.

I liked Harry's effort, can't fault that. There's no shame in a ruckman not being ready in his 2nd year of afl.
Not sure Jamieson is going to do much better rucking from the back pocket. He's already getting lost at times as a back pocket. If not Barnett who's going to be 2nd ruck?
 

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Unfortunately we have no other ruck choices that can complete as the number 1 ruck apart from Bwilliams and Flynn.

Until Flynn is back we need Bailey to be that number 1 and jamo back up .

Jack Williams should be our FF . He is the only player we have who would be a genuine power forward size without sending gov or barrass forward .

Darling and waterman are too short and get outsized by modern defenders

Maric is more of a tall utility.

Bulldogs play tall and its under the roof so I would rather go in with an extra tall then sub a tall out

In jwilliams
Out Barnett

Sub Jones

Maric to start

Maric can play back when jamo rucks and use his kicking out of defence then rotate forward to cover forward who are benched .

I'm not sure because they never update hight stats but it may be the case that Harry Edwards is taller than Bailey Williams and Harry Barnett. And he is obviously heavier than both of them and probably stronger than both of them as well. In the 2023 pre-season he did a small body of work preparing to cover for Nick in the ruck but then got injured and Williams emerged in that role instead so we never saw him in there. No idea how he'd go but if the aim is to persist with resting Williams forward and Barnett does a block then needs a rest then Edwards becomes part of the ruck calculation. Playing back he could either release Jamison from defence, or release Gov from defence so Waterman can play the tweener role, or just ruck himself.
 
In defence of Luke Edwards, in traffic he's proving himself our most composed player with ball in hand outside of Harley. And doing pretty well getting his hands on it at all having drawn the short straw playing half forward- where draftee's go to die. Not going to push Yeo, Kelly or Reid out of the middle but should hold his spot until Ryan come back at least. If he and Ginbey swapped roles he'd probably be racking in an extra 10 possessions a game and the pitch forks would be out for the boy.
Ledwards is one the midfielders that ran back hard defensively after our turnovers .
Kelly on the other hand ran hard forward but if we turned it over he didn't give a **** and jogged back whilst his man ran forward unopposed.

Kelly is just here for the pay check
 
Jack Darling and Tom Cole out
Clay Hall and Burgiel in
Williams can spend half of his time forward with Maric and Waterman as key forwards, not that they’ll see much of the ball. Just blood another young midfielder, and rotate the mids through the half forward/pocket.
 
Bringing Barnett in against a physical ruckman then dropping him for a more appropriate match up would be peak Eagles selection of the last few years. There's no logic to him missing this week if they had the faith to bring him in this early in the year.

And if there's a debutant this weekend may it be Burgiel over Hall, so his family and mates can come and watch him play?
 
Burgiel and Hall in.

Jones and Darling out.

Maric starts.

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Was thinking the same but Cole out and JJ gets another run.

Darling looked sore already. Father time catching up?

English isnt a brute ruck who is that physical so why not Barnett gets abother game. We can keep playing Bailey forward as the 200cm target, Waterman 192cm 3rd tall and Maric the 196cm mobile CHF. At least those tall forwards will be around in two years and they need time to gel.

Burgiel and Hall add pace and running players. A couple of debuts to inject some added enthusiasm with kids.

oh and one thing I noticed with Harley and others is looking after each on the bottom of packs. Pushing off opponents who are lying over a teammate and helping each other up. Saw Harley give a few a good shoves and words looking after his mates. Great to see from quite a few of the younger lads leading the way.
 
Okay f**k it.
Let's not drop Barnett after one game. Give him a go against Tim English.
In: Hall, Burgiel
Out: Edwards, Jones
Neither omission would be a stretch since neither have a lot of credits. Would be pretty much like for like.
Can't see Cole being cut as he's a part of the credits crew. Would need an especially poor game like Gaff in round 1 to be omitted.
Give BBW one more go at being a forward before Flynn returns.
 
Out: Darling, JJ
In: Maric, Hall
Sub: Burgiel

Move Duggan and Ginbey down back, put Hall in midfield. Burgiel comes on for whichever half back is shanking his possessions the worst.

Maric in for Darling, anyone who actually paid attention to the game would have noticed that our movement looked WAYYYYYY better with a smart mobile forward like Maric roaming around (plus Brockman and Waterman). Darling tried harder but he's just past it and I think we need to go a different direction with the forward line, having guys on the move more, making runs in between the lines, taking opposition key defenders around the ground and out of position, giving our mids and half backs better options to look for (more risk but more reward), shorter kicks, is the way to go without Allen and Darling in the side. This will hinge on how well our half backs use the footy going forward, we can't tolerate basic skill errors any longer, coaches/players need to pressure on themselves to be accountable for poor disposal, make sure they get it right, give each other honest feedback.

Barnett gets another go, he needs time like BWilliams got but happy to sub him out for Burgeil later on also.
Ledwards also deserves more game time, he's shown improvement from his first qtr of the season to his last half of the GWS game, I feel he's building into it, he's a smart player, his possessions are rarely wasted, need to get the ball to him more.

Note: likely ins are: Gaff, likely outs are: Reid (rested)... Can we hope this club has turned a corner for real and not let shit like this happen??
 
Bringing Barnett in against a physical ruckman then dropping him for a more appropriate match up would be peak Eagles selection of the last few years. There's no logic to him missing this week if they had the faith to bring him in this early in the year.

And if there's a debutant this weekend may it be Burgiel over Hall, so his family and mates can come and watch him play?
Bailey only had 6 more hit outs than him so he didnt do that bad.
 
Luke Edwards appears to be doing the unrewarded defensive wing role that Simpson has forever loved.

Some stats that go unnoticed but seriously surprised me, as I didn't think he had the running capacity for it:
  • 2nd overall for distance covered 14.9km (1st Eagle)
  • 5th overall for distance at speed (18km/h or more) 2.5km (2nd Eagle to Hunt 2.6km)
  • 2nd overall for average speed 9.4km/h (1st Eagle)
  • Equal 2nd overall for repeat sprints (times over 24km/h under 60 seconds) 3 times (Jones first with 4, Cole & Hunt also on 3)
  • 1st overall for average speed in offence 9.3km
  • 4th overall for average speed in defence 9.2km (1st Eagle)

There is a lot of effort there for not a lot for reward (possessions).

If people want him out, the likely replacement is Gaff, as he has a similar running ability.

I would predict (and prefer) Edwards stays.

Thanks for the post - stuff like this is good to know👍🏼
 
Not much point bringing Barnett in for one round.

Simmo wants to give Bailey some time up forward, which is probably even more important with Oscar out.

Barnett stays in.

I didn’t like Maric as sub, but it makes sense if we think Barnett is only good for a half or just over at the moment.

Happy to stick with it until Flynn is back, which is hopefully in round 7.

No changes.
 
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