Review Round 4 vs Carlton, Metricon Stadium, Sunday April 10, 4:10pm AEST

[GC2015]

Dew's first real opportunity to swing the axe.

We didn't appear to cop any injuries during the Giants game so that's one positive.

Tsitas and Constable were best on in the 2s match against the Swans reserves. Moyle also played really well. Day and Rosas both kicked four goals apiece. Burgess kicked two.

I'd be very tempted to drop Caleb Graham

46

Caleb Graham

Age

23

Ht

194cm

Wt

97kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.0

3star

K

5.5

2star

HB

4.5

3star

M

3.5

4star

T

1.0

3star

MG

63.0

1star

D

5.0

1star

K

4.0

1star

HB

1.0

1star

M

3.0

3star

T

0.0

1star

MG

63.0

1star

D

10.0

3star

K

5.5

3star

HB

4.5

4star

M

3.5

4star

T

1.0

3star

MG

63.0

1star

. AFL.com.au rated Crab as worst on ground today (by a long way) and Jy Farrar was good last week while also having a solid game on Friday night, so I'd probably swap those two.

Budarick is also an option to replace Graham but I don't think he played well enough on Friday night to warrant selection + we have to think about Carlton's forward line height - McKay (204cm), De Koning (203cm), Curnow (192cm) and Silvagni (191cm). Budders could potentially replace Weller though after his poor game today.

Rankine obviously comes into the team and I believe Sexton will be dropped for him. Constable in for Davies is another option I'd be looking at. Atkins has been a passenger so far this year and I'd be looking at potentially dropping him as well.

If Dew pulls the trigger and plays Lukosius further up the ground then I think that opens the door to play Josh Corbett

19

Josh Corbett

Age

28

Ht

190cm

Wt

88kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.0

2star

K

5.6

2star

HB

3.4

3star

M

4.4

4star

T

1.6

4star

G

0.3

3star

No current season stats available

D

10.4

3star

K

6.6

3star

HB

3.8

3star

M

4.6

5star

T

2.0

4star

G

0.6

3star

as a third tall(ish) forward along with Chol and Casboult.

What do you guys think?

 

[SandyToes]

What I think is we’re going to get whacked by a team we’ve matched up strongly against over the years


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[Supersuns]

Blooz by 100

 

[Southern Sun]

The concern coming into this is that we haven't played a decent game in our first 3 weeks. Even our win and our "honourable loss" our skills were horrendous,and if that continues it will be ugly. We need 3 talls in defence against Carlton so who knows what we can do because Graham is a real issue atm. Maybe burgess can go back as he may be a decent match up for the mobile curnow. Rankine in for sexton, corbett in for Atkins with Ellis back on the wing and luko to half back. Also I dont think Davies has done a whole lot wrong but maybe give hollands a taste now and Davies some time to find some more footy in the 2s.

 

[Camsta]

It’s been 5 years with Dew and I can’t say we look a better team than when he started, now to the point where our spoon buddies the blues are going to thrash us in this one.

Don’t know what we’re waiting for - pull the trigger now and put a caretaker in til we find a real coach. Cochrane and Evans can go with him.

 

[TheSunGod]

Unfortunately I have to agree with the sentiments above. As has been the case since our inception, our midfield just doesn’t stack up against the better midfields of the comp. Rowell and Anderson are good but they’re still both very young. Davies is still a rookie. Bowes won’t improve things much when he returns. Constable is slow. Tsitas doesn’t appear to have what we need. It’s a one man show with Touk and if he’s out of the game we’re stuffed.
Can’t see a quick fix to it unfortunately. We need to recruit at least one gun mature mid. We also need more speed in there, or improve our skills to the point it makes us look faster ( a la Brisbane). Could be another long year and bye bye Dewey at the end of it unless he can find a solution that I don’t think we have the resources to find.

 

[SandyToes]

We need to recruit at least one gun mature mid. We also need more speed in there, or improve our skills to the point it makes us look faster ( a la Brisbane). Could be another long year and bye bye Dewey at the end of it unless he can find a solution that I don’t think we have the resources to find.

No-one's coming to us unless Clarkson is known to be our coach next year and I reckon that's a less than 5% chance
We are a player graveyard
I don't agree with the Cochrane Evans vitriol because they have kept our leaky boat afloat
There is a chance Rowell Miller Anderson Davies and Holland with Moyle could be a generational midfield but realistically that's 2 or 3 years away and keeping the band together is the issue
Losing Ben King this year is yet another Suns classic injury moment
It's never Caleb Graham that gets the season ending injury
Always an Ablett O'Meara Swallow Thompson King or Witts
Would love to know what percentage of games we've lost from those players to injury

 

[TheSunGod]

No-one's coming to us unless Clarkson is known to be our coach next year and I reckon that's a less than 5% chance
We are a player graveyard
I don't agree with the Cochrane Evans vitriol because they have kept our leaky boat afloat
There is a chance Rowell Miller Anderson Davies and Holland with Moyle could be a generational midfield but realistically that's 2 or 3 years away and keeping the band together is the issue
Losing Ben King this year is yet another Suns classic injury moment
It's never Caleb Graham that gets the season ending injury
Always an Ablett O'Meara Swallow Thompson King or Witts
Would love to know what percentage of games we've lost from those players to injury

Agree 100% our chances of recruiting a gun mid (or any gun for that matter) are next to zilch, and that the difficulty as always will be keeping this group together until they are mature enough to compete for finals. Following this club really does my head in sometimes. Last week I was positive about the future, this week on the pessimistic side. It’s like a football induced bipolar disorder. They need to respond in a big way against a red hot Carlton next week, because St. Kilda will be eyeing us off as vulnerable at Marvel in round 5 and Brisbane will wipe the floor with us the following week.

 

[CommittedSuns]

No need to panic just yet it’s only round 3 just gone. GWS dominated us yesterday in all aspects… they nullified Witts and Miller quiet well. We do have a few players that are struggling but the year prior that game is a 76 point loss not a 26 point loss. Casaboult was the only real option up front for that bomb and hope mentality which we did yesterday. We will bounce back with a few selection changes. Rankine will be back. Graham will likely ply again due to Curnow, McKay, Silvagi and De Koning being in their forward line

 

[CanYouFeelTheSunburn]

Going to get absolutely pumped, all we know is pain.

 

[TheSunGod]

No need to panic just yet it’s only round 3 just gone. GWS dominated us yesterday in all aspects… they nullified Witts and Miller quiet well. We do have a few players that are struggling but the year prior that game is a 76 point loss not a 26 point loss. Casaboult was the only real option up front for that bomb and hope mentality which we did yesterday. We will bounce back with a few selection changes. Rankine will be back. Graham will likely ply again due to Curnow, McKay, Silvagi and De Koning being in their forward line

There’s also the fact that the Giants were winless prior to the game and would’ve been desperate to notch the four points at home. Similar to the Dogs v Sydney on Thursday night.

 

[Iva Bigun]

What I think is we’re going to get whacked by a team we’ve matched up strongly against over the years


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Yet another team that has passed us in recent years, the blues join the Lions and Melbourne in going from laughing stocks to contenders ( blues still have a bit to prove) and yet we are frustratingly bottom 4 year after year

4 1/2 years in and I still have no idea what Dews game plan is and how it builds a premiership side

 

[KaySwizzle]

Yet another team that has passed us in recent years, the blues join the Lions and Melbourne in going from laughing stocks to contenders ( blues still have a bit to prove) and yet we are frustratingly bottom 4 year after year

4 1/2 years in and I still have no idea what Dews game plan is and how it builds a premiership side

It comes down to recruiting. Blues have recruited half of their team (McGovern, Martin, Cerra, Saad, Williams, Hewett etc.). Lions got Neale, Cameron and now Daniher to boost their team. Demons picked up Lever, May, Brown etc. to sew up their key position stocks with A grade players.

We just haven’t been able to land that fish. Somehow Carlton can recruit who they want. So we just have draft picks and a top up with a few recruits here and there, but none of them are stars.

 

[Sunny_]

I'd drop Sexton and Weller.

Rankine comes in for Sexton. Think that's pretty clear. Had Rankine missed anymore games I'd bring Rosas for him who's very much knocking on the door there.

Farrar comes in for Weller. Farrar is playing Weller's spot better right now and can also play taller. He's been a rock for us down back in the 2s so I think should be rewarded. Weller dropped on form. Just not doing what we need. Go back, get some confidence back and come back up.

Constable has barely played, so he's not coming into the 1s yet. Budarick just needs more game time to build himself up.

Swallow to come back into the midfield to help support IMO. Clearly having trouble sustaining there.

 

[eppo67]

It’s been 5 years with Dew and I can’t say we look a better team than when he started, now to the point where our spoon buddies the blues are going to thrash us in this one.

Don’t know what we’re waiting for - pull the trigger now and put a caretaker in til we find a real coach. Cochrane and Evans can go with him.

I agree Dew is taking us nowhere but disagree re Evans and Cochrane

 

[eppo67]

I'd drop Sexton and Weller.

Rankine comes in for Sexton. Think that's pretty clear. Had Rankine missed anymore games I'd bring Rosas for him who's very much knocking on the door there.

Farrar comes in for Weller. Farrar is playing Weller's spot better right now and can also play taller. He's been a rock for us down back in the 2s so I think should be rewarded. Weller dropped on form. Just not doing what we need. Go back, get some confidence back and come back up.

Constable has barely played, so he's not coming into the 1s yet. Budarick just needs more game time to build himself up.

Swallow to come back into the midfield to help support IMO.

Would you not drop Atkins he was absolutely appalling. Terrible example for younger players. Scared of a contest and an absolute seagull.
Atkins would only be moderately effective at a Club like Melbourne.

 

[Sunny_]

Would you not drop Atkins he was absolutely appalling. Terrible example for younger players. Scared of a contest and an absolute seagull.
Atkins would only be moderately effective at a Club like Melbourne.

I honestly forgot about Atkins, so yep, I definitely would!!

Not sure who I'd bring in for him for balance, but definitely needs to go. Rosas comes in maybe?

 

[SandyToes]

Yet another team that has passed us in recent years, the blues join the Lions and Melbourne in going from laughing stocks to contenders ( blues still have a bit to prove) and yet we are frustratingly bottom 4 year after year

4 1/2 years in and I still have no idea what Dews game plan is and how it builds a premiership side

It’s not based on outside run


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[Cazza250902]

Graham, Sexton, Atkins and possibly Weller all need to be dropped. Farrar, Rankine, Hollands/Tsitas/Budarick possible inclusions. Graham is the most useless player i’ve ever seen on our list, Sexton cant do anything unless he gets an uncontested mark or an open goal square. Rat turns the ball over constantly and Weller too many ineffective disposals. Farrar’s looked good across both VFL games, Hollands building form. Rankine is our only dangerous forward and Tsitas has looked great too. Budarick might need more VFL time but easily looked better than Weller and Graham and hopefully Thompson plays some VFL games and gets back in so we don’t have to worry about the sight of Graham playing seniors again this season.

 

[Southern Sun]

Graham, Sexton, Atkins and possibly Weller all need to be dropped. Farrar, Rankine, Hollands/Tsitas/Budarick possible inclusions. Graham is the most useless player i’ve ever seen on our list, Sexton cant do anything unless he gets an uncontested mark or an open goal square. Rat turns the ball over constantly and Weller too many ineffective disposals. Farrar’s looked good across both VFL games, Hollands building form. Rankine is our only dangerous forward and Tsitas has looked great too. Budarick might need more VFL time but easily looked better than Weller and Graham and hopefully Thompson plays some VFL games and gets back in so we don’t have to worry about the sight of Graham playing seniors again this season.

Can't argue with any of that, just think we need 3 talls in defence. I'd go Collins- mckay, ballard - dekoning, burgess- curnow, Powell- silvani.

 

[GC2015]

Okay I know Carlton won but they completely fell apart in the second half for a second week in a row. Anyone who watched their match against the Bulldogs last week knows that the Blues should have lost. Carlton kicked 12 goals in the first half against the Dogs and led by 31 points at halftime yet only managed 4 more goals in the second half and won by just 12 points. The only reason they won was because the Bulldogs couldn't kick straight - the Dogs had 9 shots at goal in the fourth quarter and only managed to convert 2 of them. Then today the Blues kicked 9 goals in the first half and led by 30 points at halftime before managing just 2 goals in the second half, gave up the lead in the 4th quarter and in the end just snuck across the line for a 1 point victory. Even Vossy said in the post match interview that they probably should have lost today. So this is clearly a team that gets the shakes when they have a lead and I think we're a huge chance to take them down if we can at least keep it close in the first half.

It also looks like their ruckman Marc Pittonet

27

Marc Pittonet

Age

28

Ht

202cm

Wt

107kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

7.7

2star

K

2.9

1star

HB

4.8

3star

CL

3.1

5star

HO

22.3

5star

D

8.6

2star

K

4.6

2star

HB

4.0

3star

CL

3.7

5star

HO

25.9

5star

D

5.8

2star

K

1.2

1star

HB

4.6

4star

CL

2.4

5star

HO

16.6

5star

may be injured as he was subbed off late in the game.

 

[KingCoasters]

Sexton for Rankine
Atkins for Hollands
Graham for Farrar

Weller was terrible but he did just have Covid and I know it took me a couple of weeks to fully recover and I think he deserves the chance to bounce back.

We desperately need someone with some X factor in the midfield, I really hope that’s Hollands for us or Rankine develops to be a mid forward because I love watching him kick inside 50 and has such a great burst of speed which would be awesome if he was doing out of the centre

 

[GC2015]

I posted this in the GWS autopsy thread but I think it's really important to put it in this thread as well so people start thinking about what really happened against the Giants and what likely won't happen against the Blues.

I think people underestimate De Boer's tagging influence on a game and the fact that he was able to almost completely stamp out any kind of influence from Touk was a huge reason as to why the Giants beat us yesterday. Touk seemed to figure it out towards the end of the game and was able to get more of the ball which also coincided with us scoring more in the fourth quarter. Is that a coincidence or are we just underrating how important Touk is to our game plan right now? Sure, some will say we should have a plan B, C and D for those situations but until it happens, you don't know how the players are going to react.

Carlton don't have a tagger like De Boer (virtually no club has a tagger like that) which means Touk is going to get a lot more of the ball next week and can influence the game more. Touk was best on in our last game against Carlton with 34 disposals, 7 clearances, 4 tackles, 2 goals and got the 3 Brownlow votes for his efforts.

 

[Sunny_]

Carlton have Hewett who has done great tagging jobs before at the Swans. They can definitely give it a go.

 

[GC2015]

Carlton have Hewett who has done great tagging jobs before at the Swans. They can definitely give it a go.

I don't think it's a stretch to say De Boer is the best tagger in the league but I guess the Blues will try their luck with Hewett after the success GWS had yesterday. They say the mark of a true champion is being able to perform at a high level despite receiving a heavy tag. I guess that's the next step for Touk but I think it won't be as difficult against Carlton as it was against the Giants. Plus, Touk absolutely tore them to shreds at Marvel last year so he'd be confident going into the match. I'm sure there will be plenty of reviews involving Rowell and Anderson during the week because they need to understand how important their roles become when Touk receives a tag and that's when they need to really step up. It should go without saying but getting Rankine back for this game would be huge.