Preview Round 5 Fremantle Vs Western Bulldogs

[Nothing]

So on Sunday when he was on the wing and had 2 guys free without an opponent on the 50m line who could have run it into goal - yet he puts it out on the full?

An excusable clanger?

I can excuse that clanger. He was trying to get the ball on quickly (which was the right play) and wheeled around only to miscue (poor execution). I would rather a player make the right choice and miss because of pressure/fatigue/whatever than make the wrong choice. If he'd gone back, settled and hit a target 30m away then I would have been more disappointed.

 

[SH Tracer Bullet]

Suban and Pitt - Out (not a hater)
Lower Or Mr C and Walters - In

Another attacking forward inmaybe as the sub and a bigger boby for Pitt

 

[sumavich]

So on Sunday when he was on the wing and had 2 guys free without an opponent on the 50m line who could have run it into goal - yet he puts it out on the full?

An excusable clanger?

Bit like the four that Rosa & Nicoski do each game eh ???
Excusable, only if you put your body in like McPhee does week in, week out.
Just about won the game for us In Brizzy, and kicked two very good goals in the first quarter against the Crows.

 

[theGav56]

Ignoring McPhee's performances for a moment.

The problem with Anthony coming in for McPhee has more to do with structure, than it does with anything else. Essentially you'd be swapping out a versatile running player, for a fairly one dimensional KP player. The coaches keep going on about player fatigue, reduced running capacity, player versatility etc so it's just not something I can see Harvey doing.

McPhee isn't playing solely as a KPF. He's sharing a role with a few other guys (predominately Mayne) to provide a second and/or third marking target. McPhee has spent as much time in the midfield as he has up forward, could Anthony do that?

Anthony can only really come in to replace a non-running KP player. MJ is the only guy you could probably make a case for at the moment, but even then, MJ's (a) playing in defense and (b) capable of playing a running role if required.

Yeah I think you are spot on. The biggest plus for Anthony in is to remove Lake from the play this week. But that ain't enough.

 

[sumavich]

Nice deflection - if i'm here pumping up tyres for said players - go for your life. A posting trying to assert Mcphee's in your top 10 is a nonsene.

He's probably around 15th with a number of others

I re-iterate! He probably won us the game in the dying minute of the game at the Gabba. And he kicked two very important goals for us against the Crows in the first quarter. H

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Bit like the four that Rosa & Nicoski do each game eh ???
Excusable, only if you put your body in like McPhee does week in, week out.
Just about won the game for us In Brizzy, and kicked two very good goals in the first quarter against the Crows.

Nice deflection - if i'm here pumping up tyres for said players - go for your life. A posting trying to assert Mcphee's in your top 10 is a nonsene.

He's probably around 15th with a number of others

 

[sumavich]

McPhee is borderline 22 and he should never be considered better than that given his skill level.

harvey doesn't agree with you. Glad he's the coach, and your not!

 

[Dormammu]

Nice deflection - if i'm here pumping up tyres for said players - go for your life. A posting trying to assert Mcphee's in your top 10 is a nonsene.

He's probably around 15th with a number of others

We're accustomed to him making the occasional clanger - hell, he's been doing it for years, even when he got AA.

His ranking in the team? Depends on how you rate Kep, De Boer, Ibbo, Duff and McPharlin. Ordinarily the last 2 would be ahead but are a bit down at the moment, while De Boer and Ibbo are recovering from injuries.

At the moment I'd say he was somewhere around 9-11.

 

[Clay Davis]

Nice deflection - if i'm here pumping up tyres for said players - go for your life. A posting trying to assert Mcphee's in your top 10 is a nonsene.

He's probably around 15th with a number of others

McPhee isn't in the top 10 players at our club, but it is very likely he will be in the top 10 in the Doig at the moment. Crucial to our victory against Brisbane, and set up the first quarter against Adelaide as a key target.

He is playing a role and playing it well. Coaches love that kind of player.

 

[creamygoodness]

McPhee is borderline 22 and he should never be considered better than that given his skill level.

 

[Leslie_Chow]

Ermm Mcpharlin would be top 5 the way he is playing at the moment.

 

[im_a_lazy_sod]

wait McPhee or McPharlin?

Foxsports has got Elvis as our most underrated player (they did a list of a player per team)

We've rated him and Grover for years but a good defender doesn't really get noticed, whereas a good forward does - notice our only defenders that really got mentioned were either from vic-clubs (Tarrant) or were rebound defenders/spent time in the midfield? (Duffield, Broughton, Suban)

Good, solid back 6 we have and that will be a big reason why we will likely win (and our exciting midfield and our crazy-ass Harvey forward structure)

 

[Dormammu]

Ermm Mcpharlin would be top 5 the way he is playing at the moment.

Ahead of Pav, my buddy, Fyfe, Hill, and Mundy?

 

[The Falcon Strike]

We're accustomed to him making the occasional clanger - hell, he's been doing it for years, even when he got AA.

His ranking in the team? Depends on how you rate Kep, De Boer, Ibbo, Duff and McPharlin. Ordinarily the last 2 would be ahead but are a bit down at the moment, while De Boer and Ibbo are recovering from injuries.

At the moment I'd say he was somewhere around 9-11.

Serious? McPharlin is so far ahead of McPhee it isn't funny.

And in terms of occasional clangers - he's turning the ball over nearly 50% of the time he gets it. Second only in your team to Pitt - which one might excuse given his junior status

 

[Clay Davis]

Serious? McPharlin is so far ahead of McPhee it isn't funny.

And in terms of occasional clangers - he's turning the ball over nearly 50% of the time he gets it. Second only in your team to Pitt - which one might excuse given his junior status

You'll find when Pav plays forward he has a similar rate of efficiency.

 

[go_the_dockers]

Nice deflection - if i'm here pumping up tyres for said players - go for your life. A posting trying to assert Mcphee's in your top 10 is a nonsene.

He's probably around 15th with a number of others

McPhee has had a great year. He has worked tirelessly to provide an option going into the forward line.

When we played geelong, he was one of the players who kept us in it.

I am not sure if he is quiet a top ten player, but i would put him in the 11-15th best player and assuming he keeps his form he will be picked every week.

 

[Dormammu]

Serious? McPharlin is so far ahead of McPhee it isn't funny.

And in terms of occasional clangers - he's turning the ball over nearly 50% of the time he gets it. Second only in your team to Pitt - which one might excuse given his junior status

Just so we're clear - am a big fan of both McPharlin and Duff, and they're both walk-up starters for our 22.

But compared to their high standards of the last two seasons imo they've off just a tad, while McPhee has lifted when played forward.

Will this be maintained over the entire season? Perhaps not, but it's irrelevant as I'm rating them as of today.

And I'd take the DE stats with more than a sack of salt when the player in question is tying down CHF, where often the opposition is streaming in to help their defenders so you're usually outnumbered, compared to bringing the ball out of defence.

I'd be more interested in contested marks & possessions, how often they converted their shots on goal, brought the ball down to the advantage of their crumbers, locked the ball in the 50, repeat leads etc

 

[Leslie_Chow]

Ahead of Pav, my buddy, Fyfe, Hill, and Mundy?

I'm sure we could cover the loss of a gun midfielder more than a gun Centre Half Back. Mcpharlin is so underrated

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Just so we're clear - am a big fan of both McPharlin and Duff, and they're both walk-up starters for our 22.

But compared to their high standards of the last two seasons imo they've off just a tad, while McPhee has lifted when played forward.

I must be watching a different Freo - thought McPharlin is probaby leading the race for AA CHB

McPhee has been your inside 50 target 32 times (the most in your team by some margin) this year to kick 3 goals. Sure he's laying some tackles - but he's not doing much with it when he gets it. That puts him pretty much the worst converting forward of anyone in the league. The guy has some grunt and is tackling and endeavours - i'll give him that - but he's nought more than a foot soldier who would be a borderline selection with a a fully fit squad.

 

[sumavich]

McPharlap is killing it this year! In the crows game he was one of our best.

 

[Clay Davis]

I must be watching a different Freo - thought McPharlin is probaby leading the race for AA CHB

McPhee has been your inside 50 target 32 times (the most in your team by some margin) this year to kick 3 goals. Sure he's laying some tackles - but he's not doing much with it when he gets it. That puts him pretty much the worst converting forward of anyone in the league. The guy has some grunt and is tackling and endeavours - i'll give him that - but he's nought more than a foot soldier who would be a borderline selection with a a fully fit squad.

He's the target for a reason - repeat leads, providing a contest, high workrate in the forward line.

Our forward line at the moment isn't built around a key target that kicks goals - the key target is there to provide a contest, with the little guys doing all the scoring. In some sense, it is probably hurting our accuracy that a lot of our goals are scrambled from play rather than set shots, although we aren't nailing the set shots either.

Do we put Anthony in there? He will be more accurate for the ball he gets, but will he work as hard as McPhee in creating options and troubling the opposition defenders?

With a fully fit squad - who replaces him? Since arriving he has played 27 out of a possible 28 games. Who has been in the wings that he is taking a spot for?

 

[The Falcon Strike]

He's the target for a reason - repeat leads, providing a contest, high workrate in the forward line.

Our forward line at the moment isn't built around a key target that kicks goals - the key target is there to provide a contest, with the little guys doing all the scoring. In some sense, it is probably hurting our accuracy that a lot of our goals are scrambled from play rather than set shots, although we aren't nailing the set shots either.

Do we put Anthony in there? He will be more accurate for the ball he gets, but will he work as hard as McPhee in creating options and troubling the opposition defenders?

With a fully fit squad - who replaces him? Since arriving he has played 27 out of a possible 28 games. Who has been in the wings that he is taking a spot for?

With a fully fit squad, mzungu drifts into the backline, allowing broughton to join barlow back in the midfield, thus Pav can push forward for much greater spells - thus with Kep and Pav (and sandi spelling) - your two talls are covered. Morabito would then fill the mid-size forward running off a flank.

This would leave mcphee fighting with the like of vanberlo & crowley to play the midfield or forward tagging role.

 

[Clay Davis]

I've reconsidered my position on Pitt. He's sixth in the team for inside 50s, despite playing only three games. Inside 50s per games he is second only to Stephen Hill.

Given that a lot of our dominance comes from effective ball use and good decision making going inside 50 (Hill, Mundy, Fyfe), and knowing that Pitt is rated as a good user, there is some cause for him remaining.

The question inevitably comes - why keep him when he is using the ball so badly?

Well, watching AFL Insider last night, Brad Scott remarked that the only way for a player to learn how to cope with the pressure of AFL footy is to play AFL footy. That decision making in game situations is only really honed at the highest level. This is something I think is strongly believed by our coaching department, and coaching in general at the moment.

So there is merit in 'carrying' him, as it were, because he will get better by playing at the highest level. I know this goes against the old school of 'earn your stripes in the twos', but persisting with young players who've had ordinary starts to their careers has paid dividends for us. It's not something I see the coaching staff abandoning now. And he is certainly not going to learn anything in the WAFL.

 

[Mockcockpit]

I must be watching a different Freo - thought McPharlin is probaby leading the race for AA CHB

Dead cert if he stays fit. If. He looks more solid this year both in terms of fitness and temperament.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Broughton in the midfield is nuts. Dead against that.

McPhee is way ahead of Van Berlo, and probably seen as better than Kepler by the coaching staff (unfortunately - everyone else loves Kepler).

Guys like Palmer, Pitt, JVB, Kepler, would all be out of the side before McPhee, because the coaching staff know that despite his errors, you can plug and play him almost anywhere. There are probably a few more ahead of McPhee to be cut that I've forgotten.

Broughton moved into your midfield last year and was quite adept at it. If you had cover down the back from Mz or Roj - than one of Duffield or Broughton would move up to the midfield (Perhaps wing for duff)

Bradley is well outperforming McPhee this year - taking good grabs, kicking goals - and providing an important chopout for Sandi.

You've mentioned 4 blokes (aside from kep) so with barlow, morabito, mzungu (or roj), suban to be in the side over those blokes - that moves Mcphee to the edge.

As i stated - mcphee would be borderline 22 - likely a bench starter (or even a sub) with a fit team. The others such as johnson & crowley would be on the bench with him