Preview Sydney vs Essendon, Friday 7.40pm AEST @ Marvel Stadium

[Punts]

I'm not really following.

But hey, if you dump on most of our players at some point, you can come along and tell us you knew all along I guess, when some of them don't turn out.

I will

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Campbell has very little awareness something you need as a mid, he panics every time he gets the ball

 

[caesar88]

Selection has been quite peculiar to be fair.

I just think Horse has to trust these players like Cleary, Warner Jr. etc.

A lot of these guys currently starring in our team were once pretty much speculative kids who Horse took a punt on and they turned out good, and relatively quickly, too. They didn't deliver every week of course but we got some damn good games out of them from very early on.

I understand it's a different team now and there's more at stake but he's just gotta borrow that same mentality I think.

 

[The King!]

Horse doesn't pick the team alone for the record.

 

[Ballarat Bob]

Be interesting to see how we go less Chad Warner

1

Chad Warner

Age

23

Ht

185cm

Wt

82kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

7.0

2star

K

4.5

2star

HB

2.5

2star

M

1.5

2star

T

1.5

3star

CL

0.0

1star

D

7.0

1star

K

4.5

2star

HB

2.5

2star

M

1.5

2star

T

1.5

2star

CL

0.0

1star

D

7.0

2star

K

4.5

2star

HB

2.5

3star

M

1.5

2star

T

1.5

4star

CL

0.0

1star

for a week. Had a great last quarter last week but very innocuous for the previous month or so. If he wants to get to that absolute elite level he needs a few more tricks especially defensively. The truely great mids go both ways.
Fox a bit unlucky but still will play a big part in our campaign for the rest of the year. Be good to see Amartey , McDonald and McLean all get on the scoreboard.
No a lot of confidence in this game , if we keep on giving starts away we will get killed in the finals. At least it's under the cover at Marvel so conditions should be good.

 

[Neverwas]

Fox hurt too sucks , though he was average last week

Average because he was playing injured for most of the match.

Sent from my Pixel 8 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[caesar88]

Game is simple, win at the contest and the result will take care of itself.

 

[The King!]

Average because he was playing injured for most of the match.

Sent from my Pixel 8 Pro using Tapatalk

Seems like it . Out of position imo too

 

[MF]

Do we all think Warner really has a sore calf?

 

[The King!]

Corey or Cleary will probably carve Essendon up anyway

 

[The King!]

Do we all think Warner really has a sore calf?

As much as every player has a sore calf probably

 

[Adnico26Parker]

Do we all think Warner really has a sore calf?

 

[Wheresbuddy]

Perhaps it's because he has played only 4 games since May and you know is working his way back to AFL fitness rather than Horse just hates the bloke.

Did you see his last game? Didn't look like a guy who was short of a run or lacking match fitness. Would've been the perfect time to give him a go.

 

[Dubai Quacker]

Do we all think Warner really has a sore calf?

Yep, he posted a picture from his backyard.

 

[Dubai Quacker]

I'm disappointed that Gus isn't in this week, but in no way surprised.

What does really disappoint me - Stephens, Gus, Konstanty. We do love to torch a first rounder. And I don't think the club's management of any of them has helped.

 

[BloodySwan]

Sheldrick can't get a game because he can only play 1 position.

Cleary, Campbell, Roberts, Warner are all in the team playing in positions they weren't originally drafted for

We brought Sheldrick in as a forward before and everyone lost their mind.

He'll have to wait until his spot in the middle opens up.

 

[Kbroome]

I'm disappointed that Gus isn't in this week, but in no way surprised.

What does really disappoint me - Stephens, Gus, Konstanty. We do love to torch a first rounder. And I don't think the club's management of any of them has helped.

You can go back to 1998 and pretty much the only time we have selected well in the first round has been selecting twice in it or matching on Swans academy players. If its a singular selection of a non Swans academy player. Zak Jones and Jarrad McVeigh are the only exceptions to this rule in over a quarter of a century.

Heres to the 2025 draft with 2 first round selections hey

 

[Dubai Quacker]

Sheldrick can't get a game because he can only play 1 position.

Cleary, Campbell, Roberts, Warner are all in the team playing in positions they weren't originally drafted for

We brought Sheldrick in as a forward before and everyone lost their mind.

He'll have to wait until his spot in the middle opens up.

That’s a very fair point.

My counter is that Parker and Adams are both capable half-forwards. Our forward line without Papley is fairly impotent.

Should we be considering moving both of them forward, thus opening the spot up?

 

[The King!]

Pissing this in

 

[Heeney2Franklin]

Sheldrick can't get a game because he can only play 1 position.

Cleary, Campbell, Roberts, Warner are all in the team playing in positions they weren't originally drafted for

We brought Sheldrick in as a forward before and everyone lost their mind.

He'll have to wait until his spot in the middle opens up.

You can sort of never guess it judging from the VFL i dont know if its a clear direction but most of the players we draft never actually play in their positions :S

 

[Punts]

That’s a very fair point.

My counter is that Parker and Adams are both capable half-forwards. Our forward line without Papley is fairly impotent.

Should we be considering moving both of them forward, thus opening the spot up?

Adams forward?

 

[BloodySwan]

You can sort of never guess it judging from the VFL i dont know if its a clear direction but most of the players we draft never actually play in their positions :S

They're drafted on talent. Being flexible comes into the equation.

Go through our best 23 and very few are playing the position they playing when they were drafted

 

[BloodySwan]

That’s a very fair point.

My counter is that Parker and Adams are both capable half-forwards. Our forward line without Papley is fairly impotent.

Should we be considering moving both of them forward, thus opening the spot up?

Adams isn't a forward. Parker is probably still a better mid than Sheldrick

 

[caesar88]

The elephant in the room is that Cleary and Warner Jr. both deserve their spots more than Sheldrick because they were playing better footy than Sheldrick in the VFL.

Cleary's reward for two well-deserved senior call-ups has been playing as the starting sub in all three games for a whopping average game time of 18%.

Warner Jr.'s reward for a well-deserved senior call-up was to be made starting sub, then after a great performance as sub, he was scapegoated in the team's worst performance in over 30 years two weeks later.

So they've been shafted arguably more than Sheldrick, who has at least got to play full games every week, rather than sitting on the pine "learning."

Some might think Sheldrick is the better player or has more promise or hype or whatever, but if selection integrity is a thing, then those two should take priority over Sheldrick until proven otherwise.

And everything this year suggests Horse is taking selection integrity very seriously, almost to a fault (Ladhams in for Amartey still haunts me!)

 

[DobmusEdge]

You can go back to 1998 and pretty much the only time we have selected well in the first round has been selecting twice in it or matching on Swans academy players. If its a singular selection of a non Swans academy player. Zak Jones and Jarrad McVeigh are the only exceptions to this rule in over a quarter of a century.

Heres to the 2025 draft with 2 first round selections hey

The great Zac Jones …lol. Missed by nobody