Game Day West Coast v Sydney - Round 4 @ Patterson's Domain Oval in Subiaco

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mick06

Premiership Player
Aug 21, 2008
3,617
5,220
Perth
AFL Club
West Coast
Other Teams
Leeds United; San D uh LA Chargers
So it's only Monday, but after a loss and a short week before the next game i feel it's time to move on quickly!

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Overall Head to Head
Played: 46. West Coast: 20 wins, Sydney: 26 wins

Last Five meetings
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From our perspective, it has been a bleak recent history between the two sides, losing four of the last five games and nine of the last 10. We often like to look back on the mid 2000's epic encounters for some sort of validation that we have a fierce rivalry, however it has been a one way street for far too long and it is time to right this wrong. If we want to look to some positives, we have won one of the last two encounters, so things are turning around!

Last Week

West Coast lost to Richmond by 11 points in what was a scarily sense of deja vu MCG effort and game style. The fact we were in the game was really down to the fact that the Tiger's are not a particularly good side. Had we taken our opportunities, it was a game we could have won, however poor kicking is poor football and overall, we did not deserve to win this. It was quite a tail of two dumb sides playing dumb football for a half. In the first half, the Tiger's kept kicking the ball in long and McGovern and Barrass were quite comfortable in the air, it took a masterstroke from Hardwick at half time to come up with the idea of taking this strength away by not bombing it in long and high...In the second half, we continued to play handball happy, even though the conditions were horrid. In summary, we got smashed around the contest, had to have extras around the ball, lost our forward structure and could not get the ball out of D50. Standard MCG affair.

The winless Sydney were playing at home against the winless Collingwood who were coached by dead man walking Buckley. The pies were in control most of the night, however a typically dogged swans outfit clawed their way into the match despite missing a host of players and fielding quite an inexperienced outfit. They deservedly lost by a point to leave them at 0-3 and in a very precarious position for the remainder of the season given they face us and then the giants in the next fortnight.

This Weeks Game
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When: Thursday, April 13. Bounce Down @ 6:10 PM AWST
(some other time for ever other state, no idea the status of your daylight savings)
Where: Subiaco Oval Wave Park
For What: Four points, bragging rights over the mrs and the HMAS Sydney II Trophy

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Weather:
Perfect night for football - no excuses
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So we are returning home on the back of a five day break to play a standalone fixture on a Thursday night against a historically tough at it Sydney outfit. Apparently the club request and who am i to question this, i mean the club surely needs the exposure and money that this national audience can bring in, so hopefully this will see us back in to the black and the result is really of second importance.
Major Talking Point
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Swans fill in bench warmer Cal Sinclair practicing his gumbyness at training - he has the art perfected
Eagles totem pole Lewis Jetta shows more contact and sweat in the changeroom than the field.
Rubbish truck displays less stink than the two surrounding footballers

Spot the difference. In what could go down as one of the most even trades of all time - for all the wrong reasons, fans of both sides argue about who got the worst of this trade. While injuries have no doubt played a part, everything about these two players screams 'meh'. Oh and the difference is that the garbage truck is likely to be useful moving forward.

Teams
There are some interesting discussion points around the teams for this game. Do the eagles make changes after another lackluster away performance, on the back of a five day break after a one way slow midfield was again exposed. Will we drop players for 'team balance' and give them the out that they are a 'bit banged up and sore'
Have the swans got anyone to come back in? They have been fielding a very youthful team as they do not have a lot of depth with experience given that Buddy has taken all the cash and injuries are taking there toll.

I think we could see three changes this week
Out: Mitchell (old man, five day break and he actually attacked the contest hard), Hutchings, Redden/Jetta
In: Sheed (had a big game int he WAFL), Schofield (we are likely to bring a guy in with experience but no real form), Mutimer (next in line?)

Not sure what Sydney have coming back - Will they rush a few players due to being 0-3 and in desperate need of a win? Tippett and Papley (LTI list?) may be possible inclusions

UPDATE
West Coast: In - Duggan, Butler. Out - Jetta (dropped), Hutchings (dropped)
Sydney: In - Cunningham, Papley. Out - Dawson (dropped), Naismith (injured)

No Sheed here is a surprise after a dominant display in the WAFL. Duggan hadn't been setting the world on fire so perhaps some fresh legs is the reasoning here given he was the travelling emergency. Jetta and Hutchings out is the right move and serious question marks will continue to hang over Jetta. Hackdorn has hinted there are deeper personal issues with Jetta and given the evidence, it would be hard to discount this. Bringing the defender in and two mids out is likely to mean we release Yeo a bit further up the ground for some speed. Perhaps we are banking on him being in some good form and hoping he can take that to whatever position he plays.

The Swans are going to go in with one Forward / Ruckman in our old mate Sinclair - so i guess they win this trade. Papley has been rushed back in and will be a dangerous small forward.

Given the 5 day break i think we may see a late change or two depending on how some of the boys rock up at the ground.

Key Match Ups

Kennedy vs Grundy / Aliir Aliir Aliir Aliir
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Josh Kennedy celebrates as he views the names in the Sydney backline.
Aliir Aliir happy with the news he is being dropped for this weeks game - 'we're fecked mate'

Our forward line is our major weapon and Kennedy will once again be a key to the result of this match. he has shown that even if kept quiet for 3/4 he can turn the game in a burst. If he can some decent supply i feel he can get on top of this defence and he should be tough to stop. Five goals from him and we win this.

The Midfield
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On paper, this is not pretty reading - and not pretty in picture either, the swans have a much better looking midfield. If Mitchell does need to be rested, this gives the Swans a distinct advantage. Given it would be our first game without a dominant ruck and Mitchell, it is a little concerning how our guys will hold up. We have been a little too Mitchell centric in the opening rounds and it has almost been as if we are all trying to emulate his play. The swans midfield have not been firing on all cylinders, however have shown glimpses and we do not want this to be the game they all click for the first time this season. Rumour has it Buddy has got Hanners back on the froths, so we may have to make Subi oval a dry zone Thursday night.

Franklin vs The Zone
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No key matchup against the swans is complete without including big Bud. The man is capable of winning any match off his own boot if he has one of those days. He is not going to beat us in the air - as a) he is a rubbish overhead mark and b) we have the two best in the business intercept markers and our lads would halve any aerial contest against him. What do we do when he gets up the ground and tries to turn us around? Yeo has been in ripping form, do we try and beat him going the other way and make him accountable? Does Shepperd go with him and try to beat him for pace. Schofield has done a job in the past, doe she come in to stand the Budweiser. A lot is going to come down to the midfield pressure and limiting good lace out supply. I think we can cover him inside 50, its whether we get opened up on the counter and he gets out the back enough to cause us too much damage.

The Unknown​
Sydney have a lot of 'nameless' players who going through a team sheet would not really worry you, however it is these lesser lights that love to cause us damage and bob up with three goals or 25 possessions. We never have this sort of thing - mostly because we are a settled outfit and do not like to try new players...Hopefully given they only have an extra days break after a tough Friday night encounter and there is such a large group of unknowns coming over to the big bad West, it all becomes too much for the young cygnets

Stats
So three games in, we should be able to get a bit of a read on how things are shaping up. We clearly have a greater uncontested, disposal happy game style. We have far fewer tackles and contested possessions and this is something we need to make a priority this week - pressure on the ball carrier and a turn up in intensity. Contested marks and marks inside 50 is an expected advantage to us, so we need to make use of this and get our accuracy back up after last weeks blip
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Result
Given Sydney's injury concerns and youthful inexperienced lineup and this game is at home i expect us to be able to get on top. The short break is a concern, but i feel there may be a lag effect in that we will get up for this game, but really struggle the following week. The swans will no doubt control this game for large periods and we will be screaming for someone to get on Kennedy and Hanneberry and Parker will probably pop up for two goals, however i'm tipping a big one for our JK and for Lecras to have a breakout game against Sydney. My overall feel is more same same from previous seasons - which while is frustrating in that we appear to be stagnating, it should be enough to see us over the line in this one. Eagles by 14 points
 
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Whatever happens I just hope we can settle once and for all that it was indeed us that lost out most in the Sinclair deal.

Sure he's done very little at Sydney, but that should not be taken as a reflection of what he could of done if he had stayed. Or indeed what he accomplished when he was here. He was a better fit for us than he is at Sydney. People forget that Sinclair was a big part of our best [only good?] year under Simpson and played his role in getting us to that GF. Jetta was supposed to be the silver bullet for a 2016 Premiership, we couldn't trade Sinkers out fast enough for some of that legendary "outside pace." History will show Sydney made the following GF, not us.

History will also show bringing in an out of form, attitudinally suspect player like Jetta into the softest team in the league did not just magically transform him as a player. And since trading out a backup ruckman who played in most games of our winning games in 2015 we've wasted copious amounts of effort trying to fill that position again. Giles, Petrie, Vardy, keeping McInnes on the rookie list... did we need to waste all this recruiting effort just to add Jetta? Were there better things to be doing with our time in off season than Dean Cox teaching all these blokes the same stuff he spend years drilling into Sinclair?

Personally I take the view that everything that has gone wrong since that 2015 grand final can be traced back to the arrogance on display in that trade. It was an easy way out that looked great on paper, but in practice has failed spectacularly from our point of view. We didn't lose that GF because we didn't have one player with outside pace. We lost because we're mentally pathetic. Naitanui, Sinclair, Lycett worked just fine. When you try and fix what isn't broken you're playing with fire I reckon, and we've certainly been burned in the number 1 & 2 ruck spots since that decision. It shits me every time I think about it.

Anyway hope we win this one. And regardless of the result hope Sinkers is out there and plays with the kind of aggression he bought week in a week out in 2015. He may not be gods gift to ruckman but if ever there was example of a player with the right mental attributes we need at this club it was Cal Sinclair. Will always be one of my favourite eagles ever, just for the fact in a team of limp marshmallows he actually had half a heart and managed to make the most of what he had to work with instead of squandering it the way countless more talented players do. Premierships are made out of stories like his, all it got him was a one way plane ticket out of here. I'll never let it go, its scarred me for life haha.
 
Whatever happens I just hope we can settle once and for all that it was indeed us that lost out most in the Sinclair deal.

Sure he's done very little at Sydney, but that should not be taken as a reflection of what he could of done if he had stayed. Or indeed what he accomplished when he was here. He was a better fit for us than he is at Sydney. People forget that Sinclair was a big part of our best [only good?] year under Simpson and played his role in getting us to that GF. Jetta was supposed to be the silver bullet for a 2016 Premiership, we couldn't trade Sinkers out fast enough for some of that legendary "outside pace." History will show Sydney made the following GF, not us.

History will also show bringing in an out of form, attitudinally suspect player like Jetta into the softest team in the league did not just magically transform him as a player. And since trading out a backup ruckman who played in most games of our winning games in 2015 we've wasted copious amounts of effort trying to fill that position again. Giles, Petrie, Vardy, keeping McInnes on the rookie list... did we need to waste all this recruiting effort just to add Jetta? Were there better things to be doing with our time in off season than Dean Cox teaching all these blokes the same stuff he spend years drilling into Sinclair?

Personally I take the view that everything that has gone wrong since that 2015 grand final can be traced back to the arrogance on display in that trade. It was an easy way out that looked great on paper, but in practice has failed spectacularly from our point of view. We didn't lose that GF because we didn't have one player with outside pace. We lost because we're mentally pathetic. Naitanui, Sinclair, Lycett worked just fine. When you try and fix what isn't broken you're playing with fire I reckon, and we've certainly been burned in the number 1 & 2 ruck spots since that decision. It shits me every time I think about it.

Anyway hope we win this one. And regardless of the result hope Sinkers is out there and plays with the kind of aggression he bought week in a week out in 2015. He may not be gods gift to ruckman but if ever there was example of a player with the right mental attributes we need at this club it was Cal Sinclair. Will always be one of my favourite eagles ever, just for the fact in a team of limp marshmallows he actually had half a heart and managed to make the most of what he had to work with instead of squandering it the way countless more talented players do. Premierships are made out of stories like his, all it got him was a one way plane ticket out of here. I'll never let it go, its scarred me for life haha.
Thanks Mrs Sinclair

I'm sure the list managers knew that NN and Lycett were going to get long term injuries when they made the decision.
 
Just quietly, pretty relieved Heeney isn't playing against us.

Kid is a deadset gun & just the type to rip us a new one in a close game.

Having said that, I hope his recovery is going well.
 

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Franklin looms as a massive factor in this match - we all know his talent and much like Martin last week we don't have an obvious matchup for him. Gov and Barrass don't have either the pace or endurance to go with him and Yeo is completely undersized

Can see Mackenzie or Schofield coming in as they are quicker with better tanks

I'd like to see Simpson play a 7 man defence with Barrass taking Reid and Gov playing as a spare. Clog up an opposition forward half for a change

Leave Giles out so we don't lose any run by dropping a small/medium defender.

Bring Sheed in for one of redden or Hutchings whichever one stays in gets to shadow Kennedy and sacrifice their own game to nullify him

Darling to play up on the wings so we can try to isolate JK deep in the F50 and use Lecras as an alternative target. Hill and Cripps to start high and surge forward
 
I rarely post on oppositions boards but this should be pretty one sided. I cant see us winning this. Mitchell will do as he pleases and Jetta will have the game of his life. You have too many big forwards. Rampe out is killing us. You boys will have it stitched mid way second term. 0 and 5 for us after GWS.
 
I rarely post on oppositions boards but this should be pretty one sided. I cant see us winning this. Mitchell will do as he pleases and Jetta will have the game of his life. You have too many big forwards. Rampe out is killing us. You boys will have it stitched mid way second term. 0 and 5 for us after GWS.

I wouldnt be so sure mate, about the only thing i will amost guarantee is nick smith will give lecras a bath.
 

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Game Day West Coast v Sydney - Round 4 @ Patterson's Domain Oval in Subiaco


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