Will Fremantle make the 8?

[The Unforgiven]

Honestly, did you just make that 'line' up?

Can you please show me one person that has said that our midfield is better without Lachie?

No, I did not just make that up. Perhaps nobody said midfield specifically. I did, however, paraphrase FreoGirl when making that statement. It was her comment I initially replied to, which was:

"We sat towards the bottom of the ladder with Neale - I think our team actually works better without him."

 

[its free real estate]

Personally I don’t think Sandilands should play another game, irrespective of his recovery, unless we have a serious injury crisis.

We should be looking for the right combination of Darcy and Lobb and giving games to Sandilands simply has to take them from one of them.

Agree with this. Love Sandi absolutely but sadly I think his time has come.

 

[AFDogs]

They look the goods. Nearly unbeatable at home and picked up an away win against GWS. They recruited well bought in some quality talls.

If they don't throw the cheque book at Tim Kelly next year they're crazy.

Should sneak the 8.

 

[its free real estate]

No, I did not just make that up. Perhaps nobody said midfield specifically. I did, however, paraphrase FreoGirl when making that statement. It was her comment I initially replied to, which was:

"We sat towards the bottom of the ladder with Neale - I think our team actually works better without him."

People arguing about Neale need to understand why he was so good 2016-2018 and why ultimately he is superfluous. Between 2016-2018 Fyfe was either seriously injured, or recovering from injury. In his place Neale played, but was nowhere near as good at what Fyfe can do. The closest Fyfe got to playing a full year of football, 2017, Neale had a much lesser season, because Fyfe played a more dominant role in the middle, despite Fyfe clearly being impeded with his recovery from a broken leg.

If Fyfe is fit, what role suits Neale? He's great at winning the ball, not so great at creating with it. Fyfe is better at winning the ball. Someone like Mundy or Stephen Hill is better at creating. So what does Neale do if Fyfe returns to the old role? He either fills in for when Fyfe is resting as essentially a second stringer, or becomes part of a midfield chain, moving the ball around contests through handball without doing much damage.

Would our midfield be better without Neale? Definitely. Would it be so much better that we could afford to do without Hogan? No way.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

Literally no Fremantle supporter I know or who I’ve talked to have said that about Neale. Maybe the odd salty supporter on here.

We knew he was a gun, but when Hogan became available we had to deal. Without Hogan we may have kept him and tried to keep him. Prob a win win for us and you after all.

These are direct quotes from other Freo fans in this thread. I agree that it's a win-win, both our clubs look much stronger this season.

 

[The Unforgiven]

People arguing about Neale need to understand why he was so good 2016-2018 and why ultimately he is superfluous. Between 2016-2018 Fyfe was either seriously injured, or recovering from injury. In his place Neale played, but was nowhere near as good at what Fyfe can do. The closest Fyfe got to playing a full year of football, 2017, Neale had a much lesser season, because Fyfe played a more dominant role in the middle, despite Fyfe clearly being impeded with his recovery from a broken leg.

If Fyfe is fit, what role suits Neale? He's great at winning the ball, not so great at creating with it. Fyfe is better at winning the ball. Someone like Mundy or Stephen Hill is better at creating. So what does Neale do if Fyfe returns to the old role? He either fills in for when Fyfe is resting as essentially a second stringer, or becomes part of a midfield chain, moving the ball around contests through handball without doing much damage.

Would our midfield be better without Neale? Definitely. Would it be so much better that we could afford to do without Hogan? No way.

Are you trying to tell me that a side only needs one inside midfielder at any one time? I agree that too many inside mids is to the detriment of your outside run. However, too many outside mids means you won't get the ball enough. I'm sure Neale and Fyfe could have been made to work well together.

I just can't buy that Neale was, as you're alluding to, surplus to requirements. Definitely the net gain from Neale's departure, which landed you Hogan and Lobb, far outweighs the loss. Freo's done well there - but they've also done well covering the loss of Neale, rather than saying he was no loss.

 

[Joao]

Neale is a big loss, but if the Hawks can win consecutive flags after losing Buddy, I am sure we can find our way without Lachie.

 

[its free real estate]

Are you trying to tell me that a side only needs one inside midfielder at any one time?

No. Which is why I mentioned Mundy, who is also very good at the contest, and uses the ball much better.

This year our midfield is performing no worse than the last few years, in part because Fyfe is back, and Mundy has taken on an increased role in the middle. Would our midfield be better with Neale? Undoubtedly. But it was not a significant loss we couldn't cover in the medium term.

The issue with Neale's departure was what we had going forward. I think Blakely, Brayshaw and Cerra are a capable young group that can replace what Neale (and Mundy when he retires). We've also added Hogan and Lobb. I think our best 22 is much more balanced with the loss of Neale and his replacement with two excellent talls.

When Neale was up for trade, I was absolutely in favour of him going, and that was before Hogan and Lobb were in discussions.

 

[fnerd]

These are direct quotes from other Freo fans in this thread. I agree that it's a win-win, both our clubs look much stronger this season.

yeah look mate there will always be salty fans.
Try not get too upset bout them just be happy you got Neale cause I can tell you 99.9% fans are absolutely stoked we got hogan because of it

 

[Bicco]

Are you trying to tell me that a side only needs one inside midfielder at any one time? I agree that too many inside mids is to the detriment of your outside run. However, too many outside mids means you won't get the ball enough. I'm sure Neale and Fyfe could have been made to work well together.

I just can't buy that Neale was, as you're alluding to, surplus to requirements. Definitely the net gain from Neale's departure, which landed you Hogan and Lobb, far outweighs the loss. Freo's done well there - but they've also done well covering the loss of Neale, rather than saying he was no loss.

What losing Neale has done (in midfield terms) is give more opportunity to Walters to play in the middle. He will never get the numbers like Neale does but on current form, it would be hard to argue his (Walters) impact is less, it could easily be argued that he has a greater impact on games than Neale. For all of Walters flopping around for frees, he actually does go in bloody hard.
If there is a game where we are being out worked by the opposition midfield then thats where losing Neale will hurt because he is just so consistent at winning a heap of the ball (loss against GC comes to mind).
Losing your B&F winner will always hurt, but I think most agree that the nett gain of Hogan and Lobb plus the improvement in Walters on taking Neales role is a win overall for Freo.

 

[The Joker]

These are direct quotes from other Freo fans in this thread. I agree that it's a win-win, both our clubs look much stronger this season.

The real question is, who is better, Neale or Beams?

 

[Freoforever86]

These are direct quotes from other Freo fans in this thread. I agree that it's a win-win, both our clubs look much stronger this season.

They’re obviously silly people and shouldn’t be taken seriously. I was devo about Neale until Hogan became a reality

 

[demondavey]

Think they’ll miss along with St Kilda, really close but will fall away at the end. Top 8 in no particular order;

WC
Geelong
Collingwood
GWS
Richmond
Essendon
Port
Hawthorn

Just think when push comes to shove that WC, Geelong, Collingwood, GWS, Richmond will be absolute locks, then Essendon, Port and Hawthorn should be good enough to get in. I can’t see Brisbane, Fremantle or St Kilda keeping up at year end. Fremantle, Carlton, Brisbane and St Kilda should occupy a large number of finals series however from 20-21 and onwards.

 

[juss]

I think so, but still so hard to say as the ladder points are so even.

 

[00Stinger]

I thought they were a chance to make the 8 before the season started.

Now I think they should find a spot at the bottom of the top 8 somewhere

 

[dockshark]

They’re obviously silly people and shouldn’t be taken seriously. I was devo about Neale until Hogan became a reality

I don’t think that’s fair. Neale is a good player who has become overrated due to prolific possession counts but remains limited in his ability to hurt the opposition. This is precisely how I felt about him when he played for us.

Who knows, in time running as Brisbane’s number one that side of his game may develop, but I doubt it.

Hey, Priddis won a Brownlow playing a very similar approach also with limited opposition damage from his direct possessions.

I think Blakey will slot into his spot nicely and is better by foot in both pressured and unpressured situations.

But all of this is irrelevant. Brisbane have their man, they seem happy and we in a much better place through bringing in Lobb and Hogan.

 

[Supercoach Bargain]

I don’t think it matters if we do or not. We would not be a big factor if we finish 6-8.
I would be happier if we finish top 4, can’t see that, yet.

 

[Tom14]

The real question is, who is better, Neale or Beams?

I think Neale overall though they are different players. Beams will come good for Collingwood and he is more of a goalkicker but Neale's clearance work is carrying the team. At least two of our wins this year are directly attributable to him playing 10-15 mins of dominant contested footy out of the middle. Plus Neale is a much better fit age-wise.

Having said that trade looks like a good win-win for Freo and Brisbane. Melbourne is probably the one not getting the early returns on their part of the overall transaction - as Port (ended up with pick 5 in a swap from us and took Rozee), Bris, Freo and probably even GC have got what they wanted out of the deal. Time for May to get fit and come good of course.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

yeah look mate there will always be salty fans.
Try not get too upset bout them just be happy you got Neale cause I can tell you 99.9% fans are absolutely stoked we got hogan because of it

I'm not upset, I just wondered aloud about how Fremantle would be doing this year with Neale instead of Hogan, when you consider how much everyone else on their team has improved. Interesting to know that pretty much all Freo fans are happy with it, sounds like it's been good for all parties involved. (except Melbourne)

 

[Jibroni]

After the way they beat GWS last week im convinced Freo will make it; even finish higher than West Coke.

After a patchy start Jesse is starting to find his mojo and what he can do, its a different system to which he played under at the Dees and was always going to take a few games. At his best he is the best forward in the comp.

 

[Jibroni]

I'm not upset, I just wondered aloud about how Fremantle would be doing this year with Neale instead of Hogan, when you consider how much everyone else on their team has improved. Interesting to know that pretty much all Freo fans are happy with it, sounds like it's been good for all parties involved. (except Melbourne)

Its the trade we did with Goldcoast that's the problem, Freo played it smartly and we were a bunch of dumdasses.

 

[The Unforgiven]

Think they’ll miss along with St Kilda, really close but will fall away at the end. Top 8 in no particular order;

WC
Geelong
Collingwood
GWS
Richmond
Essendon
Port
Hawthorn

Just think when push comes to shove that WC, Geelong, Collingwood, GWS, Richmond will be absolute locks, then Essendon, Port and Hawthorn should be good enough to get in. I can’t see Brisbane, Fremantle or St Kilda keeping up at year end. Fremantle, Carlton, Brisbane and St Kilda should occupy a large number of finals series however from 20-21 and onwards.

I agree with all of your list, except I'd have Freo making the eight in place of Hawthorn at this stage.

 

[Jeremias]

They're looking very good.

I had them starting the year very well but ultimately falling short of playing finals football.

They've done everything as expected thus far, I still see them finishing outside the 8 but they're giving themselves a chance, and Freo fans should be very happy.

Building very nicely.

 

[demondavey]

I agree with all of your list, except I'd have Freo making the eight in place of Hawthorn at this stage.

Hawthorn showed yesterday they’ve still got that ability to come back from a deficit and get the win. I can’t see a team with Roughead, McEvoy, Breust, Gunston, Stratton to lose control of too many close ones and cough up a win.

 

[ShaunWCEFC]

1 Geelong Cats
2 Collingwood
3 GWS Giants
4 Richmond
5 West Coast Eagles
6 Adelaide Crows
7 Essendon
8 Fremantle

Looks at 5th and 8th. Oh god no