If Pyke is dropped/rested, there'd be a slight chance of that giving a lifeline to Towers, who has been thrown into the ruck on the rare occasion in the past. Not that I think that'd be a good idea...
If Pyke is dropped/rested, there'd be a slight chance of that giving a lifeline to Towers, who has been thrown into the ruck on the rare occasion in the past. Not that I think that'd be a good idea...
That all depends Ludwig on whether Hawks decide to play three ruckmen. Hale at FF, Ceglar & McEvoy both doing the ruck duties. Otherwise they could play Grimley who has been kicking a bag or three in the Twos. Schoenmakers might not play yet. schoenmakers is a tall as is Gunston (193).
I don't want to see Reid rucking again in his career. He is crap at it. Ok second up but not as the main ruckman.
Agree about improvement. I think we need a miracle. but I haven't seen Horse walk on water lately.
Tippett is our best ruckman. But he is a gun forward when solely in a forward role. He is a waste of money in the ruck, but an asset forward.
Do you think we could re-draft Barry Hall as rookie? He is relatively tall and could add some physical presence to the ruck. He could also perform lockdown jobs around the ground, like on the weekend against Staker, for example. He could also perform odd-jobs like mowing the SCG, washing Horse's car and cutting out promo pictures of players in Photoshop to use in a different background on the website. For under 300K you can't go wrong.
Last edited by Bloodthirsty; 15th July 2015 at 08:45 AM.
"Take me down to the Paradise City where the grass is green and the Swans win pretty."
I can't remember the last time Hawthorn played 3 ruckmen, so I think it's unlikely. If Roughead comes in, it will probably be at the expense of Shoenmakers, so their structure is unlikely to change from the Freo game.
Reid played very well in the ruck against Richmond. The hitout numbers in that game were Tippo - 16, Reid - 12 and Drex - 7. So not bad for our 3rd ruckman in that game. I think many of Reid's hitouts were 3rd man up, but was a good job nonetheless.
It's interesting that the 3 other top 4 sides play similar forward line structures with a resting ruckman, a primarily tall and a secondary tall. Here are the typical setups:
Hawthorn: Hall, Roughead and Gunston
Freo: Clarke, Pav, Mayne
WCE: Sinclair, Kennedy, Darling
All pose challenges, but not due to height. Reid can be spared in the forward line against all those sides. Their small forwards are many and dangerous.
It was interesting to hear the comments from the weekend wrt how Hawthorn combated the influence of Sandilands. Their rucks were virtually noncompetitive in stoppages but they were still able to win the clearances. I believe that we are capable of implementing something similar without Pyke.
I would use Tippett as a roving follower as long as he is pitted against their rucks he will be both competitive and a challenge for them, my doubts run to his resilience and fitness. If he wins the hitouts to advantage good but otherwise we need to shut down their ability to get clean clearances especially when Burgouyne, Rioli or Mitchell are in the centre square. Their ability to hit targets by hand or foot and set up scoring oppourtunities is significant.
Roughhead is unlikely to play but even if he does I rate Gunston as their main leading target with Hale and the other ruck whoever he is as goal square targets but their effectiveness is mostly to ground the ball for their small forwards, Bruest and Paopolou. I fear Rioli one out in the goal square above all else.
Shaw must not play down back, he is too slow and his decision making under pressure is getting worse. I would like to see him run with Smith. I know Smith is quick but I don't see another role for him and if we let Smith link up unrestrained his ability to break the lines and create is devastating.
Hannebery will get the Shiel tag and maybe Hodge/Lewis on Joey. McVeigh must work hard to make Birchall accountable if he is allowed to be the release person his accurate kicking is important upfield.
When we have possession we must hit targets and make good decisions, too often we are under pressure and Hawthorn are too good getting back if you make an error.
Changes: (Desirable)
Out: Shaw ( 15 games but no improvement. how much longer can we carry him?), Pyke (looks to be carrying an injury and unable to jump)
Ins: Richards ( if fit must come back), Bird ( need hard bodies against Hawks and he is uncompromising)
Would like to have included Heeney but judging by report from Tom Harley do not think he is ready.
Changes: (probable)
Outs: Towers ( unlucky, as he seems to be filling a role and his speed and pressure could be important whilst Rohan is absent), Pyke (see above)
Ins Richards (also based on Harley report), B. Jack ( been showing good form in 2's also based on Harley report and lack of match fitness from Bird)
Likely Line up:
Rampe Richards Smith
Laidler Grundy Shaw
Hannebery Kennedy Jetta
McVeigh Franklin Lloyd
Goodes Reid Parker
Tippett, K. Jack, Mitchell
Int Robinson, Jones, Cunningham (sub) B. Jack
With 1-5 mm rain predicticted to fall Wednesday, then 20-40 mm on Thursday & 5-10 mm on Friday, combined with the NRL playing a game of Friday night, the surface is going to be chopped up and heavy (just like the Richmond game last year). I think that the selectors should factor the weather and surface conditions before selecting the team.
Hi MCS, throwing in Rose against the Dawks is not my first choice but why not blood the young fella against the best, he could play out of his skin. X, mnyeh a total roughie but he has a good footy head, great genes and has improved his speed.
Unfortunately Towers just frightens me (in a Reg way) every time he goes near the ball. I like the idea of Birdie getting a run but his speed is also the issue, at least X has a height advantage.
With a wet soggy ground to be expected, speed might be negligible but height may be an advantage for first hands on ball.
I would always prefer our best 22 which includes Ben Mc and Heeney, neither who have height but are ball magnets when the talls knock it down or get marks spoilt.
I'm scared to be honest but like my Dad used to say..... "they've got 22 and so do we, we can beat anyone on any day if we come to play".
Can we borrow McEvoy for the wknd ?
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