Match Day Rnd.4 West Coast V Sydney. Domain Stadium 20.10 pm.

[bloodspirit]

I am posting without reading the thread except for the part pre-match and some on this page.

Overall, I'm not too disappointed even though we are 0-4 with every chance of being 0-5 and even though this is surprising considering we were grand finalists last year. It does seem a bit odd. My thoughts about the causes are:

* senior players' performances sub-par
* injuries
* maybe we over-performed a bit last year? There were 5 teams at the top at the end of last year and another 2 worthy contenders (one of whom won the comp). We were not really better than any of them, just in the mix and we were defying gravity a little to do so given the amount of experience we lost. That was down to the exceptional performances of all our senior core.

Anyway, the reasons I'm feeling relatively positive despite the losses are and horrible errors and turnovers are that I think we have unearthed some good talent, especially Hayward who I thought had a fabulous game, and we are getting some games into them which is great for the future because they are the future. The best of them may hold their places even after others return to the side. Some of our middle and lower tier players are stepping up - take a bow Lloyd and Hewett. By the bye, I thought Callum Sinclair did ok, especially early, and did not let us down, even though his disposal was poor. Finally, even though he didn't have a great game, I immediately renewed my bromance with Papley. I love his fire and energy. He will be great when he gets up and going properly.

[YvonneH]

QUOTE:"I immediately renewed my bromance with Papley. I love his fire and energy. He will be great when he gets up and going properly." QUOTE.

Tom reminds me so much of Amon Buchanan. Even looks a little like him.

[dimelb]

QUOTE:"I immediately renewed my bromance with Papley. I love his fire and energy. He will be great when he gets up and going properly." QUOTE.

Tom reminds me so much of Amon Buchanan. Even looks a little like him.

If we are going to rise from the ashes, Tom will be an essential part of the picture. He is exactly the kind of forward we have lacked and I enjoy his intensity, skill, sense of position and willingness to back himself.

[rb4x]

Good to see Papley back but I think it was a mistake playing him. Horse basically said we were playing him as we needed to get some game time into him and there was no NEAFL this weekend. AFL is not where you play players to just get them match fit. He would have benefited more from the hard training planned for those who did not get to Perth. Sinclair was good in the first quarter but if you look at the hitout stats he eventually was well beaten by Giles and Vardy. He does not have the tank at present to ruck solo for a full game. He got a chop out from Reid but this left our forward line without a tall which hurt badly as Franklin was nobbled in the first quarter hit from Hurn. We elevated Melican probably only for the week as either he or Fox will return to the rookie list with Rohan now due back. He should have played as he is tall, fast and a good kick on either side. Would have given us a tall target when Reid went into ruck and could have relieved Aliir and Grundy in defence who needed help. OK he would have been on debut and has not played as a forward but he showed enough in the three JLT games to be given a go and at least he is fit as far as I know though his tank might be suspect over four quarters at Subiaco. He would at least have given the team flexibility which we badly lacked.

I note that our expectation of free kicks is now so low that when we lose them 23-16 it seems like we have had a very good deal from the umpires.

[dejavoodoo44]

If we are going to rise from the ashes, Tom will be an essential part of the picture. He is exactly the kind of forward we have lacked and I enjoy his intensity, skill, sense of position and willingness to back himself.

Yes, I'm also looking forward to seeing what Papley can do this year. I think having both him and Hayward up forward, should provide an increasing number of highlights as the season progresses. Especially if both of them can develop a big fish/little fish type of combination with Reid and Buddy.

[MattW]

Good to see Papley back but I think it was a mistake playing him. Horse basically said we were playing him as we needed to get some game time into him and there was no NEAFL this weekend. AFL is not where you play players to just get them match fit. He would have benefited more from the hard training planned for those who did not get to Perth. Sinclair was good in the first quarter but if you look at the hitout stats he eventually was well beaten by Giles and Vardy. He does not have the tank at present to ruck solo for a full game. He got a chop out from Reid but this left our forward line without a tall which hurt badly as Franklin was nobbled in the first quarter hit from Hurn. We elevated Melican probably only for the week as either he or Fox will return to the rookie list with Rohan now due back. He should have played as he is tall, fast and a good kick on either side. Would have given us a tall target when Reid went into ruck and could have relieved Aliir and Grundy in defence who needed help. OK he would have been on debut and has not played as a forward but he showed enough in the three JLT games to be given a go and at least he is fit as far as I know though his tank might be suspect over four quarters at Subiaco. He would at least have given the team flexibility which we badly lacked.

I note that our expectation of free kicks is now so low that when we lose them 23-16 it seems like we have had a very good deal from the umpires.

Longmire's comment was that there may be 4-5 coming into the team after a spell next week, and playing Papley this week would mean one fewer (and increase our chances of beating WCE). Made sense to me. We'll be better v GWS for Papley having played on Thursday night.

[Wazza]

Great to hear a few players due back but these guys apart from Tippet have no game time at all and will need 1 -2 games at least to find touch, fitness, gell with team mates etc. They have to play against GWS if ready but how effective will they be, hopefully they get through the game and no more injuries. I think the 4 weeks after GWS are critical we must win all 4 games to setup the 2nd half of this season.

This what Im dreaming off

FF Haywood Reid Papley
HF Rohan Franklin Heeney

Hmm yes please.

Cheers

Waz

[Markwebbos]

This what Im dreaming off

FF Haywood Reid Papley
HF Rohan Franklin Heeney

Hmm yes please.

Cheers

Waz

You might have to give up Heeney to the midfield and take Jack in his place

[Scottee]

Good to see Papley back but I think it was a mistake playing him. Horse basically said we were playing him as we needed to get some game time into him and there was no NEAFL this weekend. AFL is not where you play players to just get them match fit. He would have benefited more from the hard training planned for those who did not get to Perth. Sinclair was good in the first quarter but if you look at the hitout stats he eventually was well beaten by Giles and Vardy. He does not have the tank at present to ruck solo for a full game. He got a chop out from Reid but this left our forward line without a tall which hurt badly as Franklin was nobbled in the first quarter hit from Hurn. We elevated Melican probably only for the week as either he or Fox will return to the rookie list with Rohan now due back. He should have played as he is tall, fast and a good kick on either side. Would have given us a tall target when Reid went into ruck and could have relieved Aliir and Grundy in defence who needed help. OK he would have been on debut and has not played as a forward but he showed enough in the three JLT games to be given a go and at least he is fit as far as I know though his tank might be suspect over four quarters at Subiaco. He would at least have given the team flexibility which we badly lacked.

I note that our expectation of free kicks is now so low that when we lose them 23-16 it seems like we have had a very good deal from the umpires.

Totally agree rb4x. This game was compromised by our own selections. Papley had much less impact than a fit Melican would have had and took away options to not only fill in for Reid when he was rucking, but also to allow Aliir to ruck while he took CHB. Opportunity lost.Also, Melican plays a tight defensive role in contrast to Aliir's loose defensive role and would have made a big difference to the performance of the backline in my opinion.

[Flying South]

Why wasn't last nights game broadcast on free to air in Melbourne?

I believe c7 can only show 4 games per week. I guess it was a choice between Swans v WC or Cats v Hawks.

[sprite]

This is something I don't understand about footy each year. Why do some players drop their form in a matter of a few months?

Many of us thought Reg was unlucky not to get selected as an All-Australian last year and he was one of our best in the GF. He had a lovely relaxed holiday off-season (judging from Instagram), came back for an injury-free (as far as we know) preseason training period - and now within his good defending we see too many stuff- ups. Very puzzling.

Reg may have had a great break and pre season, but what happens is that he hasn't improved his pace, which the opposition have and they have now gone past him. He has a problem that he plays off his opponent and tries to read the ball coming in. He is now being caught that little further back, which means he is struggling to get into position.

His short kicks seem to have lost accuracy and power.

[Ludwig]

A perceived weakness only a year ago, now we have a plethora of tall defenders waiting for spot.

1. Aliir has already become an important member of our defence.
2. Melican seems ready to step up to AFL level. He had a great JLT series and continues on in the NEAFL.
3. Maibaum looks like a winner, has a mature body and good pace. If not this year, surely will be ready to go next year.
4. Talia looked good in the first game last year, then everything went downhill. Not sure what the problem is this year, or even if there is a problem. I don't see why he shouldn't be able to regain his early form of last year. He's played some good footy in his short career and seems to have the tools for a better AFL career than he has had to date.
5. It's over 10 months since AJ's last ACL reco. It shouldn't be long before he's ready to take the field for his first game in 5 years, even with a cautious approach. The successful return of Dan Menzel gives me confidence that Alex can do it too.

That's a solid group to cover 2 or 3 spots in the side. If Reg is at the top of his game, there would be no reason to drop him. But if his game is faltering, as it has been so far this year, we should start pushing these others through and get them working together asap. With our slow start this year we should have more of an eye on the future than winning a premiership this season. It doesn't mean we have to give up, but if we do it, we will have to do it with a young team.