Rnd 15 - vs West Coast Eagles at SCG, 4:35 PM, Saturday 24 June 2023

[Blood Fever]

Thanks Liz- I started to doubt my sanity when I saw 707 post that!
As Mal said, Wilbur has led a charmed life as he has something on Horse that keeps him in no matter what😊
Outs: Wicks, Francis, JMac, Hayward
Ins: Mills, Buddy, Isaac, Dyl.
Sub: Corey

Play McLean in the backline.

McLean is too slow and unathletic to play back. Would be slaughtered on the lead. Only time he could play there would be on a resting ruckmen. Rarely happens these days.

[crackedactor 01]

Apart from Cunningham last year. He is a senior player as he is in the leadership group.

Just on Cunningham. He was great against C. Cameron last week. I hope Longmire keeps his role as a shut down defender.

[Blood Fever]

He's been playing there for weeks and has been great.

[Meg]

You obviously haven’t seen Longmire coach for the last 11 years

Senior players return via the seniors regardless of how injury prone they are or how long their lay off has been

Josh Kennedy ... just last year .... was returning from serious hamstring injury via the reserves.

Sadly he tore his other hamstring and was forced to retire, so didn’t actually make it back to seniors.

[Blood Fever]

You obviously haven’t seen Longmire coach for the last 11 years

Senior players return via the seniors regardless of how injury prone they are or how long their lay off has been

Not totally true but we did play 2 suspect players in 2016 GF - Mills and McVeigh. Also Reid last year. Bad blues.

[Blood Fever]

Notice West Coast get back McGovern, Barass, Hurn and Duggan for this game. Big boost for the team.

[BRS328]

Totally agree with you Blood Fever. McLean would be a disaster on the backline once the ball hits the ground. He is either a key forward or relief ruckman. Unfortunately for him if he is not quite tall enough to compete with the giants in the ruck and seems to get out bodied in rucking contests from time to time

[Ludwig]

Totally agree with you Blood Fever. McLean would be a disaster on the backline once the ball hits the ground. He is either a key forward or relief ruckman. Unfortunately for him if he is not quite tall enough to compete with the giants in the ruck and seems to get out bodied in rucking contests from time to time

Key defenders don't really handle much ground balls. Most of their work is done in the air. I'll bet McLean is quicker than Reg Grundy and Jeremy McGovern. Also, McLean has improved quite a bit this season and looks more agile. I'm not saying McLean as a defender would definitely work, but I think it's worth a look in.

[Blood Fever]

No way quicker than McGovern and more lumbering than Reg. I like Mclean and his footy smarts and would keep him on our list but he is limited through his lack of agility. Happy to be proved wrong.

[707]

Clarke wasn’t in the team last week so he can’t be an out.

Ah, I was interstate last weekend and still have to watch the Brisbane game, I need to pay more attention.

There's still posters on here saying it's just a training run against WC, beware thinking like that, they have some significant ins this week.

[Ludwig]

No way quicker than McGovern and more lumbering than Reg. I like Mclean and his footy smarts and would keep him on our list but he is limited through his lack of agility. Happy to be proved wrong.

I've made the same observations as you concerning McLean's agility. But don't you think he's improved this year? He looks to be moving quite well around the ground. Even Longmire made mention of his improvement.

Maybe we could set up a 100m dash between McLean and McGovern. Or perhaps we'll get lucky and they will be matched in a sprint for the ball in real time on Saturday.

[Blood Fever]

It would be great if he did a Grundy and became a mainstay in defence given the issue of the McCartins but he is a bigger and more awkward player than Reg. Just can't picture him succeeding down there.