Originally Posted by
Ludwig
If Horse is a good coach, the performance, injuries and suspensions could be the best thing that happened for the club. But I think Longmire is more cut in the Malthouse mould and will stubbornly stick to his current plan and players. For what it's worth, this is my view:
The Swans are not a premiership team this year and the sooner we start reshaping the side the better. We've played well in spurts, but have barely put in one good 4 quarter game this year, other than the PA game and that being against a club that has been shown to have their own problems.
The ruck:
Tom Derickx should never play again under any conditions. He should be asked to retire and then given a job in our media department so we can get salary cap relief. He can barely walk without falling over. I read that he had 1 hitout to advantage in 56 contests last night (and that was probably the one when he fell over and the ball hit him in the head). When we were ahead in the 1st half and I was in a better mood, I couldn't stop laughing at some of his antics.
Mike Pyke, who is likely to miss anyway this week due to injury, should only be given a chance to play seniors after a run of dominance in the reserves where he can show that ha has regained the form he had in 2013. If it doesn't happen, we just have to move on, whatever it is.
We will have to play Nankervis for now and hopefully Naismith will return soon from his groin injury and be available in a few weeks. I don't know how they will go at senior level, but that's looking like the future right now. If it's not, better to find out sooner than later, rather than carry our ruck problems into another season.
Our midfield will have to adjust to the ruck talent we have and not pretend that Todd Goldstein is our ruckman, It may come down to making Tippett our number one ruckman. He's not killing it as a forward. Maybe that's his best role.
The old and the new: Some weeks back I started a thread about whether it was best to bite the bullet on some of our older players and give our younger ones more game time. It seems the consensus of opinion is that Shaw is cooked. I would agree. We should replace him now. We are not going to improve with him in the side. Goodes has played well enough to continue in the senior side, but there may well come a time when it's best for him to hang up the boots as well. The only reason for keeping these two in the side is to give us the chance of winning a premiership this year, and their contribution to that end seems less likely by the week.
I'm not sure that Tippett will be suspended; he might get a week. Franklin is almost certain to get 1 or 2. It's probably not a bad thing. We have been far too Buddy conscious. Now we will be forced to find other tactics to score and I think that is for the best.
Zak Jones should stay in the side. I'm think he will learn to keep his cool with the umps. He's a very driven footballer. Start him in place of Shaw.
Play Hewett. He's got the talent to be an elite footballer. It's not likely to go smoothly, as all young footballers make mistakes at senior level at the start, but we should start playing him now when we have injuries to a number of other mids. In a few weeks McGlynn and Heeney should be available, so let's get a look at some of our better reserves players before that happens.
Just guessing at the suspensions, but I am nearly sure Buddy will miss:
Out: Derickx, Franklin, Shaw.
In: Nankervis, Towers, Hewett
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