My thoughts for team changes this week against Crows are that we need to include O'Riordan for his pace and rebound across the back line which we lacked against Dogs. I would give Melican a few weeks back in NEAFL to gain confidence which he has been lacking. I would also leave Papley in forward line even though selectors want him on the ball. But as most point out, we need Heeney, Jones and Mills in the middle for their pace and disposal. One aspect of our game that doesn't seem to have improved is many of our forwards flying together for the same ball, so no one crumbing. How easy was it for the Doggies to gain possession at the back and distribute down field. Its early in the season and I have confidence that our touch and wins will come. You could see in the last quarter how those goals brought great spirit and confidence. It was only a couple of bad handballs and turnovers that finally let us down.
I am predicting no changes unless there are injuries we are not aware of.
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Largely agree with this. Although it was not JPK's greatest game he still had the 4th most contested possessions and 2nd most clearances for the game (Dogs included).
Clarke also needs to remain. Reducing our running power is not what we need either.
For me, the most obvious out is Melican. At the moment, I prefer Reg to look after Jenkins. Melican just looks horribly out of form. Reg, Aliir, and Rampe with Reid swinging back if necessary is more than enough. I'd replace him with COR who will add so much more dash and dare.
Apart from Mills playing predominantly midfield, I'd also like to see Lloyd moved further up the ground. He is only average one on one (less than average against the Dogs) and he slows us down with his 20 metre chip kicks at the back. Dawson would be a better option to gather those easy possessions with his penetrating kick. Similar to how Jack Watts played for Port Adelaide.
I don't get all the hate for Melican amongst this group! I just finished watching the game on replay as I missed it over the weekend and even though he didn't have a brilliant game, it was far from the horror show nearly everyone is stating. He made a few really good spoils, put on decent pressure even though our midfield didn't for the best part and was on the wrong end of a few really 50/50 calls at best!
He's coming back from a year off due to injury and before that everyone was lauding him as the future of our key backline so I think everyone needs to settle down and just give him a bit of time to get his mojo back!
In saying that I think COR needs to be in the team which will help release Mills to play more midfield but certainly not at the expense of Melican!
If you want to drop anyone, Florent had a poor a game as I've seen him play for a long time and Hayward was not much better!
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Melican has to stay, at his best he was every bit as promising as Alir, still a kid too
I still rate Thurlow above COR, Dawson kicking out of defense isnt the worst idea either, would be every bit the defender as Lloyd is
I understand to an extent what people are saying about leaving in Melican.....and he is a future backline stalwart no doubt but he can get his mojo back in the reserves. We need to be attacking out of the backline now and COR or Thurlow bring that. When Melican gets his mojo back, he can replace Grundy.....
I would move Lloyd to the wing and drop Clarke
I would drop Grundy
I would bring in COR and Thurlow into the back half
We need more pressure in the forward line so Ronke comes back in at the expense of one of Hayward, Blakey or Dawson
I just feel this gives us a better balance.
I'm bullish on Rowbottom but would be very surprised if he gets the nod this early. Needs a string of good performances in NEAFL and I'd be confident he has some things that the coaches have him working on.
COR must come in - even if only to get games into him - but I think he's best 22/team balance at the moment. Take you pick on Melican (needs to find form/fitness) or Clarke (my preference - yet to be proven in our set-up) as the 'Out'. Other than that, I'd give the team another shot on Friday before reaping the axe.
Papley into small forward. Not sure who matches up on Eddie this week.
OUT: Clarke
IN: O'Riordan
Thurlow for Reg
Ronke For Cunningham
Dawson to play wing
Harry has hit his ceiling and is a backup or at best a tagging HFF
Caveat:I haven't seen Saturday's game yet (it was my son's 18th, and following the forum has not made me keen to watch the tape), but this is consistent with what I saw last year.
For those who long complained about our strategy of bombing it in on the heads of the forwards, the good news is that that strategy is out. The bad news is that the new strategy is to handball it to a player standing right next to an opponent, who then gets tackled and loses the ball. It's brilliant to watch when it works, but it can easily go wrong.
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