Rnd 15 Pre-Match Thread, vs St Kilda

[waswan]

If Hawkins and Cameron can play in the same fwd line we can have others play alongside Buddy. Carltons fwd line the same.

Logan was able to be an option during the Carlton game alongside Buddy. Logan just needs time and confidence.

Wicks was 0 goals and 0 tackles against Melb, so Buddy not having an impact on his game.

[KTigers]

We can add McLean to the list, although he's looking more a depth player at this point, but not a bad depth player. Otherwise, I agree with you and am happy to keep them all. I would also be looking to add at least 1 KPP from this year's draft.

My point is that I don't think we should go into 2023 led by a 36 year old forward, however great his career has been. We are a young side than needs to concentrate our talent in this youth demographic as we enter a period where we hope to seriously compete for a premiership.

True that the jury is still out on Amartey, but the jury should come in on Amartey. He's playing well and the time is right to see if he is indeed a key part of our best side going forward. I would like know by the end of this season if McDonald and Amartey are the ones for the next decade, or we need to continue to look for another combo. Buddy and Reid won't be around forever, so this issue needs settling sooner rather than later.

Buddy is game winner, for sure, but do we want to enter next season banking on Buddy to win us a premiership?

I don't think anyone really sees Buddy as bringing us a flag at this point. His presence in the forward line provides a psychological boost to
whichever combination of talls (McDonald, McLean, Amartey, Reid) are down there with him as long as the guys up field don't
become too Buddy conscious. I think generally these days there is less Buddy conciousness than there used to be. Bud loves a goal but
he can read the room, knows his limitations as an older statesman of the game and will readily pass off to guys in a better spot.
His field kicking is still ridiculously good if you ask me. Most of us over the age of 35 are not so good at picking stuff up off the floor
anymore either. McDonald is coming along really nicely. He is getting some consistency into his game and he doesn't seem to mind
throwing whatever weight he has around. He is a long term project who will help bring us a flag or two in the future.

[Maltopia]

The six teams above us are playing each other this round. So if we win, we gain four points/percentage on three of them (assuming no draws), get back to 5th on the ladder (assuming Geelong wins vs Richmond and Freo beats Carlton) and be outside of the top four by percentage only in a best case scenario.

If we lose, we could drop to as far as 11th, with the Pies, Bulldogs and Suns favourites in their matches.

Without wanting to be dramatic, it does seem our season is on the line here.

[NeonBible]

Hi all,

A few pieces from around the interwebs, hopefully some find illuminating!

- I read on Twitter today Rowbottom has the =2nd highest rate of scores from his kicks inside 50 in the competition.
- SEN names The Chad our most improved player (hard to argue with that one!!)
- Herald Sun also has revealed our players who have the biggest swing between performances against top 8 sides vs performances against bottom 10 sides (Paddy McCartin's goes from 84 ranking points against top 8 sides down to 65.8 against bottom 10 sides, while Juzzy's goes from 62 against top 8 sides up to 80 against bottom 10 sides - something for him to work on)

Fantastic also to see Millsy, Tommy Mac and the Lizard at the Rainbow Swans function on IG, ahead of our pride match this weekend!!

CHEER CHEER

[Ludwig]

- SEN names The Chad our most improved player (hard to argue with that one!!)

He was already perfect, wasn't he, so how could he improve on perfection?

[Aprilbr]

Good to see the Chad is a big improver but still has more to learn in my view eg Dusty fend offs don't always work. Looking at the rest of our team, I guess those who have shown improvement include McDonald, Paddy McCartin (compared to last year's reserves form), Reid, Rowbottom and Mills. A lot of others have been about the same as last season or up/down eg Buddy, Papps, Heeney, McInerney, Lizard, Parker. I think its a high likelihood we won't have any All Australian selections this season (Mills our only chance). This is a developing team and we can look to further improvement from the youngsters next season. We can push towards top 4 and better but we still have a big gap in our midfield in my view. The contested possessions, clearance numbers show this deficiency consistently. Which high possession, skilful, tough ball extractor can we add to this team internally or from a trade?

[dejavoodoo44]

He was already perfect, wasn't he, so how could he improve on perfection?

New haircut?

[Roadrunner]

New haircut?

Goodness no- his ability to break lines comes from his hair!😊

[Ruck'n'Roll]

His presence in the forward line provides a psychological boost to whichever combination of talls (McDonald, McLean, Amartey, Reid) are down there.

Possible, although the other talls behavior looks a bit more circumspect and deferential to me, and unduly so - given the effect on team performance.

. . . . as long as the guys up field don't become too Buddy conscious.

Might as well hope the sun will stop setting in the west.

It's a bit like the wish that he'd play further up the ground, and put his field kicking to effect. We keep hearing it'll happen, but somehow Bud ends up deep in the forward 50 trying to take overhead marks. Whether it's because he's not got the wind to play up the ground, or just a result of the magnetic attraction of those 4 big sticks I have no idea - but some old dog's simply can't be taught new tricks.

Glamour Forwards
Aussie rules is a team sport, yet people often behave/comment as if it's an individual game. Sometimes we talk about team performance, but more often we focus/fixate on individuals, especially glamour forwards (The word 'glamour' used to mean something akin to 'illusion' btw).
Big name forwards hold the public's imagination (thereby making Maketing's job easier), but in terms of the effect on team performance I think they're over rated. How many goals would Pratt have kicked if the ball never got into the forward line? It's not quite as stark as a goal shooter in netball, but esentially key forwards are all about putting the icing on the cake baked by the rest of the team.

Aussie rules is a team sport, yet people often behave/comment as if it's an individual game. Sometimes we talk about team performance, but more often we focus/fixate on individuals, especially glamour forwards (BTW the word 'glamour' used to mean something akin to 'illusion'). We talk about Buddy "winning" the game against Richmond for example. But was his presence essential, we'd need to play the game again in his absence, and look at the result, which is hard to arrange in the absence of easily accessed parrallel universes, to be certain.

But we can ask ourselves whether the icing for the cake baked by others have have been provided by someone (or preferably someone's) else? And it seems for some on RWO, the answer has become (or is becoming) "yes".

- - - Updated - - -

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Goodness no- his ability to break lines comes from his hair!😊

We must make sure he avoids this place

Didn't I read his mum is a hairdresser?

[Markwebbos]

I agree that having Buddy around had tended to overawe Logan, but I feel that has already begun to change.

He did do some (a) wheel and go kicks into F50 that led to goals. And got the first two scoring shots of the game playing deeper.

Our woes going inside 50 are much deeper than being Buddy-centric

[Ruck'n'Roll]

I agree that having Buddy around had tended to overawe Logan

. . . one might almost wonder about Sams career?