Rnd 10 - Pre Match Thread - vs North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium, Saturday 20 May, 1:454 PM

[liz]

There's a "games experience on the injury list" stat and indeed the Swans are bottom (or top) four, with 815. Eagles are 1982! But then Geelong are 1103, illustrating the danger of looking for simple explanations using single measures.

The main difference between Geelong's injury list and ours is that theirs are mostly short-term and fairly recent (Jack Henry being the obvious exception). And I note that they lost last weekend with this injury list - to Richmond, hardly one of the form teams of the competition.

The biggest problem with our injury list isn't sheer number - other clubs have similar length, or longer, injury lists. It's the concentration amongst tall players. At both ends of the ground.

[wolftone57]

There has been no announcement of anyone debuting this week. So, that means blooded player only into the team.

Ladhams for Hickey obviously. It depends on when the Hickey delayed concussion was diagnosed as to whether Big Mac comes in or not. But seeing no debutant have been announced, I'd say not.

Melican is now a good prospect for a return.

Stephens and Sheldrick possible. Hall-Khan obviously not as no debutant have been announced.

If Melican does play then he might be able to organise the backs.

I am worried about our two way running. Our mids look shot by about 20 minutes into quarters and our forwards in the main do not chase. Only Will and Clarke. By the way Clarke is too slow at the moment to play on real speedsters. He has recovered from an injury and is only about 80% fitness.



Sent from my JAT-L29 using Tapatalk

[wolftone57]

The main difference between Geelong's injury list and ours is that theirs are mostly short-term and fairly recent (Jack Henry being the obvious exception). And I note that they lost last weekend with this injury list - to Richmond, hardly one of the form teams of the competition.

The biggest problem with our injury list isn't sheer number - other clubs have similar length, or longer, injury lists. It's the concentration amongst tall players. At both ends of the ground.

I believe our injury list is a fitness problem. All soft tissue, all hammies, calfs, ankle, knee soreness etc except Rampe.​He is always a different dude lol. Neck injury from putting his head over the ball and getting it almost knocked off and no free.

Talls are more suceptible if not fully fit. Our program was very short this year due to starting later and we seemed to hit ball work very quickly. I don't know if that was something the coaches decided but I can't see the fitness coaches being happy about that. We are not hitting full fitness because of our injury list. Maybe full fitness was meant to be achieved after the bye?

Other than Bud being ill, we have Bern playing with players who are obviously in distress. Paps has a shoulder problem, he keeps feeling the shoulder after impact. Heens is also struggling with a niggle. He is not moving smoothly and his approach to marking contests is constricted.

Sent from my JAT-L29 using Tapatalk

[Go Swannies]

There's a "games experience on the injury list" stat and indeed the Swans are bottom (or top) four, with 815. Eagles are 1982! But then Geelong are 1103, illustrating the danger of looking for simple explanations using single measures.

Games experience on the available list is just as relevant of course - I guess Geelong go well on that score.

To be fair, that Geelong experience of 1103 games could just be two of its players in their 40s.

[longmile]

What a cluster @@@@!

Out: Hickey, McDonald, Mills, Sheather
In: Ladhams, McAndrew, Sheldrick, Stephens

[caj23]

You are bagging one bloke after only 3 games in one of the worst teams in the comp? The ball comes into the backs so often and so fast that not even Alex Rance would be a good player. Not only that, there is little or no organisation in the backs since Rampe got injured. Tommy seems to give structure when he plays but even with him we lost. In fact in the​game before injury he was all at sea too.

I would hate to be playing in our backs at the moment with the hoards of loose players streaming in there

Sent from my JAT-L29 using Tapatalk

The Big Cat is set against Gould, suggested we were tanking the other week when we selected him

[Foreign Legion]

Never seen so many injuries focused on big blokes - just no luck so far.

I have long thought McAndrew might be one of those players who IMPROVES in the Seniors. Not really sure why I feel this but at his height he is very mobile. Just needs to take a few marks.

[Thunder Shaker]

The AFL does not have sufficient protection for particularly bad runs of injuries. This deficiency needs to be examined.

What do you suggest? The most obvious solution would be to increase list sizes but this is contrary to the apparent push to reduce them. This idea has reared its head again in the context of how the Tasmanian team will be set up. But there's also a thought (likely emanating from the better paid players in the competition) that the better players should get more of the pie. And that means sharing it amongst fewer players.

Apparently this will be no big deal. Clubs will just have supplementary lists pulled from the state level competitions. Which is great for those clubs with strong pools of state league players to choose from. ie not the NSW clubs. I am not sure what the quality of the Suns' and Lions' VFL squads is like because they've not had to call on them much. Brisbane has had an excellent run with injury over the last couple of seasons, while the Suns still have an extended list as part of their recent concessions.

I'm not sure of the current rules, but something more formal with supplementary lists should be considered.

Last year, West Coast had such a bad bout of Covid-19 go through the side that they were forced to make many changes to the side and had to play some players from a supplementary list. This was a special rule for the Covid-19 pandemic, but something like this should become more permanent to cover bad runs of injuries or illnesses. I don't want to see a situation where a club has so many players out that they cannot field a full senior side of 23 players.

[Mountain Man]

One issue with our injury list being mostly KPP forwards and defenders is the knock-on effect of Time on Ground.

Typically, those players remain for 100% to mid 90%'s TOG. This is partly because they get regular rests when the ball is at the other end; and also because they tend to be the senior players with a number of pre-seasons in their fitness bank.

With the restrictions on rotations, our mids are getting fewer rest periods and shorter durations - with obvious consequences late in games

[Mark26]

So the big fella is getting his debut. I'm looking forward to see McAndrew play.

Good to see Stephens back in as well and Gould keeps his spot. A run of games should leave no doubt either way about his future. Ladham to assume primary ruck duties

[liz]

I'm not sure of the current rules, but something more formal with supplementary lists should be considered.

Last year, West Coast had such a bad bout of Covid-19 go through the side that they were forced to make many changes to the side and had to play some players from a supplementary list. This was a special rule for the Covid-19 pandemic, but something like this should become more permanent to cover bad runs of injuries or illnesses. I don't want to see a situation where a club has so many players out that they cannot field a full senior side of 23 players.

West Coast was the only team (I think) that got to call on its Covid supplementary list. But if you look at variation in quality of the lists that all the clubs submitted, you can see why some clubs would be severely disadvantaged, particularly if this came with a further reduction in the size of the official lists.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl...d52fc237a7a723

[Aaron]

INS: Peter Ladhams, Lachlan McAndrew, Dylan Stephens
OUTS: Logan McDonald (injured), Callum Mills (injured), Tom Hickey (injured), Marc Sheather (injured)
Emergency: Edwards, Shedrick, Corey and Wicks ( No Melican)