Game Day Match Discussion - RD 1 vs. Port Adelaide. Sat 15/03 @ 7:35pm (MCG)

[Piesinmyeyes]

I see Ash is named as an emergency.
Not sure if heartened or disheartened by this.
Thought he was way down the pecking order.
Hoping for a revival at some stage.

 

[Kirby]

I don't know if it's last night's high but I have the feeling we will crush these Port pretenders tomorrow night.

 

[Cousin of Daicos]

I don't know if it's last night's high but I have the feeling we will crush these Port pretenders tomorrow night.

Not if we play the same way we played against GWS.

That’s the wait and see

 

[Pragmatic Shill]

I think that’s the most frightening part

We’re basically as injury free as we’ve been in years and we’re bringing in Sullivan by Round 1…

I just…man

We have De Goey, Mitchell, Macrae, Smit, Steene, Hoskin-Elliott, Harrison, Markov and possibly Parker all on the injury list. That's nine players. We haven't had that level of unavailability in six years.

If we go back to previous years coming into the first game of the season, we had the following players injured or otherwise unavailable:

2024 we had McStay, DeMattia, Kreuger, Murphy, Eyre, Howe (six).

2023 we had Lipinski, Kreuger, Macrae, Draper, Ginnivan, Harrison, Dean (seven).

2022 we had Kreuger, Roughead, Murphy, Hoskin-Elliott, Maynard, Dean (six).

2021 we had Bianco, Keane, Kelly, Sidebottom, McInnes (five).

2020 we had Treloar, Langdon, Beams, Scharenberg, Varcoe, Greenwood, Murphy (seven).

2019 we had Wells, Murray, Scharenberg, Adams, Dunn, Reid, Kelly, Murphy, Broomhead, Hoskin-Elliott (ten).

 

[Kirby]

Not if we play the same way we played against GWS.

That’s the wait and see

That's the whole point!

 

[sr36]

I think that’s the most frightening part

We’re basically as injury free as we’ve been in years and we’re bringing in Sullivan by Round 1…

I just…man

2022 we had stuff all injuries. 2023 - there was a patch where our talls went down, but the running brigade were virtually unscathed.

 

[sr36]

I don't know if it's last night's high but I have the feeling we will crush these Port pretenders tomorrow night.

Me too. The selections make me think that we'll be back to hunting and serious heat is coming Port's way.

We tried to play training drill footy against GWS - handball to stationary player to feed it out to runners all set up - and we couldn't move it under the heat of AFL level as the stationary player got swamped.

 

[soreplums]

Me too. The selections make me think that we'll be back to hunting and serious heat is coming Port's way.

We tried to play training drill footy against GWS - handball to stationary player to feed it out to runners all set up - and we couldn't move it under the heat of AFL level as the stationary player got swamped.

So many v basic skill errors when we had full control of the ball that had they landed would have put us in a really good scoring position instead of defending on the rebound when we were all out of position

 

[Pragmatic Shill]

I don't know if it's last night's high but I have the feeling we will crush these Port pretenders tomorrow night.

 

[Peters_Nuts]

I said we’re as injury free as we’ve been for years

Which isn’t saying we’re actually injury free. Maybe I should have worded it better.

As in, this is the healthiest we’ve been coming into a season for many many years.

So to see such an ordinary depth player being used this early is a bit of a concern

But the point being made was that we need to tap into depth players because 2 x best 22 inside mids are out. I’d rather this solution rather than forcing players to play out of position to fill the void.

 

[jmac70]

I said we’re as injury free as we’ve been for years

Which isn’t saying we’re actually injury free. Maybe I should have worded it better.

As in, this is the healthiest we’ve been coming into a season for many many years.

So to see such an ordinary depth player being used this early is a bit of a concern

It’s the quality that we are missing in the midfield. Add De Goey and Mitchell, and we look even stronger.
It is true that our depth is shallow, and this could very well cost us a legitimate chance.
Hopefully Sullivan comes in and does a decent job, we need players like him to contribute if we are to get the number of wins needed.

 

[sr36]

It’s the quality that we are missing in the midfield. Add De Goey and Mitchell, and we look even stronger.
It is true that our depth is shallow, and this could very well cost us a legitimate chance.
Hopefully Sullivan comes in and does a decent job, we need players like him to contribute if we are to get the number of wins needed.

Or a couple of the kids to come on more quickly than they have been. Nick is the only draftee who's come through yet from 2021 onwards.

 

[Piesinmyeyes]

Is it just me or is Beau McReery a tease?
All chatter about going into the middle more etc etc.
Love what he brings, but really needs to get involved more consistently.
It’s time now.

 

[Harry O]

With Port’s only tall forwards Georgiades and Lukosius - neither play super tall - I am starting to think they might rest Howe

Houston in for Howe
Sullivan in for WHE

Ed Allan omission was a ruse!
Fingers crossed anyway

 

[manicpie]

Is it just me or is Beau McReery a tease?
All chatter about going into the middle more etc etc.
Love what he brings, but really needs to get involved more consistently.
It’s time now.

I see him as a bit of a tease but I think he's given a really specific role each week that requires a lot of concentration. Would love for him to cut loose now and again

 

[No SPIN]

Richmond tonight showed the value of speed. That foot race last goal was a case in point. Great backflip too!

I feel we’ve gone way too far the other way in over-prioritising experience and contested ball, to the point of looking stodgy and slow.

Aside from Nick and Bobby, we have very little speed or flair. And if Nick gets injured or hard-tagged, it really dries up.

As with Murphy, the loss of Noble looks like having a bigger impact than initially expected.

We need more of McCreery around the ball. And DeGoey back in.

What else is in the cupboard? Is DeMattia quick?


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

Reef, Allan and HH won the sprint in their draft years. So we definitely recruited speed.
Markov, IQ, are quick plus those you’ve highlighted.

 

[Piesinmyeyes]

I see him as a bit of a tease but I think he's given a really specific role each week that requires a lot of concentration. Would love for him to cut loose now and again

Time to release the shackles more.
He’s better than a role player.
Leave roles to the Sullivans of this world, doer limited types.
Or am I overrating his capabilities?

 

[manicpie]

Time to release the shackles more.
He’s better than a role player.
Leave roles to the Sullivans of this world, doer limited types.
Or am I overrating his capabilities?

He seems to have all the attributes. I pretty stumped for a solution though

 

[Piesinmyeyes]

He seems to have all the attributes. I pretty stumped for a solution though

Agree, just looks cut out for the midfield but rarely excels.
Maybe lack of nous, I dunno..
Got some great traits though, speed and supreme tackling.
Just wanna see more!

 

[No SPIN]

I said we’re as injury free as we’ve been for years

Which isn’t saying we’re actually injury free. Maybe I should have worded it better.

As in, this is the healthiest we’ve been coming into a season for many many years.

So to see such an ordinary depth player being used this early is a bit of a concern

Not in the least bit concerning with HH JDG and Mitchell injured.

 

[manicpie]

Agree, just looks cut out for the midfield but rarely excels.
Maybe lack of nous, I dunno..
Got some great traits though, speed and supreme tackling.
Just wanna see more!

Some players just don't see the play or can predict the ball movement as quickly as others. He might be one of those. That's what usually separates the elite players from the rest

 

[Cousin of Daicos]

We have De Goey, Mitchell, Macrae, Smit, Steene, Hoskin-Elliott, Harrison, Markov and possibly Parker all on the injury list. That's nine players. We haven't had that level of unavailability in six years.

If we go back to previous years coming into the first game of the season, we had the following players injured or otherwise unavailable:

2024 we had McStay, DeMattia, Kreuger, Murphy, Eyre, Howe (six).

2023 we had Lipinski, Kreuger, Macrae, Draper, Ginnivan, Harrison, Dean (seven).

2022 we had Kreuger, Roughead, Murphy, Hoskin-Elliott, Maynard, Dean (six).

2021 we had Bianco, Keane, Kelly, Sidebottom, McInnes (five).

2020 we had Treloar, Langdon, Beams, Scharenberg, Varcoe, Greenwood, Murphy (seven).

2019 we had Wells, Murray, Scharenberg, Adams, Dunn, Reid, Kelly, Murphy, Broomhead, Hoskin-Elliott (ten).

Prior to Round 0, it was De Goey, Mitchell and Cox in terms of “starting 23” players

Of those three, only one of them was actually injured. Cox. Who is now no longer injured.

Both De Goey and Mitchell aren’t actually injured, they’re just not “fit”. So I still maintain that coming into this season we were in pretty good health overall

Post Round 0 we now have a few more hurt or under a cloud (Josh and Howe are touch and go?). But prior to the Giants game we were in pretty decent health. 3 starting 23 players unavailable was better than most other sides.

But this appears to be going way off the rails given it started from a place of questioning why Sullivan of all players was selected.

 

[BEEG]

People will agree and most won't.

Part of me knows players have lives outside of footy and I respect that.

I just feel 2 years in a row having our players go to late night F1 events just isn't great preparation.

 

[unplugged]

Houston and Daicos will probably take some.

I just don't see it as a big deal. Ultimately your kick in results in a contest somewhere up the field, either directly from the kick in or later on from a subsequent kick.

You want that contest to be as far away from goal as possible and one where we have an advantage or no disadvantage. Houston kicking in would help with that.

BUt is it by enough? Because you also want your players in position to attack or defend straight after that contest - which is Moore deep and Houston trying to receive or defend straight after that contest. There's a lot of running to get them back into the positions you want them. And it still often won't occur as quickly as you want.

I used to think why don't we use Moore as a kick out target. And if looking just at the kick in you would want Houston doing it and Moore as one of your targets, but the problem is what that does to your positioning - you're not in as good a position to attack or defend after the kick out. The gain isn't enough for something that rarely leads to scores.

Personally I reckon the calls for Houston or J Daicos to take the kick ins are neither here nor there. I reckon we'd rather them be the target for the easy kick 35m in so they can be the one biting off the kick down the line or back into the middle.

If it was more common for a kick in to hit a running player at CHB, I'd be all for it, but it's not realistic.

 

[unplugged]

People will agree and most won't.

Part of me knows players have lives outside of footy and I respect that.

I just feel 2 years in a row having our players go to late night F1 events just isn't great preparation.

It was only a bad look last year because we went 0-3.

So for now it's not a bad look until we potentially lose tomorrow night