Resting/freshening up for finals.

[borderbarry]

The worst thing about us resting players is that the players who need resting the most, Reiwoldt, Hayes Fisher etc, we just cant afford not to have them in the team against Adelaide.

[borderbarry]

Also the players all had a week off in the split round. I cant see how that refreshed them, not if they are flat and tired after 3 more games.

[degruch]

The worst thing about us resting players is that the players who need resting the most, Reiwoldt, Hayes Fisher etc, we just cant afford not to have them in the team against Adelaide.

Ah, well that's easy...you drop everyone who's playing well. That way they are injury free and raring to go when we hit the finals...in 8th position.

[iwantmeseats]

I dont know how anyone can argue a player who is fit and raring to go should be rested. It goes against all logic, football logic, life logic. Its just stupid people. Lets just kill it, its inane ...maximum players for maximum arse kicking 100% of the time. May I say, FFS!

[starsign]

Like a true Libran I can see the pros and cons of both sides of this debate
But in the final analysis I would put my trust wholely on RLs judgement on this one
Not sure how many players the Swans used over the journey in 05 but I know it was minimal.
They obviously managed it well and reaped the benefits of playing a fairly stable group throughout the season

I know some will argue the game has changed a bit since then , and of course they played half their games on the 5 cent piece SCG

Anyway I recon RL has the runs on the board so far , so I'm more than happy to stick with what now appears a firm policy of his on this

With regard to Bally It's obvious he is being carefully managed , but for what specific reason we really don't know other than September will be at the back of it
He seems to be in there and pivotal in the 4th Q when a few of the recent games are there to be won however!!

I was surprised they took him to Perth , which indicated to me if anyone was going to get a rest it would have been Bally but now RL has come out in the press with his views , and he was continued to be managed re time on the field at Subi, we gotta go with the feeling that the powers that be know what they are doing ...at least better than all of us armchair experts!
So in Ross we, er well I, trust !!

[saintly]

I think you will find some Cat players pulled up sore and Bomber had every right to field a fit team rather than risk players who are not 100%. Saints players probably pulled up a little better than the Cats after the big game, and I'm sure RL wouldn't play sore players, as it would be going against the grain this year.

if you think RL would not play sore players, then why is Ball getting 40% of TOG? He must be sore

I dont think he has ever got 40% time this year and last week he played about 60% which would be his everage for the year.

i was sure he played around 40% last week. i just can't find the stats online

[AnythingsPossibleSaints]

I haven't read any of the replies on here since my last post, but on previous similar topics, I've read those who are against the idea saying that it "didn't work for the Bulldogs last year", as if to prove that it "couldn't work"/hasn't worked in the past, or won't work for us.
It may not have worked for them last year, but for those who haven't read it, this is what Shane Crawford said in his column in yesterday's Sunday Herald Sun ("Saints drop Ball...or did they?"), on the topic of resting guys (especially the older ones), as a "physical and mental refresher before the finals":
"We did that at Hawthorn late last season and I am sure it played a significant part in seeing us win the premiership.
We had started the season so well and had all but assured ourselves of finishing in the top four (even the top two) a long way out from finals.
So we worked out a system of aiming all our focus on getting players as prepared as they could for the finals, rather than the last bracket of home-and-away games.
In doing that, we had some players go in for surgery in the middle of the year, when they would have otherwise tried to play through the pain.
And a few players got the chance for a rest later in the year, with some niggles.
I missed our round 22 game. I really wanted to play because I wanted to be out there when "Buddy" Franklin kicked his 100th goal, but I knew the prize at the end of the season was potentially much more important.
And so it proved on the last Saturday in September."
So not only has this approach worked, it worked for the most recent team to win a flag. Geelong, the side that won it the year before, also seem to be clearly doing it. Then there's Leigh Matthews (who took Brisbane to 4 GF's, winning 3, earlier in the decade) who they said On the Couch last week said that if he were at Geelong, he'd have rested the other half of their team on the weekend. These guys have been there and done it, very recently. They know what it takes.
Having said that, our list management is very good and some of our guys don't get a heap of ground time anyway (eg Lenny, who's usually 75-80%, even less yesterday, Bally, who's been in the 60's and lower lately and even Rooey was on and off yesterday, which doesn't usually happen). So we're already doing it, but instead of them missing games, they're spending less time on the ground each week.
If any of them are really knackered, very sore, or have a "niggle" that could easily become something major, I'm confident some of our guys will be "rested" for a whole game, before the end of the year, especially in the last two rounds, when we play the Dees and North. (As Gardi may have been yesterday.)