meher baba wrote: ↑Fri 29 Apr 2022 9:45am
On the team selection in general: I would assume Marshall is not fit enough to play, rather than being rested for the Demons game.
My guess as he seemed to be moving ok in the videos this week is that it is more prevention in that another knock could escalate matters.
Against GWS he copped a cork on a cork that he had received at training, and that made it much worse.
If were playing the GF this week I think he would be selected.
But with Port just having the just one ruck in their team, and a guy who is both young and has only played 3 games, I think our selectors are comfortable that playing a Ryder/TC combination should give us a good edge in the ruck anyway.
TC is no Marshall, but he is competent and has a mature body and 54 AFL games. At VFL level he tends to out play young raw rucks like Hayes.
Last week Hayes was against only WAFL level rucks.
meher baba wrote: ↑Fri 29 Apr 2022 9:45am
This game is much more of a “must win” game for us.
It may be, but I think as mentioned above that Ryder/TC are more than ample to deal with Hayes and that why Marshall is better than TC, that it will not be crucial in this game.
Marshall's corky is still their and I think that they are concerned that another knock now could flair it. Though if it was really bad he would not have flown to Cairns.
meher baba wrote: ↑Fri 29 Apr 2022 9:45am
The Demons are going to beat most other teams: possibly all of them If they can avoid significant injury problems.
While true, we really want to test them with our best possible team to get a good measure of where we are at. Including how we structure up on the day.
To do that we really want a fit Marshall/Ryder combination to take on Gawn/Jackson. Billings and Jones are quite likely to be and so our team is probably going to be about as good as it can be this season.
Importantly by the time we take on the Cats it should a bit better with Billings and Jones having had more gametime.
meher baba wrote: ↑Fri 29 Apr 2022 9:45am
Beating Geelong is also more important. If Marshall misses two weeks and is right for the Cats, that’s fine by me.
While true, I think injury wise that it makes more sense to rest Marshall this week. Apart from his corky I think he had had a few niggles in every game this season and so resting this week sets him up better for the Dees, Cats and Crows games. O'Brien is a very good ruckman.
If Marshall is to miss a game, then this is the game for him to miss.
He gets a break now, then a brace of games and then another break at the BYE.
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