Blake must go out!

[happy feet]

Love Max, lets face it a great clubman and player. We can say whatever we like here, but the Geelong game will be his watershed. Whatever happens, Max will retire at the end of the season. Blake is a good honest player that does not deserve the bagging that he gets on this forum. Neither does Max, past performances and loyalty should not be forgotten and respect given where it is due.

for christsakes you would think we had lost the first 12 games in a row.

[Milton66]

I can see both points of view. But if we want to argue about not resting on our laurels and striving to improve regardles of a 12-0 result so far, then every player should be scrutinised... and players picked on their merit, not past reputation.

Max is no exception, and i's not about respect. It's about making decisions that will help us win a flag. IMO.

You have to wiegh up senior experience vs structure.

Facts are that our defence did pretty well whilst he was out.

Then if you have to ask if not having him, robs from freeing up a defender to a possie where he can hurt the opposition the most.

[Saints43]

Max can play on a small, fast forward.

When was the last time he actually did? I remember Nathan Brown saying that Max was one of the toughest defenders he'd ever faced (along with James Clement), but I don't remember the last time Max played on Nathan Brown. Other than the occasional undersized key forward - like Welsh or Robbo - I can't think of anybody he's played on in recent years who could be described as small.

Max doesn't like to leave defensive 50. Most smalls these days push up the ground for at least some of the game. He's much better suited to playing on talls these days.

Exactly. Smalls dont play in the forward pocket anymore and Max can only play last line of defence. He is only suited to stay at home forwards.

I agree it has been a long time since Max played on a small forward - which is why my examples were from more than three years ago.

When we had Penny he would take the Monster and Max would be free to take a small dangerman. It has taken until Zac (who've thought?) to allow Max to do this job again - if possible. We don't know because Max hasn't had the opportunity.

I also don't think there are any 'stay at home' fowards anymore. All forwards play up to the wing now and stay involved in play if there's no supply.

[samoht]

so what if our back line is tall ?

Gilbert, Hudghton, Dawson, Fisher are all mobile, versatile and good at ground level too.

You can also look at it this way - means our tall defenders are more likely to outmark the opposition when the ball is kicked long into the opposition forward line.

This might break down the opposition forward structure (with their 3 talls say vs our 6 talls) - and force the opposition to try and handball their way forward and if they do decide to kick force them to have to pinpoint their passes into theirforward 50 - and you need time and space to do that.
Our midfield should be able to deny or at least restrict that time and space.

Sounds good in theory anyway.

[AnythingsPossibleSaints]

I can see both points of view. But if we want to argue about not resting on our laurels and striving to improve regardles of a 12-0 result so far, then every player should be scrutinised... and players picked on their merit, not past reputation.

Max is no exception, and i's not about respect. It's about making decisions that will help us win a flag. IMO.

You have to wiegh up senior experience vs structure.

Totally agree. Just because you played last week and the week before, or the last 5 years, doesn't mean you're who's best for our team this week. I hope they pick the team each week based on who's best in each position, to play our opposition that week, not who played last week. It's a totally new game.
Some will say that you've got to reward loyalty and service over the years and all that, but that's what their big weekly pay cheque is for. We don't need to give them a game when they're not in our best 22 for that week as well.
Having said that, I'd certainly be keeping Max in there, which will free up some of our other guys to be more attacking (ie Fisher and Gilbert).