Mr Magic wrote:Spinner wrote:samoht wrote:Scollop didn't suggest resting every senior player after r15.
He made a valid point .. strategically resting "tired" players (not all seniors at once - where did you come up with that?) would have benefited us come the GF and I totally agree.
Roo was just hobbling around come the finals .. what's the use of finishing top of the ladder in the home and away rounds and losing the GF ? - why not finish second in the H & A and win the flag instead ?
SO more rests would have equalled a flag.
Players need to play. If they are fit. They play. And the majority of senior players did get a rest in round 19.
They also got a rest for the second week of the finals.
Any more than that and you might as well rest them all for the second half of the season.
I seem to recall that without Roo we would have lost the Prelim against WB in 2009.
His QF against Collingwood was also sensational.
He injured himself at the last training session before the GF.
He was not 'hobbling around' during the finals before that.
Seems to be some revisionism going on here trying to substantiate povs.
Anybody who thinks we lost that 2009 premiership from anything other than poor kicking at goal has, IMO, and agenda they're pushing.
Again IMO,
It had almost nothing to do with team selection, rotation, injuries on the day.
It had almost everything to do with 6 'gimmes' being missed by blokes who you'd have bet would nail them.
Here are the facts below Mr Magic - he did not injure himself in the week before the GF !
As you can see Roo had a sore knee and got up gingerly clutching his knee and was limping vs North 2 weeks prior to the finals starting !!
It's a long season and with 15 wins in a row he could have been strategically rested a week here and there before the finals...to be kept fresh for the finals. We went on to win 19 straight but the Cats had the last laugh in the GF, running over the top of us (our midfield could have been rested here and there too after 15 straight).
We were running up and down on the one spot in the last quarter of the GF.
Riewoldt knee key to season
Michael Gleeson | September 17, 2009
TWICE in the last month Nick Riewoldt has gone to ground awkwardly and got up gingerly. Sore and limping, he has clutched at his right knee and bent over in pain.
He has flexed the leg and struggled for a few minutes before running out the pain. Both times, against North Melbourne in the second-last round and Collingwood in the qualifying final, it happened in tackles. Both times he was simply pushed through and ran out the game.
''It's probably led me to be a bit more modified in training, but come game-day I'm 100 per cent. It's fine,'' he said, admitting that the week off after the qualifying final helped.