Team vs Brisbane

[Otiman]

Sharman the sub tonight.

Fort for them.

[WellardSaint]

Sharman the sub tonight.

Fort for them.

Sharman's done well when he's subbed on.
Better than the Giraffe, anyway

[bobmurray]

If Sharman doesn't get to play until late in tonight's game then he'll probably turn out for Sandy on Saturday as well.

[MC Gusto]

Trouble

[Life Long Saint]

This is really deckchairs on the Titanic tonight.
There is not a thrid where our players are better than theirs.

Their defence will be way better than our attack. Especially with keeping Caminiti in the team.
They have an amazing midfield lead by Lachie Neale. Big O has turned into a very, very good ruckman.
Their forward line has way too much talent for our defence. There's no ideal match up for Wilke. He will have to take Hipwood as Daniher has too much height. That leaves Howard to match up...I doubt he has the pace and endurance to go with Joe. And then there's Charlie Cameron! One of the three will get away from us tonight as there'll be too much quality ball coming in from the middle.

I suspect tonight will be another disappointing Spud's Game performance from us. We might have an individual player beat his opponent, but as a defence, midfield, or forward group, I don't see us winning one of those areas.

And yet they are only one game ahead of us.

Not any more

[Teflon]

This is really deckchairs on the Titanic tonight.
There is not a thrid where our players are better than theirs.

Their defence will be way better than our attack. Especially with keeping Caminiti in the team.
They have an amazing midfield lead by Lachie Neale. Big O has turned into a very, very good ruckman.
Their forward line has way too much talent for our defence. There's no ideal match up for Wilke. He will have to take Hipwood as Daniher has too much height. That leaves Howard to match up...I doubt he has the pace and endurance to go with Joe. And then there's Charlie Cameron! One of the three will get away from us tonight as there'll be too much quality ball coming in from the middle.

I suspect tonight will be another disappointing Spud's Game performance from us. We might have an individual player beat his opponent, but as a defence, midfield, or forward group, I don't see us winning one of those areas.

And yet they are only one game ahead of us.

Not any more

You can almost feel the rejoicing in that…
Odd.

[Scollop]

It's odd that some people were going off their nut last year - even when we were winning! Some had it in for the coach even before we started going on an extended run of losses.

It's odd that this year they are calm and they accept how the team is playing or whatever decisions are made match day if there are losses

We're just looking for our team to be successful, but first and foremost we're footy fans discussing the footy ffs. If you can't handle an honest assessment of the team, then don't bother getting on here

You're better off grabbing a costume and joining the jigging Saint ( no offence Jiggster ) or join the cheer squad

[Life Long Saint]

This is really deckchairs on the Titanic tonight.
There is not a thrid where our players are better than theirs.

Their defence will be way better than our attack. Especially with keeping Caminiti in the team.
They have an amazing midfield lead by Lachie Neale. Big O has turned into a very, very good ruckman.
Their forward line has way too much talent for our defence. There's no ideal match up for Wilke. He will have to take Hipwood as Daniher has too much height. That leaves Howard to match up...I doubt he has the pace and endurance to go with Joe. And then there's Charlie Cameron! One of the three will get away from us tonight as there'll be too much quality ball coming in from the middle.

I suspect tonight will be another disappointing Spud's Game performance from us. We might have an individual player beat his opponent, but as a defence, midfield, or forward group, I don't see us winning one of those areas.

And yet they are only one game ahead of us.

Not any more

You can almost feel the rejoicing in that…
Odd.

Not at all...Just a harsh reality check on where we are this season. And a level of frustration of another Spud's game where the effort and intesity was poor. That's 3 from 3 now.

It seems to me that there is a massive chasm between the top four and the rest of the comp. Geelong are maybe the exception to that.
We are not a contender. Folly to think we ever were.
The gulf that we need to overcome to be a threat to Port, Collingwood, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Geelong is enormous.

Marshall has demonstrated to me that he is not the top line ruckman we hoped he would be. That has been obvious for weeks. No change from the selection committee.
Caminiti, as enthusiastic as he is, is not ready to be a regular senior player. That also has been obvious for weeks. Again, no change from the selection committee.
There's an obvious change that remedies both these scenarios. We have a ruckman wasting time in the VFL.

I'm not sure any change would have made a difference, but to do nothing structurally makes no sense. At least try something.

[Teflon]

This is really deckchairs on the Titanic tonight.
There is not a thrid where our players are better than theirs.

Their defence will be way better than our attack. Especially with keeping Caminiti in the team.
They have an amazing midfield lead by Lachie Neale. Big O has turned into a very, very good ruckman.
Their forward line has way too much talent for our defence. There's no ideal match up for Wilke. He will have to take Hipwood as Daniher has too much height. That leaves Howard to match up...I doubt he has the pace and endurance to go with Joe. And then there's Charlie Cameron! One of the three will get away from us tonight as there'll be too much quality ball coming in from the middle.

I suspect tonight will be another disappointing Spud's Game performance from us. We might have an individual player beat his opponent, but as a defence, midfield, or forward group, I don't see us winning one of those areas.

And yet they are only one game ahead of us.

Not any more

You can almost feel the rejoicing in that…
Odd.

Not at all...Just a harsh reality check on where we are this season. And a level of frustration of another Spud's game where the effort and intesity was poor. That's 3 from 3 now.

It seems to me that there is a massive chasm between the top four and the rest of the comp. Geelong are maybe the exception to that.
We are not a contender. Folly to think we ever were.
The gulf that we need to overcome to be a threat to Port, Collingwood, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Geelong is enormous.

Marshall has demonstrated to me that he is not the top line ruckman we hoped he would be. That has been obvious for weeks. No change from the selection committee.
Caminiti, as enthusiastic as he is, is not ready to be a regular senior player. That also has been obvious for weeks. Again, no change from the selection committee.
There's an obvious change that remedies both these scenarios. We have a ruckman wasting time in the VFL.

I'm not sure any change would have made a difference, but to do nothing structurally makes no sense. At least try something.

I think a lot of that is right - agree re Marshall he can’t tap to advantage to save himself
Re Caminiti- who you replacing him with ?
Membrey ? Injured
Sharman? Hardly the answer right now
It’s all good saying “ring these changes Ross”
But let’s get real ….cupboard in reserves ain’t chock a block
Even Campbell….good VFL ruckman but is he the future????
The future is Heath ….is he ready ??
All good to say “just change it Ross” but I think Lyon knows this list has more holes than Swiss Cheese

[Ghost Like]

Good points LLS & fair questions Teflon. I think we all know the list has holes. Do not try any changes? That's no answer.

Time to at least try Campbell as 1st ruck, let Marshall take Caminiti's position and be the (A grade) 2nd ruck that he actually is.

Or allow Sharman a full game in Caminiti's spot or move him back & Battle forward - try something.

Last night instead of Hill & Owens in the ruck, put the acid on Max for some centre bounces, it might mean he needs to run and compete but he wasn't close to doing any of that at FF.

Then we add Owens & Phillipou as rotations in the middle.

It may very well be a case of shuffling deck chairs but at least we can say we tried something.

Billings, McKenzie, Jones, Clark and Bytel will all find their way back in this season, let's hope there's a plan and the right players get dropped for balance and for the future.

[B.M]

When did Hill play in the ruck?

[Life Long Saint]

When did Hill play in the ruck?

He took some ruck contests during the game...Not centre bounce ones, though.

[Life Long Saint]

Not at all...Just a harsh reality check on where we are this season. And a level of frustration of another Spud's game where the effort and intesity was poor. That's 3 from 3 now.

It seems to me that there is a massive chasm between the top four and the rest of the comp. Geelong are maybe the exception to that.
We are not a contender. Folly to think we ever were.
The gulf that we need to overcome to be a threat to Port, Collingwood, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Geelong is enormous.

Marshall has demonstrated to me that he is not the top line ruckman we hoped he would be. That has been obvious for weeks. No change from the selection committee.
Caminiti, as enthusiastic as he is, is not ready to be a regular senior player. That also has been obvious for weeks. Again, no change from the selection committee.
There's an obvious change that remedies both these scenarios. We have a ruckman wasting time in the VFL.

I'm not sure any change would have made a difference, but to do nothing structurally makes no sense. At least try something.

I think a lot of that is right - agree re Marshall he can’t tap to advantage to save himself
Re Caminiti- who you replacing him with ?
Membrey ? Injured
Sharman? Hardly the answer right now
It’s all good saying “ring these changes Ross”
But let’s get real ….cupboard in reserves ain’t chock a block
Even Campbell….good VFL ruckman but is he the future????
The future is Heath ….is he ready ??
All good to say “just change it Ross” but I think Lyon knows this list has more holes than Swiss Cheese

Posted in another thread...
Campbell's last game for the seniors (Round 23 v Sydney).
12 disposals (10 contested)
5 marks
17 hit outs
4 tackles
5 clearances
4 inside 50's
6 Frees For
3 contested marks

Not too shabby for someone who is only a back up.
Also...He's been killing it in the VFL...And did it again today (including 8 tackles and 5 clearances)

He's an obvious one to come in to free up Marshall to play forward.

We clearly need another ruckman, but that won't happen until at least the trade period...So, in the meantime, we have to use what we have...Owen's isn't it. I'd rather him play on ball when he moves to the middle. The kid knows how to get his hands on the footy.

We can't keep repeating the same process and expecting things to change.

My biggest fear is that we will go to Perth with the same team, smash the Eagles and everyone will think we're back on track. And we will persist with this line up for another month.

At least Jones, McKenzie, and Billings seemed to get through the game today.
Billings, in particular, seemed to do very well...24 disposals and 3 goals.
Bytel...Another good game. 26 disposals, 7 clearances, and 13 tackles.

[Ghost Like]

When did Hill play in the ruck?

2nd half of the first quarter, when Marshall was on the bench, for some stupid reason Hill was the only one who put his hand up for a throw in.

The Big O had already established his dominance, that was the icing on a bitter cake.

[B.M]

That was not Hill ‘playing in the ruck’

It was one stoppage where there was no ruckman

Hill just nominated in that instance

[Ghost Like]

Well there was no one else putting their hand up, especially after watching our #1 ruck get lit up for the first 15 minutes.

There is something horribly wrong with our set up if Brad Hill has to put his hand up to "play ruck".

Hill even followed it down for the next throw in when Owens had to step in.