bluechampion wrote:
This is what I'd like to see for this match (and possibly for about the next four weeks):
FB: Parks - Jones - Plowman
HB: Saad - Weitering - Williams
C: SPS - Stocker - O'Brien
HF: Martin - Silvagni - Fisher
FF: TDK - McKay - Owies
R: Pittonet - Walsh - Dow
INT: Cripps - Betts - Fogarty - Honey
Sub: Murphy
The backline has a month of settled personnel before we look to introduce Kemp (assuming he gets through a solid month in the VFL). I like Parks hardness at the man, so I'd like to see him learning his craft in the seniors.
Give O'Brien a month on the wing. He has to show something or he loses his place to Boyd (this assumes Boyd gets a month in the VFL and performs well). Same with SPS, but SPS gets more time at half-forward as part of the on-ball rotations. O'Brien gets a wing to himself for a month. Back him in.
Regularly rotate through the centre square: Play SPS, Stocker, Martin, Fisher, Walsh, Dow, Docherty and Fogarty there over the course of the month. Mix up the combinations. Every centre bounce, put in a different combo. Make us unpredictable.
Start Cripps as the deepest forward. He can rotate onto the ball after centre bounces. We get scored on from centre clearances too often, and too much of that is his physical inability to defend. So he spends a month outside the square. I'd be tempted to give him a spell, but I just can't bring myself to drop him...
I'm kinda reluctant to play both rucks, but you can't go into a game with just one - especially next week with Mumford looking to injure his opponent at every opportunity. But, if we were to go in with one ruck, I'd almost like to see how Cripps goes as an around-the-ground ruck / mid alongside TDK.
The forwards stay much the same... Hopefully in a month C. Curnow has a fortnight of VFL under his belt or we've played Kemp forward some of the time and they can possibly come in.
Doc and Curnow are out, which is harsh as they've both played some okay footy this season. But there's only room for 22 blokes.
Ask Murphy who he wants to play his 300th against, and nurse him though as the sub. He has 5 games to get there. We have 10 games. We can work it out. Docherty is the other obvious candidate for sub.
You have Docherty in and out of the team.
Anyway he has played well enough to keep. Leave Fogarty out, he has had a good run but shown little recently.
It is harsh on Curnow but if you look to the future a reasoned out.