Those kicks were really attacking. Tried to go long and forced the receiver to run back towards our goals to receive on the run. Precise too. And the marking was clean in wet conditions.
Play him again if he recovers well.
Itâs a valid point Ivan. Selection this week will be Wooshaâs biggest since being at the club. Lotâs of complex scenarioâs to consider. Justin Crow has a huge task but I have faith in him.
Myers in for Stants, Langford may come into consideration for Francis simply due to hamstring concern with fatigue.
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Iâd actually go:
Myers in for Watson
McKenna in for Stanton
Stewart in for Francis
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watching the replay again. real impact in the first half. he has the skills to mark and kick a 60 meter pass into the f50. not mant in the afl have that skill set.
agree it is now about managing through this season. would rather be conservative and rotate with 1/2 games in vfl than pinging calfs and hammies
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Bite of the cherry game for Franga. Big occasion, big experience. Now give him a bit to recover and give him a couple of games in round 8 and 9 against Cats and Eagles with 8 day break in between.
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Had some nice cameos, but personally Iâd leave him in the VFL and look to bring him in later in the year or as injury/form dictates. For me, THE Langford offers more as a tall third option at present (and has been crucified a bit too much) that can move into the middle (prefer him as a forward though). I donât doubt Franga will be a good/great given time, but Iâd like to see him get his game time up and demand a spot first.
His best position is as a defender, he shows those awesome moments much like Hurley did as a forward, I still think he reads the game much much better as a defender and should be played back there next to Hurley, he could set up goals kicking 60m out of the back half.
I would really like them to play him where he is at his best, Hodge in the 08 GF was amazing playing that role across 1/2 back.
Also one of his biggest strengths is his marking and 1 on 1 ability to beat his opponent, but help out his other defenders when needed.
I think as a forward he will always be in and out of games much like Hurley was as a forward.
This is not just a fitness issue, itâs not his natural position, reading the game as a forward doesnât come easy.
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I think if we end up with 2 first round picks for whatever reason. we need to take a tall forward, or trade in one. and send frang back. he just floats and would rip the media attention for rance out of their cold dead hands because heâll be intercepting til the early morn.
Tell me more about the mediaâs cold dead hands.
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How on earth would we get a second first round pick?
Iâve got to say I find this " push him back" talk odd. He looks perfectly fine up forward, at both AFL and VFL level.
Play him where he plays his best footy and everyone knows that is back, He has played 4 games at AFL level and still his best game was his 1st game where he played back against Brisbane, his 3 other games as a forward have been really patchy.
Let him play the intercept marking type of game which he plays so amazingly well, and some 60m kicks to Fantasia and Walla from the back half would open games up so much, a bit like the kick to Colyer.
Of course he plays better back. Itâs much easier playing back. Hooker, Fantasia and Walla could all go back and they would find it much easier getting a kick. If you can forward, you forward.
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because thats where he dominated as a junior in his draft year?
wow alien theory.
If the club decide its time to go full youth, some of the senior players may request trades. get a bunch of picks, uptrade them to an academy who needs points.
You are 100% right Windy Dill.
With talent you play fwd until you realise they canât i.e Ambrose and Hurleys wrists.
You can always put them back later if they donât crack it.
And if course itâs harder to dominate as a fwd. look how much Scott Lucas destroyed it when he played CHB for a year. Even so tht was not as valuable as his 60 goal seasonsâŚ
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Also, itâs just not practical for Francis to play back with his level of fitness. His opponent would run him up and down the ground for fun, and weâd be effectively one short before half time. He looks well short of AFL standard when it comes to fitness at the moment. He was pretty much a spectator in the second half, unable to get to contests. What he produced in the first quarter gives u a glimpse of what he could do when he develops a tank.
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That is very interesting to know and something you donât see if your not at the game and watch it on TV. perhaps he did more then some of us thought, and yet another reason why player rating points are completely useless.
The fitness is just an excuse as to why he doesnât perform as a forward, the reason he doesnât is because he gets lost reading the play as it doesnât come natural to him.
His best game at AFL level was his 1st as a defender, his 3 games as a forward, he has played 1 really good qtr out of 12 qtrs. Against Geelong and Adelaide he looked lost last year and other than his 1st qtr on the weekend he was once again lost in play.
He is a natural defender as far as I can see.
Great way to treat our champions after what happened to them. Need to give them some time to find there mojo, they deserve that at the very least. Just need a little more patience with them.
He looked pretty good as a forward in Q1 yesterday. Beyond that he looked like he was struggling to get from contest to contest.
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read it again bud, did i say turf the returned players?