Crowley simply not offering enough.
I’m not a Gleeson fan, and we have plenty enough HBF’s
Loony releases Jamar to play predominantly forward.
I’d like to see how this works, particularly with TBC coming in next year.
The extra forward height gives us the option to move Brown back, as the only talls left are Ambrose and Gwilt.
Though the brains trust would have planned for Francis to have another couple of 2nds games before a call up, it is too tempting to debut him this week with no rezzies game.
I would have selected Michael to replace Hartley, but can’t swing it if Francis gets selected.
Jerrett a monty to be promoted.
I like this. Bags to go back to defense to cover Gleeson, Jerrett to play half forward.
The good teams push their half forwards up the ground at subi. You simply need to provide a contest up the ground and then push back.
I also like keeping Jamar as a marking option down the line but we missed Loony in the ruck last night. Hampson couldn’t tap his leg let alone send a tap to a team mate so it didn’t hurt, but he got beaten in the hitouts.
I'd give Francis a debut if the fitness department think it can be done (subi is a long ground, you could hit "managed" kilometers pretty quickly).
Id think Luey comes back in if fit.
Be nice to get a bit more run. Jerrett or maybe even Eades permanently forward and Darc /Fanta back up around the ball. You need to get the ball into space against freo.
Woosha said this morning that Crowley is probably in the side next week.
Doubt that Luey will be back. Achilles are a mongrel.
Surely Stokes comes back into the mix, unless his hammy injury was worse than we originally thought? He’s already missed a month and would be good to have some more experience up forward.
I cant see stokes coming straight in now after long lay off.
Might be good experience to take francis as 23rd man to wa esp as no vfl game.
Hope leuy isnt achilles issue and rest was just a freshen up given he has had a big workload.
Jerrett deserves another go. At the game yesterday it was obvious that we don’t lock the ball into our forward line for long enough as it comes out too easily. Jerrett will help a bit and his VFL form is excellent anyway.
With a VFL bye next week and Hartley going down, the other obvious in is Francis and his form warrants it anyway.
Pretty sure Michael returned to the field after the knock to the nose, and he didn’t seem to be in any great trouble when I high-fived him on the way off the field.
Whats your feeling on Michael, DJR ? Seems to me he is just OK at VFL level. He is a massive tough unit, “truck” if you like. He can play either end, can ruck, but I havent seen any standout performances recently . He was taking some good grabs across half back , say 3 weeks ago, but has not progressed well imo.
To me he is 3rd in line as our AFL ruckman. He is nowhere near as mobile or even “agile” as Harts.
Are Freo even trying? Should we be resting some players to manage their load give we have 2 Perth trips in a month and a game against the dawks 6 days after Freo?
Would be hilarious if we went in with a third string outfit and won.
Forced changes aside, it’ll be interesting to see how we manage our players over the next two weeks. We’ll be coming back from Perth, on a 6 day break, up against the Hawks who have an extra day’s rest. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the kids given a spell either this week or the following.
Woosha didn’t mention Grima as a possible inclusion so I assume he’s still not right. I’d throw Brown back this week and see if Jamar can give us a target up forward.
Save Francis for the following week. Imagine debuting on a Friday night game against the Hawks. Would be unreal.
Woosha has already all but guaranteed Crowley a game against his old side. And I’m kinda looking forward to seeing how he goes, tbh.