I would be very surprised if opposition teams don’t put out the witches hats the week before playing Ess, just to prepare for our defensive structure.
As for the changes, Rutten has shown to be totally inflexible in selection and continues to pick the “high profiles” and older players. Consequently:
In: Parish, Phillips, Waterman (sub)
Out: Hobbs (Mngd) Bryan, Ham (sub)
3 Likes
If I was picking a tall defender to bring in of the back of vfl firm it would be brand. They should drop Kelly to accommodate him
I’d probably drop Bryan and makes Jones play second ruck. Too many tall passengers on Friday
Parish comes back in i expect. I’d be happy for them to drop hepp or slide Snelling into the sub role to accommodate Menzies but I don’t they do that.
Massimo lav brand
Hind Ridley Redman
Martin parish Durham
Draper Shiel Caldwell
Merrett Jones perkins
Stringer Wright Hobbs
Hepp Langford Snelling guelfi - Menzies 
Man I wish McGrath was fit so we could contrinue the left field back pocket experiment…
Why would you play Parish back?
1 Like
How pumped would Parker be about this game.
Got to take liberties and the ■■■■ out of Essendon then gets to come to the MCG and do it again to us but this time in front of the fans of the club he is belittling.
4 Likes
He will walk off the ground next week with his chest pumped out and his ego stroked after the equivalent of clubbing a bunch of baby seals.
■■■■.
7 Likes
The question is, irrespective of who’s in and who’s out - can we do better than the Aints last night?
I hope so but I’ll probably be disappointed!
I would love a change of attitude at selection:
Let’s take some risks and see if we can salvage from this train wreck of a season.
B: D’Ambrosio, Francis, Laverde
HB: Hind, Reid, Redman
C: Martin, Merrett, Durham
HF: Perkins, Jones, Guelfi
F: Langford, Wright, Menzie
R: Draper, Stringer, Parish
I/C: Shiel, Heppell, Kelly, Caldwell
Em: Snelling (sub), Baldwin, T. Hird, Bryan
In: Francis, Reid, Menzie, Parish
Out: Ridley & Hobbs (Mngd) Bryan, Ham (sub)
Francis to be given the job on Buddy, and told it’s his last chance.
Reid to take Sydney’s 2nd tall forward.
Menzie bacause we need a small forward.
Let’s have a look at these guys, with a view to trying Brand, T. Hird,
Voss, Baldwin (again) & maybe, even Lord & McBride before the season is over.
4 Likes
Parish will come in, probably for a managed Hobbs. Snelling is safe on the basis that he should be better for the run. Though Guelfi kicked a couple of goals, his work as a defensive forward dropped off compared to his work against St Kilda, so conceivably if could be time to rest him.
The Swine play 3 tall forwards, all taller than Membery, which makes Kelly unsuited as our third tall defender. ( and a bunch of other things). Which means we really need to bring in another tall defender.
Usually I’d say it would be between Reid or debutant Brand.
But a left field approach would be to play McBride as the third tall, pinch hitting as ruck relief.
And therefore dropping Bryan instead. Who needs to go & keep developing.
But they’ll probably play safe & pick Phillips.
Voss to come in as Sub. Genuine break glass, & other things, emergency.
2 Likes
Surely, even our weak selection committee will never debut someone as sub again 
Bring in Voss and have him spear tackle Parker into the turf Ambrose style
11 Likes
One change i more like to see is when your 30 to 40 metres out have a farkin shot at the goals and dont pass off to a team mate under pressure
2 Likes
Yep. And they will put all those witches hats around our half forward line to replicate our infamous high press …. then simply kick over those hats and practice fast break footy.
In; Voss, Mcbride, Menzies
Out; Ridley, Bryan, Guelfi/Snell depending on how he pulled up.
Ridley looks a bit sore and has been dropping off and is a bit small to be a key defender. Give Mcbride a go before he is shipped off back to Ireland, the lad deserves it and can help ruck.
Bryan can have a rest, we need grunt. Bring in Voss. Straight to Parker at the first bounce and make him earn it. Send a message. Then he can slide forward and swap with Caldwell/Hobbs/Perkins as necessary whoever is on the ball give Parker Hell.
Menzies in as we desperately need someone to stay forward and crumb. Would prefer Snelling to stay in over Guelfi but seemed a bit underdone.
Dunno about Parish, don’t see the point in rushing back players as our season is well cooked and would prefer to try (more) new players at the top level.
Sic Voss onto Parker, debut Menzies as well, give Zerk a run for his consistently good work in the 2s, and ‘manage’ Heppell so the players don’t feel like they have to be nice to the opposition.
2 Likes
In: Parish, Menzie (Debut) Brand (Debut)
Out: Hobbs (omitted), Ridley (Shoulder) , Durham (Ommitted/managed)
B: D’Ambrosio, Laverde Brand
HB: Hind, Kelly Redman
C: Martin, Merrett, Langford
HF: Perkins, Jones, Guelfi
F: Snelling, Wright, Menzie
R: Draper, Stringer, Parish
I/C: Shiel, Heppell, Caldwell, Bryan
Em: Durham(sub), Baldwin, VOSS, Hobbs
Durham had looked a bit sore last week and was unproductive so rest.
Hobbs go back to the VFL and dominate
Ridley season isn’t on the line so he can rest.
Parish back,
Menzie to add some flair to forwardline
Brand to get a taste
Duzza to be the sub.
That would leave VFl side as follows.
B: Zerk-Thatcher Reid Lord
HB: Cutler Eyre Durham
C: McDonagh Bernacki Ham
HF: AtleyVOSS Hird
F: Conforti Baldwin Hird
R: McBride Hobbs Rasinac
Let’s get pick 2!!!
2 Likes
If you go through the remaining games and who plays each other we are a massive chance!
Is there a way we could get pick 2, 21 ish (Munkarra - keep playing bad) and then Davey with our next pick?
That leaves us still needing someone to play on Hawkins, Darling etc for the next couple of years and power forward in 2023 Draft.
It’s hard to accept that we still have so many missing pieces.
I hope we get pick 2!!
Not sure WCE can win 2 more games though.
Haw, StKilda and Crows - two of those at home.
When your 3rd last on the ladder and you lose to the 2nd last team, there aren’t many players that should feel secure in their position. That pressure should increase even more when the reserves have won 4 in a row. Admittedly, it might be Rutten’s system that is at fault in which case, any changes are just shuffling chairs on the titanic. But assuming the system is not to blame, lets head onto that Sydney iceberg:
Out: Bryan (omit)
In: McBride - Did a good job against Downie in the VFL and might provide more versatility as supporting ruck. Maybe give him a go on Franklin.
Out Ridley (manged/injured)
In: Brand. I could have also made a case for Reid, or even Eyre but good to blood someone new.
Out -Kelly
In - Zerk is just a better player and better for team balance.
Out - Snelling
In - Menzies. I like Snelling but Guelfi has his forward pressure role (laid twice as many tackles (2) )and we need a place for someone who knows where the goals are like Menzies.
Out - Durham /Langford
In - Waterman. - He had three goals on the weekend and could easily have had a few more. He also provided hardness around the contest and set up some plays with attacking handballs. Reward for performance. Zero tackles for Langford would have him in my canon.
Out: Jones. Needs to rediscover his marking touch. (Maybe Sub)
In - Voss. Could also have made a case for Baldwin but in favour of giving Voss a taste, along with instructions to target Parker.
Out - Hobbs (injured/managed)
In Parish.