If it’s going to rain then Ambrose might get in since he loves a bit of rough and tumble. A case could be made for any of Hooker or Jones to have a rest. Perkins might be due a rest but last time we played in the wet he went okay! I’d be cautious with both Draper and Stringdog. Get them ready for Dreamtime week after for mine.
1 Like
That more often than not smash our mids , yes.
Agree 100%.
Give him a half in the VFL this week, and don’t make him travel to WA. Bring him back for the Tigers.
2 Likes
They’re not the same team this year. We should be super competitive.
Logic, I’d prefer no game time and straight back in for the tigers. His fitness base is excellent this year. He won’t need Gametime in the twos.
You’re taking the ■■■■ right? He fades out of games for 20-30 minute chunks.
That’s him, thanks. I couldn’t remember his name. Good to see him and Truck are aligned.
With Merrett, Parish and McGrath completely agree both have taken their games to another level.
Cox on a wing running up and down all day will also be advantage.
You mean the standard conservative 3 weeks for a minor hamstring strain.
Stringer if cleared and should, will be good to go.
You know the club will have put him through vigorous fitness tests to ensure he is indeed fine.
Based on the current ladder, seven of our remaining 12 fixtures are against top 9 opposition. We only played 4 in our first 10 games, and lost every single one. Two of them were huge blow outs. If Freo had kicked straight, we’d have lost to all five opponents from the top 10 we’ve played.
Outside of travel, we’ve had an incredibly benign draw so far.
I’d expect us to do far worse in the second half of the season, but that that should reflect the draw rather than any drop-off of performance. Obviously the latter could also occur. I suppose the one twist would be if we beat everyone in the bottom half, which would give us five more wins.
Frankly, given I want good picks I’m kinda hoping we don’t beat them all. Finishing in mid-table no-man’s land again would suck.
1 Like
I want to see Ambrose in the team. He’s performing in the vfl to a standard that warrants it. But most of all, he brings that brutal tackling pressure that should create opportunities if it turns out to be a wet slog of a game.
6 Likes
Yeah but noting in that top 9, we play GWS and Sydney on our home deck.
5 of our next 12 will be against tough contenders (Doggies, Dees, Cats, Eagles and Tigers).
The remaining games include
- Sydney at Marvel.
- GWS at Marvel.
- Crows at Marvel.
- Hawks at the G.
- North at Marvel.
- Pies at the G.
- Suns at Metricon.
Edit - I’m of the opinion that building a winning culture is probably more valuable than finishing low on the ladder to try get a good draft pick.
7 Likes
I’m with Speedy on this one. Can’t see them bringing Draper straight back in - if Stringer is 100% then perhaps they’ll give Perkins a spell and make him sub for a week, given the short break + travel.
1 Like
I don’t think you necessarily have to be winning to build a winning culture.
And to be honest, I’m kinda greedy. I want the winning culture and some top quality draft picks. I’m not sure we’ve had much of either in 15 years.
1 Like
Our best is more than good enough to beat all those remaining 7 games if we did it for 4 quarters. Of course that won’t happen, but I’d think we’d be looking to win at least 4 of our last 11.
8-10 wins is what I’d expect. Mid table on the back of playing kids and seeing development and connection. As opposed to on the back of aging jobbers and an unsustainable game plan that won’t take us to the promised land.
3 Likes
IN
14 Likes
i think that as long as our wins are spaced out we won’t need that many to build that winning culture. Definitely don’t want more than 2 or 3 games without a win, but if they believe in our system and that it’s going to be devastating once we improve, and they can see the improvement coming, then that’s more important than the W/L ratio.
Really we should be improving as the season goes on, as the team chemistry develops. Players will get tried, and there will be some injuries, but that should allow us to experiment with different players and set ups.
Then with another pre-season and our younger players being more seasoned they should have belief that we will perfom better next year.
I can’t see us dropping much lower than 11th this year, but I’ll be ■■■■■■ if we don’t make the 8 in 2022 the way we are tracking right now…
1 Like
stringer doesnt need to play vfl when returning from a hammy lol
Draper has had a long lay off so i get that logic. Stringer more than likely sits out entirely this week because of the long flight and 21 day turn around for the hammy, but comes straight back in for tigers match
1 Like
The startling pressure numbers derailing West Coast’s flag tilt
May 24th, 2021 9:28 am
St Kilda great Leigh Montagna has serious concerns over West Coast’s ability to contend for the premiership due to their low pressure and tackling numbers.
The Eagles remain inside the top eight despite being defeated by the Giants on Sunday leaving, with Montagna questioning if their profile stacks up given their wins have mostly come against teams at the bottom of the AFL ladder.
“I want to put a bit of heat on the West Coast Eagles. I still think they will make the top eight, but you’re right (David King) that now as the week goes on we’ve got to ask questions of the West Coast Eagles premiership credentials,” Montagna said on Fox Footy’s First Crack .
“Calling the game today, they were well and truly beaten by the Giants. The Giants played the best across the game and I think Adam Simpson even declared that, but when you start to dig deeper Tom (Morris) at the West Coast Eagles, they are 6-4.
“But their wins have been against teams that are 10th, 13th, 15th, 16th and 17th. Their good win was against Port Adelaide, we give them credit for that. Their four losses have been to… Geelong, St Kilda, Western Bulldogs and the Giants.
“And they’ve only won four quarters against those teams in the top eight. They are struggling and when you delve a bit deeper and look at some of their numbers and we like to look at their profile because it gives you more of an insight.
“There are some big concerns. We look at groundball. Geelong, Melbourne, Brisbane and the Western Bulldogs (are the best), West Coast are 17th in that category.
“They are also 17th for conceding scores when it goes inside their defensive 50. And this team that has such a great defence for such a long time, they are probably missing McGovern more than we realise because they are struggling.
West Coast is ranked last in the competition for pressure. Photo: Matt King/AFL Photos/via Getty Images.Source: Getty Images
“A lot of that is coming off the back of their pressure and we take a look at their next month it’s not going to get any easier. It’s a tough run.”
While Montagna fell short of declaring the Eagles were flat track bullies, he believed there needed to be urgent attention around their areas of deficiency.
“I think I just want to put it on the radar, as that was Port Adelaide last week (being flat track bullies),” he said.
“You don’t want to say it because it is unfair, because you can only beat teams below you if you win, but they have shown to me maybe they are not as good as the top four or five teams in regards to how they measure up against the top eight.
“When I talk about pressure, they are clearly 18th in pressure and purely 18th in tackles and I don’t think that will stand up particularly against the really good teams.
“Even when they won the premiership they were 12th in that area, not 18th. It’s affecting their ability to defend, they are being scored against much easily than this West Coast Eagles team use to be.”
Stars Jeremy McGovern, Luke Shuey and Elliot Yeo are among the talented players on the Eagles injury list, but Montagna believed it wasn’t an excuse for their downfall.
“For more there are concerns. You don’t have to be the best team with pressure… but they’ve got to be much, much better than 18th,” he continued.
“Because there are some red flags with where the West Coast Eagles are at.
“I’m not giving them as big of a luxury, every team in the competition bar maybe Melbourne are missing key players. Shuey and Yeo are going to make a huge difference, Elliot Yeo is one player who they are missing in that area. Obviously McGovern too.”
2 Likes
Bit off topic but the messages on hold people weren’t actually eagles fans, just people paid to wave them all game
1 Like