The Team: Collingwood v Essendon MCG , 2:10pm Saturday, July 8 - The Langford no Moore

[Paul_Peos]

I reckon Woosha would have brought in Polkinghorne and Simpkin this week if he could.

Ross Lyon has developed more young players this year than Woosha.

Ross Lyon has.

[dingus]

Season on the line, finals spot up for grabs, the list is at almost full fitness, stinging after a humiliating loss and what do the coaches do? Select the best available team. Amateurs.

It’s clearly not the best available team though, is it?

The best available team wouldn’t lose to the bottom team in the league, missing their best player, one player short for the whole game, after leading by 27 points in the last.

But how would you know that? It’s a trick question. A different line up may have won, or lost by even more. That’s the decision selectors make.

Or, as it turns out, don’t make.

[Deckham]

Season on the line, finals spot up for grabs, the list is at almost full fitness, stinging after a humiliating loss and what do the coaches do? Select the best available team. Amateurs.

It’s clearly not the best available team though, is it?

The best available team wouldn’t lose to the bottom team in the league, missing their best player, one player short for the whole game, after leading by 27 points in the last.

But how would you know that? It’s a trick question. A different line up may have won, or lost by even more. That’s the decision selectors make.

Or, as it turns out, don’t make.

Any decision is a decision, even a decision not to make one.
Hey - aren’t there enough nutters in here this week without adding to them?

[dingus]

Season on the line, finals spot up for grabs, the list is at almost full fitness, stinging after a humiliating loss and what do the coaches do? Select the best available team. Amateurs.

It’s clearly not the best available team though, is it?

The best available team wouldn’t lose to the bottom team in the league, missing their best player, one player short for the whole game, after leading by 27 points in the last.

But how would you know that? It’s a trick question. A different line up may have won, or lost by even more. That’s the decision selectors make.

Or, as it turns out, don’t make.

Any decision is a decision, even a decision not to make one.
Hey - aren’t there enough nutters in here this week without adding to them?

This week there’s not enough.

Or, to be more accurate, it’s one of those rare weeks where the nutters are right.

[wimmera1]

I guess I’m just grateful that you pointed that out.

[Deckham]

Season on the line, finals spot up for grabs, the list is at almost full fitness, stinging after a humiliating loss and what do the coaches do? Select the best available team. Amateurs.

It’s clearly not the best available team though, is it?

The best available team wouldn’t lose to the bottom team in the league, missing their best player, one player short for the whole game, after leading by 27 points in the last.

But how would you know that? It’s a trick question. A different line up may have won, or lost by even more. That’s the decision selectors make.

Or, as it turns out, don’t make.

Any decision is a decision, even a decision not to make one.
Hey - aren’t there enough nutters in here this week without adding to them?

This week there’s not enough.

Or, to be more accurate, it’s one of those rare weeks where the nutters are right.

The thing is - it was not difficult to see exactly how this would all pan out, start of the year. We were ALWAYS going to go with the team that the selectors and coach thought had the best chance of winning - until we were no longer finals chances. We knew this because…the coach said so. He also said that he would play a younger player over an older player, if he and the other coaches felt that the output would be at least equal - because the potential was greater due to age.

We KNEW all this. It is not a surprise.

So the only thing left is the opinions on who exactly can give what kind of output during which game and match-up, at what period of their training/health status. Now, this being a footy forum, it’s normal to debate the pros and cons of players selected. But to go on and on like some nuffies in here about how ‘farked the club is’ and how ‘farked a player is’ is just trolling.

There is no chance that should we pass that ‘no finals’ line, we will be keeping potential players in the 2’s.

Seriously - I visit other team forums to gauge what they think about our upcoming games - and this crowd is a comparative embarrassment.

[barnz]

Mathematical possibility =/= realistic chance.

[Riolio]

Beyond caring about a one off win. We could win by 200 this weekend and still be every chance of losing the week after.

[cul_de_sac]

Mathematical possibility =/= realistic chance.

2 games out of the 8 with 8 rounds to go?

[Deckham]

Beyond caring about a one off win. We could win by 200 this weekend and still be every chance of losing the week after.

And this year, that could realistically be said about every other team.

[SCarey]

I don’t agree with dropping Langford (see Panic Dollars thread), but I am going to back us to have a very strong performance and win 5 in a row.

No I havn’t been drinking.

I think the selection of Myers is a statement that our season is on the line and we still are thinking about making the finals and winning finals games. The next five games are very winnable and finishing the home and away season on 13 wins is not a ridiculous ambition.

There were 2 ways to go at the selection table, one was to start seriously playing the young players starting with keeping Langford and begin introducing Begley,Mutch, Francis and more in coming weeks; the second was to acknowledge to the old guard that we are still in this crazy season and if we can “bring it” with some consistency that is all that is required to be “in it” in 2017.

We showed we can play a fantastic brand of football against Port, and this is an almost identical side to the one that played that night, except improved by the introduction of the then injured Darcy Parish (who replaces BobCat). This is about the best way of making sense of this team selection. We know this side can play great football, and if we can generate some confidence by playing our best football for at least a month, it could be an inspired move.

If we were ever going to have a big year this year it was going to be based on the emotion generated by the desire to do well for the likes of Jobe, Hooker, Hurls, Hepp, TBC, Colyer, Myers and BJ (and Stants, Heater, BobCat if they were best 22) given particularly for Jobe this is likely to be his last hurrah.

I see this as a last roll of the dice at having a crack at a big 2017 and harnessing the energy of trying to right just a little bit of the wrong that happened to the 34, Jimmy and the rest of the Windy Hill 4.

Is this short sighted? Is it inspired?

It will depend on the results.

[chris_64]

Have to disagree. It’s the easy move to make. The old “we back in our players to bounce back” is the easy way

Yes, its 2017 and the coaches are still backing the boys, just like the Romanovs were still backing the boys at the Faberge shop in early July 1917 . But lookout, if there are no changes and we dont win, cos the Bomber fans will go full Bolshevik. We all know what happened to the Romanovs on 17/7/1917

[Shelton10]

Just what we need. Drop a young player who is not playing to his potential and replace him with an older one who’s never really played to what appeared to be his potential.

How many times has Myers been named in Essendon’s best players? Answer, not many.

[Riolio]

Beyond caring about a one off win. We could win by 200 this weekend and still be every chance of losing the week after.

And this year, that could realistically be said about every other team.

Oh good. They’ve come to the level we’ve produced for a decade.

[Deckham]

wow

[scotty21]

Beyond caring about a one off win. We could win by 200 this weekend and still be every chance of losing the week after.

Just wait until we beat the crows get our hopes up and then lose to freo.

[Paul_Peos]

I think the selection of Myers is a statement that our season is on the line and we still are thinking about making the finals and winning finals games.

See this is the premise I can’t get behind.

Why is Myers gonna increase our chances of making finals? Why is there a belief that the guys who haven’t got us success in the past - even back when they were actually good players - are the key to us storming home for a late finals charge this year?

If we just keep doing what we’ve been doing, then we’ll likely finish exactly where we are now.

We are more chance of making finals by bringing in new players and trying to rejuvenate the team, than we are by recycling the old.

[Nocturnal]

Clearly the season is shot and Woosha is tanking for draft picks.

[dambuster]

Not the selection I was expecting, but definitely the selection I should have expected.

[Sugar_Winton]

What the actual ■■■■.