Discussion 2021: Detailed Pre-Season Player/Role Observations by Wogitalia & Others

[Shannon]

@wogitalia - Thoughts on Anthony Scott’s game for the dogs? Thought he was quite solid myself, could see him playing round 1.

 

[Shannon]

@wogitalia - Thoughts on Anthony Scott’s game for the dogs? Thought he was quite solid myself, could see him playing round 1.

Never mind, just reread your dogs observations lol.
Agree with your thoughts

 

[THCLT]

Immense effort with all your insights and player's observations @wogitalia throughout the preseason.

You've certainly added a new dimension to our enjoyment of following the game which we love. I for one have thoroughly enjoyed your write ups.

We now have no excuses to at least get our starting selections correct.. .

 

[wogitalia]

Immense effort with all your insights and player's observations @wogitalia throughout the preseason.

You've certainly added a new dimension to our enjoyment of following the game which we love. I for one have thoroughly enjoyed your write ups.

We now have no excuses to at least get our starting selections correct.. .

If only it worked that way After all this I'm sure I'll ignore my own advice and make some terrible picks... Tom Lynch last year still hurts

 

[mike89]

Immense effort with all your insights and player's observations @wogitalia throughout the preseason.

You've certainly added a new dimension to our enjoyment of following the game which we love. I for one have thoroughly enjoyed your write ups.

We now have no excuses to at least get our starting selections correct.. .

Yeah, I just want to echo this @wogitalia , this is absolutely first rate information, and as someone who has watched a lot of footy but doesn't really know what they're looking for in this game, you're definitely pointing me in the right direction and I doubt I'm the only one.

 

[Bermi]

............Gawn - He dominated but with no midfield he got very little value from his hitouts as the Dogs just sharked all day or took it off whoever got it if it was a Demon. He looks really fit but there is a trend I don't like when looking to pick him.........

What do you mean?

 

[Bermi]

..........Neale - Tale of two halves, was terrible in the first and very good in the third quarter and based on the overall score went on with it a bit but I can't say I was impressed. He has all the tell tale signs of a player underdone to me. Kick lacking a bit of penetration, not pushing for follow-up touches, just lacking a bit of burst when running, not sticking tackles, fumbling. Basically all the things that Neale is not noted for. Now how much of it is preseason and how much of it is lack of preseason? His third was really solid but even then it wasn't the Lachie Neale of last year just tearing it apart. I definitely have concerns after two weeks of underwhelming from him, tough to leave him out though!.......

With Neale's overinflated price, due to last season inflating very good players SC scores, and Neale appearing not being match fit yet, is he better to trade in later in the season. What do you think?

 

[Bermi]

RE: ".........Daniher - Not a great game, supply was non-existent in the first half, still managed a 63 regardless. He just looks fit and is attacking the ball well. Easy choice for mine, going to kick some bags when the Lions get on top I reckon.........."

RE: ".........Impey - Not sure what happened here, went off at the half, didn't hear mention of an injury and wouldn't have thought he'd done enough to be secure in the best 22 to the point that you rest him (would have thought that would be a McEvoy or Burgoyne type) so can only really read it as a negative also. He wasn't bad while he was out there but he sure didn't do anything to demand picking. I imagine he did a fair bit of his scoring on the bench as well given he sat while the game was over effectively as he didn't really feel like he was that good for his SC ratio. Definitely a spanner in the works but I dare say if he's there in round 1, he's still going to get picked by a lot of people and that will be the ultimate factor for my picking him........"

I've only got room for one of Daniher or Impey.
You are influencing me to start Daniher over Impey. My reluctance to play Daniher is because of my FOGI (Fear Of Getting Injured), as Daniher has a history of injuries. But Impey is looking shaky, hmmm.
Have you a preference, as it reads you may be starting both.

 

[Crowls]

Bermi, you have summed up the two choices and how people will assess Neale. Given the likely shortage of cheap rookies and need for cash, it is making more sense to drop Neale for Macrae/Fyfe/Kelly (personally Fyfe and Kelly miss too many games). On tonight's performance and how Neale looked and moved, I can see him going low 100's for half of his games until the byes.

The other potential opportunity is in ruck pricing and scoring. Watching games this weekend it seemed like there are less ruck contests per game and therefore less HTA and CP opportunities for rucks. Not clear yet, but if this is the case all rucks may be facing a 5-15 pt drop in averages. Spending 1.4M to take on a 20-30pt drop before the first ball is bounced doesn't make sense. Especially as inside/outside players and distributing backs seem to be the beneficiaries and likely to increase scoring. More for Kelly, Merrett, Walsh Daniel, Rich, etc.

Finally all the coaches are seeing a greater impact of the reduction in interchange on pace of game late in quarters. Likely those with elite endurance may benefit late in quarters and the game. Some more research required to figure out the players who will benefit.

 

[Bermi]

Bermi, you have summed up the two choices and how people will assess Neale. Given the likely shortage of cheap rookies and need for cash, it is making more sense to drop Neale for Macrae/Fyfe/Kelly (personally Fyfe and Kelly miss too many games). On tonight's performance and how Neale looked and moved, I can see him going low 100's for half of his games until the byes.

The other potential opportunity is in ruck pricing and scoring. Watching games this weekend it seemed like there are less ruck contests per game and therefore less HTA and CP opportunities for rucks. Not clear yet, but if this is the case all rucks may be facing a 5-15 pt drop in averages. Spending 1.4M to take on a 20-30pt drop before the first ball is bounced doesn't make sense. Especially as inside/outside players and distributing backs seem to be the beneficiaries and likely to increase scoring. More for Kelly, Merrett, Walsh Daniel, Rich, etc.

Finally all the coaches are seeing a greater impact of the reduction in interchange on pace of game late in quarters. Likely those with elite endurance may benefit late in quarters and the game. Some more research required to figure out the players who will benefit.

You make some good points.
Regarding Rucks scoring less in the preseason games, I wonder if it is because the game's intensity is less, meaning there are less stoppages and less ball ups

 

[Chumpion]

Bermi, you have summed up the two choices and how people will assess Neale. Given the likely shortage of cheap rookies and need for cash, it is making more sense to drop Neale for Macrae/Fyfe/Kelly (personally Fyfe and Kelly miss too many games). On tonight's performance and how Neale looked and moved, I can see him going low 100's for half of his games until the byes.

The other potential opportunity is in ruck pricing and scoring. Watching games this weekend it seemed like there are less ruck contests per game and therefore less HTA and CP opportunities for rucks. Not clear yet, but if this is the case all rucks may be facing a 5-15 pt drop in averages. Spending 1.4M to take on a 20-30pt drop before the first ball is bounced doesn't make sense. Especially as inside/outside players and distributing backs seem to be the beneficiaries and likely to increase scoring. More for Kelly, Merrett, Walsh Daniel, Rich, etc.

Finally all the coaches are seeing a greater impact of the reduction in interchange on pace of game late in quarters. Likely those with elite endurance may benefit late in quarters and the game. Some more research required to figure out the players who will benefit.

I wouldn't worry about Gawn.. he rucked with no midfield and had a lot of HO's sharked (may have lost points if these were classed has hit out to disadvantage) and still scored ok. Get the Melbourne first choice mids in and he'll be fine - scores well enough around the ground to still comfortably be #1 ruck with a good average. Besides if all rucks drop, the alternatives may not be any better and you may still be faced with trying to get the top 2 rucks in at some stage..

 

[froffershanners]

Rowell - Dat ratio. The way he lands and how often he lands when being tackled scare the crap out of me given his shoulder but he's just a beast at being in the right place in the contest. Has that Tom Mitchell of the ball just seems to go to him and he's got the class away from the contest also. He's so tempting, like legitimately tempting. It goes against almost every reasoned logic in this game, but he's just so tempting.

Am absolutely loving these reviews. Really interested in your thoughts on Cripps vs Rowell?

I'm a lot like you and the clear logic says to not pick Rowell but after watching him closely last night he just seems to be moulded for the Supercoach game and I think has plenty of big scores in him in an improving Gold Coast side. And my worry with Cripps is Walsh and Williams improvement going to mean a downturn in his own scoring and a return to his previous lofty averages might be out of reach with better talent around meaning a more even spread of scoring.

 

[Erek22]

You make some good points.
Regarding Rucks scoring less in the preseason games, I wonder if it is because the game's intensity is less, meaning there are less stoppages and less ball ups

Could be the game is more free flowing this season, with less congestion there is less potential Ruck opportunity. I am hoping the Melbourne game was a aberration rather than a trend and they can put together a stronger midfield round one. I think it is easier to downgrade the Rucks than upgrade so keeping Gawn/Grundy atm.

 

[Peter56]

I think it is easier to downgrade the Rucks than upgrade so keeping Gawn/Grundy atm.

A good point.

 

[McLovin]

With Neale's overinflated price, due to last season inflating very good players SC scores, and Neale appearing not being match fit yet, is he better to trade in later in the season. What do you think?

I'm so sure on the not appearing to be match fit thing. Last week Neale was his usual self in the half he played without appearing to break a sweat, whereas most of the Lions side apart from Berry and a couple of others was really down on intensity in the first half this week.

More for Kelly, Merrett, Walsh Daniel, Rich, etc.

I'm still not 100% convinced on the more for most distributing backs thing. I'm sure that performance from Rich will be taken as further evidence in favour, but I don't agree. Last night was an entirely typical Rich performance in a Lions win- 20 kicks and ~500 metres gained. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

 

[Dimmawit]

In the first half I saw Neale wasn't around the ball - my guess at the time was mid time was being given to others. Now, you could argue that this could be the new norm but the CBAs for the game would say otherwise.

As soon as he played on ball he scored 60 pts in the quarter, and from what I saw for not doing much. I turned the game off thinking I had to try get him in

 

[AngryAnt]

With Neale's overinflated price, due to last season inflating very good players SC scores, and Neale appearing not being match fit yet, is he better to trade in later in the season. What do you think?

Problem with this is that he usually starts seasons with massive scores and without these early scores you're already behind.

 

[PC]

In the first half I saw Neale wasn't around the ball - my guess at the time was mid time was being given to others. Now, you could argue that this could be the new norm but the CBAs for the game would say otherwise.

As soon as he played on ball he scored 60 pts in the quarter, and from what I saw for not doing much. I turned the game off thinking I had to try get him in

Problem with this is that he usually starts seasons with massive scores and without these early scores you're already behind.

$720k is just so much coin to find!

 

[donnybuang]

On Gawn, if the game moves faster, does this mean it's easier for teams ro bypass him = less intercept marks.

 

[Bermi]

Neale hasn't left my team. I'm just wondering, with a soft tissue calf injury that interrupted his preseason and comments on his preseason game 'possibly' looking unfit, Neale might have a slow start to this season. And with his inflated price, he might be worth trading in later.