Opinion Round 2: Teams and In Game Discussions

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#21
I made the mistake of picking Greene. He's straight out the door if he's dropped. Possible replacement Wingard.
Watched the Port-Saints game last week and Wingard looked like he had a lot of freedom to run around in the midfield. Looked damn good at it too. I've hooked what looks like a big boat anchor in the forward line called Luenberger, would love to upgrade him but i've only got $24k left, so it might have to be a downgrade next week if he doesn't show something this week. Feeling a lot like Lumumba V2.0.
 

Philzsay

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#22
I've hooked what looks like a big boat anchor in the forward line called Luenberger, would love to upgrade him but i've only got $24k left, so it might have to be a downgrade next week if he doesn't show something this week. Feeling a lot like Lumumba V2.0.
If it's any consolation Leuey won about 60% of his hit outs last weekend however he did not have much chemistry with those at his feet so many hit outs went nowhere or were sharked. Considering he hadn't played with any of his teammate before, not even in a Nab Challenge, I'd say there would be scope for his hit out to advantage over hit out to disadvantage ratio to be improved as the players get more familiar with each other.
 
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#23
If it's any consolation Leuey won about 60% of his hit outs last weekend however he did not have much chemistry with those at his feet so many hit outs went nowhere or were sharked. Considering he hadn't played with any of his teammate before, not even in a Nab Challenge, I'd say there would be scope for his hit out to advantage over hit out to disadvantage ratio to be improved as the players get more familiar with each other.
That was vs Nicholls. Wonder how he will go against some of the established rucks, especially with the lack of pre season early on.
 
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#24
Expecting Gresham to be dropped unfortunately. Would be harsh to drop a rookie after his debut when he wasn't even that bad, but someone has to come out for McCartin.

Also wouldn't be surprised to see Barlow dropped if Ross wants to make a statement.
 
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#25
Can anyone on here see Essendon as a genuine chance to get close or even knock off the Dee's?
 
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#26
Expecting Gresham to be dropped unfortunately. Would be harsh to drop a rookie after his debut when he wasn't even that bad, but someone has to come out for McCartin.

Also wouldn't be surprised to see Barlow dropped if Ross wants to make a statement.
I would be very surprised to see Barlow dropped. 13 kicks 9 handballs 6 marks and 2 tackles. He scored poorly for us obviously, but out in the real world it's not like he couldn't get a kick and deserves to be dropped.
 

krk004

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#27
Expecting Gresham to be dropped unfortunately. Would be harsh to drop a rookie after his debut when he wasn't even that bad, but someone has to come out for McCartin.
Think Templeton might be the one to go personally.
 
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#28
I made the mistake of picking Greene. He's straight out the door if he's dropped. Possible replacement Wingard.
Not disagreeing with you but I thought I'd raise a counter argument with an example.
In 2012, young 30BucketsofRo picked Paul Duffield in his starting SC team. He was a POD and I thought he would go well. He started OK and averaged about 85 for until he got dropped for round 11 after Ross the Boss decided to teach him a lesson. So here I am with an under-performing POD mid-pricer who I had initially thought would become a premium. I decided to hold him - I think 2012 was the last season of 24 trades. Duffield didn't play again till round 15, when he was the sub. In round 16, he was again the sub and was putting up rubbish scores on my bench. However, he scored 85 in round 17 and I decided I had better fish to fry so I left him in and due to injuries, he was now starting on field. He would go on to average around 115 till the end of the season and turned from a negative POD to a positive POD, which was especially handy for the league finals and my ranking also shot up.

I completely understand why you'd want to trade him. My point is, it may pay to keep faith. He was dropped in 2014 and came back to average around 120 for the rest of the season. Not saying that will happen this season but it may not be the worst thing to keep him.

Admittedly, it would take a lot of balls to keep a guy you picked as a potential premium on the bench. But it can pay off.
 

Philzsay

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#29
If it's any consolation Leuey won about 60% of his hit outs last weekend however he did not have much chemistry with those at his feet so many hit outs went nowhere or were sharked. Considering he hadn't played with any of his teammate before, not even in a Nab Challenge, I'd say there would be scope for his hit out to advantage over hit out to disadvantage ratio to be improved as the players get more familiar with each other.
That was vs Nicholls. Wonder how he will go against some of the established rucks, especially with the lack of pre season early on.
True, however we will probably have to wait a while to find out. In the next six weeks he faces:

Gawn
Lobbe
Smith/Stanly
Witts/Grundy
Phillips/Kruezer
Sinclair/Tippett

Apart from Gawn, whose only really had half a season of form, he doesn't really face any established rucks significantly better than Nicholls until he meets Goldy in Rd 8.
 
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#30
Can anyone on here see Essendon as a genuine chance to get close or even knock off the Dee's?
Nope, the team hasn't had enough time to gel yet and this was evident watching them against GC. The top ups individually are good players, but the team lacks chemistry and polish. I expect us to be more competitive after a couple of months.
 

Bomber18

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#34
No. It will be a slaughter.
Yep. Probably this for the year. But I'm still hopeful they'll catch a complacent side off guard much like GWS/GC did in their early years.

But I'm not so sure it would mean better captain scores. Players seem to share around points more in these types of games it seems.
 
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#35
Yep. Probably this for the year. But I'm still hopeful they'll catch a complacent side off guard much like GWS/GC did in their early years.

But I'm not so sure it would mean better captain scores. Players seem to share around points more in these types of games it seems.
Rucks would be the biggest benefactors I think. Leuey will quell that a bit, but I'm guessing we will see some pretty epic HTA numbers as the season drags on. You don't have to win every tap but if your mids dominate the stoppages your ruck should get a big boost too.
 

IDIG

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#36
Refer to bolded part regarding tagging Gaz.

Sigh (as a non owner).


Defender Johnson on cusp of Fremantle return

FREMANTLE defender Michael Johnson is set to return against Gold Coast provided he gets through training on Thursday, coach Ross Lyon says.

Johnson missed last week's loss to the Western Bulldogs with calf soreness, but he should line up against the Suns at Domain Stadium on Saturday night.

Ruckman Aaron Sandilands will also play after serving his one-match suspension from the NAB Challenge.

Lyon said the absence of the two veterans did not excuse the Dockers' performance last week.

"You've got to be able to perform without, theoretically, your best 22," Lyon said on Thursday.

"We're rapt it's a short week. We were incredibly disappointed with our first round performance, but we've acknowledged that.

"We've done our review.

“We've identified some things that put us under pressure. We feel like we can fix them and turn them around pretty quickly. We play another formidable opponent in the Gold Coast."

Lyon said Zac Clarke had been ruled out of the Gold Coast match after copping a knock to his knee at the opening bounce against the Bulldogs.

"He'll probably miss a couple of weeks," Lyon said.

"It was the first centre bounce of the game, he competed fiercely, knees hit and he stirred up his previous injury.

"He's pretty sore. I thought it was courageous of him to fight on. He played under adversity and he won't play this week."

Lyon said Brownlow medallist Nat Fyfe had pulled up fine after suffering a corked thigh in last week's loss.

"He just had a cork halfway through," Lyon said.

"He's pretty vibrant."

Fyfe trained on Thursday with padding under his shorts to protect the cork, but he was moving without any problems.

Lyon said he had focussed on his own team this week and had not had a close look at Gold Coast.

He said he was unlikely to tag Gary Ablett as he said the whole midfield would be accountable for him.

"We haven't tagged for a while," Lyon said.

"We sort of have people accountable for them. It's been proven in numerous other teams and numerous games that it's not about one player.

"It's about all players contributing. I'm sure Gary will play well, but we hope as a collective we play well enough to beat him and the Gold Coast Suns."


Lyon said he would be disappointed if his side did not respond strongly after last week's loss to the Bulldogs
 
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#37
As a non owner, that does make me sad. This whole game will make me sad because I don't have either of Fyfe / Ablett.

Could we see a double corkey again?
 

Bomber18

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#38
Rucks would be the biggest benefactors I think. Leuey will quell that a bit, but I'm guessing we will see some pretty epic HTA numbers as the season drags on. You don't have to win every tap but if your mids dominate the stoppages your ruck should get a big boost too.
That's a good point too. Makes me feel like going Gawn VC haha.
I remember the Dean Cox v GC days, he had a few monster scores.
 
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#39
The words "unlikely" to tag Gary Ablett coming from Ross Lyon don't fill me with a lot of confidence. So expect a heavy tag, although Gaz should still pump a decent score. Do Freo even have any decent taggers since Crowley left?
 
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#40
I would be very surprised to see Barlow dropped. 13 kicks 9 handballs 6 marks and 2 tackles. He scored poorly for us obviously, but out in the real world it's not like he couldn't get a kick and deserves to be dropped.
Got a bit of the ball but butchered the footy and had zero impact on the game.

As an owner I hope he doesn't get dropped but a lot of Freo supporters certainly want him out of the team with a young player like Langdon to replace him. Lyon doesn't tend to do this though so he'll probably keep his place, but he'd want to improve pretty quickly.
 
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