Agree on Fantasia....probably came in earlier than expected with the injury to Motlop and Owies was also injured for a period in the pre-season. It's widely acknowledged that the small forward is a difficult position to play. He's there for backup/experience and while his output has been small, his ball use for the most part has been really good. He might make way for Motlop but I wouldn't be writing him off yet.
I still like the Owies/Motlop set up. Owies is already on his 1.5 goals/game average from last year and that's hard to complain about. Martin plays a slightly different role with his marking ability....so for mine, they're the 3 first choice options.
If both Martin and Motlop come back in for the game against North, it might be Fantasia and Cunningham that go out.
Take the 4 points and a week off to hopefully get it back on track. To their credit, Richmond were fantastic....but we blew numerous chances to put them away when we had control after 1/4 time.
Fingers crossed that Weitering, Motlop and Martin are right to go against North.
We looked very shaky down back at times. It's heart in the mouth stuff whenever Young is near it or is trying a short pass in the back half. Kemp was good but a couple of brain fades directly cost us goals.
TDK's second half was huge, especially his stuff around the ground. And another really good game from Harry...again, his stuff around the ground was very good.
This is the sort of game that could really set the season up. Bye next week and then North....by then hopefully guys like Weitering, Motlop, Walsh, Martin, Marchbank etc might be ready or close to coming back. Guys like Weitering, Walsh and Martin will come straight in and Motlop probably before then anyway.
Then I think it's Freo in SA for Gather Round?
A 4-0 start would be a huge launching pad before some really tough games.
Owies went at 1.5 goals/game last year but was injured for a period. Extrapolate that out over 23 games and it's about 35 goals for a season. Combined with the forward half pressure he usually brings, I'd have him along with Motlop as our two preferred small forwards. He played last week off the back of no practice games. This week we've got Owies, Fantasia, Durdin, Fogarty and Cunningham as well as Cottrell who'll play as forwards and run through the midfield. I would've thought it was a good opportunity for Moir this week so maybe there might be a late change.
Skipper's birthday on Monday and I think I heard that Doc to be named as a life member on Monday also.....couple of big incentives for the club to notch up a win....not that we should need any incentives against Richmond who had the wood on us for a very long time.
If Moir comes in for Owies we still have small forward options with Fantasia, Cunningham, Fogarty and Cottrell all able to play that role while doubling up with some midfield minutes.
Pinot....I thought Ollie Hollands was one of our best across the two practice games. Yep, he was pretty quiet against the Lions but I'd be backing him in. Similary, Jack Carroll has been around for a few years now and looks to have put on a bit of size over the pre-season....hopefully that half of footy against the Lions shows him he's good enough.
Certainly don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but with the bye after the Richmond game and then North, we could then be ready to load up with guys like Weitering, Walsh, Martin and Motlop coming back to present some selection headaches.
Richmond will be better with Martyn and possibly Nankervis back this week.
Grainger-Barrass from Hawks copped a turf toe injury early in the pre-season games and was listed for 10-12 weeks out......hopefully Motlop's isn't that bad.
Agree with the earlier post.....Elijah Hollands probably straight in for Round 3....he showed enough in those pre-season games.
Carroll did more than enough on Friday night to hold his spot and probably come into the 22. I'm not sure Cincotta comes in as we have Newman, Saad, Williams and Boyd as the smaller/running defenders.
Fantasia didn't get a lot of the ball the other night, but when he did, some of his disposal was superb and he could be a bit of a surprise packet this year.
I doubt we'll be experimenting too much. Acres has been one of the standout wingmen in the competition and his running ability makes it a great position for him. He covers the ground as good as anyone.
Ollie Hollands was pretty quiet but his form in the pre-season games suggests he'll hold his spot.
So maybe it's just Carroll into the 22 and Binns in as the sub.
Richmond were terrible yesterday in the first half and if we get plenty of ball, Curnow and Harry should have a night out.
A weird feeling. Almost resigned to the fact that it'll end today.....but at the same time, confident that if we DID win, we're capable of beating Collingwood next week.
