I am not sure where you find Marchbank and Martin are being rested they have being rested for 5-6 years.
You are comparing players that will be lucky to get 10 games out of them per season to 200+ game players over the age of 30
The point is, why do we play players until we break them. Yes, some are more fragile then others. Some are taller than others. Some are faster than others. Some are stronger than others.
Find out the attributes of the player and play to their advantages and cover their weaknesses. If a weakness is their longevity, or durability, cover for it. Rest them when you need too.
Both Martin and Marchbank are very good players when they are fit....we just don't see it enough. So rather than keep doing the same thing and expecting different results, change the way we approach them......and everyone.
Doesn't have to be limited to them. Many on here were suggesting we rest cripps a couple years ago when he was clearly injured. But the club kept insisting everything was fine, and we got a half-fit cripps for the whole year, rather than being without him for 2-3.....7 weeks or whatever it needed to be to get him back to a 'fit' level where he could perform.
I've heard Marc Murphy talk about this, and its something he didn't realise until later in his career. Players would have surgery as a 1st call to 'fix' something if it meant they could play a week earlier than had they simply sat out and rested. These surgeries can lead to further issues down the track and potentially do more harm than good in some instances. We are obsessed with getting back and playing THIS WEEK at the expense of next week, next month or next year. Why?
As mentioned, Geelong are leading the pack in this regard. Resting Danger, Hawkins, Cameron, Selwood......hard to find some bigger names in the comp than them, but they find a way to rest them and do ok......most likely because they rest them is why they do ok. So why do we think we know better than them?
Be smarter with how we deal with our players, our seasons depend on it!
Not sure which grand final team past 20 years had key players missing for half a season...Saady injury is part of the footy gods the other two their bodies are not up to AFL football - I guess it comes down to how much we pay them if we pay them for half a year worth of input then okay if not then not okay.
Why 20 years? Because 23 years hurt your argument? Triple premiership player Clark Keating played 20, 12 and 12 games in premiership years. The last of which he didn't play his 1st game until R15. THe next year when they were runner ups he only played 11 as well.
Geelong has made resting players a fine art with an ageing list. Danger, Selwood, Hawkins, Cameron.....whoever, they all get an extra rest of 2 throughout the year. Works for them.
Depth is obviously not good enough. Marchbank and Martin have never played a full season and not sure they should be at the club next season. Kemp is durable and still gobsmacked he was dropped and still gobsmacked Kennedy was sub. Expect the unexpected.
To keep top four chances alive this is a must win match.
How many players at Geelong play a full season?
We don't need to play the same players each and every game. We should be smart about rotations, not just during game, but week to week.
What good does it do your 'best 22' by playing them every week and running them into the ground when they are most likely carrying niggles for most of that. What good does it do your 'next 22' by playing them in the 2's every week and expecting them to be up to AFL standard when called upon?
Managing players is something we haven't quite got the hang of yet like some of the better clubs.
Why do we need Martin, Marchbank....whoever to play every week? Let them rest and recover. What are we hurting, their pride??
Let Walsh see what its like to play in a side that doesn't have Cripps. Let TDK see what its like to play in a side that doesn't have Charlie as the #1 go to. Let McGovern play in a side that doesn't have Weitering as the #1 defender.
Trial this stuff during the season so everyone knows what to expect when 'something happens' and we are left trying to scramble and pick up the pieces.
Martin for 15 games a year and resting every 3rd week is all we need as a club.
Vossy should be at the forefront of this with what happened during his time under Lethal at the Lions. Get your team ready for the end of the year by being smart during the year.
I confess to being absolutely baffled when it comes to 'holding the man,' 'dropping the ball,' 'incorrect disposal' and 'holding the ball' unless blatantly obvious. Totally confused. It used to be pretty clear cut, but now it seems there are tolerable grey areas for all these which only creates further confusion in an already difficult to adjudicate game. But with these tolerated grey areas you end up with too much individual umpire interpretation. Some times you can watch one game, then another, and swear there were different rules for each! Result? Inconsistency... the continual complaint from supporters.
Just one example: There was a time where if you took possession of the aggot and tackled, and the ball was dislodged - automatic free kick against... regardless.
The AFL needs, on Monday mornings, to explain contentious frees and non-frees to educate us so we can better understand how the game is adjudicated.
One way to make it easier for umpires, players and supporters alike....
Remove prior opportunity.
Less grey area equals less margin for error.
Could also lead to an overall jump in free kicks given making the odd one that goes against you less influencial overall.
For a bloke who is meant to be an aerobic beast, he doesn't get on his bike much in an attempt to run his opponent ragged (or lay a tackle heaven forebid).
He is still an aerobic beast.
Difference is he is 100kg or whatever he is.
It's the starting, stopping, changing direction that sucks up energy.
Get him on a long distance run and he'll go all day. He's like a truck on the highway, get him up to speed and he can cruise all day. Change his cruising speed and it takes a lot of time and energy to get back up to speed.
Well I guess we will see things differently - you think he is a superstar because he wins clearances and I think he is a crab with only one trick in his book which is a requirement for an AFL ruckman and thats where it sits.
Yep, you must be a collingwood supporter because all you see is black and white.
Everyone can have an opinion, but stats show your opinion was wrong. Hitouts was his '1 trick'...fyi he had 11 hitouts to advantage. Everyone else on the ground (us and them) combined for 10....total.
Now he is elite in clearances too. Thats 2 tricks at least.
You want him to take marks, i asked who outmarked him? Pittonet had 6 spoils last night. Weitering 6 and Young 7 rounded out Carltons top 3. Is that 3 tricks we are up too?
He had 2 tackles, which seems poor. But that was more than 8 of his teammates, including TDK. 5 others had 2 as well. So he was bang on average for tackles as well.
He also managed 2 shots on goal, although 2 behinds, add that to his goal earlier in the year, and that exceeds his scoring power from the previous 2 years combined....in only 4 games.
Pittonet had 15 touches. Cox+Cameron had just 19 between them, and only 3 clearances.
....and he only had 68% tog.
I'm not saying Pittonet is a superstar. I'm just saying he is doing his job and its going unnoticed.
Plenty of other players deserve the finger being pointed at them before you get to Pittonet.
5 tackles + 5 clearances is about the average for an AFL ruckman.
According to who? Your made up assumption?
Max gawn one of the best rucks of the modern game has averaged 5 clearances or more just once in his career....this year.
Nic Nat the modern archetype averaged 5 or more clearances just 4 times in his career. Grundy the same. English has only averaged over 4 once.
Who are these mythical ruckman pushing up that clearance average?
Fwiw, pitto averages 7.5 this year which is elite (afl stat's determination, not mine) which means top 10% in his category (rucks). So at worst there might be 2 players ahead of him.
....and this is from the bloke people said was no good after the hitout was taken.
2 tackles - 1 mark for a ruck playing 70% of the game isn't good enough. Need more than just 30 taps.. lost it due to lack of run - all three losses have been the same way. Filth had three players tackling one Blue because they had superior ground coverage.. not to mention Darcy Cameron was taking important marks in his defensive half. I am not sure how many more games we need to lose in the same manner before the penny drops. Guys like Cripps & Hewett struggle when the opposing team cover the ground like they do.
Pittonet got 6 clearances. That's the same number as contested beasts cripps and Hewett.
He only got 1 mark, which was actually contested, but how many times were we trying to target him directly? How many times was he outmarked by his opponent?
I'm far from convinced 2 rucks works. But I think you are blinded by what pitto actually delivers/offers.
Fantasia is not only not influencing games positively (cant get the ball and hit the scoreboard), his lack of heart is impacting the games negatively as well. I saw him shirt hand/short arm it on 2-3 occasions last night.....which is a lot considering how little he was actually near the ball. Experiment over. Can't carry him anymore.
Pitto dominated early. Went off and the pies dominated. He came back in and we held our own again. Pies nullified his influence in the second half well. Tdk was just another body in the ruck. Thankfully he kicked a couple.
Charlie did not play great, but he was probably up against his hardest opponent of the year who is more slouch, both physically and intellectually. Still kicked a couple.
We lacked run and pressure. Not surprisingly when we dropped Holland. Out of form, sure, but consistent effort and pressure should not be underestimated. Back in next week please.
Williams has a big target on his back and it was made bigger with the early frees against. They were a bit harsh and just about pushed him over the edge. His hammy will probably come as a relief for him.
Young was not terrible for his standards, but is still not performing as well as we need him too. We better have an alternative option lined up in the off-season.
I don't like a loss, but at least we learned a few things about a few people. Which is better learning now than in the finals.
