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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 12 2025 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs West Coast
Last post by kruddler -I understand the need to experiment.
I'm all for going full bore on experimentation once our season is out of reach.
Play kids, or fringe players who may be on one last chance.
Play around with structure
Try players in different positions.
I'm not sure in a senior match where you are still a finals chance though is the best time or place.
If it was in fact a deliberate move...
We didn't gain much from changing things up, if anything...
-For a start the side we put on the field (and ended up on the field) is probably well short of our best 22 so any learning opportunity only applies to those playing>
-we lost an opportunity to improve on our percentage.
-we may have re-inforced doubts amongst our players about our ability to play out a game.
(that's kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy...if they doubt... when one or two things go wrong it can get into their heads. Maybe that's what is happening already
-it didn't work, and a team labelled as pathetic by their coach at quarter time is suddenly competitive.
-it may work against a West Coast. Try it against a Collingwood and they'll run all over us. Different opposition-different tactics.
Not sure how much we changed and if it was planned or if it was something we did because of injuries.
However, there COULD be a need to 'experiment' a little bit.
If nothing else, you try this stuff against a hack team so that you have it nailed by the time you need it for a good team. Not sure how often we've tried it, but if its something we've been attempting all year, with the amount we've been overrun, it clearly needs more training.
At the end of the day, we won the game.
At the end of the day, our percentage is not something we need to worry about.
Hopefully we learned something and it helps us in the future.