Re: AFL Rd 2 2023 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Geelong
Reply #166 –
Cmon mate, follow along.
2 rucks + Jack + 21 others
1 ruck + jack + extra midfielder + 21 others.
Using Jack as the second ruckman allows us to play an extra midfielder.
Look at the ins/outs from last game
As far as team balance went it was....
Durdin in for Martin
Pittonet in for Hewitt.
The second ruck took the spot of the extra midfielder.
We tired in the last quarter because we lost that extra midfielder.
We almost lost the game because we didn't have that extra midfielder.
As I understand it now, your argument is that having Pittonet, De Koning and Silvagni in the 22 means that we have one less midfielder. In fact, our midfield rotations were reduced by Corey Durdin replacing Hewett. Pittonet replaced Martin who rarely goes into the midfield. Ed Curnow spent part of the Richmond game as a midfielder and most of the Geelong game in that role (with Durdin filling the vacant half forward spot). In effect, we were around 0.5 of a midfielder down for the Geelong game but Docherty probably covered that. Bringing O'Brien on actually meant that we had an extra midfielder in the last quarter for both games.
I couldn't see any evidence that we tired in the last quarter. If anything, our energy levels across the board were superior to Geelong's in the last quarter.