Re: Rd 13: Pre Game posturing: Carlton vs Gold Coast
Reply #40 –
Some interesting questions.
I have my own for this week. Consider these:
[1] With Alex Silvagni being unavailable for 4 weeks and Rowe being injured long term, do we need to bolster the defence?
GC do not have a huge number of tall targets and we do have Caleb Marchbank who can play on any tall not muscled like Arnie. We may consider bring in White, who can play tall or mid. We may also consider bringing in a smaller, quicker defender, as we tend to leak goals to smaller forwards rather than taller ones. Or do we bring in Ciaran Sheahan, who offers smarts, an excellent left foot and excellent concentration and strength? Interesting thought.
[2] Losing a tall like Silvagni, should we bring in a tall forward instead?
At present Harry McKay would seem to be the obvious choice. He has some way to go, but he has shown enough in recent times to get him into the selection picture. H can ruck somewhat and he does have mobility and great hands.
If we think of going for a taller forward, McKay has the edge over the others at the moment, although there is still competition.
[3] We had a few guys who didn't get a lot of the ball last week; Liam Sumner (9 possessions), Tom Williamson (10), Zac Fisher (12) and Jed Lamb (15) come to mind. There is a case to keep any and all of them, but it is reasonably probably that SPS may come directly into the team this week. Should he?
I think SPS is a high probability to be selected. His form has been pretty good and he provides speed and X-Factor to our forward line and midfield.
Of the 4 mentioned, Fisher and Sumner appear under the most pressure, as they had very few possessions for guys who spent time in the midfield. Nick Graham (and a few others) put their hands up in the 2nds.
I think Fisher could do with a few weeks in the VFL. He is young and would appreciate more time developing his skills in the centre square. That doesn't happen so much in the seniors.
Sumner was in the play a lot more than his 9 possessions suggest, but Graham would be more likely to get 18 - 21 possessions per game, based on his form this season.
[4] Should we make ANY unforced changes?
When we win, we RARELY change the team. This has been a trend for a long time and I do not expect it to change. I have suggest changes for a long time, but do not heed my calls. Often the performance of those in the team make my contributions look silly.
Last week had a clear example: playing Daisy with no time in the VFL to gain form. I was not a fan of this idea. I thought (and still do) that Daisy's body probably needs a warm up game. Instead Daisy really put in.
At this point I am thinking:
In: SPS & Harry McKay
Out: A Silvagni and Fisher
Now that I have written this, I expect the club to do just about anything except make these 2 changes. 
I agree with what you have written, and agree that we largely need to be choosing players based on form, and its conceivable that we get Jaksch back into the team this week as he provides us some flexibility.
We can start him forward, and then if that doesnt work swap him with either of Jones/Weitering.
If we go with Harry, we are pretty much stuck with Harry being up forward, and the only thing we can shuffle is Kreuzer forward, and Levi into the ruck.
We dont really want Harry in the ruck at this stage of the journey as although GC's ruck division isnt the most vaunted, it does have 2 metre Peter who got off the leash last time against us, particularly when resting forward, and we still have Tom Lynch to contend with.
Versatility might win out against form this week at the selection table. We need to make a call on Jaksch this season. It might be time to see what we have (or don't have with him).