(04-26-2016, 12:42 AM)DJC link Wrote:At worst, Glass-McCasker will be delisted without playing a senior game. He has a long way to go before he is a chance to displace Rowe or get ahead of Jamison in the pecking order. However, we do have a good record in developing rookies into capable defenders and using a rookie pick on Glass-McCasker was a good decision. Time will tell whether it will pay off.
I can't really see any changes to our defence for the Essendon game. I don't think Bolton is the type of coach who will gift games to fringe players and, from the reports of the NBs game, none of our new blokes are putting their hands up, with the possible exception of Tutt.
Of the established players, Armfield seems to be the only one who has done enough to merit senior selection. I think he would provide more as a defensive forward than Buckley has so far, but Buckley is getting better as he learns the role.
I suspect that the only changes this week will be to the emergencies. Team selection this week will reveal a little more about Bolton's thinking.
Seven's commentators effectively dismissed Essendon's chances of a win next week and I think they're right - as long as we don't revert to our NAB Challenge team.
I was thinking more long term DJC. When I look at our playing group, I see two 22's. The one that is for the now, and the one that is what we transition to moving forward. In any given week we will mix these teams up, and some of our best 22 moving forward will be the same as the one that plays now, whilst some of our blokes are in neither.
Thats the sort of forward planning we have been missing, and most likely due to having too many holes in the side.
You can't have contingencies for everyone, but if we look at what replaces our oldest players now, we can worry about the other missing links later and not free fall like we did in case a replacement doesnt work and we can also get them up to speed whilst they have someone to learn their role off, and then they can pass that knowledge on to the next crop of youngsters.
So for me we have the following with the future of our best 22 in Brackets these should ebb and flow based on who is ready sooner or who has improved immensely:
FB:----Weitering(Weitering)---------Jamison(Plowman)------------Simpson(Docherty)
HB: White(Byrne)--------------Rowe(Glass-Mckasker)-----------------Tuohy(Skittles)
C: Murphy(Graham)--------------Kerridge(Cunningham)---------------------------Thomas(Boekhorst)
HF: Everitt(Silvagni)---------Casboult(Mckay)-------------------Gibbs(Sumner)
FF: --Walker(C. Curnow)--------------Jones(Jaksch)----------------------Wright(Lamb)
F: Kreuzer(Korcheck)---------Cripps(Cripps)----------------------------E.Curnow(Whiley)
*INT: Tutt, Armfield, Phillips(Gorringe), Buckley (Smith)
*I have put some current interchange players into one or the other best 22 for a purpose else they would be there instead of our future best 22. Im looking longer term than just 3 years away as we want to win multiple flags rather than just one and to do that we need to forward plan much better than we used to, and not just fling blokes to fill a perceived need without looking at the overall effect of it.
Guys like Foster, Gowers, Wood, Sheehan, Dick need to get a move on and establish themselves as a future replacement for one of our current elderstatesmen as they will be pushed out for someone who will be.
Thats not to say that we wont fling anyone else either who currently is in our best 22, but I get the idea that this is how we should think of our team moving forward.
