hindsight played lucas?

[tom9779]

If anything is as clear as day about 2008, is that the team currently cannot function without scotty in the team.

a week ago it took a monster effort by lloydy against the wooden spooners to beat them. and against a team with a better backline we got done.

A number of times watching the ball go into the forward 50.

I thought if lucas was there he would have either 1. marked it, 2 won it at ground level and goals or 3 at the very least bottled it up for a stoppage.

And Lucas doesn't even need to have a great game to give us a positive effect. He takes the oppositions best or second best defender. Leaving space for guys like McPhee, Monfries, Laycock, and others to have a positive impact on the game.

In other thread(s) I have torn strips off mcphee. and if you look at his stats(and to a lesser extent angus') they are SO much better when Lucas is in the forward line.(probably those games which reflect him having a 'great' year).

I hope the club spends a long time over the off season, working on a forward structure without Scotty Lucas running around.

[swoodley]

A large part of the problem yesterday was the decision making of players bringing the ball forward. I lost count of the number of times that our forwards got loose on the lead and yet the player with the ball failed to pass the ball.

That has nothibg to do with Lucas being in the team....it was all about decision making, and on the whole, our decision making was poor.

[andrewb]

I think we've had enough problems this year without playing injured players as well.

He wasn't available for selection. Either was Gumby, either was Neagle. No coach can develop and implement game plans without having some sort of consistency in his playing group. We could only get three senior listed players to line up for Bendigo.

We've done bloody well to win 6 of our last 8 with the injuries we've had.

[BenDoolan]

I said before the game that Pev would be a big loss and he was. We needed his work rate and contribution on the contested ball. But you can't help injuries. We've lost key players from week to week during the entire season and it has been remarkable that we were ever in a position to make the 8 at all. Losing Reimers for this game did not help either. 2 guys who normally give us plenty of grunt around packs.

[tom9779]

I said before the game that Pev would be a big loss and he was. We needed his work rate and contribution on the contested ball. But you can't help injuries. We've lost key players from week to week during the entire season and it has been remarkable that we were ever in a position to make the 8 at all. Losing Reimers for this game did not help either. 2 guys who normally give us plenty of grunt around packs.

Yeah that was very noticeable. Mind you Andy Lovett's game was brilliant. in terms of workrate you could not fault him.

It was really westcoast game early, first to the footy, and they made plenty of their own luck.

Would putting an underdone Lucas down the park helped us? maybe not, you could argue it was the early pasting the wc onballers which costs us.

But it just seems we walk taller with him in the team.

[pevfan]

We're still crap when we haven't got the ball. That's been painfully obvious even on our good days. We allow even weak teams like Melbourne (not to mention West Coast yesterday) to just waltz through our backline and score all too easy goals. We have improved a bit in that area but still a lot of work to do. We've long had a habit of making very ordinary footballers look like champs over the years, Kent Kingsley for example then yesterday it was Mc Who? for the Coasters with 7 goals for cryin out loud. It's a Sheedy legacy I'm afraid and is not something that we are just going to be able to turn around overnight. There have been some promising signs this season but to all those who think that the final 8 next year is a foregone conclusion...think again.

[Rossoneri]

I said before the game that Pev would be a big loss and he was. We needed his work rate and contribution on the contested ball. But you can't help injuries. We've lost key players from week to week during the entire season and it has been remarkable that we were ever in a position to make the 8 at all. Losing Reimers for this game did not help either. 2 guys who normally give us plenty of grunt around packs.

Spot on. And that's why I think Knights will give someone like Pev an extra year. I have a feeling that he may already have that extra year, hence why he didnt play because of "soreness". This is pev we are talking about, he doesn't miss games because he is sore, he played 3 weeks after snapping his arm on a c*nts boot.

As for Lucas, if he is not right and needs surgery, put him in now. Need him up and going in 2009 with Gumby/Neagle.

[BenDoolan]

I said before the game that Pev would be a big loss and he was. We needed his work rate and contribution on the contested ball. But you can't help injuries. We've lost key players from week to week during the entire season and it has been remarkable that we were ever in a position to make the 8 at all. Losing Reimers for this game did not help either. 2 guys who normally give us plenty of grunt around packs.

Spot on. And that's why I think Knights will give someone like Pev an extra year. I have a feeling that he may already have that extra year, hence why he didnt play because of "soreness". This is pev we are talking about, he doesn't miss games because he is sore, he played 3 weeks after snapping his arm on a c*nts boot.

As for Lucas, if he is not right and needs surgery, put him in now. Need him up and going in 2009 with Gumby/Neagle.

I dunno. I reckon Pev might be a goner. The reason why I feel this is that Knighta is ruthless when it comes to list management. He stated that this is the last uncompromised draft before GC and West Sydney come in, so he needs to maximise his selections at the end of the year. I think he'll be chopped and if there is nothing worth picking up in the PSD, he may get a reprieve. Knights indicated 6 need to make way for the draft - they'd be JJ, CJ, Mal, Lee??, Rama??, Pev??

This is assuming that there will be no trades for draft picks of course. Maybe I'm missing something.

[Rossoneri]

I dunno. I reckon Pev might be a goner. The reason why I feel this is that Knighta is ruthless when it comes to list management. He stated that this is the last uncompromised draft before GC and West Sydney come in, so he needs to maximise his selections at the end of the year. I think he'll be chopped and if there is nothing worth picking up in the PSD, he may get a reprieve. Knights indicated 6 need to make way for the draft - they'd be JJ, CJ, Mal, Lee??, Rama??, Pev??

This is assuming that there will be no trades for draft picks of course. Maybe I'm missing something.

6? Well, I think that may be it for Pev then. Would love to see us trade for picks though rather than turf them out. Surely Freo would give up pick 3 for Pev

Maybe bundle a couple in together and get a late 2nd round pick?

[tom9779]

I dunno. I reckon Pev might be a goner. The reason why I feel this is that Knighta is ruthless when it comes to list management. He stated that this is the last uncompromised draft before GC and West Sydney come in, so he needs to maximise his selections at the end of the year. I think he'll be chopped and if there is nothing worth picking up in the PSD, he may get a reprieve. Knights indicated 6 need to make way for the draft - they'd be JJ, CJ, Mal, Lee??, Rama??, Pev??

This is assuming that there will be no trades for draft picks of course. Maybe I'm missing something.

6? Well, I think that may be it for Pev then. Would love to see us trade for picks though rather than turf them out. Surely Freo would give up pick 3 for Pev

Maybe bundle a couple in together and get a late 2nd round pick?

I think that 6 you mention is pretty much bang on if that is the amount of players he wants to cut loose.

Rama is the real tough one, but Knights came out put the onus on rama to make the call. i'd say if he is not playing next year, he will be at the club as a runner or something.

Pev I reckon may or may not stay, he might retire, or get another year if we lose one of our young rookies

No question mark on Lee I would say. 5 games in 5 years? countless injuries. even if he has talent to burn, how can you see him every playing 22 games.

I really feel for CJ. i think his hips robbed him. at least he got given a shot, lots of decent guys never get one.(being too short, bit slow, injury etc etc but still great footy players)

[Crazyman]

If anything is as clear as day about 2008, is that the team currently cannot function without scotty in the team.

a week ago it took a monster effort by lloydy against the wooden spooners to beat them. and against a team with a better backline we got done.

A number of times watching the ball go into the forward 50.

I thought if lucas was there he would have either 1. marked it, 2 won it at ground level and goals or 3 at the very least bottled it up for a stoppage.

And Lucas doesn't even need to have a great game to give us a positive effect. He takes the oppositions best or second best defender. Leaving space for guys like McPhee, Monfries, Laycock, and others to have a positive impact on the game.

In other thread(s) I have torn strips off mcphee. and if you look at his stats(and to a lesser extent angus') they are SO much better when Lucas is in the forward line.(probably those games which reflect him having a 'great' year).

I hope the club spends a long time over the off season, working on a forward structure without Scotty Lucas running around.

Whilst I agree that we are definately not a good side without Lucas in the team (ala Fletch a few years ago down back), for mine, the problem is not Lucas, it is the fact that we have injuries to all our other potential KPP CHF's. Neagle, Lucas, Daniher, Gumby, CJ, etc...accordingly, when the shit has hit the fan, we have not had a CHF to kick to and straighten us up the way Lucas does...for mine, this is where Lloydy should step up, play CHF and provide the kind of leadership that he shown in the last couple of months since he has hit some form...allow Hille/Laycock and Co to play out of FF with the usual crumbers, but then again, that may be the coaches call not to put Lloyd at CHF...