I think what we all need to grasp,is the fact that we are not involved in Aus kick footy,where everyone on the list is guaranteed prescribed minutes in the league side,and as far the last game of the year in the 2s was concerned,i only see Sparks and Cooley with their size,skill and ability as definite league material. I felt during the year that maybe Sebit should’ve been given more opportunities,but he was rarely sighted in the last league game against Subi, and probably justified the selectors reluctance to promote him during the season.Its one thing to rack up possessions and kick goals in the reserves,but transferring that to league level is a bridge too far for alot of players and Sebit is a good example of this. If we want the league side to go to the next level we definitely need to recruit,as the answers to address league squad deficiencies are not in the reserves
Wow and here was I thinking that it was auskick, thanks for that insight.
The point is that players who were out of form or are just not upto it kept being given a game when some changes should have been made.
As for Cooley yep he may be a good league player, Sparks is a selfish player who is constantly being told yo do the team thing so until he gets that he will only ever be a b- player
Oh and the news that the WCE are talking to EPFC again will be an interesting development on a number of fronts.
Grump which players did you think weren’t up to it out of interest?
This from the swans game May 1
Allsop, questionable
Hindle, no or at least not this season
Furlong maybe 2022
Reilly, sadly no
Hall, NO!
Albertson NO!
Edwards sorry but no.
Lockitt perhaps this year
From the last game
Hyne No!
The rest of squad like Fabre, Van Dieman are perhaps, Amos is or should be the second ruck.
My apologies Grump my comprehension skills must be waning. I thought you were referring to league players not up to the standard. Which reserve emergencies did you think should have played more games. I agree that list of players are battlers in most cases.
R2019 my error, 4 players who were out of form and should have been dropped, well Robertson - consistent throughout the season, Magro - went games without any impact but then saved himself by playing an ok game, Simpson - everyone remembers the somewhat spectacular stuff but never consistent. There were others who played some really good games but were missing at times - Hille was one who at times needed to be told but seemed to be a favourite and there in lies an issue.
Robbo was ok before the ankle injury then struggled seemed to carry weight. Probably wouldn’t have dropped him for his physical presence (Will Schofield)
Magro suffered a flat spot must of been close to a run in the twos. But his top level is streets ahead of who might of replaced him.
Simpson doesn’t work hard enough but still our best option for a long bail out kick. I would replace him long term.
Hille struggles at times in senior football. Not my style of player.
Fair enough assessments but not much to replace them with. Boules and Cox I would have no issue with.
My point is and it is the biggest issue that I have with the current regime is that there is no plan for when players need to be dropped let alone a game plan that works week in week out, for a WHOLE game and I do not see it much better this year but that is my opinion and seems to be at odds with most others.
[quote=“Grump post=213853 userid=855”]R2019 my error, 4 players who were out of form and should have been dropped, well Robertson - consistent throughout the season, Magro - went games without any impact but then saved himself by playing an ok game, Simpson - everyone remembers the somewhat spectacular stuff but never consistent. There were others who played some really good games but were missing at times - Hille was one who at times needed to be told but seemed to be a favourite and there in lies an issue.
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you make some valid points grump except about eddie.i doubt he was out of form.he may have had the odd bad game but he acheived something none of our forwards did.finished in the top 10 goalkickers of the wafl with 29 goals from 16 games.to put this in perspective lets look at all the other marking forwards at east perth
ajang 10games and 4 goals
kuek 3 games and o goals
dobbo 8 games and 11 goals
merritt 13 games and 11 goals
these 4 players played twice as many games as eddie and contributed less goals (26 goals)
eddie also had to support jones as the back up ruck because ajang just couldn’t take a mark or kick a goal.
all our small forwards were dissapointing.i thought young was poor in the middle part of the year and should have been dropped.he got injured and missed two weeks and came straight back into the team.a sad reflection of how poor our reserves were this year..
Anybody with any basic football knowledge has to know,that you can throw out all game plans out the window when you do not have a decent ‘‘SPINE’’,particularly a power forward.How well do you think the Joondalupians would go without Keitel,and do you reckon Riddoch and Knott would be as dangerous around the goals without him??If we tidy up that area in the off season we will be playing finals next season,and you can quote me on that.
Oops Yep a good spine is a good thing but according to most we had an ok defence, a good mid field and according to most a FF so it is really only the CHF.
Having said that even when were playing ok we did know what to do and where to go when challenged, when we were getting beaten we did know how to turn it around which by any rational thinking suggests that the players did not KNOW and did not have a game plan that they could follow but hey if ya reckon the finals beckon great but I do not think we are going to have a final 8 this year!
No we don’t have a spine,and as for game plans its probably a bit beyond your comprehension,but time will be the final arbiter,and i will be proven right and you’ll be proven wrong,and Jeremy Barnard will be coaching next year and beyond.
RLL I hope you’re correct in your predictions but sadly based on what I know and hear it might not be as easy as you think. Even our good players struggle with what the coach has in place and I think the club agrees hence the Coaching director role, that to me is an indication Barnard needs a fair bit of help. But hey as I said a final 8 might solve Perth and our issue! Oh and question for you, if the media is to be believed and we and Perth are being lined up to get WCE players on a loan basis how will you react to that, will the games we win or lose be down to that change or something else or as someone else said you will not be following the club as you did in the alignment period
Grump even if we take four Eagles I think RoyalLucky will be long gone again. On the issue of our spine we have a ruckman and that’s about it. Chaddy22 might rate Simpson but he is generally a shocking judge. Game plans are a guide to give coaches something to do during the week. Good players win games regardless of anything else. Football comes down to winning one on one contests.
R2019, yep the plan is a guide but they help players to react in situations and allow players without the ball to have an idea what the next move maybe, good players will win games and the one on ones but they still need motivation and that is down to the coach as not all players have self motivation, they may competitive but often the edge comes from the team and the coach.
As for the spine I would start with North at FB, Eaton at CHB, Ramsay at C, and Merrit at FF and just leave them alone and build from there, CHF is the issue!
I can’t read all of your message Grump not sure who your CHB is. For me North is not big or agile enough and lacks the quality to play on good forwards. Certainly can be handy on a third tall on the flank. Watts is slow I’m not convinced and Fullgrabe has the size but long term his body will not hold up.
Merritt leads well with nice hands but like Simpson is slow when it hits the ground. The club definitely needs some top quality key forwards and backs.
I’m talking from the point of view of challenging for a flag. Our current list can win 6-10 games not enough for me but maybe Chaddy etc are happy with that.
Eaton at CHB and whilst I do not agree wholly with you abt the players mentioned, not sure we can get replacements for 7 or 8 players so working with what we have at the moment.
Challenging for finals and once there being able to progress is the only acceptable outcome for me and I think all Royals supporters.
Yes fair enough can’t solve all our problems at once we need to get the best out of our own. Eaton impressed me in the last few games but not the size for key position long term.
We are all in the dark about the new points system but I see Schumacher, Scott, Simpson, Robbo and Watts as players that might be moved on.
Schumaker, no, watts perhaps, robertson mmmmm not sure unless his head is the right place, Simpson for me yes but who then do you replace him with. I honestly cannot seem him improving unlike Cooley who I think will get better next season
[quote=“ROYAL 2019 post=213880 userid=1454”]Grump even if we take four Eagles I think RoyalLucky will be long gone again. On the issue of our spine we have a ruckman and that’s about it. Chaddy22 might rate Simpson but he is generally a shocking judge. Game plans are a guide to give coaches something to do during the week. Good players win games regardless of anything else. Football comes down to winning one on one contests. rl2019
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RL2019 my post was to show how eddie eccentric people are like yourself .yes he has deficiencies but he is the best of very average talls.why just sledge him when you can include merritt,sebit,ajang and even dobbo who were all poorer this year.if we get rid of eddie i can’t see which of our talls will step up.easy to say lets recruit two tall forwards but who and how..as much as we would all like to win a premiership our days when we could go and recruit madly are over.we have a points cap and a salary cap and you need to recruit wisely.if we had no points cap and no salary cap and with our financial situation we could buy a team but be bankrupt in a decade.we recruited a lot of good players both from interstate and locally between 1995-2005 but our recruiting since has been ordinary.