Next week - any changes?

[Dry Rot]

Hopefully some tall bloke who can lead out of the square.

I'm sick to death seeing Robbins at times at FF.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

If at all possible, I would like to see us work on our structure.

Thus, not playing Robbins/Johnson at FF but instead Darcy (If available), McDougall or Pask.

Again I'd assign McDougall or Pask at CHF.

Wight CHB, Harris FB with hopefully Morris to come back into the line-up.

Skipper is another guy who should be tried at CHF, CHB.

We know our smalls can play. Thus, we need to develop our Plan B and it's the perfect time to do this with Doogs, Pask, Wight, Skipper & perhaps Darcy at our disposal.

For mine;

IN:
Morris
Eagleton
(Hargrave or Darcy?)

OUT:
McCormack
Monty
(Skipper? Wight - if inj.?)

[Dry Rot]

Pask did look slow off the mark to me, and some Lions fans reckon he's not a defender.

Positives are that he provides a marking contest and whn he takles you, you don't get up real fast.

I'd like to see him play out of the goal square.

Liked what I saw of McDougall - IIRC he won every marking contest he had? Let him have a crack at CHF.

[GVGjr]

Are you suggesting Baird is the new K-Mac?

K-Mac did have goal kicking abilities and if used off a HBF he could do OK. I have not seen enough of Baird to suggest that he could be used as a tallish defender or as a 3rd option marking forward. Other than that his skills are OK and he tackles hard but just seem to be missing that one signature skill or strength.
Maybe his injury interruption to the season has slowed him down a bit and he might just need a couple of more runs.

[Go_Dogs]

I could see Baird playing that Hansen, O'Loughlin type of role, leading up the field, similar to what Murph was doing too I guess. Baird is about 193cm tall, so he isn't that short, and I think someone with his speed and nous with the hands will become a very good player for us. I don't think he'll ever be a KP in the true sense of the word, but as a leading target up the ground, he will probably be quite serviceable.

I too was a fan of his work last season before he got injured, and he's also still only really young.

[GVGjr]

I could see Baird playing that Hansen, O'Loughlin type of role, leading up the field, similar to what Murph was doing too I guess. Baird is about 193cm tall, so he isn't that short, and I think someone with his speed and nous with the hands will become a very good player for us. I don't think he'll ever be a KP in the true sense of the word, but as a leading target up the ground, he will probably be quite serviceable.

I too was a fan of his work last season before he got injured, and he's also still only really young.

Baird does not strike as being 193cm tall. I know it's in the record books but he seems to be more about the same height as Morris at 190cm. That being said he also doesn't play tall either. You might be right that he does offer something as a leading forward.

[bornadog]

Baird does not strike as being 193cm tall. I know it's in the record books but he seems to be more about the same height as Morris at 190cm. That being said he also doesn't play tall either. You might be right that he does offer something as a leading forward.

He is 193cm according to his profile, but in any case I really believe he should play up forward. I thought he impressed in a few games last year playing on the forward line and nearly took the mark of the year a few times, so a great leap as well.

[alwaysadog]

Because Baird came to us from another club's rookie list we seem to expect him to be more advanced than someone who has spent a year in the system.

On the other hand he could be regarded as someone we wanted to bring to the club in the first place but were thwarted by the draft and have managed to get him courtesy of the internal politics operating at the Lions.

IMHO he is still at least a year short of growing into his body and being able to deliver on his talent. Is it too much of a leap to suggest that we are cherry picking on available Lion talent?

We know we had been tracking Baird for at least a couple of years. Pask seems more like opportunism.

I won't be expecting too much too soon from either but I hope we give both the opportunity to develop; they are still very young.

[Go_Dogs]

Exactly. Both have the potential to be decent players. Hopefully they impress at the right times, and I'm sure that Baird at least will see some senior action at some stage due to injuries etc. If we do have a tall go down with a long term injury it would be interesting to see what Pask could do too.

With the new rookies format, does it mean that we have to draft 4 rookies each year, or merely have 4 on our rookie list at the end of the draft period?

[bulldogtragic]

Exactly. Both have the potential to be decent players. Hopefully they impress at the right times, and I'm sure that Baird at least will see some senior action at some stage due to injuries etc. If we do have a tall go down with a long term injury it would be interesting to see what Pask could do too.

With the new rookies format, does it mean that we have to draft 4 rookies each year, or merely have 4 on our rookie list at the end of the draft period?

My understanding is funding for the club has built into it cash/salary for 4 rookies, not the drafting of 4 each year.