Croft to debut against Eagles

[Dogs 24/7]

If Sanders goes anywhere I believe it will be as Tassie signing.

The money would tempt anyone. I would imagine he gets more midfield time as well but I like our chances of keeping him.

[azabob]

Would you offer Sanders as trade bait? If you can bring in a Butters do you need a Sanders? I think he is someone we could dangle.

If Sanders goes anywhere I believe it will be as Tassie signing.

[jeemak]

I'd have played Sanders after having him as the sub, and tried to see if there was a response coming afterwards............before Croft went and ****ed us by becoming un-droppable.*

Massive kudos to Croft though, for his start in the big league. I didn't see that coming, and I'm still shaking my head a bit about how we could possibly have found a tall and ridiculously athletic utility who seems courageous and able to insert himself into the game. Talk about silver linings.


*I'd also use this point to reinforce with Sanders the concept of fleetingness of opportunities........just because you have them all year it doesn't mean they can't disappear.

[FrediKanoute]

Would you offer Sanders as trade bait? If you can bring in a Butters do you need a Sanders? I think he is someone we could dangle.

[Mantis]

We needed a mid-field connector type. We actually needed a fit Treloar given Ed clearly wasn't himself and Liber's early season work-load cooked him for the second year in a row.

The drop off of Kennedy in the last two months was also a problem.

I don't think having Croft flying for the footy in F50 was ideal in a lot of ways and he was kind of restricted with what he could give us...I mean - I don't know what to tell you - I know what sort of player I wanted and despite Sanders poor form I probably would have selected him...

The drop off of form both Kennedy & Libba really hurt, as did the continued non-attendance of McNeil who gave neither a defensive nor offensive presence. Sanders was absolutely awful since the Bris game when his inability to defend was horribly exposed... we made the right call not selecting him but didn't make it easy on him with the movement in roles through the year.

It felt like all year we were searching for a formula that would work and never quite settled, hence why went into a cutthroat game with both a forward and back 6 that lacked synergy and we were trying to allow our 'big guns' to carry the load... but when a fair chunk of this group were off the boil we paid the price.

I know Croft came late, but why Buss, who played like ''a boy'' only played 7 games is beyond me. We had all year to get him ready for a big game and wasted it playing others instead.

[mjp]

That is sort of an important point.

I'm sure we would've liked to have selected someone like Khamis, Poulter, VDM, Hynes, Dolan or Sanders... but would any of these players have had a positive impact on our performance?

We needed a mid-field connector type. We actually needed a fit Treloar given Ed clearly wasn't himself and Liber's early season work-load cooked him for the second year in a row.

The drop off of Kennedy in the last two months was also a problem.

I don't think having Croft flying for the footy in F50 was ideal in a lot of ways and he was kind of restricted with what he could give us...I mean - I don't know what to tell you - I know what sort of player I wanted and despite Sanders poor form I probably would have selected him...

[Mantis]

My views post game remain the same - Croft looks great but we didn't need him against Freo. Not sure who else I would have selected but it wouldn't have been a tall forward.

That is sort of an important point.

I'm sure we would've liked to have selected someone like Khamis, Poulter, VDM, Hynes, Dolan or Sanders... but would any of these players have had a positive impact on our performance?

[mjp]

How do you view post game Mike?

Similar to how you felt pre game?

The boy does look a talented prospect

My views post game remain the same - Croft looks great but we didn't need him against Freo. Not sure who else I would have selected but it wouldn't have been a tall forward.

[Bulldog Revolution]

Not for me.

Ground ball will be too important against the Dockers and I just don't think we need 3x talls up forward.

Hard to leave him out after kicking 3 snags tho!

How do you view post game Mike?

Similar to how you felt pre game?

The boy does look a talented prospect

[mjp]

And they were fantastic grabs as well. Clean and he attacked the contest hard. I was sitting right behind him at the goals and i was gobsmacked. I honestly didn't think
he was ready for AFL level and he hadn't really earned it going by his stats, then he goes and does that.

Big question is. Does he get a game against Freo?

Not for me.

Ground ball will be too important against the Dockers and I just don't think we need 3x talls up forward.

Hard to leave him out after kicking 3 snags tho!

[jazzadogs]

And they were fantastic grabs as well. Clean and he attacked the contest hard. I was sitting right behind him at the goals and i was gobsmacked. I honestly didn't think
he was ready for AFL level and he hadn't really earned it going by his stats, then he goes and does that.

Big question is. Does he get a game against Freo?

I got lucky seeing the VFL game immediately before his debut, but how he played against the Eagles was very similar to his game against Box Hill.

He totally surprised me at that VFL game but I left thinking he was ready. Didn't expect him to get picked so quickly though!

[Uninformed]

And they were fantastic grabs as well. Clean and he attacked the contest hard. I was sitting right behind him at the goals and i was gobsmacked. I honestly didn't think
he was ready for AFL level and he hadn't really earned it going by his stats, then he goes and does that.

Big question is. Does he get a game against Freo?

Hope he does. I thought he definitely made us better.

[Cyberdoggie]

Umm - yes.

He started taking contested marks for fun. Looked awesome!

And they were fantastic grabs as well. Clean and he attacked the contest hard. I was sitting right behind him at the goals and i was gobsmacked. I honestly didn't think
he was ready for AFL level and he hadn't really earned it going by his stats, then he goes and does that.

Big question is. Does he get a game against Freo?

[ledge]

Umm - yes.

He started taking contested marks for fun. Looked awesome!

I tend to agree,no matter who we played those two marks would have been taken, and his poise when he was competing for the ball and when he did get it were natural talent that wouldn’t have made difference whether it was a good side or not .
I believe he could still have games where he won’t get near it but it won’t be because he isn’t good enough.

[mjp]

Were you surprised by his performance (Eagles being woeful aside)?

Umm - yes.

He started taking contested marks for fun. Looked awesome!