I'm thinking the hardest thing this week will be which 'sight unseen' rooks from the Sunny GC come in to replace the one week stalwarts who set the place on fire in Rd 1. I believe this week will be as hard to nail the rooks, possibly even harder, than Rd 1 was for the simple fact there is now more to choose from....at least by Rd3 we've seen them all in action and can make a best guestimate based on some game performance, but this week we have even more options to try & nail them. I'll attempt to list below who is in question, will edit any missed: GC BACKS: Toy, Coad, Stanley, Caod & Tape vs Rd1 BACKS: Duigan, Heppell d/m, Batchelor, O Shea, Lester, McKernan d/f, Pederson & Lower GC MIDS: Swallow, Harris, Prestia vs Rd1 MIDS: Conca, Bewick, Heppell d/m, Irons, Beams, Atley and Curnow GC FWDS: Matera, Dixon vs Rd1 FWDS: Darling, Tappy, Richo & McKernan d/f So.....who is doing what & why ?
I'm going with the following (pending GCS team sheet): Back: Duigan out, Stanley in. Mid: Atley out, Swallow in. Fwd: Richardson out, Tapscott stays in, then I have to choose one more out of Darling, Matera and Dixon...
Stanley in for Otten (bye), Toy/Coad still behind Duigan and Lower in the pecking order for mine Swallow in for Bewick Harris on standby for Selwood Darling in for Richardson Matera into emergency
<blockquote>Quote from b_frazer5 on March 29, 2011, 10:45 I reckon harris will go better than swallow</blockquote> I agree.. Harris has already played 142 games of AFL. Nerves wont be a factor like they will for Swallow. Only thing that might be is a tag, but if you were Carlton would you even bother?
i think apart from Harris and Swallow most GC rookies will be behind the main bunch of rokies from other teams to simply to the fact that they will lose most games and not score highly as a team
I need to choose 2 from Swallow, Harris & Liberatore I expect Libba to play again this week and to score similarly/better than Rd 1 given they play the depleted Lions. Am leaning toward: - Harris & Libba on field - Swallow Emerg - Bewick & Buckley in support Then again, Swallow was consistenly in GC best preseason....so is Swallow > Harris? arrgh...
@Simonoz Thanks for starting this. In another post I raised the question as to whether we have all been blinded by the GC rookies and do they actually represent the value we once all thought. The performance in R1 of the non-GC rooks has been encouraging and if they can maintain near those levels then they may well outscore many of the GC rooks, particularly DEF and FWD. Their job security has gone up considerably as a result of these performances and many are in teams that will not struggle as much as GC. Also, GC are likely to throw their rooks around a lot, so there will be a lot of in one week, out the next. Whereas the R1 rooks will mostly have a continuous run, with the exception of those filling a hole. And many will fatten one week faster than GC.
Toy for McKernan(bye). Swallow for Bewick with, like Lucas, Harris on standby for Selwood. Smith is my R3 but with Cox and Ryder absolutely slaying them, I'll just let him get splinters in his arse for round 2.
Swallow & Harris are very interesting....you probably cant go wrong with either, but saying that Murphys Law says whomever you choose it'll be the wrong one In the back of my mind, I wouldnt cry if Selwood sits out a week and gets 'right'...sure knowing him he oculd play, but he may hesitate to dive right in, at least for a week. He sits, and both Swallow & Harris come in....problem solved. Am really looking fwd to seeing Charlie Dixon play; not sure I have the cajones to bring him on in place of Darling or Tappy....but am a huge fan of this beast. Three more days & the GCBP will be revealed....(gold coast backline puzzle)...
Wondering if Foley will recover from that bout of gastro. Flipping the coin with Swallow and Harris. I can't really decide on that. Sat McKernan already, Toy is Energency with Duigan, Heppell and Lower in. Just have to wait until Thursday and tweak then
Harris on for Vince and Curnow on for Conca in midfield Matera on for Knights up forward. With the rookie scores in opening round you've gotta be bit excited at what these GC boys are going to do, given they have to play more game time and probably better job security for the majority of them..
Should be a real big spead in scores this week I think with so many diff. options now popping up with these kids.....
Stanley on for Duigan for me Harris on for Atley (surely he can improve on 39!) Looking at matera over Richardson from Nth. A bit of a risk but i think Matera has some real potential to get up around the 90-100ppg.
Swallow and Harris straight on for Conca and Heppell, who swicths to DEF with Hibberd and into D6 for Otten (bye). Duigan ahead of Toy and Lester in D7 at this stage. Conca emg for Selwood. Agree with Simonz about Selwood. Have a rest and get yourself right, it's a long season. Have Tapscott on the FWD bench but only obvious swap is with L Jurrah. Cost me 45 points R1 but surely will swing around??? Smith to gather splinters behind Sandi and Leuenberger at this stage.
Swallow and Harris on for Bewick and Atley. Looking forward to seeing how these guys go immensely. No room in fwds for Matera, and Stanley will come on for Duigan.
Swallow & Harris on, while Conca[EMG], Bewick & Atley sit out. Will probably leave Matera out and roll the dice on Tapscott having an effective game again. Unsure about defence at this stage, I have Stanley available, but can't decide whether to have him in the team over Duigan.
I'd be putting any north rookies (richardson/atley/pederson) on the pine this week I would think, given they play the Pies. Exception would go to Petrie - if you started with him, you play him regardless of the opposition as he has the potential to score big. Bewick - the Lions will likely be fired up after narrowly losing against the Dockers, but it won't be anything compared to the fire that will be burning in the Doggies kennel. I probably wouldn't be starting Bewick this week. Irons/Pittard/O'shea - the power got whalloped by the Pies last week, however they come up against an injury depleted eagles side, at AAMI. If any of these 3 get another run, expect their scores to improve significantly from last week, as Port should see a lot more of the ball. (Kerr is set to make an appearance) Darling - With LeCras out, the eagles will be relying on Darling and Cox to increase their goal count so he could be a good one to start. Liberatore - Scored admirably in a side that was trounced and saw only a very small slice of the points Pie. Should see much more of the points both individually and as a team against the Lions this weekend.