Pre Match. Pies v. Saints. All comments please.

[didick]

^Yep Varcoe does a lot that you don't see unless at the game. Living in Brisbane I only get to the game here, none in Melbourne. Saw him absolutely busting a gut the entire game, forward and back running. He was the only real player pressuring the Lions defenders when they were switching etc. Most of it doesn't result in a tackle stat or a disposal but he continuously applies the pressure. You can't see all that effort on TV.

Agree on JT. He's not going anywhere unless injured.

[Clifton Hill-Billy]

Beams and Cox are certain ins if fit, probably at the expense of Wills and Reid. I think at least one of JT and Mayne will miss, probably Mayne. Aish or possibly Varcoe will likely replace Mayne. If JT doesn't get up, maybe Wells could replace him. Varcoe has been tried as a forward and hasn't produced, maybe Wells might hit the scoreboard and we have paid him a lot of money for not very much to date.

[Podpicken]

I get the feeling Wells will come in this week. I reckon a week we rest a couple and have a 5er.
In: Cox, Beams, Wells, Varcoe and Quaynor.
Out: Reid, Mayne, Thomas, Wills and Greenwood.

[SwansWay]

I still think with 4-5 disposals that Travis Varcoe provides a certain presence that we don't get elsewhere. The way he charges in and hunts the opposition. I'm certain he scares anybody with the football who is within earshot.

[PyreneesPie]

[piedys]

[Pies2016]

This mob have struggled to kick more than 70 odd points all season ( vs Dees the only exception )
Surely it can’t / shouldn’t be as close as the Blues game. Surely ?

[RudeBoy]

Don't call me Shirley.

[AN_Inkling]

[E]

If Cox is ready, i'd send Reid back to the magoos. He was putrid on the weekend and looked like the player i thought he would be. He provides a target and a chop out from Grundy, but not much else. Cox is way ahead of him. And he is not like for like with Mihocek.

[pietillidie]

I wonder if Reidy might be given more time to re-establish himself, having come this far. I'm not sure it benefits either himself or the team to drop him back too soon. He was always likely to hit a tough week or two.

That might mean Coxy being an emergency, or if we're feeling cheeky Grundy having the flu.

I would love to see Sier rushed in at senior level given Pendles has shouldered so much of the in-close stuff. The sooner the better with Adams out, you'd think.

A bit more class off half back wouldn't go astray, so in that regard the sooner the better for Quaynor, too. Do you regular seconds watchers think he can make the jump in the near term?

[E]

[LaurieHolden]

Out : naming players before looking at opposition match-ups or our injury list / training reports.
In : informed decisions on match-ups, form. Tackling.

[Pies4shaw]

Those calling for Varcoe’s return because “his output isn’t measured by stats” should consider that he was dropped after having a series of games where his output, to the extent that it could be “measured by stats” was almost non-existent. Assuming (as I do) that the Coach can “notice the little things that don’t get caught on the stats sheet” about as well as we do (some might say “better”), it seems that he and his assistants have made the call that no amount of “pressure acts” can compensate for Trav not actually touching the footy and having a kick, say, once a quarter, at minimum.

I’d like Varcoe back because he does have skill, class and pace but the Club obviously wants him to work on something because we were several players short of a functioning midfield last week and he still wasn’t in their plans. In the VFL game thread, Barrackers posted a short summary of each player’s game. His comment on Trav was that “his pressure and tackling was good”. Since that was true of his AFL games before he was dropped, the Coach is probably looking for something more. I think he can make the side better, still - but, barring injuries, he probably won’t get a call up until he starts doing whatever it is the Coach wants him to do. My wild guess is that in a team that plans to dispose of the ball about 20 times per player, every game, that involves getting the Sherrin in his hands more frequently.

[masoncox]