Round 7 - Eagles v Dockers - Sunday May 4th - Pattersons Stadium

[Bully]

What a shocking week I've had, capped off by pathetic scores by Pav & Cox.

[LF]

Stop playing 3 rucks Lycett was an absolute waste of a player today
Send Gaff off to East Perth for a couple of weeks should have been dropped before Welli
When Fyfe dragged Scooter forward a change should have been made there as there was no way ever Scooter was going to be able to compete with Fyfe in a 1 on 1 marking contest
Schofield is not sub material
Hurn great first game back a few stuff ups tho but put it down to just being a little rusty
Rosa great again
Thats it for now

[RaisyDaisy]

I agree LF

Gaff needs to bring much more to the table than just running around, carrying the ball and kicking it to contests

Our forward line is a mess and we desperately need The Frenchman back to balance things up there

Shep has done really well which is encouraging, but I am starting to get concerned that we don't have a best 22, and the 20-22 players get rotated each week, and none of them contribute enough. Yes I know they are all young and new to the game, but we really need an A grade midfielder

[LF]

Sheppard has been really good this year for someone that could barely make the team last year despite all the injuries we had.

[Ricochet]

Solid win lads, but still feel we're a long way off our best.

Ballas is so important to our fwd structure and Barlow back certainly helps.

Huge game next week!

[elephants]

NicNat needs to be dropped to the wafl. He's playing with no confidence and this is doing nothing for anyone. All its doing is giving him less power in contract negotiations to demand more cash. On-field its really hurting us though. Honestly, I would rather see us roll with a Cox/Sinclair combo and have Lycett and Nic Nat plying their trade in the wafl for now.

Gaff also needs a spell in the ressies. He's looking tired and really just needs to get a few 30+ possession games together. Wellingham racked up 35 touches in the wafl over the weekend and his form was worse than Gaffy's. Really, Gaff could pickup 40-odd touches and get some efficiency back to try set-up his season.

The defence has been great actually. Glass and E-Mack have been solid, Hurn back yesterday was great to see, thought Brown has been pretty impressive recently, particularly his spoiling. The two for me though are Bennell and Sheppo. Bennell has come out of nowhere really and kept some really good small forwards quiet. Ballantyne had a pretty awesome game last night but all season Bennell has been a consistent and reliable small defender. Something we did desperately lack. Shepp on the other hand looks set to breakout and prove he was worth pick 7. He talked during the week about how simple Simmo kept it with him and said to him on day 1 of pre-season "you're a half-back, you will play half-back for us." He hasn't looked back and has been pretty great.

Our midfield simply lacks stars. Priddis is a massive worker and very consistent but lacks polish. Really Matty Rosa has been our only shining light through the guts this season and he's managed to time that interestingly well with a contract extension looming :P

Forward line is a shambles. The three-ruck strat has seriously effected JJK's output and all this talk of Darling through the midfield has been a little bit ridiculous.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Last season the only thing that wasn't broke was our fwd line.

If you're one of the TL;DR douchebags...

1) backline is great
2) midfield lacks a star
3) fwd line is a shambles
4) don't be afraid to drop Gaff/NicNat/any other under-performers back to East Perth, thats what they're there for.

I also could not agree more on Simmo not knowing our best 22. I dream for a week where teams are announced and instead of IN: Colledge, Hill, Wellingham, etc OUT: Tunbridge, Sheed, Schofield, etc it just says NO CHANGE.

Rant, over. Its gonna be a long season if shower isn't sussed over the bye.

[Jesty]

Freo really need another small forward in the mix. With Walters out and Bella in and out we need a third. Simpson doesnt have his head in the right spot. Who else is on the rookie list.
Would of won the week before if we had a good small forward.