Team v Suns. Long and Kent for Savage and Parker

[kosifantutti]

Parker has been listed as an emergency alongside Ed Phillips, Ryan Abbott and Ryan Byrnes.

[The_Dud]

Fair enough. I’m sure we’ll see them both again before the end of the year.

[Ghost Like]

Abbott is the interesting one. Two rucks needed against Witts, especially one who can break even either in the taps or around the ground. I'd rather Ryder to be 100% against the Cats & Essendon.

[stkfc1]

Abbott wouldn't be named if there was any doubt on Ryder.... watch this space.

[bigcarl]

That sounds about right

[Peanut Farm]

Savage very unlucky in my opinion. Could easily have kicked 2 goals instead of 2 behinds and he had 14 disposals. Long has had some very average games this year, played a beauty against the Tigers but his dream team pts have been poor ( I know not a good comparison but something to look at none the less)

[Devilhead]

Yes we should be picking players based on Dream Team points

[Moods]

Savage very unlucky in my opinion. Could easily have kicked 2 goals instead of 2 behinds and he had 14 disposals. Long has had some very average games this year, played a beauty against the Tigers but his dream team pts have been poor ( I know not a good comparison but something to look at none the less)

Absolutely. I feel that the love Long gets on here is a little over the top. He’s prone to some horrendous errors. . I was happy for him to earn his spot back after an act of ill discipline. Savage played well enough to keep his spot imo

[Devilhead]

Long over Savage everyday of the week as he is the future

[asiu]

get a game into Longy before the Cats ‘n the Injectors
... seems fair

#5 played ok ... he’ll be back
... looked like he’d bulked a little
(seeing him at the game)

thought Parker might get 1 more
but Kent in is good

[Toy Saint]

Was expecting more changes with the short breaks. Perhaps the club is keen to bank the 4 points against the Suns, and take pot luck against Geelong and Essendon.

Also thought that Savage was a bit unlucky, if we agree that Parker should be dropped it's understandable to replace him with Kent as a goalkicking option. Parker also brought some mongrel, and Long offers similar.

[shanegrambeau]

Would Long have been a reasonable forward instead of Kent?...and keep Savage, or an alternate?

Sense a vulnerability now. Probably, just because this may be seen as a litmus test for Gold Coast, have slipped. They might just come out and go bang! I hope we have a 'Game B' plan

PS I have not seen much footy yet, so I guess I just have to accept that Ratto likes and rates Kent.

Time for Mr. Members to have a good one!

[Ghost Like]

Would Long have been a reasonable forward instead of Kent?...and keep Savage, or an alternate?

Sense a vulnerability now. Probably, just because this may be seen as a litmus test for Gold Coast, have slipped. They might just come out and go bang! I hope we have a 'Game B' plan

PS I have not seen much footy yet, so I guess I just have to accept that Ratto likes and rates Kent.

Time for Mr. Members to have a good one!

Kent has done well this year, he was beginning to look like the player promised not just the player who enjoyed playing against his old team mates.

Parker could have kept his spot, Lonie could have come back in but Ratts is obviously putting pressure on the players that perhaps have lacked consistency.

I certainly hope so & well overdue.

[Peanut Farm]

Yes we should be picking players based on Dream Team points

Have a look at Long's stats - I did say he played well in one game. He has yet to hit the scoreboard & Savage could have had a couple last week. Just sayin Savage was terribly unlucky & didnt deserve to be dropped but if it's team balance & getting Long back in for match fitness then maybe ok. Don't understand some of the Savage knockers over Long. Take a look at Savage's year in 2019
27disposals against HAW, 27 v Mel, 30 v Adel, 19 v GWS, 25 v WCE, 25 v Coll, 20 v Car, 27 v Gee, 23 v Dogs.

In every game Long & Savage played together last year, Savage was easily the better player bar 1 game.
Savage played every fame last year and led the rebound 50's & effective kicks & was top10 in the Trevor Barker award.
Very very stiff to not be playing - he is well in front of Long in my opinion.

[saintsRrising]

Would Long have been a reasonable forward instead of Kent?.

Long has looked liked he belongs at AFL level since he moved down back. So I would leave him there. Or I would at least leave him there until he is well and truly established.

However I think defence suits him more as it makes him more focused.

[spert]

Need to get games into players like Long, as he is younger than Sav and has room for improvement- Sav is what you see now, but will be handy if we get into finals and need to cover injuries.

[ace]

Savage very unlucky in my opinion. Could easily have kicked 2 goals instead of 2 behinds and he had 14 disposals. Long has had some very average games this year, played a beauty against the Tigers but his dream team pts have been poor ( I know not a good comparison but something to look at none the less)

Absolutely. I feel that the love Long gets on here is a little over the top. He’s prone to some horrendous errors. . I was happy for him to earn his spot back after an act of ill discipline. Savage played well enough to keep his spot imo

Must be racism.
An Australian indigenous picked ahead of a Kiwi indigenous.
I will write to Ardern suggesting she take this matter up with ScoMo.

Pity we don't have room for both but such is the competition for places in the team.
Both deserve to play.

[To the top]

Interesting that no Ross given it was a last minute decision to withdraw him last week

The changes were as expected - Long is highly regarded and the Coach made reference to Kent missing a week as a precaution including “save him for next week”

Hind has taken Lonie’s spot - so it is Hind’s to lose from here (were each of his goals off the left v Sydney?)

Marshall had taping on his calf last week and Ryder had a hand bandaged (and it will be Ryder’s 250th)

So Abbott may be in reserve for Marshall ahead of Geelong and Essendon which are both very winnable games in my view

Will be good to see Membrey on the scorecard

[johnearljames]

Good calls. Both selections.

[freely]

Long over Savage everyday of the week as he is the future

I like Long but that reason loses potency while we're sitting in the 8. We should be thinking about the present.

[Jacks Back]

Long over Savage everyday of the week as he is the future

I like Long but that reason loses potency while we're sitting in the 8. We should be thinking about the present.

If you think about it, we've beaten our three biggest hoodoo sides without Long in the side.

[Teflon]

Good changes Long offers some hardness
I’m just not seeing what Parker brings tbh
Savage “coulda” kicked 2 last week.....didn’t...think we know what we get there....good player when a side is going well..probably not going to do that 1% er when you need to affect a game.....Long has that ability and us the future
I’m actually impressed by selection......sure beats that dribble Alan used to serve up....

[skeptic]

Put it another way...
Savage had the opportunity last week to essentially cement his spot and make dropping him look like it would have been a really bad decision. He could have kicked 2, and not done his often bomb it to no one kicks.

Fact is... as has been the case for years, he played a reasonable game with the type of errors we’ve come to expect.

One of the biggest scale tippers in the Long vs Savage debate is the notion of potential. At this point there is a lot of hope that Long can continue improving to provide a much higher level of performance.
There is zero hope that Shane eliminates the waywardness from his game

[shanegrambeau]

........ At this point there is a lot of hope that Long can continue improving to..............
........There is zero hope that Shane eliminates the waywardness from his game

Gold Coast won't have to worry about his potential. It opens a week spot in our defence for them to exploit.
All of a sudden I am less confident about beating them than I was about some of the other fancies we beat.

They also finished off the Swans and the Swans missed four times in that third quarter last week where they nearly closed our lead.

But yes, seems Savage - at least he gets good possession - might be stuck in his default setting, 'Kick it long son'

[vacuous space]

Have a look at Long's stats...

Long's stats
Savage's stats

Long leads the team in intercept possessions per game and leads all our defenders in contested possessions per game. Of our defenders, only Clark has won more footy at ground level per game than Long. And, despite having an absurdly high contested possession rate for a defender, Long is hitting targets at an above average rate. In short, he's intercepting more than Savage does and turning it over less.

I also don't think Savage did much in the Sydney game to escape his mad bomber reputation. He had 14 possessions that gained an average of 34.5 metres. An average of 20 is a lot. Of his 13 kicks, 7 were deemed effective, and the bar for an effective long kick is lower than the bar for a short disposal. Savage had 6 turnovers. So while he was clearing the defence under pressure, it was often going straight to a loose Sydney player. I don't think Savage showed enough poise under pressure to consider starting him over Long.