West V Glenelg

Hosie is out for them which helps a fair bit, and if Snook doesn't come up that would be a big boost.
We could potentially have 4 inclusions - McCormick, Ellem, Squire and Meline. That would make selection interesting. The odds are that Hansen and Morgan would drop back for a start, though I'd rather keep Hansen up in place of one of our other underperforming small forwards.
I think we need to end the experiment of Joel Stevens as a forward and give him more time on ball, and hope he finds some form.
Big game for Minchella if he gets the job on McBean.

We play a style that makes it hard for sides o score against us, although they get a lot of inside 50s. We get far fewer and rely on counter-attack to score, which makes our conversion rate important.

Good to see us finding some potential long-term players this year and let's hope we can back them up with a couple of high-end recruits next year. Big credit to Harts for the job he's doing.

Team:

https://westadelaidefc.com.au/news/league-and-reserves-team-selection-round-6/

Half Time.
Absolute Rubbish. One goal in a half of footy on a perfect day.
3 goals last week at 3 qtr time.
Not worth watching.

If ever we were to beat Glenelg it was to be today. They were in poor form, lacking Snook and Hosie and lost 2 players to injury early in the game. But through a combination of spectacularly poor decision making, poor kicking and just dumb footy we let the opportunity slip. We got to within 6 points late and could have won but could not handle the Bays pressure and more skilful footy. They played us close and tough and forced us into error.
Our default game plan is to kick short. Got a 5 goal breeze behind you, kick short. See a closely checked teammate, kick short to him. In the backline, kick short. Across goal, kick short. Going forwards, kick backwards and short. Plan B was to give the ball directly to the opposition, by hand or foot, either way hand them the ball.
Maguire played in the 2s where he should be joined next week by Laudato and Redfern.
Searle our best against his old team. Ryan battled hard all day and his 3 third term goals were beauties – and showed the benefit of kicking long with the breeze. He got us back in the contest. Frost solid in defence. Our rucks were again well beaten. We have a bloke in the ressies averaging 40 HOs a game. Perhaps worth a try.
In the last 2 games we have been unable to kick for than 6 goals each week. We have no forwards who can take a grab. Delahunty got 2 kicks all day and ended up in the backline. Mincella didn’t take one mark in the backline all day. Pathetic for such a tall player. Rundle should take his place. Patton took 5 marks and played well. Too many passengers.

The game plan is all about defence.
That may be due to our lack of talent.
We play slow boring football for the most part.
2 of our better players, Patton and Kobe Ryan will be drafted on May 29th,
Another year at the bottom of the ladder.

It was a very frustrating game and one we really had a big chance of winning… if we were good enough.
We weren’t unfortunately and it was a poor performance overall. Our bigs were pretty much useless and Glenelg had theirs dominating forward and back.
Too many errors and poor decisions like 3-4 west players v 1-2 and all would go up and none down leaving tigers to run past with ease, kicks to no one, missed handballs from a metre away etc. Agree on Laudato- offers little and has all season.

Overall it’s better going to games knowing we will be in them, the lack experience and quality does show though.

I agree the game is about defence due to the lack of quality players.
We get our goals from counter attacks. Our forward line is a major concern.
Our smalls in Redfern and Laudato don’t do enough.
How Delahunty got best player last week is beyond me.
I’ve watched him very closely this year, he needs a ROCKET from the Coach.
1. He doesn’t work hard enough.
2. He plays from behind all the time.
3. He doesn’t lead up at the kicker.
4. He wants to get cheap goals out the back.

We lack quality talls all over the ground.

Frost was our best player followed by Ryan and Searle.
I also thought Dylan White was very good across half back.

Again the gap in respective skill levels was evident yesterday. We hardly moved the ball from defence to attack in one passage all day. Glenelg did multiple times. We couldn't find any space, the Bays often had players with several metres on their opponents. So many turnovers by hand and foot, and poor decisions. Our endeavour can't be faulted but the brutal truth is that our coach is putting lipstick on a pig. There were so many non contributors yesterday that you could justifiably drop half a dozen players for the next game, if you had the depth. Maybe we'll be able to if we get back Ryan, Park, Gore and Morrish and bring Ellem in.
God help us if we lose Kobe Ryan for whatever reason. We could possibly have only kicked 3 goals yesterday without him. Patton was good again but I don't think his kicking is good enough to see him drafted.
Frost, Ryan, Searle, Johnson, Dylan White and Corbett would be my pick of our best.

For the 2nd week in a row we lost all 4 men's grades, this week with a combined total of 24 goals between them (after amassing 18 last week). There is a serious inability to score at our club. Hopefully that is being looked at by our Football Director and the footy department. Some returning players and a win against North would give us all a big filip.

I’ve heard from a pretty good source that AFL clubs are right in to Will Patton.
Kobe Ryan has less interest but I still think a club will take a chance.
There are lots of spots available give the high amount of season ending injuries this year.

Aldo's summsry is bang on.  A further worry is that coaches will note Kobe Ryan being tagged (often illegally) by Mancini and I expect more of this.

Apart from the South game, we kick few goals and rely on clogging up the game.  This isn't a criticism, it's Harts best chance of a win.

Our juniors are barely competitive also and we're not playing a style fans want to watch.

The only positive is we're blooding some good players, but we desperately need some top recruits.

That's difficult.

The current board must support the Coach more.
He’s had both hands tied behind his back since he took over the job.
The club MUST RECRUIT 4 quality players next year.
ITS A NON NEGOTIATIABLE.
As posters have said he’s playing a defence minded game plan due to the lack of quality players had his disposal.

Harts' Match Report is up and as always is good reading.

I was particularly pleased with this paragraph, which sums us up.

To our players credit, they never give up. They are trying. They care. They are working hard. They are always taking on feedback and wanting to become better and this will hold us in good stead moving forward



It's all you can ask for when the recruiting, injuries and talent pool haven't helped.

When the coach says "We can take a lot out of how Glenelg moved the ball offensively, trusting their forwards to win 1v1 contests and looking to corridor first.", there's an obvious reason for that: their forwards do win 1v1 contests, ours don't.