WEST v Sturt

Thoughts for this week.

Would like to see Nelson come in but I don't think they will.
Sturt have some good talls and I think we will need Milne down back.      

Caire or Francis??

Both will be available I understand. Aaron Francis was BOG in both AIS Academy games he played in against strong bodied men in the VFL in the past couple of weeks & he is back this week.

He is an absolute talent & we believe his stocks have risen in the eyes of many AFL talent scouts. This obviously means that we will probably only have him this year so we need to make the most of his availability.

I also believe that his college (Prince Alfred) has agreed that if he is selected in our League team he is free to play. Certainly a different attitude to some other private schools who think it is better for their development to play college football ahead of SANFL.

Pretty selfish I think when AFL football is a now a lucrative career pathway for highly talented young footballers these days.

Go the boy from Loxton!! Help the Bloods to the finals young man.

Francis looks like an absolute gun.

Caire has only played one ressies trial and therefore he would
need to come back through the reserves.

Francis is a definite in for me and I would play him up forward to start with.
Therefore it means either Milne or Hill to miss out And either one would be
unlucky.

I have stated we have been one tall short in both our wins and I think Milne
gets the nod on team balance.

Hill would be very unlucky as I have said as he can play midfield,wing and halfback.
He was moved to halfback after half time against the crows which allowed Helbig to move into the midfield.
if they wanted to move Helbig into the midfield after half time against Sturt
We can cover that by moving Wasley -Black to half back and Francis or Milne to the back pocket

My team against Sturt would be

FF Francis Webb Porplyica
HF Green Beech Fielke
C Silverlock Schmidt Haysman
HB Helbig Hartlett Ezard
FB Agostino Keough Wasley-Black

1stR Willits Tuck Snelling
2ndR Webb Stevens Schiller

Int Milne Stevens Schiller

In Francis
Out Hill

Bloods 40pts

Mypaspective wrote:Both will be available I understand. Aaron Francis was BOG in both AIS Academy games he played in against strong bodied men in the VFL in the past couple of weeks & he is back this week.

He is an absolute talent & we believe his stocks have risen in the eyes of many AFL talent scouts. This obviously means that we will probably only have him this year so we need to make the most of his availability.

I also believe that his college (Prince Alfred) has agreed that if he is selected in our League team he is free to play. Certainly a different attitude to some other private schools who think it is better for their development to play college football ahead of SANFL.

Pretty selfish I think when AFL football is a now a lucrative career pathway for highly talented young footballers these days.

Go the boy from Loxton!! Help the Bloods to the finals young man.

A little over the top I would think. While he obviously has talent we have alot of talented kids at present. Spoke to his mum the other night and she was very nice and level headed.

Yes we do have other very talented players but none of his stature. He is an ideal size that AFL Clubs continually look for.

That was all I was trying to say ST.

Agree.
Talented big blokes , particularly at his young age, don't grow on trees.

I'd have Francis in for Haysman. Hill is just a little more versatile than Haysman. He would be extremely unlucky though. Snelling to tag Kirkwood.

Really liked Hill's game Friday night, was one of the few clean players with the ball all night I thought.
Who do you drop?
We do need another big body up forward.
Great thing about Milne and Francis playing is they are interchangeable.
Sturt has Beard and Coad and if one gets off the leash we will have quite a bit of flexibility in the team.

Mypaspective wrote:Yes we do have other very talented players but none of his stature. He is an ideal size that AFL Clubs continually look for.

That was all I was trying to say ST.

Have to agree, from what I have seen of the lad he is ready to be given that chance of league footy and wiil succeed IMO and I hope he does.

I can't ever remember the WAFC having so many youngsters forging there way into our league side and being worthy of it. Exciting times ahead lets hope.

Unfortunately for us, good for them, we need to plan to not have some of them nrxt year.

Hope we win the flag this year because we are stuffed next year with all of our talent going.

As I said, we are already planning for the possibility of losing some of our youngsters.

We can't accept anything other than continued success from now on.

I would hate to be playing reserves and be reading this. While the three young kids have been great, we already have another one not happy and now I would think that others in the reserves will not be happy. Lining up on Beard or Coad will be a big step up in competition and we seem to be putting the kid in because some school will allow us to do it.
Having said all that goodluck to him, I hope he smashes it.  

It's up to anyone in the Reserves to demand to be picked, on form.

If not, no point complaining.

That never changes in any good football club.

West Adelaide could unveil exciting key forward Aaron Francis against Sturt at Peter Motley Oval on Sunday.
A member of the AFL Academy, Francis is a highly-rated prospect from Loxton North who measures in at 190cm and 86kg.
‘’He’s a fantastic mark,’’ West football manager Andrew Marks said of Francis.
‘’Marking is his real strength and having a league pre-season last summer has allowed his aerobic capacity to improve so he can take the game on.’’
Experienced defender Daniel Caire also comes into the Bloods’ 23-man squad after being squeezed out for last Friday night’s win against Adelaide.
Caire has suffered from an indifferent build up, shrugging off a minor calf ailment while also being suspended in Round 1.

League
F: Beech, Milne, Silverlock
HF: Fielke, Webb, Porplyzia
C: Schiller, Stevens, Haysman
HB: Hill, Hartlett, Wasley-Black
B: Agostino, Keough, Green

R: Willits, Tuck, Snelling
INT: Helbig, Schmidt, Ezard, Francis, Caire
IN: Francis, Caire

Reserves
Solly, Caire, Wong, Newell, Head, Anderson, Hopton, Klemke, Watchman, Homburg, Nelson, Jennings, Vick, Schott, Favretto, Dijksman, Francis, Johnson, Cua, Middleton, Dodds-Watson, Hampton, Westhoff.

Under-18
Ferraro, Cornish, L. Evans, Stevens, Dodds-Watson, Bonner, Johnson, Trussell, Nisbett, Karpany, Brind, Stidiford, Hayball, Smithson, Thunig, O’Driscoll, Beard, Noonan, Pillion, Munn, Hampton, Coates, Wagner, Noble, Steed.

Caire and Francis named in the 2s as well so will be unchanged unless of last minute injury

Second Team wrote:Thoughts for this week.

Would like to see Nelson come in but I don't think they will.
Sturt have some good talls and I think we will need Milne down back.      

YOU HAVE LOST YOU MARBLES! you don't change a winning combo. leave the team how it is
Nelson is not "yet" a better ruckman than Willits or Webby and does not offer us anything up forward when resting out of ruck.

No radio coverage this weekend only on the web @ www.lifefm.net

Whos jason get to the game people show ur support. Up the blood and tars

At least a reality check for the players, staff and supporters alike.

I wasn't at the round 1 win over the Eagles, but i was skeptical when i heard people lauding the fitness coach after a round 1 win. So what does today say about our fitness with a last quarter like that today? As far as i saw it - there was only one team running in the last quarter - Sturt.

The reality is we are yet to put in a 4 quarter effort this year - again no change from previous years.

Once again we have proven how easily we can be scored against and exposed when other teams get a run on - again nothing has changed.

Again in the last quarter rather than playing tough, hard, accountable football, we folded and were over ran.

Don't know who the player was who gave Sturt a free kick at goal in the last quarter to seal the match (lucky the Sturt player missed) but it was an undisciplined act which deserves to be punished. I think he'll be having a holiday for the next couple of weeks. Again these acts cost us last year and in previous years....why is it still happening?

In my opinion there's only about 5 players that consistently show up to play for us every week - Schmidt, Green, Beech, Silverlock......And Porplyzia in this season.

Green is probably on half the money as some of our "star recruits" are, yet has been far more consistent than any of our "star recruits" over the last years.

Kudos to Keough who gave his best in a backline where he didn't have much support.

Thankfully i'm working the next few weekends.....

Think that's a bit harsh DL..
I think Sturt are a pretty good side, and won't lose too many on their home deck.
The test will be how we respond on our deck next week.
Not sure about the selection of Francis at full back.
Milne must be scratching his head.........