West vs South Round 6

South Adelaide v West Adelaide | Flinders University Stadium | 1:10pm
Live broadcast on 1629 SEN SA or the SEN APP
Live stream via Digital Pass com.au
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SOUTH
South coach Jarrad Wright has rewarded the outstanding form of one of his forwards ahead of the match against West on Saturday.
Former Northern Territory goalsneak Kyle Emery has been recalled to the line up after kicking seven of the Panthers’ 11 goals in the Reserves last round.
Emery has been joined in the 23-man squad by midfielder Ben Heaslip and defender Jaidan Kappler, who have both been elevated from the Reserves.
RAA Rookie Brett Kennedy has been relegated after making his debut against Sturt in Round 5.
League
F: Noble, Overall, Emery
HF: Heaslip, Whittlesea, Karpany
C: Irra, Cross, Haren
HB: Haines, Cailotto, Brown
B: Rose, Crabb, Summerton

R: Knoll, Davis, Liddle
INT: Fitt, Kappler, Sampson, McKinnon, Hoey
IN: Heaslip, Kappler, Emery
OUT: Kennedy

Reserves
Badger, Baker, Beeche, Beenham, Coleman, Colwell, Elmes, Fairlie, Grimley, Juckers, Kennedy, Loneragan, Lovering, Manuel, McGree, Mills, Milsom, Snelling, Tucker, Whitbread.
Under-18
F: Riddle, Freitag, Horne
HF: Oliver, Reed, Nye
C: Spicer, Clifton, McCreery
HB: Spacie, Sladojevic, Douglass
B: Austin, Hindes, Jones
R: Williams, Sampson, Kraemer
INT: Hamilton, Pettiford, Fitzgerald, Flett, Barter, Ryan, Draper, Sweetman, Kernahan

WEST
West Adelaide has lost some pace for its contest against South on Saturday.
Speedy wingman Murray Waite (hamstring) and elusive forward Gibson Turner (knee) will both miss up to a fortnight with injury.
Thier absence has been offset by the recall of Ken Karpany and Nathan Batley while Lachlan Evans and Hugh Haysman have also been added to the 23-man squad.
Karpany and Batley have been named in the starting 18 while the latter pair must survive the cut on the five-man extended interchange bench.
League
F: B. Turner, Beech, Wasley-Black
HF: Noble, Middleton, Karpany
C: Johnson, Snelling, Batley
HB: Fairlie, Keough, Willsmore
B: Hill, Ryan, Dunkin

R: Parrella, Schmidt, K. Stevens
INT: Anderson, Laube, H. Haysman, L. Evans, J. Evans
IN: Batley, Karpany, L. Evans, H. Haysman
OUT: Waite (hamstring), G. Turner (knee)
Reserves
Hupfeld, Cleeland, Pilli0n, R. Stevens, Bates, Inglis, Kirk, Gallaway, Lynch, Heitmann, Majok, Caruso, Noonan, Osborn, Morrish, Gutsche, Rana, May, Moore, J. Bentley, G. Haysman.
Under-18
Jolly, Ebert, O’Connor-Dawkins, Brauer, J. Westley, Iuliano, Stakic, Bailye, Fielke, Rundle, Heitmann, Wooldridge, Morelli, Van den Berg, Nunan, Chamberlain, Nield, Gilbert, Sareen, Henty-Smith, Groom, Pederick, Sinderberry, Anderson, Talbot, Boughen.

INT: Anderson, Laube, H. Haysman, L. Evans, J. Evans

So which two drop out?
Not Laube you wouldn't think after one game, especially since they dropped him after one (his debut) game last year.
Probably Haysman given his lack of match fitness and our problem finishing off games. And Anderson has been poor in his two games and would be the most likely of the others to drop out.

As I've said before, Laube looks like a good wingman to me. I don't think he's ready yet to be a third tall defender one on one in a marking contest, but he's got a lot of talent and will play 100 games for us, IMO. He has some pace, good skills and 'freeing him up' on a wing would see him become an attacking weapon.

Good to see Batley in, but losing Waite and Gibson takes out pace and excitement, which is a blow.

We generally play well at Noarlunga, so I'm hoping for a good win.

I'll cross my fingers about a strong last quarter.

Season on the line tomorrow.

Same old story.
Start well and capitulate again.
Season is done after 6 games.
We have been rubbish for the 4th straight year.

I can't see who we will beat
To me it's just the same s***
Different year

It’s time to start playing some guys who are performing in the 2s.
Bentley, Morrish, Kirk and Hupfield for starters.
Some of our team selections are baffling.

We may have 4 out from our best league side, however so does every club. We simply don’t play 4 quarters of SANFL League footy.

I do agree with ‘Wolf Pack’ we need to play a couple of players from the Ressies. Bentley who may not be a league player has been consistent in the 2’s so he deserves a game ahead of L.Evans.
Morrish is young and lightly framed, however he kicks goals so he should be given an opportunity.

Recruiting for next year NEEDS to start now, we want quality not quantity. Surely we will have a full salary cap.

Snelling BOG by the lengthy of the Flemington straight. Stevens and Beech next.

We were competitive for the first 3 Qs. Scores at 3Q time were locked away at 9.7 apiece. At the huddle the coach appealed for some creativity but we were overrun, 6 goals to one in the last by a fitter, faster and stronger South Adelaide. Is it fitness? Attitude? Whatever, the coach needs to quickly find a solutions to our pathetic last Q fade outs.
Beech, Noble, Stevens and Snelling our main contributors. The same names every week.
All well and good to call for players to come up from the Ressies but who do you drop? Some hard calls need to be made. Who’d be a selector?
Middleton has struggled all year. Haysman had a good 3rd Q but rarely sighted for the remainder. Maybe needs time to adjust to the pace of senior footy again. Karpany and B Turner are hanging on by their fingernails. Josh Ryan let his opponent in for crucial goals in the last Q.
South are a good team of, mainly average players (plus Liddle and Cross), coached by a bloke who no-one knows but they totally outclassed us in the last Q.
After the break we have Sturt, Norwood and Adelaide. By round 9 we are looking to be 1 and 8.
Fremantle GM Peter Bell was at the game. Checking possibilities for mid season draft? Snelling?

It's lucky we start games well because if we didn't we'd lose by 20 goals.
It's infuriating to discover that, yet again, we are a bottom side. Off season is nearly longer than the season proper now and yet we still don't seem to be able to get fit enough.

Some poor skills, some very poor decisions and a few soft efforts today. (Though not from Isaac Johnson who put his body on the line very bravely.) But if we keep picking the same players who keep producing the same sub-standard performances, how can we expect any different? Try out some players who MIGHT become League players at the expense of those we know aren't and won't be.

Snelling was very good again, Beech was our great white hope up forward, Stevens was good but again his disposal is a big issue, Noble was good aside from a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes and Fairlie did some nice work in close. Fairlie I think is one of our best decision makers when he has ball in hand.

We look very small in defence. I think we should try Middleton as a key defender, to give us some size and marking power back there, and let Keough stay up forward where he is more value to us. In attack Middleton is too easily taken out of the game, and is giving us little at the moment. And maybe try a Pillion or Hupfeld as a third tall marking option up forward.

Yet another weekend ruined.

We have too many players that just don’t do enough.
Middleton
Wasley-Black
Bately
Willsmore
Lachlan Evans
These guys have been poor and should be dropped.
Haysman should have played in the 2s. That was a really poor selection.
He kicked a goal and did nothing else.
Hupfield has kicked 15 goals in the 2s but can’t get a look in.

This is a low time for the club. I think we all started worrying when Murray Waite and Gibson Turner were outs after selection. One of them out was bad enough, but to have our two most exciting players out was worrying.

A brilliant start, almost a given lately, was quickly overturned with South's first goal from a simple handling error and that pattern continued at vital stages of the game. Our midfielders racked up possessions and Will Snelling's first quarter was brilliant, with 14 possessions. Kaine Stevens was also hard at it and prolific, but his disposal lets him down at times. We led for the first half, but the last quarter bogey was in the back of our minds, I'd say.

So, level at 3/4 time, with Jono Beech battling manfully and effectively against the odds. Maso Middleton, after a bright start, wasn't a factor, often double and triple teamed. His ruckwork was quite good, I thought, but he wasn't a factor in attack. Isaac Johnson looks a good player, John Noble was effective and kept trying to give us something, even if it led to errors, but I'll wear that.

The last quarter can't be ignored. You don't have to have 21 unfit players to look unfit. If you've got 3. 4, 5 or 6, the workload falling on the others will tell in the end and that's what I think is happening. We lack height and are missing Agostino and Levicki amongst others.

Our style of footy when we're up and running is good, but it changes to slow and stodgy later.

I felt sorry for Tom Keough, being used to plug gaps during a game.

It's a good time for a 2 week break.

The Reserves won comfortably. A bright spot was that Tom Morrish played on ball, kicked 3 and looked good. He probably needs more time to fit in tothe different level, but looks a handy player, with a very good kick. Tom Pillion took some nice grabs, but needs to be impose himself on the game a bit more. Good to see Keelan Laube play on a wing, where he was serviceable.

Dark days and I'll be away for the next game, but watching on streaming from Tbilisi, Georgia.

A further thing to be taken into account when analysing the fitness issue is that South had several days less rest since their last game than us and were 2 players down before half-time. We lost Schmidt after that (?), but South were vulnerable and ran the game out strongly.

Very good and fair write up of the game by Gavin on the club website.

Lee Harradine wrote:Very good and fair write up of the game by Gavin on the club website.

Yes, I agree Lee. A pre season, three trial matches and six rounds in should mean that we can run out games strongly.
Gavin wrote
Fitness level or game plans do not ultimately dictate your willingness to run out a game of football. This is very much a mindset of which each individual is accountable for. Currently, I have questions regarding some individual’s ability to push themselves to the limit of their physical capabilities. I will continue to work with the players with regards to this. I know they can and will improve.
Gavin underlined the word 'willingness'. What more needs to be said. It was clear to me that South wanted the win more than we did. Two rotations down and a few days less to prepare, South finished full of running. Imagine how much worse we'd be if those players who do put in more than their fair share were unavailable.
I have been critical of the game plan, but the fact is we have been close enough at the business end of games to win them.
I agree with other posters who have written since the South game.
We need a full salary cap and need to be identifying possible recruits now.
Keough needs to play forward and stay there - forget about filling gaps
A poster suggested Middleton be moved into defence. I agree 100% - he is a great intercept mark and wouldn't be double teamed back there - at the moment we're not getting a lot out of him
Players who aren't contributing need to be dropped no matter who they are - the more games we get into our younger players the better - if they haven't got the goods, let's find out sooner rather than later - after all the season is long gone - even the most optimistic of our supporters surely can't believe we can play finals
After following the club for over 50 years, losing games is not a new experience, but losing the way we lost to South and Centrals is very disappointing, particularly after so much optimism before the season started. The media judged that we had recruited better than most. Thank heavens Will came back to the club. 16 tackles/38 possessions/12 clearances/a goal - talk about leading by example. Will he be with us next year?

Agree about the need for a full salary cap, Bruce. Be assured that we're constantly identifying players to recruit. Until our focus is on football, not just business, we'll continue to handicap our coaches and players.

Lee Harradine wrote:Agree about the need for a full salary cap, Bruce. Be assured that we're constantly identifying players to recruit. Until our focus is on football, not just business, we'll continue to handicap our coaches and players.

At least we're hearing from Gavin, giving an assessment of our on field performances and his view on what needs to change. I'm sure all supporters/members appreciate this. I'm not sure what the board has been doing. It would be nice to see a communication or two on the website keeping us updated about the business side of things.
Given that the competition is not a level playing field anyway, no salary cap for the two AFL reserves teams and another club who can't possibly be under theirs, it is crucial that we don't have a reduced cap again next year. It's not like we have to recruit a whole team. I believe we are only 3-4 players short of having a top three side, we just need to recruit to meet our needs.
Go the Bloods