Rd 1 West v Glenelg

All during pre-season I've been looking forward to this game with some optimism, even wondering if we wouldn't be a sneaky chance to pinch it. Our trial game form now has me thinking we'd do well to get within 6 goals. With forwards like Reynolds, McBean, Hosie and Pink we're going to have to play Keough in defence you'd think, which probably means Ellam coming up.
The selection of who rucks for us will be interesting. I tend to think we need Babic for his size. Really hope we are competitive and can see some signs of improvement and a better game style. Go bloods.

Can’t see us beating the bays on their home deck.
The Bays have too many options up forward and we only have Beechy as our main forward.

Our reserves play their first game under coach and past player Ryan Anderson. Teams are below.

Squad:

C.Allan, E.Allan, Anderson, Babic, Batley, Chamberlain, Elliot, C.Fairlie, P.Fairlie, Fejo, Gordon, J.Johnson, Kirk, Laudato, Levicki, Meline, Morrish, Rundle, Sherlock, Steele, Taverner, Taylor & Wilson

West Adelaide look to debut 8 players for our round 1 clash against Glenelg!

2021 new recruits Josh Gore (Gold Coast Academy), Kieran Lovell (Kingborough Tigers), Mitchell Maguire (Canberra Demons) and Tom Murphy (North Melbourne) will make their league debut for West Adelaide as well as Luke Redfern (Coolamon Rovers) who has been named on the bench.

Joel Stevens will also make his debut for the Bloods after impressing in our three trial games. Joel was runner up for the Reserves Best and Fairest in 2020 and has gone from strength to strength during pre- season.

West Adelaide junior Angus Rana will play his first league game in the ruck. Angus came through our junior program and is originally from Goodwood Saints Football Club.

Our 2020 Reserves Leading Goal Kicker Matt McKenzie will have his first opportunity in the league side this Good Friday. The tall forward showcased his impressive marking and goal kicking skills in 2020 and has had a strong few trial games which has earned him a spot in the league side.

Jono Beech will line up at center half forward after returning to the Bloods after a year away from football. He booted four goals in his second trial game back against Norwood.

Senior Coach Brad Gotch spoke about last weeks trial game saying, “it was not the result we were expecting last week but we still got plenty out of the game with 6 of our 7 leaders not playing.”

“We were able to trial the likes of Redfern, Dunkin, Cleeland and Taylor which was worthwhile.”

“We were also able to try some different structures and strategies to possibly use in the future.“

“Our GPS got a working over too which can only help us from a fitness perspective. I thought the back line battled really hard all game against the tide.”

“This week it is all systems go with Beechy, Hilly and Josh Ryan all back after a freshen up plus we will play 8 other potential debutants that have all earned their spots in the past 3 weeks.”

“I expect a West Adelaide team to turn out this Friday very competitive and team focused to make the Westies supporters proud of their first up effort which hopefully results in a win!”

We wish our players who are making their debut all the best in their first game for the club.

Our players will be wearing black arm bands this Friday in memory of Brian Faehse and Vilmos Milisits.

If you are unable to make the game you can watch on the SANFL Digital Pass

Please note the changes in ticket prices below.

Where can I buy match day tickets?

Match day tickets are now available online here. Tickets can also be purchased at the gate from 12:30pm, and entry is free for all under 18s.

Please note, there has been a minor increase to ticket prices across the SANFL clubs:

ONLINE

Adults $15
Concession $9
U18s FREE
AT THE GATE

Adults $16
Concession $10
U/18s Free

League team is on the website.

Still some missing, inc Kaine Stevens, Levicki & Taverner.  The team looks very inexperienced and lacking height.

OTOH , the future is through our young players and there are plenty of those.

Has everyone received their member's packet yet?

2 days to go and nothing so far.

I have mine Lee.

West Adelaide could have as many as nine debutants as it begins life under new coach Brad Gotch against Glenelg.

Former AFL-listed pair Kieran Lovell (Hawthorn) and Tom Murphy (North Melbourne) are in the 25-man squad which must be trimmed by three before the bounce.

Athletic 20-year-old from Goodwood Saints, Angus Rana (200cm and 85kg) will make his League debut starting in the ruck.

League

F: Gore, Keough, McKenzie

HF: I. Johnson, Beech, Karpany

C: Haysman, J. Stevens, Boyle

HB: Murphy, Sinderberry, May

B: Hill, Ryan, Duval



R: Rana, Lovell, Maguire

INT: Koster, Cleeland, Dunkin, Ellem, Waite, Redfern, Schiller

NEW: Josh Gore (Gold Coast Academy), Kieran Lovell (Kingborough Tigers), Mitchell Maguire (Canberra Demons), Matthew McKenzie (St Albans), Tom Murphy (North Melbourne), Angus Rana (Goodwood Saints), Luke Redfern (Coolamon Rovers), Joel Stevens (Waratahs), Angus Rana (Goodwood Saints)



Reserves
C. Allan, E. Allan, Anderson, Babic, Batley, Chamberlain, Elliot, C. Fairlie, P. Fairlie, Fejo, Gordon, J. Johnson, Kirk, Laudato, Levicki, Meline, Morrish, Rundle, Sherlock, Steele, Taverner, Taylor, Wilson



Under-18
Bunworth, Martin, Pridham, Obst, Burbridge, Ryan, Kennedy, Desira, Higham, McCormick, Eagleton, Baker, Baltagie, Thackeray, Coe, Scully, Watts, Young, Singleton, Byrne, Steene, Satanek, Roberts, Barnett, Lemmey

Please note this was copied from SANFL Website. I know the have Angus Rana twice

Got my membership

Thanks, still waiting, will phone the club.

Got mine last week

I think Keough should play in the back line this week.
The Bays have a really strong forward line.
Looking forward to the game, I hope our boys can put in a good performance!
Go Bloods!

I have my Members pack.

I hope we are competitive tomorrow, we definitely lack height and I agree Keough needs to play back, therefore Ellem must come in.

Our Pre-season form hasn’t been great and having Stevens,Levicki and Tavener not playing league tomorrow doesn’t help.

The Major problem is our forward line, we simply need to find more goal kickers.
The connection moving into our forward has to get better, we don’t get the ball in quick enough.

It’s pleasing to see Rana,J. Stevens,Sinderberry,Gore and Redfern playing. All showed promise in the trial matches.

I really hope  Lovell steps up tomorrow.  

From a selection point of view I think Dunkin is in our best 18 and I would have dropped Sam May.

In form Dunkin is clearly in our best 18. I would have thought Batley might have been a better bet than May too, though there's no doubting May's toughness.
I fear for what will happen to us in ruck. If I was one of our mids, I'd be standing very close to the Glenelg mids at stoppages.

Phoned the office and they kindly explained some, including mine, were going out next week.

Forecast of 33 for the start of this game tomorrow. Another factor is the centre square down the Bay has been prepared for cricket until quite recently and will resemble a large slab of concrete. This will require players to adjust to the high bounce as well as the loss of skin when they hit the deck! Our fitness will be tested in the heat.
Can't see Sinderberry starting at CHB so guess Keough will play back. Ellem needed up forward on such a small oval. He has trimmed down a lot from last year but still has a big presence. May's form in the trials has been very good and he deserves his place. Koster also. That said, 3 or 4 players lucky to be there on ordinary trial form but picked perhaps for their experience. Ed Allan unlucky to miss out on senior selection.

Well, it looked like how far at quarter time with the Bays far too quick and skilled.

To our credit, we applied pressure and started running through lines.

Glenelg looked to be loafing to me whenever they got 4 or 5 goals in front.

Beech and Johnson were excellent, as was Boyle and several others.  Duval was good, Waite similar, apologues to those I missed.

Better effort after quarter time, but a loss against a side that looked lazy for much of the game.

Motlop had a shocker.

Game was over at quarter time.
Credit to the boys for running the game out to the end but we were never really in it. Glenelg ran out of gas in the last quarter.
Glenelg were harder at the ball when it mattered and had too many options up forward. Most if not all of their forward line players have been on an AFL list and it showed today.
Our forward line is a worry. Ellem looks way off the pace and is not the answer at this stage. He needs to get fitter in my opinion.
Maybe Levicki in and Keough forward.....

Beaten by a better side it’s as simple as that. We worked hard for our goals and that’s a major problem.
We fought hard and despite getting within 11 points I didn’t think we were ever going to win.
We were smashed in ruck and in the clearances.
Johnson was great all day, Murphy was good especially in the first half.
Lovell especially in the second half was also productive as was Koster

Our Key Position Players were a major disappointment and it’s a major problem. Our Forward line doesn’t have a marking target and that’s been the case for the past 20 years.
To me we are one tall short all the time when McKenzie goes into the Ruck Ellem was our only tall option. Ellem did struggle and  most of our goals came from fast break footy.
Levicki must come in which allows Keough to play forward and  Tavener also.
Maguire struggled yesterday and it seems he may have a hamstring issue.

Lachlan wrote:Beaten by a better side it’s as simple as that. We worked hard for our goals and that’s a major problem.
We fought hard and despite getting within 11 points I didn’t think we would ever going to win.

I feel this statement is spot on --- we are clearly lacking key talent at this time ---- While there is some very good players unavailable or just returning from injury the return of these will not have a dramatic effect and exposes the lack of depth at this time.

An issue that must be addressed with urgency is the lack of accuracy in shooting for gimme goals --- we do not generate enough opportunities to waste set shots or run in snaps!

Realizing that we definitely are in an early stage of a full team rebuild it was very pleasing to me to see us again run out 4 quarters which indicates that efforts to address a long term perceived issue (game fitness) ------ it is going to be a long hard season sadly however I believe that based on what I have seen the Football Program is heading in the right direction in many areas and believe we are on the correct path.

Lets keep supporting this young side and the football direction as i believe the rewards will come.

It's a little hard to know what to make of that game. They kept us at arm's length most of the day with a 5 goal lead but we didn't let them take the game away from us, which would have happened last year.

Most of our talls had poor days with the exception of McKenzie whose ruck work got us back into the game. We've at least found a good ruck option there.
We also seem, apart from a couple of instances, to have eradicated the kick to no one (or a one on 3) in the forward 50.

Too often though, when bringing the ball in from a behind, our aim just seems to be to kick to a pack and hope for a boundary throw-in, which isn't a great option when you're being smashed at stoppages.

The other noticeable thing is how small we are. Our flankers are much smaller than theirs. We are simply too short. Hill, Dunkin, Haysman, Maguire, Lovell, Karpany, Koster and Gore is way too many short players.

For all that, if Waite is paid the mark at the end of the third quarter, and Haysman straightens up right at the death instead of kicking round the corner, we could have won it. I came away feeling optimistic, but we lose that momentum if we don't win this week. Murphy and Lovell looked very composed, Joel Stevens looks a player and Waite's last 3 quarters were good. McKenzie's was an impressive debut really.

The skill level in the reserves was appalling. Too many who can't kick. I'd think Ed Allan in for Maguire.
I'd also be looking at fast-tracking Lemmey from the U18s. He's 200cm and looked like a senior footballer at times in round 1. Bring him up to the Reserves and see how he goes, he could solve a problem for us.

Finally, the $40,000+ we got for Durdin and Turner looks like a very good deal for us after that effort.

Even though we lost i think there is a lot of promise. Lovell impressed me in the second half and i am sure he will get even better. McKenzie, Murphy and Sinderberry all look like they will have a good year. I Johnson really looks the goods. It was really good to see us running out the game we look a hell of lot fitter. feel for rana but Taverner has to come back in. Cheers all.

Pretty sure we will beat "Adelaide" next week.

With a little more luck, some composure at the end and straight kicking we could have stolen this game. We had our chances to do so. Down by 5 at Q time we had the same number of scoring shots at half time holding the Bays goal less in the second Q.
To narrow the margin to ten points in the last Q was a gutsy effort.
Sam May dropped out of the named side and, of the players who came in, Ellem, Schiller, Waite had not played a senior trial and so will be better for the run.
Fitness looked fine as we ran the game out really well.