Our forward set up come Finals time

[roar]

Hoping Freeman will get on the park soon to give him (and us) every chance.

[AN_Inkling]

Beast included White as a 7th forward.

[roar]

Yeah saw that and fixed it.

[swoop42]

Cloke, Reid and Elliott are certainties.

If we go with the one ruckman then so is White.

Goldsack would have to either really lose form to not be in the 22 or he'd have to lose his spot to somehow else with form impossible to ignore.

Blair is the most vulnerable but is a coaches favourite.

Kennedy and Broomhead are both currently knocking down the door and it'll be interesting to see if one or both are given a shot against the dogs.

Out:Blair
In:Kennedy

Out:Fasolo
In:Broomhead

P.S-Who am I kidding?

Blair will never ever be dropped.

[MOTR]

Our shot on a title depends on Cloke finding form, White making the third tall forward and relieving ruck role his own and Reid gaining enough match fitness to slot in as a legitimate target on our forward line. Unfortunately, with Brown injured, we are one key defensive player short. If Keeffe or Frost suffer an injury, sure we have Reid, but without him playing forward we don't have a forward line that can compete consistently against the elite teams. Outside Reid playing forward the only hope we have is the untried Karnezis.

All going well we have a chance, but an injury to Cloke, Reid, Frost or Keeffe really cruels our chances. Outside Pendlebury and Beams, any other injury is manageable.

Picking the players most critical to our success this year I'd pick Pendlebury, Beams, Cloke, Reid, Keeffe, Frost, White and perhaps surprisingly Karnezis.

[Az]

White has to be a lock in surely. One thing I'm sure about it we look like a better team with the one ruckman in Witts with White in for support. I think Grundy at some stage will get a shot with White in support as well just to weigh up which is the preferred option in a non-danger game.

Blair's ability to be where the ball is when it comes to ground level to either kick or set up a goal as well as his forward pressure keeps him in this side too. The only other person I've seen do this as well is Sidey.

Paddy is definitely one where I'd like to see come in at some stage. Is a goal kicker through and through and depending if they plan on playing Faz forward, I'd say they would both be fighting it out for that forward spot if he can somehow get fit.

[perthmagpie]

White is not a lock in my book. Karnezis is more dangerous as a natural forward. Before Patty comes in we will get a decent look to see if White, Reid and Cloke works well or if they get in each other's way. My feeling is a classic, athletic, middle sized forward who kicks straight and regularly gathers at least fifteen possessions may be the best pick and that player is most likely Karnezis. I'd also like to see someone else bob up who is a quality finisher and has class who the other teams get surprised by and that man could easily be a Broomy. We don't score enough and our conversion is poor. To fix this we need more quality finishers upfront. The candidates who are best at shooting for goal are Reid, White, Karnezis, Elliott, Beams, Broomhead and Fasolo. We need more from this group regularly being the one taking a ping.

[AN_Inkling]

^^If you play Karnezis over White you have to play Grundy and Witts though, so you still have the question of how well the three talls will work Cloke/Reid/Witts-Grundy, in addition to another tallish medium with Karnezis.

If you're willing to go with the above, there's actually no reason why White and Karnezis couldn't play together.

[perthmagpie]

I know not having White as a lock means we only play one ruck or both Grundy and Witts but I'm trying to figure out a way to experiment to fix the problem that is our achilles heal against the best teams- scoring enough goals. Hawthorn have averaged 130 - 140 pts against us the last few times and we need to put scoreboard pressure on them for a change.

[perthmagpie]

I know not having White as a lock means we only play one ruck or both Grundy and Witts but I'm trying to figure out a way to experiment to fix the problem that is our achilles heal against the best teams- scoring enough goals. Hawthorn have averaged 130 - 140 pts against us the last few times and we need to put scoreboard pressure on them for a change.

[perthmagpie]

I know not having White as a lock means we only play one ruck or both Grundy and Witts but I'm trying to figure out a way to experiment to fix the problem that is our achilles heal against the best teams- scoring enough goals. Hawthorn have averaged 130 - 140 pts against us the last few times and we need to put scoreboard pressure on them for a change.

[RudeBoy]

Assuming they are fit, Cloke, Reid and White will be certainties. So too Goldsack and Elliott. That leaves just one spot up for grabs. The contenders imo are: Swan, Blair, Karnezis, Fasolo or Kennedy.

[HAL]

Makes sense to me.

[jackcass]

Forward line is way more difficult than the defense to predict. Assuming player fitness and availability.

Locks: Cloke, Reid, Elliott.

Highly likely: Blair, Goldsack, White

Essentially these guys have the places to lose in some configuration.

Likely: Sidebottom (love his creativity in the forward line), Beams (creative when resting forward), Swan (competes really well 1x1), resting ruckman in either Witts or Grundy.

Unknown: Karnezis, Broomhead, Martin, Kennedy, Freeman.

Sadly, 15 into 6 doesn't go.

The next 11 games will bring more clarity.

[AN_Inkling]

All of those, and you didn't even mention Fasolo .