Eagles v Sturt May 6 th Woodville oval

Seconds 2 pm

League 4.40 pm
Under 18s Wigan oval 10.00
Under 16s Wigan oval 12.30 pm
Women’s Woodville oval May 6 12 noon

I don't think Strut have ever beaten us in the Sheedy era.
Patrick Wilson a real danger, they are a far better side with him in it.

Woodville-West Torrens v Sturt | Maughan Thiem Kia Oval | 4:40pm
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EAGLES
League
F: Williams, Cameron, Pearce
HF: Beattie, Ballenden, Rowe
C: Toumpas, Knight, Collier-Dawkins
HB: Buck, Lehmann, Beecken
B: Thompson, Bruce, Litster
 
R: Brinker-Ritchie, Hardie, Sinor
INT: Firns, Lukac, Comitogianni, D. Menzel, D’Aloia, Pudney, Nicholls
IN: D’Aloia, Lukac, Pearce, Nicholls, Thompson, Toumpas
OUT: Studham (hamstring), Goldsworthy (calf), Weckert
NEW: Sam Nicholls (Min Man FC)
 
Reserves
F: Watson, Cooke, Siney
HF: Neumann, Sladojevic, Arthur
C: Angove, Adams, Tilley
HB: Dawkins, Williams, Hansen
B: Mawson, Ueding, O’Reilly
R: Hunter-Price, Hoile, Lonergan
INT: Calvett, Norman, Wollogorang, Hill
Under-18
F: Capogreco, Weckert, Ziersch
HF: Tilbrook, Menta, Schwarz
C: Toole, Fairall, Charles
HB: Dodd, Slattery, Hudson
B: Thomson, Delmenico, Andrews
R: Luck, Mair, Herbert
INT: Godlevsky, Lucas, Niemann, Thompson, Walshaw, Ziersch
Under-16
F: Mathie, McNeil, W. Young
HF: Kovacic, Quick, Russell-Swanson
C: Lawry, Jamieson, Moffat
HB: Harris, Hartley-Brown Marshall-Bates
B: McGorman, Berraci, Beech
R: Rawlings, Willmott, Phillipou
INT: Farrugia, Humphrys, Leys, MacDonald, Peucker, White, F. Young

With the emergence of Tasmania how many SANFL players will be stolen in their first recruiting year. That will take the legs out from under some clubs

Eagles doing their usual game of naming 7-8 people on the bench.

Which player(s) named on the ground are going to miss through injury?

Why do we always seem to pick up injuries at training?

Titan2 wrote:Eagles doing their usual game of naming 7-8 people on the bench.

Which player(s) named on the ground are going to miss through injury?

Why do we always seem to pick up injuries at training?

Is Thompson over his cheekbone injury thought it said in the injury list 2-3 weeks

It will be five weeks since Thompson had his cheek bone fractured. He didn't require an operation so I thought he should be ready to go, but head knocks are now treated very cautiously now.

The Eagles just can't seem to get a full compliment of in form players on the ground.
Thought Studham played well in his comeback game, gave a bit of run and hit targets, now he's out again.
Looking to the future, Goldy, Toumpas and Thompson might be playing their last season.

"Looking to the future, Goldy, Toumpas and Thompson might be playing their last season"

I just hope that they don't play one season too many.

If so, then maybe if this is a rebuilding season then towards the end of it they should bow out gracefully and give some younger players a taste of league.

Ok guys was hoping to come today . Just visited my elderly mum at the QEH heart attack she’s ok . Me I ate something last night that’s affecting my stoma bag so not safe for everyone if I come back today . Cheer them on loud for me guys

Looking at the SANFL app Sheedy has dropped a few players

Mickyj wrote:Looking at the SANFL app Sheedy has dropped a few players

Yes - Firns, Comma, Menzel.

I previously mentioned each of these three players were badly out of form sincer the commencement of the season. Comma more than any of them long overdue. Firns hasn't been playing well but is a tad unlucky in the sense that our lack of height has meant he has had to play out of position roles given his size. Did Menzel do most of the pre-season? He just looks slow and unfit although I do think our gameplan is different this season versus the previous two where we tended to give him lots of space to lead and we would always look for him. Despite our delivery forward being poor this year I feel like we are trying to look for a variety of different scoring options. Either way it hasn't helped Menzel.

Weckert played a great game in the U18s looking at his stats. Hopefully he can start bringing even a fraction of that form to the league side in the coming weeks!!!!

Our team looks good today.

I think the inclusion of Pearce could be decisive. This bloke always kicks goals and I think is not too far away from putting it all together and kicking 4-5 goals. He's a beautiful kick but at present seems to have the yips in front of the big sticks.

It's critical that Cameron be as competitive as last week and to get through the match unscathed! Potentially FF might be good for him as opposed to CHF or CHB as in previous seasons as he may not need to do as much running.

Our midfield has enough talent to match Sturt's classy mids.

Brinker Ritche and Lukac to share rucking duties which means Ballenden stays up forward the whole match. Has that happened ever since Ballenden has been with us? Will be interesting to see whether this is a plus for us.

Providing we can put together four even quarters and bring the attitutude then I definitely think we are capable of an upset this evening

By Titan2 wrote:

Mickyj wrote:Looking at the SANFL app Sheedy has dropped a few players

Yes - Firns, Comma, Menzel.

I previously mentioned each of these three players were badly out of form sincer the commencement of the season. Comma more than any of them long overdue. Firns hasn't been playing well but is a tad unlucky in the sense that our lack of height has meant he has had to play out of position roles given his size. Did Menzel do most of the pre-season? He just looks slow and unfit although I do think our gameplan is different this season versus the previous two where we tended to give him lots of space to lead and we would always look for him. Despite our delivery forward being poor this year I feel like we are trying to look for a variety of different scoring options. Either way it hasn't helped Menzel.

Weckert played a great game in the U18s looking at his stats. Hopefully he can start bringing even a fraction of that form to the league side in the coming weeks!!!!

Our team looks good today.

I think the inclusion of Pearce could be decisive. This bloke always kicks goals and I think is not too far away from putting it all together and kicking 4-5 goals. He's a beautiful kick but at present seems to have the yips in front of the big sticks.

It's critical that Cameron be as competitive as last week and to get through the match unscathed! Potentially FF might be good for him as opposed to CHF or CHB as in previous seasons as he may not need to do as much running.

Our midfield has enough talent to match Sturt's classy mids.

Brinker Ritche and Lukac to share rucking duties which means Ballenden stays up forward the whole match. Has that happened ever since Ballenden has been with us? Will be interesting to see whether this is a plus for us.

Providing we can put together four even quarters and bring the attitutude then I definitely think we are capable of an upset this evening

Well written Titan thank you 
Nicholls is making his debut today announced on facebook

Slow starters tonight? In the first half of quarters, Sturt beat us 7.8 to 1.3. In the last half of quarters, we beat Sturt 9.2 to 5.7.

We were most dangerous in that 3rd term when Pearce was able to get right up the field, kick a couple of long dangerous kicks from around half back which eventually ended up with Ballenden up forward, whose last half was excellent. Who said he should play ruck instead of forward?

It is of course up to the individuals themselves, but we need way more from Williams and Pearce. When they get the ball, something happens, but they're not finding it enough in the forward line at present.

With Pudney's unfortunate injury, maybe a chance to free Williams up on a wing? Perhaps Pearce can swap with Buck and try to get the ball in his hands off half back to drive us forward and Buck can be that pressure forward that he showed in the last quarter against North.

Brinker-Ritchie played his best game tonight with his follow ups on the ball. His near chase down of a Sturt player who ended up missing a goal highlighted his willingness to have a go. That's exactly what we need from all of our players. Get involved. There is a bit too much stand and look from many - both experienced and rookies - at the moment.

The talent is there. The team work is not, yet.

Having said that, Sturt are a good team and were too good for us tonight. Sturt and Crows Reserves early favourites to make the GF. We at least kept the scoreboard respectable, coming back at the tail end of each of the quarters and winning the 2nd half, despite never really being in it.

A loss by 22 points to the top side isn't too bad when you consider they are the top side and this is now clearly going to be a 'development year'. Arguably Sturt's poor kicking meant they should have won by at least 8 goals but to our lad's credit they kept at it till the end.

Some crucial errors in the first quarter put us on the back foot early. That  passage of play where two of our defenders kicked into the man on the mark while trying to exit out of Sturt's forward 50m arc and then another misjudged the return flight of the ball giving the Sturt player an easy shot at goal sort of summed up our play in that first quarter. However we more or less broke even with them after half time.

Agreed that Brinker-Ritchie was MUCH better today with his involvement. Someone obviously had a word to him post the North match because he played completely differently today. That's all he has to do. However I'd also argue that Lukac was also much better with his involvement.

If we are going to win games this year looks like we will need to keep the Brinker Ritche/Lukac combo in the ruck to allow us to keep Ballenden up forward. Great game from him and clearly our best.

Hopefully Pudney only misses a few games but agreed that Williams could be tried there in his absence to try and run him into some kind of form.

I'm hoping Collier-Dawkins can step it up a notch in the next few weeks. Was ok last week and was ok tonight. But as our 'marquee' recruit I'm hoping a BOG isn't too far away!!

I look at the reserves and often see the same names at the top of our possessions and in the best - Hansen, Dawkins and O'Reilly. Any chance we will see either of those three players at some stage? I must say I was surprised that Nicholls leapfrogged them.

Fluency very poor. Unable to string any meaningful plays together. Although Collier- Dawkins looks average at the moment he did not have a pre -seas on as such. We will see, perhaps the VFL is a big step behind?

The Good:
Connor Ballenden - Best game since he arrived, if we can keep him up forward he will be dangerous when the ball is delivered well.
The second half.
DBR and Jordan Lukac - Early days but they could be a good mix.
Clay Cameron - Getting better by the game.
Sam Nicholls - Been at the club since under 14's, great to see him get an opportunity.

The not so good;
Injuries - We aren't having a good run. Pudney on crutches not a good sight, Knighta coming off was worse (both seeing him come off and how he looked coming off)
The first half
A few guys looking like their confidence is down a bit, hopefully we can turn it around this week and get on a bit of a roll.

Titan, agree re Harry Dawkins, think he is really pushing his case for a league game, not a flashy player but gets the job done.

It's not as if we are being flogged (maybe the Tigers) it appears to be about confidence to string some plays together, fluency is just not happening. The D B-R and Lukac combination I thought worked quite well allowing Ballenden to dominate at CHF, but Lukac needs to do more around the ground. It's a matter of getting the right people in the right places. Thought after his showing against NA at half-back, Nathan Studham appeared to be a natural wingman to me, ran well and hit targets, with his hamstring we will have to wait and see, we desperately need a couple of good wingmen.

Agree with a couple of previous posters that Harrison Dawkins consistently plays well, just lacks a bit of pace. Would not be upset to see him get a league game.

Correct as always Wimp. We are getting no drive at all off the wings and it's hurting us. Missing Chris Hall running down the tramlines for many years. We might give Hoile a go this week as it's doubtful Pudney will get up. Toumpas is not the answer. Could see Lonergan back in the league side this week (but not on a wing....).
Just need to grind out our current predicament and come out the other side.

My opinion is that Lonergan is a bit slow for the game these days. If wet and muddy then...

whybother wrote:My opinion is that Lonergan is a bit slow for the game these days. If wet and muddy then...

Yes, but his hands are clean and once he's got his arse over the ball he'd be hard to dislodge. Wet and muddy is coming!

"once he's got his arse over the ball he'd be hard to dislodge. "

Does that mean then that the game is called off?

[quote="whybother"] "once he's got his arse over the ball he'd be hard to dislodge. "

Does that mean then that the game is called off?
/quote]

Only if the ball can't be extricated ...

And then there would be a period of dis-satisfaction and disinfection

The Barton wrote:

whybother wrote:My opinion is that Lonergan is a bit slow for the game these days. If wet and muddy then...

Yes, but his hands are clean and once he's got his arse over the ball he'd be hard to dislodge. Wet and muddy is coming!

I'm afraid he stays in the reserves until he demands to be selected based on his form. He's a long, long way off it at the moment