TOPIC:

Good to see Dela being named and think he will actually play this week.  Atkinson back in too which gives us an extra bit of height against a very tall Souths.  Subi by a point.  

FF 4 Aaron BREMAN 18 Ben SOKOL 32 Brandon MATERA
HF 8 Angus DEWAR 14 Ryan BORCHET 1 Leigh KITCHIN
C 5 Jordan SNADDEN 13 Liam HICKMOTT 15 Wil HICKMOTT
HB 26 Chad Harris 36 Aaron HEAL 35 Drew ROHDE
FB 51 Galen Savigni 59 Lachlan HENDERSON 2 Kyle STAINSBY

FOLLOWERS
17 Lachlan DELAHUNTY
6 Stefan GIRO
7 Harrison MARSH

INTERCHANGE
20 Jakob ATKINSON
34 Jordan FARAONE
37 Rylie MORGAN
9 Max WALTERS


Ins J. Atkinson, L. Delahunty
Outs I. Clinch, J. South

I see us wining this too. Irrational optimism. We'll beat Perth and the Cardies in joondalup as well. 

Love your optimism fellas but if we get within 5 goals of sf and joondy I’ll be happy. Only one more win this year I think but will be happy to be wrong

Oh boy. We got towelled up. Some cue in the rack stuff today. Della reminded us of his class. Young back line monstered a bit today. Midfield ditto. Souths were tough. Low morale. 

The end of the season can't come soon enough so we can reset and start to build again. We were monstered today by a very slick Souths who put immense pressure on the ball carrier and used it extremely well themselves.

Our young backline tried really hard but Souths were just too tall and too good. Savigni was very good, Giro noticeable, Soks a lone hand up front and Heal had a crack, likewise Stainsby. I'm glad Harris and Litherland swapped after half time because we look out of balance when they lineup the other way around.

The other noticeable thing was how bad Kitch used the ball. He must have missed targets 10 times at least which is inexcusable for a senior player in a struggling side. Not a lot to enthuse about as we no longer intimidate opposition teams like we used to a couple of years ago. A few good youngsters coming through but we're going to need an overhaul of game plan, personnel and structures in the offseason.

Good summary BC. I think you are on the mark there. 

It was a game between a team that was fanatical about trying to get the double chance and a team thats marking time till the end of the season. Some of our decision making was poor, even by some of our senior players, Dela tried his guts out as you would expect but I dont believe Kitch is anywhere near fully fit. maybe he's suiting up to help onfield with the youngsters. We had 13 players from last years GF team so that performance was simply unacceptable. I didn't expect to win but to lose like we did gave me flash backs to the 70's and early 80's.

There's some good players coming through like Savigni but there are gapping holes in the list that need to be addressed and cant be done from our colts and ressies. Number 1 is a quality ruckman, number 2 is a key tall backman given Locks wont be back till mid late next year and cant expect him to be a key player coming off a mid season ACL. Mayo should be fit to go for '23 given his ACL was early in the pre-season, hopefully he can have a decent run without injury as he could dominate at this level. Atkinson will be a big asset after a full pre-season, another big powerful lad who can play on ball or in a key position.

It will be interesting to see if we can keep all our senior players, apart from Dela for '23. Heal is still to confirm as well as Locks. Marsh, Kitchen and Gus seem committed to go around again.

I dont see the club changing coach just yet, Wardman had to deal with significant injuries to key players and a massive dose of Covid right at the start of the season which we never quite recovered from, so with a full fit list and a few key recruits he would need to have us well into finals contention to keep his job beyond '23.

 

How can you be so bad with 15 premiership players. You were putrid.

Yes Roman. We were and I don't think it will go unnoticed that it was a 20+ goal turn around from last year's GF. The guys missing such as Greg Clark, Haydn Kennedy, Jordan Lockyer, Michael Braut, Nick Martin were all very important but all clubs including Souths have turned over a few as well.

I'm not convinced Wardman is the man for the job as he inherited a very successful set up which I think may have initially flattered his performance. When you look at his record over 4 years he's won two flags but also missed finals twice.

There's mitigating reasons such as Covid and a long injury list but all clubs have gone through similar over the period. I would love to pinch Horsley back from WCE to coach next year but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Roman: it is a funny thing, Subi's 1979 side had six or seven premiership players, and could not win a game at all. In 1974, Wp finished last trying to defend their flag.