what are Richmond doing?
no second ruckmen?
drop McGuane and Morton?
Deledio still in defence?
what are they trying to do?
Adelaide are going to win!
we have no chance if we are not playing players in there positions for the future!
and we have come out and said that we are going to recruit experienced players???
why??? just draft kids and play them in there positions!
Polak is the second ruckman. He will be no worse than Simmonds who has been useless, he will not fumble and drop the ball like Simmonds and is a fair chance to take a few grabs.
I agree 100% with dropping Morton. He is one of the 'older' players who should be making every post a winner, trying to lead by example, but he has been very disappointing this year. He does not appear to have taken on much of the 'team first, defence first' mantra that Hardwick has been spruiking since day one and at this stage of his career he should be one of the first ones to 'get it'.
McGuane has had an up and down season with a disciplinary blemish and his game last week was quite poor with many mistakes. Webberley has been knocking on the door for weeks now and deserves his chance. Astbury showed a bit when he went down back last week so its an opportunity to give these 2 a crack down there and let McGuane go back to Coburg for a wake-up/refresher, a chance for him to have a look at his own game from a different perspective.
Deledio is still in defence because Hardwick is obviously building his initial basic game plan around defence and the run out of it. Whether Deledio is the long term option here is not relevant, he is our best option now while the team are learning and he will continue to be until players like Webberley, Farmer, Tambling, Dea, Edwards, Rance etc prove themselves to be the best long term options.
This isn't about Polak or Morton or McGuane or Deledio or even about going all out for a win each week, its about building a team of structures, rules, plans and players for the future. And if that doesn't satisfy our emotional need as supporters for instant gratification then that's too bad - no-one at the club has said or promised it will be any different to what it is. Luckily, many supporters can see it for what it is and will stick because of that.