Eagles In's & Outs

[SkyHigh]

Powell and McKenzie play their best football in the midfeild!! I dont really like Tim Inkster in the midfeild I think he should play on the Half Forward Flank!!
F: Batsanis, Passador, Rimmington
HF: Inkster, Grocke, Westbrook
C: Treeby, Cicollela, Jarrad
HB: Thompson, Schwarze, Salter
B: Colville, Pedler, Heir
Ruck: Lindsay, McKenzie, Powell

What do ya think?

[Tanka]

I have heard McGowan has been visiting the workplace of Rugolo a bit recently........is he happy to stay an Eagle or might he look at changing to get more opportunities.....especially after being overlooked for the GF after Colville pulled out??

[SkyHigh]

I hope Rugolo stay's an Eagle, if so I would put him in the forward pocket and put Rimmington on the bench!! Are there any other signings that you have heard of apart from Ben Schwarze, Rimmington and Batsanis?

[eaglehaslanded]

Still far too quiet on the western front, more seem to be going than coming. I hope we recruit further before season starts. C'mon Eagles.

[Aerie]

Still far too quiet on the western front, more seem to be going than coming. I hope we recruit further before season starts. C'mon Eagles.

We recruited heavily last year. I'm not sure we need to recruit any more just for the sake of recruiting. If we can get real quality then yes, but otherwise we have a solid and experienced 20-25 players and have some promising young players coming through the underage/reserves. We probably have the least turnover of any team this year, which given we already have a strong squad, should bode well. As long as there aren't any more shock losses like Skipworth before the start of the season I'm happy with where the squad is at. I really hope Rugolo and Westbrook are still with us next year.

Major Ins
Schwarze - sounds a handy player and should add much needed height to the backline
Rimmington - not sure on him, maybe a project player for the future
Batsanis - could be handy, like Knights was in his first season

Major Outs
Skipworth - will be a big loss, but haven't seen a lot of him in previous years (not enough to rely on him) due to AFL/injury and have plenty of midfield depth
Shattock - dropped towards the end of the year from the league team, a loss but covered by Schwarze
Potter - always solid and reliable, but has barely played any games in the past two seasons
Jacobs - performed very well for us as back up ruckman, but was raw and when Dabrowski was fit was left out of the best 21
Oakley - not a loss for the league team

[spell_check]

Only two of those five were premiership players - Skipworth and Potter.

Here is a list of games played by each 'Out' for 2006:

Skipworth: 14
Shattock: 20
Potter: 13
Jacobs: 13
Oakley: 6 (The first 6 matches)

[ferret]

I feel the Eagles will have a very strong list to choose from. My one concern is if one of either Passador or Grocke is injured there doesn't appear to be a tall forward to replace either. I think that Paul Stewart and Mark McKenzie should play somewhere up forward to give a little more height and marking power. Players like Dabrowski, Paul Stewart, Benie Vince, Robert Fiacchi (most probably our best player during the 2005 finals series), Zak Hier, Sam Fairclough, Brodie Lomas and Vinnie Rugolo only played a handful of games each during 2006 and will improve the side considerably.

Youngsters like Rimington, Petrenko, Geddes, Salter, Hicks, Angas, Pederson and James Stewart will add further depth.

Ben Schwarze and Nathan Batsanis (Oakleigh Chargers B&F, Best finals player and second best GF player with 38 touches - 3 goals - 11 inside 50) should add some new blood excitement.

I think the Eagles will have Paul Stewart and Bernie Vince for most of the year.

The team I would like to see start the year:

FF: Symmons Passador P. Stewart

HF: McKenzie Grocke Inkster

C: Jarrad Cicolella Treeby

HB: Powell B. Schwarze Westbrook

FB: Pedler Hier Fairclough

Ruck: Lindsay Cooper P. Fiacchi

Inter: (from) Dabrowski Vince R. Fiacchi Batsanis Lomas Petrenko
Rugolo Rimington Salter Angas Pederson Hicks J. Stewart

[eaglehaslanded]

I feel the Eagles will have a very strong list to choose from. My one concern is if one of either Passador or Grocke is injured there doesn't appear to be a tall forward to replace either. I think that Paul Stewart and Mark McKenzie should play somewhere up forward to give a little more height and marking power. Players like Dabrowski, Paul Stewart, Benie Vince, Robert Fiacchi (most probably our best player during the 2005 finals series), Zak Hier, Sam Fairclough, Brodie Lomas and Vinnie Rugolo only played a handful of games each during 2006 and will improve the side considerably.

Youngsters like Rimington, Petrenko, Geddes, Salter, Hicks, Angas, Pederson and James Stewart will add further depth.

Ben Schwarze and Nathan Batsanis (Oakleigh Chargers B&F, Best finals player and second best GF player with 38 touches - 3 goals - 11 inside 50) should add some new blood excitement.

I think the Eagles will have Paul Stewart and Bernie Vince for most of the year.

The team I would like to see start the year:

FF: Symmons Passador P. Stewart

HF: McKenzie Grocke Inkster

C: Jarrad Cicolella Treeby

HB: Powell B. Schwarze Westbrook

FB: Pedler Hier Fairclough

Ruck: Lindsay Cooper P. Fiacchi

Inter: (from) Dabrowski Vince R. Fiacchi Batsanis Lomas Petrenko
Rugolo Rimington Salter Angas Pederson Hicks J. Stewart

How many more players could you possibly want on the interchange Mckenzie will not play across half forward he'll either play CHB or on ball. No skippy still leaves a big hole, if we can only plug it we might be half a chance of defending our crown. All hail King Eagle!!!

[sydney-dog]

just chocked on my Bundy Rum reading about Skippy

his decision is obviously based on that he believes he will have greater exposure to more AFL clubs playing in the VFL

Huge Blow for WTFC

[ferret]

eaglehaslanded - I think you are getting a little pedantic - in my team of course Mckenzie would be a important onballer (only allowed to have four in square at start of match), onballers have to rest somewhere. In his first year at the club McKenzie was a very good lead up forward. My list of interchange players just covers up and comers that during the year are likely to get a game. I've yet to hear of a team going through the year using only twenty one players. During the 2006 season the league team used 46 players.

After listening to Ron Fuller on 5AA I will now exclude David Westbrook from the H/B flank and substitute R Fiacchi. Westbrook will work on the family YP farm.

[Aerie]

After listening to Ron Fuller on 5AA I will now exclude David Westbrook from the H/B flank and substitute R Fiacchi. Westbrook will work on the family YP farm.

What a pity. He looked to be just reaching his potential as a league footballer. Was an important part of our forward structure in 2006. Hopefully things work out for him on the farm and maybe we'll be lucky to see him in the blue, green and gold in the future as he's still only young. Will be remembered for his specky mark and goal which sealed the premiership.

A bit off topic, but would it be feasible in this day and age to have a player working on the farm and doing his own training during the week and then driving up on Saturday's (or Fri night/Sunday) to play league footy? Some players may already do this? Rodney Maynard is one that comes to mind who was committed to the farm, but still made a fine league career, albeit in a different era.

[Jimmy]

A bit off topic, but would it be feasible in this day and age to have a player working on the farm and doing his own training during the week and then driving up on Saturday's (or Fri night/Sunday) to play league footy? Some players may already do this? Rodney Maynard is one that comes to mind who was committed to the farm, but still made a fine league career, albeit in a different era.

didnt Mick Redden do something similar?

[Dogwatcher]

Luke McCabe in the past couple of years did it too.