To be honest, I don’t think I’ve looked forward to the first bounce of a game in a long time after this week.
I’m not going to carry on and give just ‘another’ opinion of what happened over the week, because we’ve had enough of those and frankly I’m in no position to do so.
But as a supporter, sitting there at quarter time, 33 points up against the Crows at AAMI stadium, seeing arguably the best quarter of footy we’ve played in a long time, to now, this, is pretty soul destroying.
I took the injuries announced on Tuesday pretty hard, so Wednesday’s news was a bitter pill to swallow. But now the dust has settled, and I’ve done some thinking, this now brings about some great opportunities.
Dylan Grimes is a massive loss, make no mistake. He came back and played with Ben Griffiths in defence for the first time. It was a taste of the future. Grimes will play his best footy as a third up tall, much in the Dustin Fletcher mould.
Although he’s not in the side this week, I think Kelvin Moore will now become a major factor in our end to the season. He’s almost a like for like replacement with Grimes with his ability to play on a tall and small. He’s in some great form for Coburg, so it’s just a matter of time before he’s back in the seniors for the first time in a couple of seasons.
Tyrone Vickery’s injury is the one that I find could impact the team the most. For some odd reason he has become much maligned this season, but you simply can’t replace a guy that can play two positions very well in the same game when he’s fully fit. The last point is the key; he has been playing sore all season. You may ask, ‘well why play him?’ He is vital, structurally. Any forward that is 200cm tall, and can lead and mark like Vickery demands a good opponent. He’s the perfect foil to Jack Riewoldt, as he showed last season when he kicked almost 40 goals. Then you put him in the ruck to relieve Ivan Maric and he can do that brilliantly as well because he can outsmart, and lose his opponent in the midfield. Make no mistake, a fit Tyrone Vickery in this side is exactly what we currently need. In the end, the surgery was inevitable, so it’s best to do it now and get him ready for 2013.
It gives a chance to Tom Derickx, who athletically has similar traits to Tyrone. I’ve always liked Derickx, and I thought he was a very astute pick up late in the draft in 2010. He’s shown us glimpses, so now hopefully he can get a full run at it and grab the opportunity with both hands (literally, because he has buckets).
Jake King is another soldier we’ve lost for about four to six weeks. Knowing Jake he’ll be back before we know it, but for the time being Matt White has the chance to make the spot his.
One thing we know for sure is that the seven guys who have come into the squad this week will be hungry.
Without wanting to look too far ahead, we play Melbourne and Gold Coast in the next two weeks.
IF we were to win both of those games, which are expected, we’d be sitting on eight wins and seven losses, and in the top eight with a huge game against North Melbourne where we could see a fired up Dustin Martin back in the team along with the likes of Nathan Foley and Kelvin Moore.
Of course a loss in the next two weeks puts a massive spanner in the works in terms of finals, but this isn’t a doom and gloom scenario.
Statistically we have the best run home out of anyone else in the competition (based on ladder positions).
We’re still well in the hunt, so don’t lose faith.
Saturday will be exciting. There are some fresh faces out there, plus guys who have been putting their hand up for selection all year long. They’ll be hungry, and so will the rest of the team.
Get around the club; it’s time to stick fat.
Go Tiges!
You can follow me on Twitter @KristianPisano
