Round 11 Q&A with colts coach Brad Dodd

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BD: We welcomed back Jason Carter, Bradley Oldfield, Jarrad Fazioli and Tyson Powell- who all missed the last game, along with James Sturrock. We used it as an opportunity to manage our 17 year-olds that had played the majority of the season. Jack Sears, Tyrone Thorne, Cam Gavin and Clifton Stack were all rested. We’ve kept our younger guys informed that this would happen through the year. Zach Rankin was rested a few weeks back. Having the bye next week means they get 2 weeks off. 

 

 

BD: Unfortunately, Brendan Cooke hurt his shoulder late against West Perth so the door open for James. He’s a Key Forward who can pinch hit in the Ruck. He’s a South West kid who we think will be a key member of the squad next season. He can take a mark, presents at the ball well. We’ve trained and trialled him down back as well, so there’s a bit of flexibility there.  

 

 

BD: We knew the Bulldogs would be quite a physical team around the ball and we thought our guys didn’t handle the pressure well early. Our Forwards were looking dangerous but we couldn’t give them enough supply and SF took their chances going forward. 

 

 

BD: We just didn’t finish off our work in front of goals. We missed some easy set shots at goal and didn’t get full value from the amount of times it went Inside 50. We kept pressing and South Fremantle countered to kick 2 goals against the run of play. As a group, we felt we had control but we needed to finish off our work. 

 

 

BD: We made some minor positional changes at the break and slightly changed our Forward make up. We threw the challenge down to the players to continue to push hard. Though we were on top for big portions of the game, we were behind on the scoreboard. It presented another great challenge for the group. Could we stay on task and grind our way through? 

 

 

BD: It was a game that was in the balance at 3/4 time. It could’ve gone either way but we had another strong last quarter. We thought that some players really stood up under pressure. Jarvis Pina, Jackson Perry, Billy Chambers and Bradley Oldfield in the midfield. Ben Middleton and Kilian Rawson down forward. Jake Howes had a strong last quarter. All efforts they can draw upon down the track. 

 

 

BD: We’ll continue to give our players opportunities to improve. We’ve played 38 players out of our 45 man squad- 15 of those are 17 years old this year. We’re trying to get at least 5 to 10 games into those players. As a program, we think that’s pretty important for next year- having an understanding of what’s required, what they need to work on, without overloading them. We’ll continue to challenge our older players. Hopefully we can see a few make their League debuts over the backend of the season. 

 

 

BD: We had a lot of players that floated in and out of the game. More consistent performers over the game were Bradley Oldfield, who was a strong presence around stoppages with 10 clearances and 9 tackles, Jackson Perry, who started on the wing but gave us some strong drive when moved inside, Jarvis Pina, who had a slow start but had an impact in the last quarter. Down forward, Ben Middleton and Lachlan Cullen kicked 3 goals each. Both have plenty to work on but gave us a target to kick to. Billy Chambers continued his good recent form in the Ruck. Michael Randall probably had his best game for the year as well. 

 

 

BD: Swans knocked us off last time by 2 points in a pretty tough battle. They’ve been on top of the ladder for most of the season, so it’ll be a great challenge for us.