TonyK
CibbuanoFletcher, Stenglein under pressure
June 24th 2008 06:28
PREMIERSHIP duo Chad Fletcher and Tyson Stenglein aren't guaranteed of places in the side following West Coast's humiliating 135-point loss to Geelong, according to coach John Worsfold.
Fletcher racked up 28 disposals against the Cats but seven of those were clangers and one mis-kick in defence resulted in a goal to Geelong defender Harry Taylor in the first quarter.
Worsfold said Fletcher was no guarantee to fly over to Melbourne to face Hawthorn at the MCG and that the 28-year-old needed to lift his game.
"I can't answer that (whether Fletcher will be selected) at the moment," said Worsfold on Tuesday.
"He's (Fletcher) a hard body in there (but) he certainly didn't use it anywhere near well enough from what you expect of a player of his quality on Saturday night, so we have to take that into account."
Worsfold also admitted that Stenglein, who had his colours lowered by Brownlow medal favourite Gary Ablett Jnr was performing well below his best but was confident that the former Crow could turn it around.
"He's frustrated that he's not playing as well as he can but he's doing everything as he's always done."
"He's fit, he's ready to go, he's just struggling for form, which is similar to quite a few of our players, but we're very confident, we know what Tyson can produce and we hope that he can turn that around soon."
Worsfold said injuries may prevent him making too many changes to the side with defender Beau Waters sidelined for the remainder of the season after dislocating his elbow in the WAFL.
"We don't have a lot of depth, so ... there's some players we can't leave out of the side because we don't have a player of their ilk to be able to come in and replace them, so that's probably where were hamstrung a little bit at the moment," said Worsfold.
In some good news for the Eagles, tagger Adam Selwood's throat injury was not as serious as first thought and he is a chance to play this weekend.
Worsfold also said forward key Josh Kennedy was in line for a recall after recovering from a knee injury, although he would be assessed after training on Tuesday.
Fletcher racked up 28 disposals against the Cats but seven of those were clangers and one mis-kick in defence resulted in a goal to Geelong defender Harry Taylor in the first quarter.
Worsfold said Fletcher was no guarantee to fly over to Melbourne to face Hawthorn at the MCG and that the 28-year-old needed to lift his game.
"I can't answer that (whether Fletcher will be selected) at the moment," said Worsfold on Tuesday.
"He's (Fletcher) a hard body in there (but) he certainly didn't use it anywhere near well enough from what you expect of a player of his quality on Saturday night, so we have to take that into account."
Worsfold also admitted that Stenglein, who had his colours lowered by Brownlow medal favourite Gary Ablett Jnr was performing well below his best but was confident that the former Crow could turn it around.
"He's frustrated that he's not playing as well as he can but he's doing everything as he's always done."
"He's fit, he's ready to go, he's just struggling for form, which is similar to quite a few of our players, but we're very confident, we know what Tyson can produce and we hope that he can turn that around soon."
Worsfold said injuries may prevent him making too many changes to the side with defender Beau Waters sidelined for the remainder of the season after dislocating his elbow in the WAFL.
"We don't have a lot of depth, so ... there's some players we can't leave out of the side because we don't have a player of their ilk to be able to come in and replace them, so that's probably where were hamstrung a little bit at the moment," said Worsfold.
In some good news for the Eagles, tagger Adam Selwood's throat injury was not as serious as first thought and he is a chance to play this weekend.
Worsfold also said forward key Josh Kennedy was in line for a recall after recovering from a knee injury, although he would be assessed after training on Tuesday.
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