Opinion Round 22 Changes vs. Brisbane

[Grape Bear]

Pardon the intrusion, I come in peace. You are top 4 material, I doubt Port are. Agree you should win this comfortably. Unless we are really up and you are really off your game, I don't see us winning. I also don't see it being close. We are second only to the Saints in average losing margins - when we lose we tend to get beaten badly, as most young teams do I suppose. Excuse us Lions for getting excited - it's not every day you get to beat the Pies at the G by 10 goals. We lost five young players last year, have blooded 9 rookies this year and have played virtually the entire year without Rich, Leuenberger and Staker and a large part without Redden, West, McGuane, McGrath and Brown. And a few of our rookies seem like they can play. We are excited about our on field future and have largely done it ourselves, cf. Melbourne. Good luck for the finals.

i don't think you are travelling too badly under the circumstances, which is why it's annoying that fyfe and barlow are set to miss. i hope that just make our guys more on their game, knowing they have big shoes to fill. remember that the Saints flogged us, so it can happen here as well if the team is not careful.

good luck for the rest of the season. i hope you guys get up vs the cats - surely you'd want to avenge that one point gifted win last year at the Cattery. (They do have a few of those.)

 

[JamFrank]

I think if we can put enough pressure on Brisbane running the ball out of HB, they will turn it over. Last week Collingwood let them waltz it out with handball chains, which if we bring the pressure of the Hawks game, will be cut off quickly. They play a lot of rookies in their midfield, so having strong experienced bodies such as MDB and Suban come in for Fyfe and Barlow, should be enough to win the centre square clearances.

Last time we played them over here, Lachie Neale was the leading possession winner for us with 34 disposals, Suban had 17 and a goal. Obviously Fyfe and Barlow chipped in too, but Mundy was also very serviceable. Crowley always does an excellent shut down job on Pearce Hanley, who is their most dangerous player as far as breaking lines goes. Hanley appears to be the sort of player that when he knows he's being beat, he just stops trying. Crowls kept him to 9 disposals last time.

I think we've shown that letting players like Tom Rockliff, Jordan Lewis and Matt Priddis rack up huge numbers doesn't cost us too much, as they just aren't damaging enough.

We are the far more experienced, and match hardened team, we should win this comfortably even without our best two mids.

And if it rains in Brisbane on Sunday, forget about it, it's in bag.

 

[332docker]

Out:
Fyfe (assuming they are unsuccessful at appeal if they roll the dice), Barlow, Duffy (unlucky), Crozier (unlucky)

In:
DeBoer, Suban, Ballantyne, Ibbo(it's now or never to get back in the 22 before finals)

Outside chance Mora to come in for Deboer or Suban or Crozier/Duffy to hold there spot of those guys...

 

[JamFrank]

Out:
Fyfe (assuming they are unsuccessful at appeal if they roll the dice), Barlow, Duffy (unlucky), Crozier (unlucky)

In:
DeBoer, Suban, Ballantyne, Ibbo(it's now or never to get back in the 22 before finals)

Outside chance Mora to come in for Deboer or Suban or Crozier/Duffy to hold there spot of those guys...

I wouldn't be dropping Crozier. Fyfe has been chipping in with on average 2 goals a game in his last few, and Croz has chipped in with 5 in his last two. Dropping both of them, and bringing in Ibbotson instead, really robs us of scoring power.

 

[Kram]

lol at dropping Crozier.

 

[Leslie_Chow]

Out:
Fyfe (assuming they are unsuccessful at appeal if they roll the dice), Barlow, Duffy (unlucky), Crozier (unlucky)

In:
DeBoer, Suban, Ballantyne, Ibbo(it's now or never to get back in the 22 before finals)

Outside chance Mora to come in for Deboer or Suban or Crozier/Duffy to hold there spot of those guys...

Da *

 

[Unique Name]

Out:
Fyfe (assuming they are unsuccessful at appeal if they roll the dice), Barlow, Duffy (unlucky), Crozier (unlucky)

In:
DeBoer, Suban, Ballantyne, Ibbo(it's now or never to get back in the 22 before finals)

Outside chance Mora to come in for Deboer or Suban or Crozier/Duffy to hold there spot of those guys...

Crozier??? The guy who's scored 5 goals in 2 games. The guy who's been putting on great pressure up forward. The guy who is doing what Colin Sylvia should have been doing.

Guess we all see things differently.

 

[Taylor]

Did Suban have a club suspension the last week?

 

[freoextra]

Did Suban have a club suspension the last week?

Nope, was the emergency and did the warm up. Very likely to come back in.

 

[Taylor]

Nope, was the emergency and did the warm up. Very likely to come back in.

One day I will hang around to watch the poor guys who are the sub and emergencies run back and forth to get the kms in the legs.

 

[PeelnThunder]

In: Suban, Morabito/Deboer, Ballantyne

Out: Fyfe, Barlow, ?

There is a decent chance someone unexpected will be rested or injured. Otherwise Duffy might get dropped.

 

[Grape Bear]

I don't think Crozier will be going anywhere. He's grown into a two-way runner, classy forward who knows where the big sticks are and finds them regularly. Given we will be down two important mids, Ballas and Walters are more likely to get a run in the guts right now, although I wouldn't be surprised if Croz plays that role in the future.

I'm not sure which presser it was, but Ross mentioned how difficult the decision was to drop MDB and Suban but how it turned out to be a strong decision that paid off.

MDB and Suban both lucky that Fyfe and Barlow likely to be out, they get one last chance to play out of their skins and show why they should be the incumbents in our best 22.

 

[DCFCFAN84]

Out: Fyfe, Barlow
In: Morabito, Suban

 

[theGav56]

Pardon the intrusion, I come in peace. You are top 4 material, I doubt Port are. Agree you should win this comfortably. Unless we are really up and you are really off your game, I don't see us winning. I also don't see it being close. We are second only to the Saints in average losing margins - when we lose we tend to get beaten badly, as most young teams do I suppose. Excuse us Lions for getting excited - it's not every day you get to beat the Pies at the G by 10 goals. We lost five young players last year, have blooded 9 rookies this year and have played virtually the entire year without Rich, Leuenberger and Staker and a large part without Redden, West, McGuane, McGrath and Brown. And a few of our rookies seem like they can play. We are excited about our on field future and have largely done it ourselves, cf. Melbourne. Good luck for the finals.

You had to go and mention the Saints didn't you.

 

[theGav56]

Out: Fyfe, Barlow
In: Morabito, Suban

Yeah, Ballantyne is over-rated.

 

[Allikat]

Yeah, Ballantyne is over-rated.

Hopefully he just did like I did and completely forget that Ballas wasn't playing. I've been so used to seeing 1 freaky little forward all year, that when putting my changes together I didn't realise that he looked very different.

 

[StingBitten]

In defence of Clancee, I read in the west (I think) that he was tagged, which I'm sure he isn't used to. At his best, I think he can add something to the mix. Won't be in this week though, hopefully he can pick his game up for Peel.

He's also coming off an injury layoff and actually hasn't seemed comfortable all season, not since his injury late last year. The same goes for Ibbotson actually.

 

[jusjoshin]

out: Barlow, Fyfe, Duffy (stiff but he's only played half a game in 2 weeks)
in: Suban, De Boer (sub) , Ballas.

I'm hoping that Sutty gets a run in the middle for a while. Definitely has the skillset required.

 

[StingBitten]

Crozier??? The guy who's scored 5 goals in 2 games. The guy who's been putting on great pressure up forward. The guy who is doing what Colin Sylvia should have been doing.

Guess we all see things differently.

You wouldn't believe how many Freo-supporters I've heard for Crozier to be dropped this week around the office ('just kick it' supporters).

They assume if somebody is subbed off not because they're injured therefore = they are s**t. Doesn't matter about the tackles, goals, score contributions or anything else.

 

[theGav56]

Hopefully he just did like I did and completely forget that Ballas wasn't playing. I've been so used to seeing 1 freaky little forward all year, that when putting my changes together I didn't realise that he looked very different.

Easy to do. I have no doubt he thinks Ballas is IN

 

[Taylor]

Out : Barlow
In : Ballantyne

 

[couldhavebeen]

Anyone else of the opinion we may need to rest Johnson who looked a bit proppy for Ibbo to play the 3rd tall.

MJ scrubbed a few kicks and it's not like him. There was a passage of play where he was running out of the middle and I could just see him selling candy to get around the opponent but he panicked and dished off an ugly disposal.

He isn't 100% and i think against the lack of decent talls for Brisbane we should bring Ibbo back. Bit much of an ask for A.Pearce to step up just yet at this time.

Seppo T agree with you on Johnson looking proppy and playing with general soreness . A couple of times he went to ground after a tackle and was very slow to get up ,but he as the true professional that he is got up and put the body on the line for the team .

If we beat Brisbane I think RTB and the match committee will give him the week off so that he can rest and receive treatment so that he is in good condition for the finals campaign IMHO .

There might be a couple of other players given a rest as well but this is a hypothetical and RTB doesn't deal in HYPOTHETICALS .

 

[yakamoto]

Barlow must be a bit of a wuss. Fair enough to miss the odd game if you break your leg, but a broken thumb I ask you. Brad Haddin wouldn't have bothered with an x-ray. He would have just donned the gloves and got on with it. Maybe Barlow will do the same if only for the PA game.

 

[couldhavebeen]

Woops sorry. I just read through the whole tribunal paper and a proper court (e.g. fed court) comes after the appeals board. I'll change my post & put our basis for appealing today's decision in the Fyfe thread

A team went to the Federal court many years ago over breaching the salary cap (I Think ) the memory is a bit hazy because it was in the late 70or early 80's . So yes a team can go there .
The cost is actually not that much to apply for a hearing but Queens council and the lawyers would break you bank account and mine as well .
as a side line I remember a jockey that took a stewards decision there so that he could continue to ride in the Spring Carnival .
If we went there the Judgement takes a little time so it could cause us more pain if as a result he plays in the last 2 home and away games but misses the Grand Final .

 

[couldhavebeen]

LOL I liked your initial post stating he was 105kg because I thought you were being sarcastic and intimating he's now closing in on a mature body. I didn't stop to think you might be serious!

He reads the play extremely well, big bodies don't phase him in a contest and he has a cool head when the heat is on him ,also he has a big tank so a 15 km run won't worry him either .