- Nov 23, 2015
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Well, wasn't that just a Dee-lightful Dee-molition of Melbourne at their home away from home, Alice Springs. The Orange Tsunami wasn't really seen - too much fog and rain - but there was plenty of grit and determination. In all seriousness, the conditions made the game really difficult, and while realistically you could say that Melbourne were unfortunate not to win due to their lack of goal-kicking accuracy, that really doesn't do justice to the effort that the Giants' players put in. It's the only time a team coming off the bye has won against a team that wasn't coming off a bye; Melbourne are a top 4 team and Giants were bottom 4 until a couple of weeks ago; we got smashed in virtually every statistic in the game - yet were still there and thereabouts at the end. And as the saying goes, bad kicking is bad footy.
Tom Green had a huge game in the wet, and provided a huge amount of contested possession. Josh Kelly continued his sublime run of form - he actually does get a lot of contested ball (12, behind only Green with 16 in this game) - but then has the outside game to launch us into attack. And kick monster 60m goals to win the game. The defenders were immense - Sam Taylor and Nick Haynes provided an intercepting masterclass, with 25 between them. There were other outstanding efforts across the park; from Callum Brown, to Toby Bedford, to Xavier O'Halloran, to HH being huge in the D50 counterattack.
So, on to next week, and it's the preferred slot of 4.35 pm Saturday for the game against Hawthorn. We're on the run home now, with a sniff of hope to make finals. I hope that a huge crowd turns up to support us in a game that is eminently winnable. The Hawks gave us a massive scare in Gather Round, but they have been soundly been the past two weeks while missing James Sicily, and unfortunately for them he's out for this match too. So, if the weather is kind, and fine, it gives Adam Kingsley the perfect opportunity to get our running game going. Given that the team won today, you would expect very few changes. However, Whitfield will be back from suspension, and hopefully Binga Daniels might be back too. I would hope that they bring those guys back in, but you'd have to ask how they fit them in.
Down the back is still a conundrum with HH and Haynes effectively vying for the same spot; adding Whitfield back into the mix just adds to that pressure. I still believe that Keeffe should not be in the team when we're almost at full strength. Personally, I'd put HH back up front, and go back to the defensive 7 set-up from early in the season. Binga for Lloyd up front seems a no-brainer, if the former returns from injury. I would even go for a two-KPD forward line - Hogan and Riccardi - and maximise the small forward in preference to keeping Keeffe.
Anyway, we'll see on Thursday how AK plans to go about it. What it does do is keep the pressure on for everyone to perform, because everyone's playing well, executing AK's gameplan, and few injuries to allow the easy-in.
How are you seeing the likely team changes this week?
Tom Green had a huge game in the wet, and provided a huge amount of contested possession. Josh Kelly continued his sublime run of form - he actually does get a lot of contested ball (12, behind only Green with 16 in this game) - but then has the outside game to launch us into attack. And kick monster 60m goals to win the game. The defenders were immense - Sam Taylor and Nick Haynes provided an intercepting masterclass, with 25 between them. There were other outstanding efforts across the park; from Callum Brown, to Toby Bedford, to Xavier O'Halloran, to HH being huge in the D50 counterattack.
So, on to next week, and it's the preferred slot of 4.35 pm Saturday for the game against Hawthorn. We're on the run home now, with a sniff of hope to make finals. I hope that a huge crowd turns up to support us in a game that is eminently winnable. The Hawks gave us a massive scare in Gather Round, but they have been soundly been the past two weeks while missing James Sicily, and unfortunately for them he's out for this match too. So, if the weather is kind, and fine, it gives Adam Kingsley the perfect opportunity to get our running game going. Given that the team won today, you would expect very few changes. However, Whitfield will be back from suspension, and hopefully Binga Daniels might be back too. I would hope that they bring those guys back in, but you'd have to ask how they fit them in.
Down the back is still a conundrum with HH and Haynes effectively vying for the same spot; adding Whitfield back into the mix just adds to that pressure. I still believe that Keeffe should not be in the team when we're almost at full strength. Personally, I'd put HH back up front, and go back to the defensive 7 set-up from early in the season. Binga for Lloyd up front seems a no-brainer, if the former returns from injury. I would even go for a two-KPD forward line - Hogan and Riccardi - and maximise the small forward in preference to keeping Keeffe.
Anyway, we'll see on Thursday how AK plans to go about it. What it does do is keep the pressure on for everyone to perform, because everyone's playing well, executing AK's gameplan, and few injuries to allow the easy-in.
How are you seeing the likely team changes this week?
