Preview Round 1 v Carlton MCG Thursday March 14 7.30pm

[TigerImposter]

massive game for Taranto & Hopper.

We had the opportunity to get a younger, midfield prospect for around the same contract in Cerra 12 months earlier & went with them instead. Taranto i have a lot of time for as i was willing to gamble on his trade at the cost we gave up he won the bloody b&f, and did very well in the Brownlow. Hopper we were drafting coming off a 7 game season and a serious injury. I still have nfi why we paid the same contract & trade wise for both. Cerra at his age was always a better match.

Hopper / Cerra have real reason to be compared. Carlton gave up pick 6 & we had pick 9 and likely could have made a deal work with later swaps. We gave up pick 8 +31 for Hopper + pick in 50s, which is slightly more IMO. Cerra has definitely had the better 2 years & is still younger than Hopper than when we drafted him & featured in nearly twice as many matches, with higher disposal # and effectiveness usage. They have similar clearance & tackle rate, but Cerra is doing it at 22,23y.os Vs Hopper 26.27yo.s

Hopper should be frothing at the mouth to go head to head on him to show they made the right call. If this guy is a the inside beast everyone kept trying to tell me he is, he should 100% see the extra cheese on this one for him personally. It would be pretty s**t if he got towelled up in the middle by a 22 & 24 year old in consecutive weeks. Will definitely be the 2 players i will be watching most as a decent "sliding doors" moment

Rain is going to help most of our slow tractors. I wouldn’t risk lynch in these conditions as it’s long term with him.

 

[beema limapep]

We are NO chance if their midfielders dominate and Curow and McKay get regular supply.
Can’t just go with 3 plodders in there at the same time. You need some explosiveness around Hopper, Taranto and Prestia. We look sooo much more dangerous when Bolton is in there.
But our forward line looks so much more potent when he’s down there

Agree we are gunna get shredded.

Problem with Bolton though is he only plays for 1 or 2 halves a game, and (to date) has a history of only playing well for 8-10 games a year.

 

[beema limapep]

Carlton are easily gunna beat us.

The midfield is too slow compared to theirs and even when we are in a position to tackle we cant stick them. Watch for Cripps and friends to do a Rowell part 2.

10 goal loss coming up.

 

[beema limapep]

We are in big trouble tonight.

BIG TIME everybody.

 

[Truetiger]

Good to see so much positivity first thing in the morning lol.

 

[Del65166]

Agree we are gunna get shredded.

Problem with Bolton though is he only plays for 1 or 2 halves a game, and (to date) has a history of only playing well for 8-10 games a year.

Bolton was our leading goal scorer. amazing kicking skills, I recall a couple of years ago he was our leading clearance player too.

Averages "elite" clearances... and is genuinely evasive. A huge point of difference to our other players.

we have enough small fwds this week, Bolton to the middle please

 

[Tiger_4_Life]

What did people think Kosi was? We gave up pick 49 for him. We gave him a modest 3-year deal. We are not stupid … he’s a 23yo Key position utility who is a big young body to play KPF when Lynch is injured / retired. He can also provide ruck coverage with Soldo gone and an injury prone Nank. And perhaps he can develop into a KPD down the track.

Last year the problem wasn’t so much Jack as a forward .. he kicked 30-odd goals. The problem was Jack’s opponent was often BOG for the oppo as Jack was cooked from a defensive capability. Kosi is young and fit and when he plays it’s going to be about providing a contest, kicking a few goals and not letting his man dominate.

If and when Lynch is injured imagine we didn’t have Kosi? Who plays KP forward to help Balta? Ryan?

Kosi is KP depth. Sure, we’d still be hoping he develops and becomes a solid senior player, but worst case he’s a big young body to provide assistance to Balta and to protect a raw Ryan up forward when he’s needed. He was never any sort of ‘saviour’ and it doesn’t surprise me at all with Lynch fit and Balta playing forward he’s in the VFL. That’ll be his spot whenever those 2 big guys are fit and playing forward.


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With all respect, he's not depth, he's already in early Capuano territory. It wouldn't matter of he weighed 200kg, he plays scared and is as soft as butter. This is reality.

I think Yze would have seen enough after a 4 touch bruise free game.

Bradtke was a better player than Kosi and he was shown the door.

 

[Drunken Wookie]

will be good to kick the season proper off with a win.

 

[DickieKnee]

I've got a feeling we are going to get smashed tonight.

 

[energyquant]

I'm going into tonight with low expectations. We need a huge lift in the midfield, so we can grab some territory. We can't beat their forwards 1:1, so it will have to be about defensive structure all night. Quite honestly, unless we dominate the midfield (unlikely) Curnow and McKay are going to get a LOT of opportunities. We need Tom Lynch to be the Big Tuna and a Balta miracle (the one where he plays like a forward).

If we win, I reckon Jack Ross

5

Jack Ross

Age

25

Ht

187cm

Wt

87kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.2

4star

K

7.8

3star

HB

8.4

5star

M

2.2

2star

T

2.7

4star

CL

3.0

4star

D

13.7

3star

K

6.7

3star

HB

7.0

4star

M

1.7

2star

T

1.7

3star

CL

2.0

4star

D

17.8

5star

K

8.0

3star

HB

9.8

5star

M

2.6

3star

T

2.8

5star

CL

3.0

5star

will be BOG.

 

[Pattiger]

What did people think Kosi was? We gave up pick 49 for him. We gave him a modest 3-year deal. We are not stupid … he’s a 23yo Key position utility who is a big young body to play KPF when Lynch is injured / retired. He can also provide ruck coverage with Soldo gone and an injury prone Nank. And perhaps he can develop into a KPD down the track.

Last year the problem wasn’t so much Jack as a forward .. he kicked 30-odd goals. The problem was Jack’s opponent was often BOG for the oppo as Jack was cooked from a defensive capability. Kosi is young and fit and when he plays it’s going to be about providing a contest, kicking a few goals and not letting his man dominate.

If and when Lynch is injured imagine we didn’t have Kosi? Who plays KP forward to help Balta? Ryan?

Kosi is KP depth. Sure, we’d still be hoping he develops and becomes a solid senior player, but worst case he’s a big young body to provide assistance to Balta and to protect a raw Ryan up forward when he’s needed. He was never any sort of ‘saviour’ and it doesn’t surprise me at all with Lynch fit and Balta playing forward he’s in the VFL. That’ll be his spot whenever those 2 big guys are fit and playing forward.


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Balta Playing forward ? Real cost is that King kicked 5 goals - Was Baltas contribution worth 5 Goals - Who is going to handle Mckay or Curnow ? We have a wealth of small forwards Campbell Clarke Cumbo Green - 2017 Premiers - Reiwoldt and a small mosquito fleet

 

[biaseddustyfan]

there's no farken point in playing Lunchy on limited minutes

if he's ready to go he plays the full game. if not let him rest so he doesn't get meehan'd into another 12 weeks off

 

[lumpinee]

Balta Playing forward ? Real cost is that King kicked 5 goals - Was Baltas contribution worth 5 Goals - Who is going to handle Mckay or Curnow ? We have a wealth of small forwards Campbell Clarke Cumbo Green - 2017 Premiers - Reiwoldt and a small mosquito fleet

spot on,as they say in Rugby league parlance regarding the full Back and the half back,its all good lookin flashy and scoring 3-4 tries
in attack but its all pointless if theyre missing and arriving late in tackles resulting in 4-5 tries the other way,the Balta fwd experiment is a proven failure,proven,there isnt an an ounce of evidence thats its worth persisting with,ive searched and yet to find anythin

 

[beema limapep]

Bolton was our leading goal scorer. amazing kicking skills, I recall a couple of years ago he was our leading clearance player too.

Averages "elite" clearances... and is genuinely evasive. A huge point of difference to our other players.

we have enough small fwds this week, Bolton to the middle please

Funny there is an ongoing argument on this forum across multiple threads that we need Balta both back, forward and ruck, as well as Bolton in the midfield, and forward.

Maybe the focus of the arguement should be that when you have to shift our biggest impact players to all lines across the ground because they are getting murdered, it's not a structure problem it's simply a list problem.

We simply don't have the cattle across all lines. As much as we would hope these swings are a fix, they somewhat mask the bigger issue.

 

[rfctigerarmy]

Gonna loose by 10 goals

 

[Spacedog]

Balta Playing forward ? Real cost is that King kicked 5 goals - Was Baltas contribution worth 5 Goals - Who is going to handle Mckay or Curnow ? We have a wealth of small forwards Campbell Clarke Cumbo Green - 2017 Premiers - Reiwoldt and a small mosquito fleet

When the ball was coming in as easily and often as it did last week King would’ve kicked a bag regardless of who was playing on him

 

[AstuteTiger]

Rain is going to help most of our slow tractors. I wouldn’t risk lynch in these conditions as it’s long term with him.

No rain tonight, just overcast.

 

[lumpinee]

Not my job to prive you wrong. How about you prove yourself right first


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ive made the claim that those small fwds selected tonight,Mansell,MRJ are failures in the position thus far based on the stats available
up to whomever to prove the claim wrong,not the other way round ,just go look at the stats

MRJ & Mansell ,disposals ,goals,scores per game V DRioli & Castagna,disposals,goals ,scores pg first 30 games,let alone 5 seasons in,see for yaself.

i can tell ya here, MRJ goes @ a goal every 6 qtrs & Rhyan @ 1 goal every 3 games,
what to say ?

 

[Willo_23]

We'll challenge them tonight IMO, I reckon it's going to be a close one. We'll have learned a bit from last week and will be better around the stoppages, that's going to be the key.

 

[Tiger_Of_Old]

I've got a feeling we are going to get smashed tonight.

Blooze beat Brisvagas away.
Even gave them a 7 goal start.
Expecting the opposite tonight from us.
1st half competitive.
2nd half horrible

 

[DickieKnee]

Blooze beat Brisvagas away.
Even gave them a 7 goal start.
Expecting the opposite tonight from us.
1st half competitive.
2nd half horrible

Reckon it will be like last week. Blues will smash us first half then ease off to a 4/5 goal win second half.

 

[Grechy]

Hopper and Taranto need to assert themselves in the middle tonight. I think we'll be better with Nank in the ruck.

 

[beema limapep]

Good to see so much positivity first thing in the morning lol.

Maybe negativity but why stay positive if the writing is on the wall.

5 day break for us vs 6 day break for Carlton.

5 days ago we Lost to last years 15th by 40 points.

Carlton beat last years runner up away.

Our midfield has major issues. Carltons midfield is stronger than Gold Coasts. The addition of Martin (who isn't defensive) won't impact stemming the flow.

Lynch coming back off a year long injury, with Yze confirming he won't play his usual gametime.

Thats before we get to the umpires.

Umps love Carlton and in particular free kicks given to their key fwds in front of goal for the slightest of touches.

The writing is on the wall.

 

[_jrtp09_]

 

[Tiger_Of_Old]

Reckon it will be like last week. Blues will smash us first half then ease off to a 4/5 goal win second half.

That wouldn't look good for yze if that happens.