Preview Round 19 v Bulldogs @ Gabba, Friday 7:40pm

[3KZ is Football]

McLachlan shouldn't be rewarded after a poor game yesterday. Beecken should be.

Really. I didn’t see that. McKenna or Reville come in then and we shuffle Fletcher forward and give him Bailey’s midfield minutes. Nathan Barley posted the Fletcher idea earlier and it was a great one.

 

[3KZ is Football]

3 key backs round 1 2016,Andrews,Lester and Gardiner

They have synergy.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

Really. I didn’t see that. McKenna or Reville come in then and we shuffle Fletcher forward and give him Bailey’s midfield minutes. Nathan Barley posted the Fletcher idea earlier and it was a great one.

Why not Beecken?

 

[Dalions]

Doggies will be pretty desperate to get a win against a top 8 team where they are struggling big time this year.
But I think our boys will be pretty keen to get our Gabba record back on track so I expect us to hold them off but we will certainly need to be switched on.
We worked our way through them pretty easily in the second half earlier in the year so I hope we go in with a similar mindset and game plan in this one.

 

[Section 5]

If Bailey misses i think Reville takes that wing relief forward role. If Bailey appeal successful Reville to sub.

Gardiner for Answerth

One of Fort or Oscar misses out for Day

Sub if Bailey appeal not successful - Anyone, really won't matter much unless you have a crystal ball.

 

[Section 5]

Doggies will be pretty desperate to get a win against a top 8 team where they are struggling big time this year.
But I think our boys will be pretty keen to get our Gabba record back on track so I expect us to hold them off but we will certainly need to be switched on.
We worked our way through them pretty easily in the second half earlier in the year so I hope we go in with a similar mindset and game plan in this one.

Bont missed that game and he does make a difference to the Dogs.
Just another job for Dunkley to reduce his influence.

I am not worried about our Gabba record this year.
As you mentioned being switched on and early in the game is important.
When that happens, we usually play well.

 

[Dalions]

Bont missed that game and he does make a difference to the Dogs.
Just another job for Dunkley to reduce his influence.

I am not worried about our Gabba record this year.
As you mentioned being switched on and early in the game is important.
When that happens, we usually play well.

I think we will go in similar to the way we played Bont last year with Berry going to him at stoppages around the ground.
Dunkley may man up on him at Centre bounces but we will also need to pay pretty close attention to Ed Richards.
And have a plan for Bont when he rolls forward.

 

[Perrip]

 

[M Malice]

Current 7 day weather forecast has fine all the way though till next Monday except for Friday, evening is 40% chance of rain, fingers crossed the bureau is wrong again.

 

[twhowler]

Don't like our chances on the vibe of such a clear bump running past the ball - but if we can argue the head contact was minimal, and the damage was done on the turf, then perhaps we are a chance. don't reckon bailey has ever been in strife but charlie has used up the good bloke defence!

Assuming Bailey is out, i think we have to go Beecken. The dogs' strength is their midfield, and if we have Bailey out, and put Fletcher to half back, that is 2/3 of our best wingers. We could put Ah Chee out but he is our best defensive forward. So Gardiner as third tall, and Beecken to fourth small. Kiddy needs more footy. McKenna is an option i guess - the dogs don't have great smalls without Weightman so it's not a week we will badly miss Noah.

If Bailey plays, i suspect it will be fletch to HB, wings of bez, bailey and levi, and Reville sub.

Dogs are getting a bit of a blowtorch approach after the crows game of never beating top 8 teams. don't think it is a good week to get them - perfect ammunition for bevo who is a bit of an emotional coach. I suspect he will load up on experience and drop Dolan and Hynes. Possibly Jones in for O'Donnell too.

I think it's a bad week to miss Payne. He would have been perfect to body Darcy which is the way his efficacy has been curbed in recent weeks. Do we try dizzy to do the same thing? Or Harris time? I think Gardiner is best-placed to play on Naughton who is actually kicking their goals atm, so i would go with Gardiner on Naughton, Harris on Darcy, and Lester can play off his man and take some intercepts. Dogs also saying Darcy should be getting free kicks so lock in 2-3.

Bez did such a good job on Bont last time, do we try that again?

 

[StevoJenkins]

Answorth and Omac out, Beecken and Day in.

Could also go and put Fletcher back, allowing Marshall or Bruce to come in on the wing.

Not a VFL watcher, so don't know if Marshall, Beecken or Bruce should come in. As twhowler mentioned, could also bring in McKenna or Shagga in if Bailey is out.

 

[M Malice]

Don't like our chances on the vibe of such a clear bump running past the ball - but if we can argue the head contact was minimal, and the damage was done on the turf, then perhaps we are a chance. don't reckon bailey has ever been in strife but charlie has used up the good bloke defence!

Assuming Bailey is out, i think we have to go Beecken. The dogs' strength is their midfield, and if we have Bailey out, and put Fletcher to half back, that is 2/3 of our best wingers. We could put Ah Chee out but he is our best defensive forward. So Gardiner as third tall, and Beecken to fourth small. Kiddy needs more footy. McKenna is an option i guess - the dogs don't have great smalls without Weightman so it's not a week we will badly miss Noah.

If Bailey plays, i suspect it will be fletch to HB, wings of bez, bailey and levi, and Reville sub.

Dogs are getting a bit of a blowtorch approach after the crows game of never beating top 8 teams. don't think it is a good week to get them - perfect ammunition for bevo who is a bit of an emotional coach. I suspect he will load up on experience and drop Dolan and Hynes. Possibly Jones in for O'Donnell too.

I think it's a bad week to miss Payne. He would have been perfect to body Darcy which is the way his efficacy has been curbed in recent weeks. Do we try dizzy to do the same thing? Or Harris time? I think Gardiner is best-placed to play on Naughton who is actually kicking their goals atm, so i would go with Gardiner on Naughton, Harris on Darcy, and Lester can play off his man and take some intercepts. Dogs also saying Darcy should be getting free kicks so lock in 2-3.

Bez did such a good job on Bont last time, do we try that again?

No way Dizzy(192cm) can go to Darcy(208cm) IMO, there is no other option but Andrews(200cm).

As posted earlier by someone it will all come down to pressure up the ground for us, no one can defend unpressured entries into your D50.

I would go with your Gardiner to Naughton option.

 

[Nunez]

Andrews v Darcy was a great battle last time. Looking forward to round 2.

 

[JasRulz63]

If the AFL is all about punishing the end result of unnecessary actions, I'm surprised Darcy got off for breaking Butts' ribs +/- puncturing his lun.

Then again, he's the secondary (to Nick Daicos) golden child of the AFL media at the moment.

 

[M Malice]

If the AFL is all about punishing the end result of unnecessary actions, I'm surprised Darcy got off for breaking Butts' ribs +/- puncturing his lun.

Then again, he's the secondary (to Nick Daicos) golden child of the AFL media at the moment.

Yes you could bet your last Million that if Nick Daicos had done the exact same action and outcome as Zac Bailey did no one in the media(like Jay Clark did with Zac) would have been pushing the narrative that it needed to be looked at and Michael Christian would of done nothing.

Christian reacts to faux media outrage.

 

[twhowler]

No way Dizzy(192cm) can go to Darcy(208cm) IMO, there is no other option but Andrews(200cm).

As posted earlier by someone it will all come down to pressure up the ground for us, no one can defend unpressured entries into your D50.

I would go with your Gardiner to Naughton option.

I tend to agree. I think Lester is 192cm and Dizzy 194cm? But yes it would be a stretch. Wil Dawson was a bit of a no-name who did the job on Darcy by getting him under the ball against North, but looking him up he is 200cm so has a fair bit on dizzy!

As to pressure, centre clearances will be massive. Not exactly our strength this year, but a bit better lately: 12-10 against Carlton, 17-14 against Port, 10-10 against Geelong. Before that is the worry, got smacked 10-18 against GWS and only managed 12-12 against Essendon. Lost 11-18 against Melbourne, 10-10 against North. The North and Dees games were a lot about our rucks getting smoked.

The dogs actually won CC against Adelaide 18-11, but then the crows are much better off for talls at either end than us atm. They beat us 22-13 CC in round 5 with no Bont! Fair to say we will need to be better than that

English can have some very good games but would not call him an elite ruck. Ideally a fit Oscar would be clattering in to him but that seems to be a thing of the past...

 

[Section 5]

Hopefully Hippy continues his goal scoring from out of our last 2 Bulldog encounters
Last 2 being 5 & 6 goals but the previous 2 games just 1 & 1.

 

[Grasshopper17]

As to pressure, centre clearances will be massive. Not exactly our strength this year, but a bit better lately: 12-10 against Carlton, 17-14 against Port, 10-10 against Geelong. Before that is the worry, got smacked 10-18 against GWS and only managed 12-12 against Essendon. Lost 11-18 against Melbourne, 10-10 against North. The North and Dees games were a lot about our rucks getting smoked.

The dogs actually won CC against Adelaide 18-11, but then the crows are much better off for talls at either end than us atm. They beat us 22-13 CC in round 5 with no Bont! Fair to say we will need to be better than that

With respect to our centre clearances, it's not about the numbers for and against, it's more about the quality of them, particularly the ones we've lost. We've looked pretty vulnerable and allowed teams to come out the front far too often/easily in several games of late.

 

[rye]

maybe a hot take but i think losing answerth is bigger than losing payne.

payne is a better player but answerth contributes to one of our biggest points of difference from other contenders - we have two genuine lockdown small defenders. the best teams in it have a plethora of damaging small / medium forwards. lets look at the rest of the top 4:

collingwood: elliot, hill, de goey
adelaide: rachele, rankine, keays
geelong: miers, stengle, close, mannagh

gws outside of this but have a lethal selection of smalls as well. i thought in the finals last year having both answerth and starcevich made us so much better defensively as we had the coverage to lockdown on those dangerous small forwards and then provide drive from half back alongside wilmot and zorko (both answerth and starcevich have significantly improved their disposal from 2-3 years ago).

with both answerth and starcevich in the side we have very rarely had opposition small forwards have a day out on us and looked rock solid defensively. i worry that we lose that edge now. with answerth going down those opposition mosquito fleets become a much scarier prospect. gardiner instead of payne exacerbates this as he takes far less intercepts than payne which gives more opportunities for those smalls to get involved.

will be interesting to see how the coaches handle it.

 

[3KZ is Football]

Why not Beecken?

I haven’t seen enough of him. That said, McKenna’s a Premiership player and Reville can defend and like McKenna, is amazing on the rebound.

 

[martinson]

maybe a hot take but i think losing answerth is bigger than losing payne.

payne is a better player but answerth contributes to one of our biggest points of difference from other contenders - we have two genuine lockdown small defenders. the best teams in it have a plethora of damaging small / medium forwards. lets look at the rest of the top 4:

collingwood: elliot, hill, de goey
adelaide: rachele, rankine, keays
geelong: miers, stengle, close, mannagh

gws outside of this but have a lethal selection of smalls as well. i thought in the finals last year having both answerth and starcevich made us so much better defensively as we had the coverage to lockdown on those dangerous small forwards and then provide drive from half back alongside wilmot and zorko (both answerth and starcevich have significantly improved their disposal from 2-3 years ago).

with both answerth and starcevich in the side we have very rarely had opposition small forwards have a day out on us and looked rock solid defensively. i worry that we lose that edge now. with answerth going down those opposition mosquito fleets become a much scarier prospect. gardiner instead of payne exacerbates this as he takes far less intercepts than payne which gives more opportunities for those smalls to get involved.

will be interesting to see how the coaches handle it.

Answerth's a big loss imo. He just keeps going whatever happens and rarely has an ordinary game. You wouldn't want to play on him. Just devastated for him as well, he doesn't deserve it ,but that's footy.

 

[twhowler]

maybe a hot take but i think losing answerth is bigger than losing payne.

payne is a better player but answerth contributes to one of our biggest points of difference from other contenders - we have two genuine lockdown small defenders. the best teams in it have a plethora of damaging small / medium forwards. lets look at the rest of the top 4:

collingwood: elliot, hill, de goey
adelaide: rachele, rankine, keays
geelong: miers, stengle, close, mannagh

gws outside of this but have a lethal selection of smalls as well. i thought in the finals last year having both answerth and starcevich made us so much better defensively as we had the coverage to lockdown on those dangerous small forwards and then provide drive from half back alongside wilmot and zorko (both answerth and starcevich have significantly improved their disposal from 2-3 years ago).

with both answerth and starcevich in the side we have very rarely had opposition small forwards have a day out on us and looked rock solid defensively. i worry that we lose that edge now. with answerth going down those opposition mosquito fleets become a much scarier prospect. gardiner instead of payne exacerbates this as he takes far less intercepts than payne which gives more opportunities for those smalls to get involved.

will be interesting to see how the coaches handle it.

for that reason i'd be keen to give beecken a go rather than fletcher

i wonder if mckenna has the discipline to play the role? if he's told you are best 22 if you play this role, surely he could give it a good shake - he has the speed and athleticism

 

[CarterS]

Fox Footy power rankings article this morning says Lions 2025 draw might be the hardest draw of all time. Potentially 3xTop 4 double ups and 6xTop 10 double ups.

 

[MSB ROYS]

Fox Footy power rankings article this morning says Lions 2025 draw might be the hardest draw of all time. Potentially 3xTop 4 double ups and 6xTop 10 double ups.

And yet Geelong always seem to get a much easier draw.

 

[Nathan Barley]

Fox Footy power rankings article this morning says Lions 2025 draw might be the hardest draw of all time. Potentially 3xTop 4 double ups and 6xTop 10 double ups.

Payback now that the Suns are a decent team