- Nov 23, 2015
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- #1
We made it into finals! After a thrilling rollercoaster ride during the home and away season, only temporarily dipping out of the Top 8 once (in round 16), we ended up in 5th place on the ladder. Equal with both Collingwood (4th) and Fremantle (6th), percentage (and Gold Coast's stunning loss to Port in round 24) put us into an elimination final at home against the Hawks. It's the third time in his three years that Adam Kingsley has guided his team into finals. I'm sure he will be hoping to go further than in the previous two years.
Lots of questions about the make-up of the finals side, with a host of big names missing games late in the season, but a chance of being available next weekend. Binga Daniels should be a certainty to make the side after a successful return via the VFL last weekend. His speed and footy IQ will be absolutely vital if we want to win the game. The biggest name who could return would be Jesse Hogan, his navicular injury sidelining him since round 21. No doubt we'd love to get him back, but with Gru having done a solid job in his absence, there's little point bringing him in if he's not capable of doing his job. Jake Stringer has been declared fit, so he presumably would come in. I know a few of us have commented about him possibly returning via the sub role, but I can't see that in a final. The only question for me would be whether - if Jesse's not available - we keep Gru and bring in Jake, or possibly swap Gru for Jake. I suspect the former will be the case.
The other certain return, presuming he's fit, would be Jack Buckley for Leek Aleer. Buckley forms such a deadly defensive partnership with Sam Taylor, and his return would certainly calm the nerves about our defensive wall. Finally, Josh Kelly seems unlikely to be ready to return for this game. A bit like Jesse, my view would be if he's not 100% then we shouldn't risk bringing him in. We've got the soldiers to replace him, so let him reach 100% fitness and rely on his mates to do the job and win through to the next weekend of finals. I have assumed that Cogs will pass his concussion test and retain his place in the side.
Hawks on the other hand have a short injury list, missing just Will Day, while Josh Weddle will likely return after his solid outing in VFL today. So, no excuses from the Hawks on the personnel front. As a finals adversary, Hawthorn would be a team we can't complain about drawing. Our home record against them is the second strongest we hold, with 8 wins and 2 losses from 10 games. (Away they would be a nightmare, because we've never actually beaten them!) The game earlier this year in the frozen wasteland of Tasmania was an odd one, where we got away to a great first quarter with the wind, then gave it all back (and more) into the wind, let them sneak some goals in the third, and played out a low scoring final quarter to lose by 12. Hopefully this game is only like the first quarter of that game!
We know that Hawks are going to play Hokball, and aim to use their smalls to score goals, although Mabior Chol had a great season and Calsher Dear has proven himself to be a great aerialist. So our defence is going to have to be pretty sharp across the board. We definitely looked our best during the season when we engaged the tsunami, so my view would be that we need to make sure that we go in with fit players, and not go too tall but ensure we have a team that will run all day. The recent free kick count also shows that Hawks are umpires' darlings, and we're their bastard child. So, we need to be somewhat cautious - you can never be entirely cautious in the contest or you'll lose - but playing a running game would hopefully assist us. That, and our fans turning up in force and being loud in the stadium!
So, for me based on the vibes at the moment on fitness, changes would be:
IN: Binga Daniel, Jack Buckley, Jake Stringer
OUT: Jacob Wehr, Leek Aleer, Max Gruzewski
B: Idun, Taylor, Himmelberg
HB: Whitfield, Buckley, Ash
C: O'Halloran, Coniglio, Angwin
HF: Bedford, Cadman, Jones
F: Greene, Riccardi, Brown
R: Briggs, Green, Callaghan
IC: Fonti, Thomas, Daniels, Stringer
Sub: Rowston
What are your thoughts on who we should bring in, depending on who's fit? What do we need to do to beat the Hawks?
Lots of questions about the make-up of the finals side, with a host of big names missing games late in the season, but a chance of being available next weekend. Binga Daniels should be a certainty to make the side after a successful return via the VFL last weekend. His speed and footy IQ will be absolutely vital if we want to win the game. The biggest name who could return would be Jesse Hogan, his navicular injury sidelining him since round 21. No doubt we'd love to get him back, but with Gru having done a solid job in his absence, there's little point bringing him in if he's not capable of doing his job. Jake Stringer has been declared fit, so he presumably would come in. I know a few of us have commented about him possibly returning via the sub role, but I can't see that in a final. The only question for me would be whether - if Jesse's not available - we keep Gru and bring in Jake, or possibly swap Gru for Jake. I suspect the former will be the case.
The other certain return, presuming he's fit, would be Jack Buckley for Leek Aleer. Buckley forms such a deadly defensive partnership with Sam Taylor, and his return would certainly calm the nerves about our defensive wall. Finally, Josh Kelly seems unlikely to be ready to return for this game. A bit like Jesse, my view would be if he's not 100% then we shouldn't risk bringing him in. We've got the soldiers to replace him, so let him reach 100% fitness and rely on his mates to do the job and win through to the next weekend of finals. I have assumed that Cogs will pass his concussion test and retain his place in the side.
Hawks on the other hand have a short injury list, missing just Will Day, while Josh Weddle will likely return after his solid outing in VFL today. So, no excuses from the Hawks on the personnel front. As a finals adversary, Hawthorn would be a team we can't complain about drawing. Our home record against them is the second strongest we hold, with 8 wins and 2 losses from 10 games. (Away they would be a nightmare, because we've never actually beaten them!) The game earlier this year in the frozen wasteland of Tasmania was an odd one, where we got away to a great first quarter with the wind, then gave it all back (and more) into the wind, let them sneak some goals in the third, and played out a low scoring final quarter to lose by 12. Hopefully this game is only like the first quarter of that game!
We know that Hawks are going to play Hokball, and aim to use their smalls to score goals, although Mabior Chol had a great season and Calsher Dear has proven himself to be a great aerialist. So our defence is going to have to be pretty sharp across the board. We definitely looked our best during the season when we engaged the tsunami, so my view would be that we need to make sure that we go in with fit players, and not go too tall but ensure we have a team that will run all day. The recent free kick count also shows that Hawks are umpires' darlings, and we're their bastard child. So, we need to be somewhat cautious - you can never be entirely cautious in the contest or you'll lose - but playing a running game would hopefully assist us. That, and our fans turning up in force and being loud in the stadium!
So, for me based on the vibes at the moment on fitness, changes would be:
IN: Binga Daniel, Jack Buckley, Jake Stringer
OUT: Jacob Wehr, Leek Aleer, Max Gruzewski
B: Idun, Taylor, Himmelberg
HB: Whitfield, Buckley, Ash
C: O'Halloran, Coniglio, Angwin
HF: Bedford, Cadman, Jones
F: Greene, Riccardi, Brown
R: Briggs, Green, Callaghan
IC: Fonti, Thomas, Daniels, Stringer
Sub: Rowston
What are your thoughts on who we should bring in, depending on who's fit? What do we need to do to beat the Hawks?
