Blues Quick Small Fwds...

[Big Red is back]

Doesn't matter. Carlton match up well on Geelong, they beat them last year too.

With our shit-down defence, and the sheer quantity of shit coming out of the Carlton backline, their small forwards will have to get on the bike in their dugouts to keep warm.

Your saying we match up well against the best side of the modern era and that doesn't scare you?

FYI 3 V1 LAST 4 TIMES BLUES V PIES. I AM SCARED FOR U.

 

[frizzle]

My focus would be Judd, Gibbs, Murphy,Simmo, scotland, carratos etc etc.

We bat deep real real deep.

I tell you one thing. That midfield will be under 5 times the pressure they were under by the cats today.

We go pretty deep ourselves.
Pendles, Swan, Beams, Wellingham, Ball, Sidebottom, Thomas & Didak.

 

[TheGreatGrundy]

I'm not opposed to bringing in Goldy for Caff..

Agree. The Caff looks a bit slow sometimes. Goldy will suit the Carlton forward set up better.

 

[HFF]

Very lively trio the Blues have but I'm confident we have the defence and players to stop them. Harry and Heater are both in AA form and just about elite HBF. Toovey we underrate but defensively he is very good and thus he can be relied upon to contain one of them. We can also bring in Goldy this week as he was in the bests again in the VFL.

IMO, I think the Blues need to worry about Cloke.

Every time we play them, Jamison goes to Medhurst but this time they actually may need him to go to Cloke. This plays into our hands as Cloke can push up the ground and draw Jamison away from his comfort zone and thus leaving our mediums to expose their small defenders.

 

[mdc]

Agree. The Caff looks a bit slow sometimes. Goldy will suit the Carlton forward set up better.

Goldsack might be quicker, but he also has a history of being completely incompetent when matched up against small forwards.

And in any case, as has been said, Harry/Shaw/Toovey is more than enough.

 

[Copeland]

Is Hawkins really what we want to use as a measuring stick? If Hawkins was getting games ahead of JA in our team, I'd be bloody furious.

It would just be an interesting comparison. Hawkins is a year ahead but I reckon Dawes will blitz him.

 

[KissStephanie]

Your saying we match up well against the best side of the modern era and that doesn't scare you?

I can't speak for the person you responded to, but I can speak for myself. Geelong were terrible today. They looked like Hawthorn did last season. Congratulations to Carlton for a very good performance though, but they aren't scary. No team is scary. Some teams are harder to beat than others, and most teams can beat any team if they don't come to play.

FYI 3 V1 LAST 4 TIMES BLUES V PIES.

And Collingwood has beaten Carlton six of the last ten, and nine of the last fifteen. Of those three Carlton wins, Fevola kicked 7 goals in a 23 point win, and then he kicked 8 goals in a 30 point win, while the other match was when Collingwood were decimated with injury and confidence was at it's lowest point of last season.

I AM SCARED FOR U.

Maybe you're the only one that is.

 

[chop_me]

Goldsack might be quicker, but he also has a history of being completely incompetent when matched up against small forwards.

And in any case, as has been said, Harry/Shaw/Toovey is more than enough.

i agree with this.. and the Caff isn't that slow either as some suggested...

is our defence a bit too tall?

 

[rose jam]

O'Brien has a habit of owning Betts, and Shaw on Yarran seems like a good fit since Shaw can own him in the air and get him to think about chasing him. Toovey will take Gartlett which I think even I would be happy with.
If the midfield pressure is half reasonable that forward line of Carlton's is laughable. Henderson and O'Halpin, gimme a break they are bordering on terrible.

Geelong were just an ordinary team today that looked asleep and disinterested. Only Richmond and Adelaide wouldn't have taken them today.

 

[Greening Magic]

Small quick forwards usually only have a field day when their team is dominating the clearances and stoppages as Carlton seemed to today. (Don't know the stats).

We need to concentrate on winning the midfield battle.

If both sides played at their best I think we'd win quite comfortably.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

Your saying we match up well against the best side of the modern era and that doesn't scare you?

FYI 3 V1 LAST 4 TIMES BLUES V PIES. I AM SCARED FOR U.

Correct. Matchups mean little. Otherwise after Essendon beat you by 20 points, and we beat Essendon by 65 points in a canter, you should just pack up and give your players a fortnight's recovery for round 7.

Incidentally, the Brisbane Lions of 2001-2004 are the best side of the modern era. Sure, it was artificial, but the team could still play.

My focus would be Judd, Gibbs, Murphy,Simmo, scotland, carratos etc etc.

We bat deep real real deep.

We bat deeper. Feel free to start a poll on it on the polls board if you like. You might have us for top-end talent, ie. Judd, but our depth shits all over yours. Only Carlton supporters rate Scotland or Carazzo, FWIW.

 

[The Exorcist]

Collingwood has beaten Carlton six of the last ten, and nine of the last fifteen. Of those three Carlton wins, Fevola kicked 7 goals in a 23 point win, and then he kicked 8 goals in a 30 point win, while the other match was when Collingwood were decimated with injury and confidence was at it's lowest point of last season.Maybe you're the only one that is.

... and Carlton has beaten Collingwood in 3 of the last 4.

Yes, Fev did make a difference in 2 of those games, but if you look at the title of this thread i think the point is that the Blues have a new look, multi-dimensional forward line that appears dangerous, effectively replacing Fev (for what it's worth, i'll take a multi-dimensional forward line any day over a forward line with one exceptional forward, it's much harder for the opposition to counter).

As for a team being decimated with injury, sure that's a factor but are you going to hang your hat on that as the sole reason why Carlton won that game, it was a very convincing victory? Being gracious in defeat is often viewed as a positive.

As for this coming game the Pies are in better form than the Cats. Your running has been impressive this year, the Pies are a tough, hard outfit, who apply great pressure on the opposition.

The Pies should go in as favourites, the question for the teams are:

• Can the Pies stop the Blues midfield and the small forwards who have done well the last two weeks?
• Can the Blues stop the Pies continuous pressure and run out of the backline and a strong running midfield?

 

[Swooop]

... and Carlton has beaten Collingwood in 3 of the last 4.

Yes, Fev did make a difference in 2 of those games, but if you look at the title of this thread i think the point is that the Blues have a new look, multi-dimensional forward line that appears dangerous, effectively replacing Fev (for what it's worth, i'll take a multi-dimensional forward line any day over a forward line with one exceptional forward, it's much harder for the opposition to counter).

As for a team being decimated with injury, sure that's a factor but are you going to hang your hat on that as the sole reason why Carlton won that game, it was a very convincing victory? Being gracious in defeat is often viewed as a positive.

As for this coming game the Pies are in better form than the Cats. Your running has been impressive this year, the Pies are a tough, hard outfit, who apply great pressure on the opposition.

The Pies should go in as favourites, the question for the teams are:

• Can the Pies stop the Blues midfield and the small forwards who have done well the last two weeks?
• Can the Blues stop the Pies continuous pressure and run out of the backline and a strong running midfield?

This is a very good, fair post Exorcist. You guys played fantastically well today, no doubt giving plenty of fuel to the opinion that the Cats have seen their best days for a while ( thank the merciful lord, plus his sweet child)

Your midfield is your key I think and in the past has killed us. Judd is superhuman.

Our midfield is much improved this year, it will be far more even there, on the balance of probabilities.

Our backs should be able to exert enough pressure on your forwards to reduce their output. Agree on their day, your forwards are full of life and sparkle, but equally they are still pretty inexperienced and may well go missing against a really top quality backline, like ours has been lately.

(Equally, our forwards can go missing eg vs Saints and even Dees, so who knows)

If we turn up to play, I think we'll win by a bit.

If you guys turn up to play, and we don't, you win a close one.

Once again, will be fascinating to see how it pans out.

 

[Thommo 42]

Stop Judd, stop Carlton.

Yarran is the only real class in that forward line, Harry or Heater can blanket him.

 

[davis_756]

Very lively trio the Blues have but I'm confident we have the defence and players to stop them. Harry and Heater are both in AA form and just about elite HBF. Toovey we underrate but defensively he is very good and thus he can be relied upon to contain one of them. We can also bring in Goldy this week as he was in the bests again in the VFL.

IMO, I think the Blues need to worry about Cloke.

Every time we play them, Jamison goes to Medhurst but this time they actually may need him to go to Cloke. This plays into our hands as Cloke can push up the ground and draw Jamison away from his comfort zone and thus leaving our mediums to expose their small defenders.

Worry about Cloke? lol

No offense but we could play eddie betts on him and he would still kick 1.7. If he could hit the side of a barn with some of his shots on goal he might be a threat but until then i'd be all for the rookie White playing on him even with Bower back next week.

 

[PieBeast]

I reckon Barham would do a good job on Yarran if given a chance.

 

[Spoony]

Worry about Cloke? lol

No offense but we could play eddie betts on him and he would still kick 1.7. If he could hit the side of a barn with some of his shots on goal he might be a threat but until then i'd be all for the rookie White playing on him even with Bower back next week.

LOL ah.. no, it will your funeral if you play white on him. Cloke kicked 4.1 on ANZAC day, there was properly a bit of luck involved in that. But some of it has to attributed to Dawes being in the side Cloke was able to play closer to goal at times and kick from in front rather than on the wings and pockets. So with Dawes in the side I would be tipping Cloke's accuracy to improve.
And Cloke is such a good mark, that 3rd gamer white would never be able to spoil him, so I'm hoping that does happen.

 

[Swooop]

Worry about Cloke? lol

No offense but we could play eddie betts on him and he would still kick 1.7. If he could hit the side of a barn with some of his shots on goal he might be a threat but until then i'd be all for the rookie White playing on him even with Bower back next week.

Not sure if you saw Anzac game, or last week, but Cloke is getting his confidence back.

Prior to that, a lot of Pie supporters may have agreed with you.

Yesterday, he'd won the game for us before halftime.

 

[Gambit78]

This is a very good, fair post Exorcist. You guys played fantastically well today, no doubt giving plenty of fuel to the opinion that the Cats have seen their best days for a while ( thank the merciful lord, plus his sweet child)

Your midfield is your key I think and in the past has killed us. Judd is superhuman.

Our midfield is much improved this year, it will be far more even there, on the balance of probabilities.

Our backs should be able to exert enough pressure on your forwards to reduce their output. Agree on their day, your forwards are full of life and sparkle, but equally they are still pretty inexperienced and may well go missing against a really top quality backline, like ours has been lately.

(Equally, our forwards can go missing eg vs Saints and even Dees, so who knows)

If we turn up to play, I think we'll win by a bit.

If you guys turn up to play, and we don't, you win a close one.

Once again, will be fascinating to see how it pans out.

Just wanted to highlight this point because I don't think it will be a close one. Whoever wins the game, I reckon will win it by 4-5 goals at least. Simply because in Carlton v Collingwood games, when one side gets a run on over the other, and has their supporters bringing the roof down, a run of 2-3 goals in a row, quickly becomes 5-6 goals in a row.

If you have a look at all of our games this year, the games we have won comfortably are the games where we have capitalised on the momentum we've had. The games we struggled in - Demons and Saints - we didn't capitalise when we dominated the game, hence struggling in the end. It is critical that when we are on top, at whatever stage of the game it is, we nail them.

 

[Syphoncom]

Worry about Cloke? lol

No offense but we could play eddie betts on him and he would still kick 1.7. If he could hit the side of a barn with some of his shots on goal he might be a threat but until then i'd be all for the rookie White playing on him even with Bower back next week.

I guess it's lucky we'd beat carlton simply by kicking points.


To say we should be scared of Carlton's midfield... what, is Judd gonna poke out Pendlebury's eyes?

 

[Swooop]

Sorry Gambit, i may not have been very clear. When I said we'd win by a bit, I actually meant a big bit.

But I think if we 'don't turn up' and they do, then I reckon they'll win, but by a far lesser amount.

There's so much competition for spots in our team this year, that complacency/slackness is much less likely, though it did happen vs Dees.

Don't think it will vs Carlton.

 

[Gambit78]

Nothing to apologise for, mate. It was more the fact that carlton will win in a close one that I was questioning. Just have this feeling that it will blow out either way.

 

[Bloben]

Carlton won today against an insepid Geelong. The Cats still have a great deal of talent but what they are missing is their intensity and pressure.

Right now we are only just coming to terms with what our intensity will deliver. We are moving differently with and without the ball, running for each other and throwing everything at the contest for the team. The result... domination!

Our guys are on cloud 9 now and must be feeling like this football style is a bit of a drug. We will come out firing again this week as we are only now coming to terms with our ability. Good luck Blues is all I can say

 

[spartan-magpie]

what about our quick and much, much, much better small forwards?


what about our never ending midfield? - one that isnt propped up by 1 superstar and a few yeah nahs?


what about our 2 leviathans in cloke and dawes?


what about our superior game plan and coaching dept?

what about arguably the best backline in the league..


ha. i dont fear or rate carlton.. we will either pump them or we will allow them to remain in the contest before brushing them aside.. if we cant win this we shouldnt be thinking of flags. And we are.

6-12 goal win for us ...

i think people seriously underrate the pies.. Carlton will be barbecued this week..

 

[rose jam]

Small forward lines only function when there is no pressure on the midfield. They have no bail out option if their is pressure coming in. Pretty simple equation this week. Good attitude = win