Bower and Hoops return for Blues! **SADDINGTON IS OUT!**

Ricksta13

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Thread starter #1
Paul Bower and Ryan Houlihan will return from injury this week to take on the Lions on Saturday Night.
Bower will return after injuring his shoulder against Geelong in Round 10, while Houlihan is back in the side after a lengthy stint on the sidelines with a hip injury.
Jason Saddington has been omitted from the side :thumbsu: and Simon Wiggins will miss the clash with a calf injury sustained in Sunday's loss to the Kangaroos :(.
Carlton emergencies on Saturday night will be Joe Anderson, Mark Austin and Adam Bentick
Carlton coach Brett Ratten emphasised the importance of finishing the 2008 season strongly during the week saying "We could really let ourselves down if we think that's it, the cue's in the rack and we've done a pretty good job and be happy with that."
"In the pre-season you talk about things and you sort of go back towards the latter part of the season and reflect – if you didn't play finals – on how that went and if it finished poorly that can be the seed that's left inside your head and it can be a little difficult to overcome," He added.
Backs
Heath Scotland Andrew Walker Kade Simpson
Half Backs
Shaun Grigg Michael Jamison Bret Thornton
Centreline
Jarrad Waite Nick Stevens Brad Fisher
Half Forwards
Marc Murphy Cameron Cloke Jordan Russell
Forwards
Matthew Kreuzer Brendan Fevola Andrew Carrazzo
Followers
Shaun Hampson Bryce Gibbs Chris Judd
Interchange
Dennis Armfield Paul Bower Steven Browne Ryan Houlihan
Emergencies
Joe Anderson Mark Austin Adam Bentick
 

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blues4flag

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#5
woulda liked austin in,maybe before bower
Why? It's clear that Austin is not AFL ready and needs another summer in the gym, while Bower has shown he's one of our most valuable defenders.

I'm a fan of Austin and wouldn't be opposed to give him the last two games for experience (not at Bower's expense), but it's clear we're not lying down now that our finals are out of the equation, and rightfully so.
 

Sam The Doc

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#6
Why? It's clear that Austin is not AFL ready and needs another summer in the gym, while Bower has shown he's one of our most valuable defenders.

I'm a fan of Austin and wouldn't be opposed to give him the last two games for experience (not at Bower's expense), but it's clear we're not lying down now that our finals are out of the equation, and rightfully so.
Austin was really good last week in the VFL.Bower was great in the first half of the year but i woulda thought another week atleast coming from a longterm injury
 

CarltonFan

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#9
On what basis the first three? That they do not need to play until next year?
in 3 years time when we are seriously going for a premiership, those players will still be the same costly C grade players on our list, where as Austin has the potential to be something special.

im not at all stating that at the moment austin is better than those players, but i believe he can be in the future if we invest in him now.
 
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#10
in 3 years time when we are seriously going for a premiership, those players will still be the same costly C grade players on our list, where as Austin has the potential to be something special.

im not at all stating that at the moment austin is better than those players, but i believe he can be in the future if we invest in him now.
On the 'selection table until the end of year' thread you will see that I am more than happy to have him in and think he will prove handy but have yet to see anything that makes me think he will be special. Hope you are right

ps If they had played him I would have been happy for them to play him forward - we have to explore every option for up there
 

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Warsaw

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#14
This should be close to a full strength team that we can have. Hadley i would think would also be in there and i hope he gets a run next week. Bentick has to be pushing for selection aswell.
 

Blue Dimension

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#23
where are we going to play hoops?

HF Murphey Cloke Russell
FF Kruzer Fev Carrazzo
1. Since when does Carrazzo play in the forward pocket?
2. Cloke and Kreuzer in the forward line at the same time also does not happen often. Not enough speed for ground level pickups, especially with Eddie out.
3. Russell..well...


Houlihan Kreuzer/Cloke Russell
Fisher Fevola Resting mid.
 

gbatman

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#24
Not bad selections, Hope Bower gets Brown but im not sure if our coaches have the balls but we will see.

Watch us get flogged at ground level in our forward line, they will rebound like a rubber ball.

Would be great if Houlihan's operation has fixed his pace and tackling problem, he'd actually be a good player.
 
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