Unofficial Preview Changes and discussion Qualifying Final @ ? v Demons.

[Nunez]

Not so sure he is hitting "career best form" but his game has picked up significantly from when he first came back into the 22. Still has a long way to go before he hit his peak form again in my opinion.

Yeah I think his ceiling is much higher than his current output. That excites me though. He's clearly working hard and is giving more and more each week. Particularly thought his running capacity really started to return the past few weeks - covering ground a lot easier than he was when he first returned.

 

[dlanod]

Petracca

I would feel a lot better about this game if we had a tagger to drop on him for the entire game. He's one of very few players I feel like that about this year.

 

[KissKiss]

While I would have liked to have moved past Birchall, the time to do that was weeks ago. I heavily doubt he is getting dropped just as finals start. Fagan will likely back his preferred team as he has the last few years

 

[twhowler]

I'm worried about Starc on Fritch. Fritch isn't fast but has fab judgement of the ball in the air. I'd be tempted to go with Birch on him instead. Also Fritch isn't that great defensively. I don't know about a match for pickett(if there is a match for pickett!!!!). Not sure Kiddy is quick enough.

Fritsch is pretty quick. Dangerous in the air yes, but also on the ground. Starc pretty good in the air and in particular at getting body on his opponent. Birchall would get rings run around him i reckon. He just has to go to the least damaging forward every week and that certainly isn't Fritsch.

 

[Berry Picker]

Huge game for fullaton this week, if I was in the Melbourne coaching staff I would be thinking lever or may can get away with floating off him. If Tom can clunk a few big marks early it can really change the course of the game, if they need to be accountable for him.

 

[mpal6]

Hi Lions faithful.

I am personally feeling a bit pessimistic about this. I know it’s typical for other posters to come in and say ‘we will lose’ but I think your midfield depth will stretch us. Zorko, McCluggage, Neale, Lyons, Bailey (rotating), Berry, and Robinson. I feel that Andrews goes straight to Brown given he is our best forward at the moment. McDonald isn’t playing well and Adams gets him.

The issue I have with Melbourne is midfield depth. Oliver is an A grade contested pig and Petracca has the ability to rip open a game in 5 minutes, but, Viney, Brayshaw, Sparrow and Langdon aren’t really a match for your midfield. Harmes is our third best midfielder. McInerney is a good ruckman and dangerous in the 50, I think he will smash into Gawn all night. Clearly you’ll want to get first hands on the ball in the middle, and I think if you do this your forwards will get on top early. Cameron and McCarthy also lead at the ball, so it’s a handful.

Personally I feel our key is Jackson and using him effectively. If we can get Max to float forward then that’ll bother you a bit. I am pretty anxious about this. I think our best footy is good enough but we are going to need huge games from that second tier of midfielder I mentioned. If it’s all left to Oliver and Petracca then we aren’t winning.

I am not wishing you good luck because I don’t want you to have it, and vice versa I presume, but it’ll be a bloody good game and I think if you win you’re a huge chance to win it. You seem to have the wood on Port and I don’t rate Geelong. In fact I think our win was a bit overrated against them as the are very one dimensional.

I think you should be more confident than that in my view. Your game style will stack up in finals and I rate your inside contested mids slightly higher than ours. We will push hard to break even in the midfield but if our pressure is off, we're pretty vulnerable. Our weakest link would be the foot speed in the backline and with Spargo/Kozzy you have the zippy types to take advantage of our slow movers. It'll be a great game I'm sure, can't wait.

 

[Sproj]

I would feel a lot better about this game if we had a tagger to drop on him for the entire game. He's one of very few players I feel like that about this year.

They have a gun midfield all round but I am most worried about Oliver.

 

[Shaq attack]

Thinking back to our game against the Dees earlier this year, we really let them get under our skin in the third 1/4 which had a significant bearing on the outcome. They also scored a number of goals that were 50/50 snaps that all seemed to go in and our tackle pressure in the second half was poor. If we remain disciplined and keep the high tackle pressure of recent weeks, we will be a solid change of getting the W.

 

[mpal6]

While I would have liked to have moved past Birchall, the time to do that was weeks ago. I heavily doubt he is getting dropped just as finals start. Fagan will likely back his preferred team as he has the last few years

Fagan is more loyal than ruthless. I will be very surprised if Birchall is dropped this week.

I'm all for dropping Birchall and moving Prior back or bring Madden in.

 

[JasRulz63]

Thinking back to our game against the Dees earlier this year, we really let them get under our skin in the third 1/4 which had a significant bearing on the outcome. They also scored a number of goals that were 50/50 snaps that all seemed to go in and our tackle pressure in the second half was poor. If we remain disciplined and keep the high tackle pressure of recent weeks, we will be a solid change of getting the W.

Zorko got suspended in that game too. Seems to be the game that made him look at his discipline though, he went from leading the league in frees against (26 from the first 12 rounds), to only giving away 10 in the last 9 games.

 

[mpal6]

Zorko got suspended in that game too. Seems to be the game that made him look at his discipline though, he went from leading the league in frees against (26 from the first 12 rounds), to only giving away 10 in the last 9 games.

Zorko has been awesome in the last few rounds and leading from the front. I was worried when he came in hard and got Eagles player slightly high just before McStay freekick in last 2 minutes. Thankfully the Umpire didn't blow the whistle and let the play go on.

 

[The Zork]

It’s all Melbourne Melbourne Melbourne in the media in Vic. Rightfully so I suppose, it’s exciting what they’ve done.

Their guns have to play well Gawn, Petracca and Oliver. If they are quiet I am confident we can stop their next level down caliber types.

if we are up to the task of 4 quarters of our best pressure then we are a massive chance.

 

[KissKiss]

The whole thing about top 6 and bottom 6 at this point of the season does ring pretty true. I feel like we can match their bottom 6 pretty well, but I do worry about their top 6. Gawn/Oliver/Petracca is exactly the sort of combo that we have struggled against for a while. Big ruck and big inside mids who can extract the ball quickly leading to fast forward play

 

[SizeMatters]

Coleman goes missing too often. A lot of non-impact jogging around in no mans land with a few good moments thrown in. Can't carry blokes like this in finals.

Robbo, Andrews in for Coleman and Lester.

Move Ah Chee and maybe Prior down back with the latter to lockdown Fristch or Pickett (whoever Starce doesnt take).

I expect Rich to get a hard tag as well.... so Birch has to step up which I think he can given his experience.

 

[Sherrinator]

Dees fan here. I just wanted to read up on who you guys are gonna bring in etc. This should be a cracking game. As a dees fan, I'm worried about Zorko and Bailey. It's these small, quick and skilful guys that cause us headaches. I think we'll go with 3 talls just to, at the very least, keep Andrews accountable with one of the talls. I think Mitch Robbo would be a savvy inclusion for you guys considering he is suited for finals footy and we have Viney, Oliver and Petracca as very in and under inside mids.

You guys just have to continue hitting the short option going inside 50m. I think Rivers plays on Cameron but we may bring Hibberd in to use a more 1 on 1 savvy defender instead of a more offensive runner in Rivers. No stuffing around I think May goes on Daniher, Petty to Mcstay. Lever on the least damaging forward.

I think the game will be won in the middle as well as goal kicking conversion and we are the most inaccurate team in the comp statistically this season.

I'm pretty disappointed that we've earned the right for an MCG final but it's been brought over to a neutral version due to covid. I'd be much more confident in from of 80k dees fans but alas it's not the case.

Tbh I think we play way better in front of good crowds than at neutral venues with hardly any one there. Got a few high energy players who feed off the atmosphere.

 

[Sherrinator]

I think if we are to win this week, it’ll be on the back of a big coaching effort, especially around how we manage lever and may.

Our mids are also going to have to go to work.

I look forward to seeing our mongrels in Berry and Robinson aim to hurt their main midfield combo. Maybe some wild knees from McStay in marking contests wouldn’t go astray either.

 

[Sherrinator]

We need to play fast and hit leads. If their defence regroups because we are too slow - go for the boundary in the pocket. We are the number one for stoppage scores. Kicking on top of everyone’s heads won’t cut it and only allows a defensive rebound.

 

[Gadzorks]

Hi Lions faithful.

I am personally feeling a bit pessimistic about this. I know it’s typical for other posters to come in and say ‘we will lose’ but I think your midfield depth will stretch us. Zorko, McCluggage, Neale, Lyons, Bailey (rotating), Berry, and Robinson. I feel that Andrews goes straight to Brown given he is our best forward at the moment. McDonald isn’t playing well and Adams gets him.

The issue I have with Melbourne is midfield depth. Oliver is an A grade contested pig and Petracca has the ability to rip open a game in 5 minutes, but, Viney, Brayshaw, Sparrow and Langdon aren’t really a match for your midfield. Harmes is our third best midfielder. McInerney is a good ruckman and dangerous in the 50, I think he will smash into Gawn all night. Clearly you’ll want to get first hands on the ball in the middle, and I think if you do this your forwards will get on top early. Cameron and McCarthy also lead at the ball, so it’s a handful.

Personally I feel our key is Jackson and using him effectively. If we can get Max to float forward then that’ll bother you a bit. I am pretty anxious about this. I think our best footy is good enough but we are going to need huge games from that second tier of midfielder I mentioned. If it’s all left to Oliver and Petracca then we aren’t winning.

I am not wishing you good luck because I don’t want you to have it, and vice versa I presume, but it’ll be a bloody good game and I think if you win you’re a huge chance to win it. You seem to have the wood on Port and I don’t rate Geelong. In fact I think our win was a bit overrated against them as the are very one dimensional.

I fear gawn, and think he has Oscar covered. Your dismissal of Gawn makes me question your sincerity.

 

[royboys4eva]

Agree with a few posters on here saying we need Fullarton to play a selfless role and just keep Lever out of marking contests. Basically just block his run legally every time he goes for a mark. It only takes one small step across his path well before the ball gets to the contest that could be the difference between him marking it or not. I have seen plenty of sides do it to Harris Andrews

31

Harris Andrews

Age

27

Ht

202cm

Wt

98kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.8

3star

K

7.4

3star

HB

5.4

4star

M

5.6

5star

T

1.6

4star

MG

151.7

2star

D

17.0

4star

K

9.0

4star

HB

8.0

4star

M

4.0

4star

T

2.0

3star

D

9.8

3star

K

5.0

2star

HB

4.8

4star

M

3.4

4star

T

1.6

4star

MG

94.0

2star

this year without giving away a free kick. Could even use Cockatoo or Berry if needed in this role.

Wouldn't be opposed to Berry or Robbo standing next to Oliver at every ball up around the ground and just reduce his ability to win every Gawn tap and THROW to Dees player running past.

Hard tags often play a big part in finals - players can go through a season barely matched up and then suddenly finals comes along and they get a heavy tag and can't work their way out of it. Easier said than done but if we can reduce Olivers impact in the contest than suddenly the Dees will be relying heavily on Petracca and Viney and Harmes to a lesser extent.

 

[demondavey]

I fear gawn, and think he has Oscar covered. Your dismissal of Gawn makes me question your sincerity.

Not dismissing Gawn at all. I think if dominates all over then that’ll bring our midfielders right into it and we could decimate you. I think Oscar competes really well and is a very good ruckman in his own right.

 

[martinson]

Not dismissing Gawn at all. I think if dominates all over then that’ll bring our midfielders right into it and we could decimate you. I think Oscar competes really well and is a very good ruckman in his own right.

Interesting coming from an opposition supporter when plenty here don't rate him.

 

[Strato]

Rain in Adelaide Saturday 5 to 10ml. Looks like it will be during the game.

 

[demondavey]

Interesting coming from an opposition supporter when plenty here don't rate him.

From what I’ve seen of him he looks solid enough. Gawn is a standout, no doubt, but McInerney can still hold his own. I don’t think Max has any intention of slacking off, so Oscar will be working. The key will be sharking his taps if he starts getting on top. As I’ve said, I think your midfield bats deeper.

 

[demondavey]

We need to play fast and hit leads. If their defence regroups because we are too slow - go for the boundary in the pocket. We are the number one for stoppage scores. Kicking on top of everyone’s heads won’t cut it and only allows a defensive rebound.

Correct. The boundary is the key. You’ve got this nimble forward line and I think it’ll play to your strengths to avoid the typical I50 to a leading marking target or the ‘put it up’ tactic where lever and may can come into it.

 

[Lace Out]

Shame we don’t have a fit Rayner could nearly turn the odds our way