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

[Sherrinator]

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.

Yeah that demon game earlier this year was highly stressful. Easy to say when watching from home but it was plain to see that they were flogging a dead horse.

 

[spotthedog1]

I think there are 5 teams in it this year.

Sydney just behind the pack, and won't win 4 in a row.
GWS and Essendon are also-rans. Could win wk 1 if they're lucky, unlikely to progress further.

Between us, Melbourne, Geelong, Port or WB, we'll find out premier. Every game involving them will be somewhere within a percentage or two of a 50-50.

Think Melbourne are probably the best team this year, but only by a touch. Bulldogs have had rough form, but they pushed Port, and should feel satisfied that it came down to the wire there - think it's enough to give them belief that they could've won, and can again...

 

[jackess]

I think there are 5 teams in it this year.

Sydney just behind the pack, and won't win 4 in a row.
GWS and Essendon are also-rans. Could win wk 1 if they're lucky, unlikely to progress further.

Between us, Melbourne, Geelong, Port or WB, we'll find out premier. Every game involving them will be somewhere within a percentage or two of a 50-50.

Think Melbourne are probably the best team this year, but only by a touch. Bulldogs have had rough form, but they pushed Port, and should feel satisfied that it came down to the wire there - think it's enough to give them belief that they could've won, and can again...

Melbourne are the team I'm least confident of beating. Much better defence than the other teams and the third best forward line after us and Geelong.

Plus they have the type of midfield we struggle to contain.

 

[royboys4eva]

Plus Melbourne looks hungry - you can see it in their eyes. As they should be after 60 odd years. But the way they came back and beat the Cats will give them enormous self belief and they have already been the best performed side this year against the other top teams. They deserve to be Premiership faves. But we can beat them.

 

[SacksonvilleJags]

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.

If it’s the one I am thinking of, the eagles player ducks just before contact which is why Zorko kinda sails over him.

 

[bungalow_bill]

Does Berry do a hard tag on Oliver? he did well negating Brayshaw and also tagged Fyfe IIRC a few years back

 

[Tom14]

Melbourne are the team I'm least confident of beating. Much better defence than the other teams and the third best forward line after us and Geelong.

Plus they have the type of midfield we struggle to contain.

Thankfully we won't play them in a prelim if we get to one. Ideally we get Port in a prelim and one of Melbourne and Geelong knock each other out.

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.

Melbourne have won basically every game against the other top 5 bar one I think - deserved favourites imo.

Port is the one I can't cop the love for - they've won 6 out of 6 games where the margin was 13 points or less, and they have only beaten the dogs of the top 5 (and got them at the absolute bottom of a form slump). I expect geelong to beat them but would not be the worst thing to play them in a prelim at AO if we lose to the dees.

 

[mpal6]

Does Berry do a hard tag on Oliver? he did well negating Brayshaw and also tagged Fyfe IIRC a few years back

A fit Berry would be a big difference in the middle. I think he'll go after Oliver.

 

[Elixuh]

I wonder if you target petracca over Oliver. Imo Oliver is the most consistent A grade Melbourne mid. He also has bursts where he is the clear BOG for those periods. Petracca on the other hand is A grade but more in and out of games - so if we can put some time into him so that he doesnt factor in the game in an influential way then that’ll go a long way. Oliver can’t win it off his own boot.

 

[M Malice]

Plus Melbourne looks hungry - you can see it in their eyes. As they should be after 60 odd years. But the way they came back and beat the Cats will give them enormous self belief and they have already been the best performed side this year against the other top teams. They deserve to be Premiership faves. But we can beat them.

We should be and I think we will be just as hungry, the straight sets exit in 2019 which included a nail biter against the Giants and the bad Prelim loss to the Cats last year should really fuel our desire to go the whole way in 2021.

 

[davemc_lions]

Melb the team with the least key players out. So be the pick now
Stewart a major out for Cats unsettled backline
Bruce for Dogs means Bont and English up forward.. Not won for weeks now.
Lions Hipwood still a loss.. Depends if we loose other players. Demons our worst match up with Gawn and big midfield

Not sure Port, GWS and Bombers up to it
Swans Buddy playing well on top of a good seasons from the young kids.. Not sure they get through to GF

 

[Dalions]

Plus Melbourne looks hungry - you can see it in their eyes. As they should be after 60 odd years. But the way they came back and beat the Cats will give them enormous self belief and they have already been the best performed side this year against the other top teams. They deserve to be Premiership faves. But we can beat them.

I reckon our boys are looking pretty bloody hungry too.

 

[dlanod]

I wonder if you target petracca over Oliver. Imo Oliver is the most consistent A grade Melbourne mid. He also has bursts where he is the clear BOG for those periods. Petracca on the other hand is A grade but more in and out of games - so if we can put some time into him so that he doesnt factor in the game in an influential way then that’ll go a long way. Oliver can’t win it off his own boot.

I would absolutely target Petracca over Oliver. Oliver is fantastic but much like Fyfe or Neale or Cripps or Swan, there's only so much he can do. He can win the ball but if you've set up well, he'll turn it over. Petracca is more like McCluggage or Pendlebury where, if you give him space, he will destroy you with accurate ball disposal into the forward 50 - directly contributing to shots on goal.

 

[McIvor]

I hope Berry performs well. I know he kicked 3 and that miss was an important point where he basically got a 7 point play but how does any AFL player miss almost directly in front no more than 20m out. I honestly thought Berry was going to be a gun player of the comp a few years ago but I just don't see it anymore other than being say a good ordinary player. For all his fitness attributes, he is slow, one of the worst players in the comp for awareness and in my eyes, isn't an overly natural player. Maybe tagging is his role now as he is good endurance runner so one hopes he can shut down Petraca or Oliver.

I think Robbo replaces Prior, but Harris inclusion has me stumped who goes out. It should be Birch, but we know that won't happen or ever Darcy who was really bad and looks horrible since his return, so maybe Lester which in of itself is unfair.

I personally would turf Fullarton. One of the most crappest performances I've seen in a long time by a Lions player. I saw them say on the couch last night that Fullarton has no place being in a finals team or would get shown up in finals and you can't disagree, but what do you do? Archie is a logical choice, but I can't see Fages doing that either. Cockatoo is another that needs to do more.

 

[chopperduck]

Holy crap you're negative.

 

[Dalions]

 

[davemc_lions]

Do not think Berry has had a good run at it for the past few years, which slowed his development.
I do not think he has hit his peak.. Had a few stand out games although then injured
If he can get through finals and have a good pre season I see him getting better into next year.

I do hope we can get through and win this year.
Although next we get a fitter Berry, Cockatoo and Rayner back.. Add a lot.. Then Hipwood probably after the bye.
Add to the growth in players like Prior, Kiddy, Dev and Bailey getting better.
cannot see us falling of in 2022

 

[Mighty Lions]

I hope Berry performs well. I know he kicked 3 and that miss was an important point where he basically got a 7 point play but how does any AFL player miss almost directly in front no more than 20m out. I honestly thought Berry was going to be a gun player of the comp a few years ago but I just don't see it anymore other than being say a good ordinary player. For all his fitness attributes, he is slow, one of the worst players in the comp for awareness and in my eyes, isn't an overly natural player. Maybe tagging is his role now as he is good endurance runner so one hopes he can shut down Petraca or Oliver.

I think Robbo replaces Prior, but Harris inclusion has me stumped who goes out. It should be Birch, but we know that won't happen or ever Darcy who was really bad and looks horrible since his return, so maybe Lester which in of itself is unfair.

I personally would turf Fullarton. One of the most crappest performances I've seen in a long time by a Lions player. I saw them say on the couch last night that Fullarton has no place being in a finals team or would get shown up in finals and you can't disagree, but what do you do? Archie is a logical choice, but I can't see Fages doing that either. Cockatoo is another that needs to do more.

a) Prior to Berry taking that kick for goal, he basically ran a 400 meter sprint. I challenge anyone, no matter how strong in body & mind to compose their selves in 30 seconds to confidently kick the ball the way they would normally do with no effort at all. That said, I agree he should have kicked the goal but if you have played footy yourself, you would know the answer to your question without degrading Berry or any other player in the same situation. Back in the day of Lockett/Dunstall, they were lucky to get out of the goal square let alone the 50 meter arc. Now we have forwards such as Joey, Dan & Hippy who run well over 10 km's a game.
b) s**t post about Fullerton. He had a dirty night that nobody could argue against. His game the week before was good. Smith isn't the "logical choice" as you say. Fullerton is our best option even though he is green and still has a long way to go BUT, he has a role every week that only he and his team mates are aware of. I hope he plays that role well on Saturday night and surprises people such as yourself, well...maybe not yourself.

 

[M Malice]

Starting to get excited for this one, selection tomorrow night, the only decision I'm a tad apprehensive about is Kiddy and his possible omission.. hopefully it doesn't happen. Keys to victory are pretty straight forward IMO >

1- Pressure, intensity all 4 quarters.
2- Lower the eyes if possible going into F50, do not bomb long to Lever and May, Lever almost certain to go to Fullarton and sag off him.

Very confident if we do that we have the fire power to kick enough goals to win.

 

[jackess]

How to handle Lever is very interesting because our gameplan generally heavily relies on winning contests inside 50. If I was the coaches I'd be very tempted to change our structure

 

[Nuggo]

Thought Berry was brought into the side too early but COVID-19 forced our hand to get game time into him. Last weekends game he showed a bit which justified the process.

Cockatoo won't show his best till next year but he is a bit like Paul Chapman

Paul Chapman

Age

42

Ht

179cm

Wt

87kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

19.7

5star

K

12.8

5star

HB

6.9

4star

M

4.7

4star

T

3.5

5star

G

1.3

5star

No current season stats available

D

6.6

2star

K

4.0

2star

HB

2.6

3star

M

1.0

1star

T

1.8

4star

G

0.2

3star

- only needs 15 possessions to destroy you. He is going ok considering where he has come from.

A lot of weight has been put on Fullarton, get around him - I wouldn't like to be in his shoes. He just needs to break even in some areas and compete as hard as he can for as long as he can.

 

[Mighty Lions]

Starting to get excited for this one, selection tomorrow night, the only decision I'm a tad apprehensive about is Kiddy and his possible omission.. hopefully it doesn't happen. Keys to victory are pretty straight forward IMO >

1- Pressure, intensity all 4 quarters.
2- Lower the eyes if possible going into F50, do not bomb long to Lever and May, Lever almost certain to go to Fullarton and sag off him.

Very confident if we do that we have the fire power to kick enough goals to win.

If Lever goes to Fullerton, the plan is simple.....Fullerton takes Lever out of our planned inside 50 strategies so he has no/less of an impact. That said, I do not think it will be that easy to negate their backline attack however I do think we take them on 1 on 1 and win most contests.

The challenge is stopping their midfield and clearances all over the ground.

Harris & Robbo in...the outs will be interesting to most.

 

[PillyBilgrim]

We dropped Kiddy for the Prelim last year and our team pressure against Geelong dropped off as a result - at the time I thought that was a death knell.
He has to stay in for mine but very hard to guess the changes this week.

Personally I would go:

IN Andrews, Robinson
OUT Lester, Prior

 

[Mighty Lions]

We dropped Kiddy for the Prelim last year and our team pressure against Geelong dropped off as a result - at the time I thought that was a death knell.
He has to stay in for mine but very hard to guess the changes this week.

Personally I would go:

IN Andrews, Robinson
OUT Lester, Prior

Lester will not be omitted from the 22.

 

[Ceebee]

I hope Berry performs well. I know he kicked 3 and that miss was an important point where he basically got a 7 point play but how does any AFL player miss almost directly in front no more than 20m out. I honestly thought Berry was going to be a gun player of the comp a few years ago but I just don't see it anymore other than being say a good ordinary player. For all his fitness attributes, he is slow, one of the worst players in the comp for awareness and in my eyes, isn't an overly natural player. Maybe tagging is his role now as he is good endurance runner so one hopes he can shut down Petraca or Oliver.

I think Robbo replaces Prior, but Harris inclusion has me stumped who goes out. It should be Birch, but we know that won't happen or ever Darcy who was really bad and looks horrible since his return, so maybe Lester which in of itself is unfair.

I personally would turf Fullarton. One of the most crappest performances I've seen in a long time by a Lions player. I saw them say on the couch last night that Fullarton has no place being in a finals team or would get shown up in finals and you can't disagree, but what do you do? Archie is a logical choice, but I can't see Fages doing that either. Cockatoo is another that needs to do more.

You don’t seem to understand it takes a while for players coming back from injuries to get match fitness .especially a long term one.
Jarrod has improved every game as has Cocky,
Also young players like Fullarton take time to adjust to big time games . He has been thrown in the deep end and has to learn quickly ..
Patience is needed .