Preview Changes for the Elimination Final vs Essendon

I think the balance is fine.

Schofield replaces Duggan, yeah Schofield is taller but Nelson can play Duggans role and Schofield is coming back in to allow the bash brothers to do their thing and intercept.

Hutchings is more midfield depth but will be used to s**t down Saad and their rebound off the backline so will add a s**tload more than Petruccelles 6 possessions have been recently.

Nic Nat in for Allen. Sad to see Allen out but since Allen was tucking as well is a like for like. We miss the forward presence of Allen but gain the clearance work of Nic Nat.

Overall we have Ryan, Rioli and Cripps to add forward pressure and crumb goals at the feet of Kennedy, Darling and Waterman. That’s heaps.

What we have done with these selections is free up our backline, help shut down theirs and add midfield presence and depth.

Overall I bloody like it and it’s one of the strongest teams we’ve fielded all year.

My body is ready.
Agree with all bar Wateman. He often plays much higher.

And I'd very much like to see R&R at the feet of the big forwards. Makes me angry when they're not around at J&J's feet
 

hudson2006

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Might be worth writing apologetic pieces for the fringe talls now (ie. Schofield & Waterman). If we get run off the park tomorrow, it will not be their fault. The MC will need to take responsibility.

Gambling everything on a contested marking game might have some value from an energy conservation perspective - control the ball, be efficient. But after what we sat through last Saturday night, I'm nervous.
 
Feb 5, 2009
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Brave Sir Robin

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2 of those ins have been injured twice in their last what? 4 games? Add the cloud over Hurn.

I'm not sure about this. Looks wrong structurally and even if we win they'll not want to tinker with it.
 

dogswamp

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So let's see here...

Out: Brown, Wellingham, Lycett, Giles, Priddis, Hill, Lecras, Butler
In: Waterman, Jetta, Naitanui, Hickey, Redden, Rioli, Ryan, Nelson

Call me crazy, but the 2019 version is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay faster than the 2016 version.
Nic, jetta, rioli and ryan are like soooo important 😍😍😍😍
 
So let's see here...

Out: Brown, Wellingham, Lycett, Giles, Priddis, Hill, Lecras, Butler
In: Waterman, Jetta, Naitanui, Hickey, Redden, Rioli, Ryan, Nelson

Call me crazy, but the 2019 version is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay faster than the 2016 version.
No I see it as well.

What the concern is contested ball and ground ball get.

Can be fast as * but need to be hard at it at ground level. Calls for Ah Chee or Cameron are warranted.
 
Petrucelle out means that Hutchings/Masten rotate off a Half Forward flank?

Do. Not. Like.

Would rather Cameron in.

Hutch will play as a permanent tagging forward, stopping Saad. Same thing he did last time we played.

He was doing it for a few weeks prior to his first injury vs Hawthorn.
 
Team v Essendon last time and tomorrow nights lineup

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So similarities to 2016
We miss top 4 by %
Thursday night home game
Oppo getting stars (incl stringer) back after bye.
we go in taller than opposition.
we're raging favourites...
any others?

Can't think of anything, but lets look at the differences:

Naitanui didn't do his knee 2 rounds back
The opposition won 12 games instead of 15
The opposition are still missing 3 best 22 players (Daniher, D Smith and Zaharakis)
We had a bad loss in the last round rather than a big unexpected win.

I reckon it'll be quite different this time.
 

Capriati

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I think the balance is fine.

Schofield replaces Duggan, yeah Schofield is taller but Nelson can play Duggans role and Schofield is coming back in to allow the bash brothers to do their thing and intercept.

Hutchings is more midfield depth but will be used to s**t down Saad and their rebound off the backline so will add a s**tload more than Petruccelles 6 possessions have been recently.

Nic Nat in for Allen. Sad to see Allen out but since Allen was tucking as well is a like for like. We miss the forward presence of Allen but gain the clearance work of Nic Nat.

Overall we have Ryan, Rioli and Cripps to add forward pressure and crumb goals at the feet of Kennedy, Darling and Waterman. That’s heaps.

What we have done with these selections is free up our backline, help shut down theirs and add midfield presence and depth.

Overall I bloody like it and it’s one of the strongest teams we’ve fielded all year.

My body is ready.


I probably don't know as much as some other folks in here about roles in the team and the like, but this is comforting. I was getting nervous reading some of the posts in here.
 
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Congrats on Nelson, Waterman and Hickey playing in their first final. Devo for Allen but with him out it won’t crowd the forward line if he was playing. Nic Nat/hickey will play off the bench and not rest in the forward line. I guess with Waterman he can actually play quite high which gives us a good outlet.
 
Echo calls for Waterman out, Cameron in, but I think saying that’s the determining factor in how this plays out is a huge leap. I love Cameron and have had Waterman earmarked as an out in this game for weeks now, but if you told me Cameron played and was invisible in a game we lost, I could believe it. Putting so much on that one change is over stating it for me.

The underdone players is a much more worrying factor to me than the height of our team. I don’t care what the tape measure reads. There’s no centimetre threshold to mobility or endurance. Waterman can run with the best of them. More concerned over a potential rushing of Hutch and cloud over Hurn than who is over an arbitrary height threshold.
 
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