Eagles v Hawks GBU

Mead

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Thread starter #1
I'll try and make this relatively short since most people have already put their two cents in and I'm tired, hungover, and have that wonderful boiled eyeball feeling you get from 2 hours of sleep last night. I've tried to include a bit of info about Hawthorn for any Hawkers who couldn't get along to the game.

The Good
Overall, that was a very good way to finish the preseason. The intensity level still wasn't out of sight, but overall, yesterday's game made us look like a side where all the pieces had fallen into place for the real thing. From where I was sitting, this was another win driven largely by Dean Cox and the midfielders. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the likes of Judd, Cousins, Embley and Fletcher were well on top of out of the centre. It still didn't quite feel like they'd hit top gear, but they were definitely a fair sight sharper than a month ago. Cox was very good in the first half, and comfortably beat Everitt in most of the ruck duels and was a solid contributor around the ground. I'm confident that anyone who hasn't been paying attention to Cox over this preseason is going to be quite surprised when the real stuff starts- he's playing that well that I think Gardiner is actually going to have to work hard to wrest the #1 ruck spot back from him. Off the bench, Seaby and Braun both got better as the game went on, with the latter being the only one of our midfielders who played out the last quarter well.

Up forward, McDougall was excellent in the first quarter, taking marks both on the lead and in contested situations. Although he failed to put any majors on the board after that, he was still getting a reasonable amount of the ball, (and against quality opposition!), he just wasn't kicking accurately. Putting that to a side for a minute, three goals from your full forward is three goals, and in my book that's his job for the day done. The flankers were also on their game, with Chick and Sampi looking red hot whenever they were near it, whilst Fido was his usual dangerous self. Jako beat Croad comfortably when he was shifted forward after Johnson got hurt.

The defensive lineup also functioned pretty well. Lynch was again outstanding at CHB, and has clearly been by far and away the biggest find for us this preseason, putting together four good performances from four game. This week he got good help from a variety of smalls- Wirrpunda was classy as always, Morrison used the ball well off the half back flank, and I was very pleased with how accountable Humm was. I would think on the basis of this game, those three are definite starters in round one.

For the Hawks, I thought Campbell Brown was good all day, Crawford was okay without really be excellent, and Vandenberg, Mitchell and Lekkas had decent outings, as did Danny Jacobs. Thompson was excellent up forward, and took a couple of great grabs, but his kicking let him down a bit, ditto Williams. In the last quarter, Robert Campbell was solid in the ruck and set up a lot of the Hawks' best play in the last quarter. It was also pleasing to see Hay (who actually spent parts of the second quarter at full forward!) get through the second half unscathed after the entire footballing world had him pencilled down for a reco a few weeks ago. Overall I thought the Hawks were finding a reasonable amount of the ball at various points during the game, they just didn't do a lot with it (more on that below)

The Bad
The most glaring hole in our team was at fullback. Jakovich was embarassed early on by a rampaging Thompson, and Jaymie Graham tried hard, but looked like what he is- a young player at least a year away from an AFL berth. I'm a little less certain about how Staker went- there were several times when he tracked his man to the ball and spoiled well, but he never really found enough of the ball to make an impact of his own- I'd say the suggestion that he lacks confidence at the moment is pretty spot on. Collica was the other defender who didn't impress me hugely- generally negated well, but his disposal was less than impressive. Looking back, the only real worry I have after this game is that we still lack a bona fide full back, and we're going to have to wait for either of Glass or Gaspar to return before we sort that problem out.

Up forward, our inaccuracy certainly limited our ability to post a huge score, with McDougall and Adkins the worst culprits in front of goals. There also were times when Doogs faded out of the game, most notably in the second quarter. I think the big thing he could do to improve his game is when the delivery dries up he needs to push up the ground and utilise his pace and agility to win his own ball. He'd probably outclass most fullbacks at ground level, so to be his most productive he needs to be prepared to almost drift out to the wing if the ball isn't coming his way, in a similar mold to Tarrant.

As for what went wrong with the Hawks, the impression I got was that whenever they found the ball, they just weren't moving it well up and down the ground- a lot of times, a Hawthorn midfielder would go in hard and win the ball, and then waste it courtesy of their mediocre disposal (Vandenberg was particularly guilty in this regard, he managed to spot up people in the crowd on several occasions!) The same went for when the ball was being cleared out of the backline- a Hawthorn defenders continually gained possession and then coughed it up to our players who'd send the ball sailing straight back over their heads. In the last quarter, the Hawks finally found some fluency in terms of being able to string possessions together, and when that happened they looked a lot better. In terms of poor individual performances, Graham got embarassed by McDougall early on, and Croad was entertainingly insipid all day- the roar which went around subiaco when he FINALLY got his first kick was quite amusing.

The Ugly
I think Johnson's injury looked a lot worse initially than it actually was- the official word is he just bruised his ankle, and I don't think he'll be fine for round one. In terms of the injuries, I'm actually a bit more worried about Chick's thigh strain late in the game- I've no doubt he'll also be fine for the first game of the season, but this is the second time his thigh has flared up this preseason, which raises the spectre of it being a chronic problem over the course of the season.

I certainly felt for Hawthorn people after Barker was helped off by a couple of trainers- classic nasty looking knee injury, can but hope for the best I hope. In any case, spare a thought for yours truly, who had the express enjoyment of sending an SMS of doom to Goalden_Hawk- 'Barker Injured.. looks bad, knee iced, being helped off by trainers.'

Also worth noting was Bateman and Cousins' blue in the third quarter- from where I was sitting, there was certainly a bit of feeling, but I don't think it went further than just the typical touchy feely wrestlin you get these days.

All up, I think we can be pretty happy with this match, and our preseason for that matter. At the start of this preseason, I would have said the three main question marks hanging over us as a team were our ability to fill the key defensive and key forward positions, particularly at CHB and CHF, our lack of a tight marking small defender, and our midfield's ability to fire without Gardiner. Since then, Lynch and Johnson have come from nowhere to fill CHB and CHF, McDougall has shown a lot at FF, Cox has been outstanding, and Humm has shown quite a bit in defence. Really, that means that despite our dire injury list, we'll go into the season with pretty much all our questions answered except perhaps at FB, which is a pretty decent position to be in. In any event, roll on the real season (I absolutely promise there will be a new BOW after the Dogs game, really!)

Anyway, on the basis of this game and the preseason as a whole, here's what I reckon our round one side will look like, assuming Glass, Gaspar and Hunter are not available, and Carroll and Johnson and Gardiner are entirely fit.

FF Matera McDougall Gardiner
HF Sampi Johnson Chick
C Embley Cousins Fletcher
HB Morrison Lynch Green
FB Humm Carroll Wirrpunda

R: Cox Judd Braun
Int: Jakovich, Staker, Banfield, Jones.
 

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eagleye

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#3
FF Matera McDougall Gardiner
HF Sampi Johnson Chick
C Embley Cousins Fletcher
HB Morrison Lynch Green
FB Humm Carroll Wirrpunda

R: Cox Judd Braun
Int: Jakovich, Staker, Banfield, Jones.


would u really have carrol ahead of Staker id say start with Carrol then give Staker the job as soon as he does something wrong.

Jones on the bench? id have him at FP or HHF

i guess u could start cox in the ruck but move Gardiner top ruck as soon as he does something wrong, and don't get him out of the ruck until were either being beatemn by heap or are winning comprehensivally.

do we know that Glass will be out for round 1 for sure?
 

Mead

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Thread starter #4
Originally posted by eagleye
FF Matera McDougall Gardiner
HF Sampi Johnson Chick
C Embley Cousins Fletcher
HB Morrison Lynch Green
FB Humm Carroll Wirrpunda

R: Cox Judd Braun
Int: Jakovich, Staker, Banfield, Jones.


would u really have carrol ahead of Staker id say start with Carrol then give Staker the job as soon as he does something wrong.

Jones on the bench? id have him at FP or HHF

i guess u could start cox in the ruck but move Gardiner top ruck as soon as he does something wrong, and don't get him out of the ruck until were either being beatemn by heap or are winning comprehensivally.

do we know that Glass will be out for round 1 for sure?
Glass is apparently a silly chance to be ready for round 1- its possible, but not hugely likely.

Obviously its tempting to put Gardiner into the ruck, but I don't think we will against the dogs unless things go seriously pearshaped- it's a huge risk to expect him to shoulder that burden in his first game back, and Coxxy has been outstanding this preseason- certainly on the basis of how he's gone over the last month or so, he deserves first crack at ruck. I think the sensible thing to do is to play Gardiner as a third tall initially, to stretch the hell out of the Dogs defence, and then shift him into the ruck or to CHF as the game dictates. Because of that, I pushed Jones to the bench initially. With Kerr out, the likes of Chick, Jones and Braun are going to have to shoulder some more of the midfield burden.

At full back, its really about making the best of a bad situation. As such, Carroll, alas, deserves to be there more than anyone else- Staker has had a very average preseason in which he certainly has not done enough to deserve the starting FB role, Jakovich at full back is an enormous liability, and Graham is not AFL ready, so that leaves us with not many other option. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that one of Hunter, Glass or Gaspar will be fine by round one, with Hunter the most likely option- if he was in, I'd put him at FB in an instant.
 
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#5
Nicoski

Thanks again Mead. I'm interested to know if Nicoski played in the game. He showed some class in a couple of the pre-season games and is going to be a very servicable player for us in the not so distant future.
If he did play against Hawthorn, how did he go?
 

Frodo

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#6
Originally posted by Mead

FF Matera McDougall Gardiner
HF Sampi Johnson Chick
C Embley Cousins Fletcher
HB Morrison Lynch Green
FB Humm Carroll Wirrpunda

R: Cox Judd Braun
Int: Jakovich, Staker, Banfield, Jones.
Excellent post as usual Mead, that's my 22 also but I'd have Gardy on the bench and Jones in the pocket , with Gardy rotating Johnson at CHF.
I think Humm deserves it but probably between him and Collica.

Nicoski didn't play yesterday but has looked good.

I don't rate Carroll but I don't see we have any other choice at FB.
 

eagleye

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#7
Originally posted by Mead
Glass is apparently a silly chance to be ready for round 1- its possible, but not hugely likely.

Obviously its tempting to put Gardiner into the ruck, but I don't think we will against the dogs unless things go seriously pearshaped- it's a huge risk to expect him to shoulder that burden in his first game back, and Coxxy has been outstanding this preseason- certainly on the basis of how he's gone over the last month or so, he deserves first crack at ruck. I think the sensible thing to do is to play Gardiner as a third tall initially, to stretch the hell out of the Dogs defence, and then shift him into the ruck or to CHF as the game dictates. Because of that, I pushed Jones to the bench initially. With Kerr out, the likes of Chick, Jones and Braun are going to have to shoulder some more of the midfield burden.

At full back, its really about making the best of a bad situation. As such, Carroll, alas, deserves to be there more than anyone else- Staker has had a very average preseason in which he certainly has not done enough to deserve the starting FB role, Jakovich at full back is an enormous liability, and Graham is not AFL ready, so that leaves us with not many other option. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that one of Hunter, Glass or Gaspar will be fine by round one, with Hunter the most likely option- if he was in, I'd put him at FB in an instant.
ok ;)
 

Milenko

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#8
Fantastic write-up as usual Mead.

My only query concerns Kasey Green. From a number of reports i've read he's had a fairly average pre-season. I suppose he's filling in on a temporary basis before Hunter resumes, but i'd still prefer someone with a bit more height on that HB flank. Perhaps a Collica, though you mentioned his form has been equally lametable.
 

vicki

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#9
Kasey

Originally posted by Milenko
Fantastic write-up as usual Mead.

My only query concerns Kasey Green. From a number of reports i've read he's had a fairly average pre-season. I suppose he's filling in on a temporary basis before Hunter resumes, but i'd still prefer someone with a bit more height on that HB flank. Perhaps a Collica, though you mentioned his form has been equally lametable.
Kasey started in the centre a bit yesterday.It seemed to me that his job was to get between either Ben or Juddy and their respective taggers to enable the champs to get a clear run at the ball. Did anyone else notice this ???
 

Mead

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Thread starter #10
Re: Kasey

Originally posted by vicki
Kasey started in the centre a bit yesterday.It seemed to me that his job was to get between either Ben or Juddy and their respective taggers to enable the champs to get a clear run at the ball. Did anyone else notice this ???
Actually, yeah I did spot that- saw the same thing happen a few weeks back against the pies.

Interestingly enough that used to be Jonesy's role, but now that he is playing up forward usually, it seems that at opportune times, particularly when our ruckmen are on top, Green runs off his man and into the centre, and effectively tags the taggers to give our guns a clear run at the ball- I guess he got the job because he's a reasonably beefy defender, but still relatively quick on his feet. If the AFL is going to continue to be lax on midfielder scragging it makes sense to use the same tactics to free up our midfielders.
 

thegur

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#11
Given a line-up with Gardiner in the forward line as a third tall, anyone got any ideas on what the Dogs line-up would be?

Has Rawlings been playing as a forward or a defender?

Now if the Dogs were going to win the game, I'd say they'd have to try and stretch our backline by playing a tall forward line ... i'd also say that robbing the backline to pay the forward line can also lose it for the Dogs.

thegur
 

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#12
From what I can gather Rawlings has been playing forward and doing a pretty good job of it. Patrick Bowden is also being used down forward and has been creative and Darcy has also had some stints up forward.

At the moment our trouble spot is going to be Full Back. Jade Rawlings stands at 196cm and unfortunately we don't seem the height to cover him. Gardiner on Darcy would help us out with Lynch playing on Rawlings and someone like Chick/Embley on Bowden. Another player who has put his hand up for the Bulldogs is Adam Morgan who is 195cm.

The person who usually cuts us to pieces is Brad Johnson and I would prefer Chick to be playing on him.
 

pauljam

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#14
Hey folks, I already did this a few weeks ago! :D

Got a lot of good responses from the Doggies fans. Try the link below - not sure if I posted it correctly but its about 3 pages back on their board, called surprisingly enough

"Bullies expected Rnd1 team"

bullies team

We have a good chance to exploit their defence with Gardy in FP and Johnno and Doogs at CHF, FF. From what the guys posted they would be left with about a 190cm defender looking after 199cm Gardy. They'd then have to move someone like Bandy from CHF to BP to cover him.

Of course they could do the same to us with Darcy in fwd line but we'd have Staker as an option for him. Based on their fwd line we really need Huntaa fit and ready as an option for Rawlings...interesting stuff - I am HANGING out for round 1 :D :D
 

jod23

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#15
Originally posted by Mead


FF Matera McDougall Gardiner
HF Sampi Johnson Chick
C Embley Cousins Fletcher
HB Morrison Lynch Green
FB Humm Carroll Wirrpunda

R: Cox Judd Braun
Int: Jakovich, Staker, Banfield, Jones.
I like you side but rumors have it that Gardiner will play WAFL this weekend and be ready for round 1. I see no reason at all to start the best ruckmen in the competition in a forward pocket? Particularly with the talented Jones sitting on the bench. Cox to the bench, Jones to the forward line and Gardiner to the ruck.
 

thegur

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#16
they look something like this ...

BA: Robbins, Harris, Hargrave
HB: Smith, Grant, Murphy
CE: Eagleton, West, Giansiracusa
HF: Power, Bandy, Cooney
FD: Bowden, Rawlings, Darcy
RU: Street, Hahn, Johnson
INT from: McMahon, Croft, Koops, Boyd, Skipper, Faulkner, Ray, Harrison, Gilbee


I could not see them using Darcy in a FP when the back-up is Street. Street will be a good player, but would get soundly beaten by Cox or Gardiner ... If I was them, given what Rawlings did to us at York Park, I'd line him up in the goalsquare and I'd counter with Hunter with Carroll as a distant second (assuming no Glass). More than confident with Lynch on Bandy.

As for their backline, I'd look to make them accountable, especially Rohan Smith. I'd love to see Chick line-up on him, and just punish him going the other way (given you know that Chick would not let him do too much attacking). Also, given how long Grant has been away from senior football, i'd like to see us play a mobile CHF who covers a lot of ground rather than have someone for Grant to muscle up to and become more man-on-man.

thegur
 

GOALden Hawk

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#17
Thanks Mead - I notice you didn't put up my reply to your SMS! ;)

Good to hear Jacobs played well - he has been awful so far and we needed him to get going before Round 1.

Thanks again for keeping all the Hawk supporters updated, I'll buy you a beer if we ever play a game in Perth during the real stuff!

And no comment on Croad. :mad:
 

coasting

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#18
I think Johnson (or Staker, can't see both playing) will just miss while Adkins will make the team, especially with Kerr out. The last few positions can really go to anyone, with a number of players in the mix.

FF Matera McDougall Sampi
HF Jones Jakovich Adkins
C Embley Cousins Fletcher
HB Morrison Lynch Chick
FB Banfield Carroll Wirrpunda

R: Gardiner Judd Braun
Int: Cox, Staker, Humm, Green
 

theorangeapple

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#19
Good to hear Jacobs played well - he has been awful so far and we needed him to get going before Round 1.
at the risk of sounding like a smartass...are u being sarcastic??

jacobs was running the boundry line for the majority of the game and i didnt notice him at all when on the ground.
 

Mead

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Thread starter #20
Originally posted by theorangeapple
at the risk of sounding like a smartass...are u being sarcastic??

jacobs was running the boundry line for the majority of the game and i didnt notice him at all when on the ground.
I thought he did okay on McDougall when he was put onto him in the second quarter?- didnt let him get a touch..
 

Milkman

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#21
Cheers Mead, very informative review. Why the hell aren't you writing for the official AFL site? Your work is far better than that drivel.
 

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#22
I don't think Glass will be back for Round 1 anyway... Western Bulldogs don't have a noted Full Forward so there is no need for us to rush him back for that. Probably give him a week in the WAFL to get some fitness under his belt.
 

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#23
Is Waters injured?
If so my lineup is this

Matera McDougal Sampi
Jones Johnson Embly
Braun Judd Adkins
Chick Lynch Morrison
Humm Caroll Wirrupunda
Cox Cousins Fletcher

Int.Jakovich Green Banfield Adkins
Emerg Staker Collica Nicoski/Chambers
 

eagleye

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#24
so lets see...

Robbins, Harris, Hargrave
Matera McDougall Gardiner

Smith, Grant, Murphy
Sampi Johnson Chick

Eagleton, West, Giansiracusa
Embley Cousins Fletcher

Power, Bandy, Cooney
Morrison Lynch Green

Bowden, Rawlings, Darcy
Humm Carroll Wirrpunda

Street, Hahn, Johnson
Cox Judd Braun

Croft, Koops, Boyd, Skipper
Jakovich, Staker, Banfield, Jones.


u decide who wins... anyway going by these teams ( which were provided by mead and some bullies dude ) our FF line wins over there FB line.
there HB line might actually beat or equal our HF line but we will get soo much delivery from our C line and Ruck/rovers ( which runs all over there C line and Rucks/rovers )
our midfield will starve there HF line from the ball and when it does get there our HB line should match there HF line.
Carrol will get beaten ( and obviosly Wirra would't actually match up on darcy but im just using provided teams ) but our backline should hold.
basically our midfield supemecy, tall forward line and dominant rucks and rovers will win us this game.
 
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