Whilst many are expecting us to beat Carlton, I see this as being our toughest challenge yet. We beat injury depleted Crows and Dockers in impressive wins.
- Besides last weeks loss to Geelong, Cartons form has been pretty good
- They gave us a bath in the NAB Cup game, we had everyone except McPhee and only a few good spurts resulted in a deceiving end scoreline. They controlled most of the play
- The crowd atmosphere always generates a lift in Carlton regardless of who they have on the field
We are more polished since then and should win, but a lot does need to go our way
Matchups:
Lloyd/Thornton
Thornton is underrated IMO, not a given that Lloyd will destroy him. Will Lloyd spend more time in the goalsquare or push up to half forward. How will Carlton adjust accordingly. O’Halpin is another one who could get the gig and he has looked very good.
Lucas/Waite
Waite got the better of Scotty in the NAB Cup game but Lucas is in great form. Waite has the right athleticism to go with him. Probably his toughest opponent to date
Fletcher/Whitnall
This would depend on Lance actually starting at CHF and could be dangerous for us. His in bad form, so doubt he has a blinder against us. Both read the play really well
Ryden/Kennedy
Another task for Paddy. What destroyed Carlton last week was that they kept bombing the ball in long and high where Geelong had numbers dropping back. If this were to continue, Ryder would be significant in this role as he has been. The bonus with him is that with his height and leap he can kill a contest before his opponent can even touch the ball. He has done that a fair bit lately.
Mal/Fevola
Fev dest royed him in the NAB cup, but Mal was and perhaps still is underdone and the umps crucified him. We need to ensure the likes of McPhee and others are dropping back into the space Fev will lead into as Mal has no chance on the lead and is how Freo exposed us last week.
Midfeilds
Watson, Stanton, Winderlich, Peverill, Heffernan, Dyson, Lovett, Slattery, Davey McPhee, MJ, McVeigh
Murphy, Stevens, Gibbs, Walker, Carazzo, Lappin, Bentick, Scotland, Russell, Betts, Simpson
All these guys are likely to be rotated throughout the ground. Probably a tougher midfield than what both Adelaide and Freo put out. This area is where Carlton have hurt us in the past but we are more equipped now than we have been in a while. I’d say we’d be tagging Stevens with Pev while they’ll put Russell on Stants. The ruckwork will impact this big time.
Rucks
Hille, Laycock
Ackland, McLaren
Not sure if McLaren will get a game but our ruckwork still needs to improve. It amazes me how many times Hille will go up at a centre bounce and get nowhere near the bal, he’ll jump to early, too late, no technique. We need to feed the midfield
We need to force Carlton to bomb it in long which means we need to drop numbers back. When we have the ball we need to keep doing what we’ve been doing and playing on at every opportunity whilst maintaining possession when necessary. There is a big dependency of Laycock standing up as a third tall forward. Don’t know whether we need another Ruckman for this match and whether Johns, Gumby or Neagle could be a better option but it could also work out well and we probably should play him while his healthy.
Must win!
- Besides last weeks loss to Geelong, Cartons form has been pretty good
- They gave us a bath in the NAB Cup game, we had everyone except McPhee and only a few good spurts resulted in a deceiving end scoreline. They controlled most of the play
- The crowd atmosphere always generates a lift in Carlton regardless of who they have on the field
We are more polished since then and should win, but a lot does need to go our way
Matchups:
Lloyd/Thornton
Thornton is underrated IMO, not a given that Lloyd will destroy him. Will Lloyd spend more time in the goalsquare or push up to half forward. How will Carlton adjust accordingly. O’Halpin is another one who could get the gig and he has looked very good.
Lucas/Waite
Waite got the better of Scotty in the NAB Cup game but Lucas is in great form. Waite has the right athleticism to go with him. Probably his toughest opponent to date
Fletcher/Whitnall
This would depend on Lance actually starting at CHF and could be dangerous for us. His in bad form, so doubt he has a blinder against us. Both read the play really well
Ryden/Kennedy
Another task for Paddy. What destroyed Carlton last week was that they kept bombing the ball in long and high where Geelong had numbers dropping back. If this were to continue, Ryder would be significant in this role as he has been. The bonus with him is that with his height and leap he can kill a contest before his opponent can even touch the ball. He has done that a fair bit lately.
Mal/Fevola
Fev dest royed him in the NAB cup, but Mal was and perhaps still is underdone and the umps crucified him. We need to ensure the likes of McPhee and others are dropping back into the space Fev will lead into as Mal has no chance on the lead and is how Freo exposed us last week.
Midfeilds
Watson, Stanton, Winderlich, Peverill, Heffernan, Dyson, Lovett, Slattery, Davey McPhee, MJ, McVeigh
Murphy, Stevens, Gibbs, Walker, Carazzo, Lappin, Bentick, Scotland, Russell, Betts, Simpson
All these guys are likely to be rotated throughout the ground. Probably a tougher midfield than what both Adelaide and Freo put out. This area is where Carlton have hurt us in the past but we are more equipped now than we have been in a while. I’d say we’d be tagging Stevens with Pev while they’ll put Russell on Stants. The ruckwork will impact this big time.
Rucks
Hille, Laycock
Ackland, McLaren
Not sure if McLaren will get a game but our ruckwork still needs to improve. It amazes me how many times Hille will go up at a centre bounce and get nowhere near the bal, he’ll jump to early, too late, no technique. We need to feed the midfield
We need to force Carlton to bomb it in long which means we need to drop numbers back. When we have the ball we need to keep doing what we’ve been doing and playing on at every opportunity whilst maintaining possession when necessary. There is a big dependency of Laycock standing up as a third tall forward. Don’t know whether we need another Ruckman for this match and whether Johns, Gumby or Neagle could be a better option but it could also work out well and we probably should play him while his healthy.
Must win!
