In all seriousness
R:Gardiner, Kerr, Judd
Simmonds, Hasleby, Bell
C:Fletcher, Cousins, Embley
Headland, Carr, Pavlich
Some interesting matchups- food for thought-
Given his indifferent form of late, will Fremantle risk leaving Cousins unattended so they can use their #1 tagger on Judd or Kerr? Ideally for West Coast, Judd matches up on Carr best-
Will West Coast run any tags? if so, who? Hasleby and Pavlich are the two key guys who need to be stopped, but given the relative strengths of the two midfields, they can probably only afford to 'waste' one player in a tagging role- Chick might be the go in either case- strong enough to handle Pavlich, good tackler, and fast enough to make him accountable the other way.
Kerr v Hasleby shapes up as a good battle- both in outstanding form.
For West Coast, Wirrpunda, Chick, Banfield, Wooden etc will probably spend serious time in the midfield, for freo the second stringers are McManus, Walker, Cook and co.
With so many threats around, it probably all comes down to
Gardiner v Simmonds. Both have been in pretty kickass form of late, and personally, this is where I reckon we can win the game- If Gardiner gets on top, our midfield will win out, and if that happens, we're sitting pretty. For Freo to succeed, they're going to need either a career best performance from Simmo, or to utilise tag-team tactics like Adelaide did, probably a trio of Simmonds, Longmuir and Sandilands.
No matter how well Gardie plays WC'll need greater support from their ruck backup if they're going to get 4 quarters out of Gardiner.
Actually, some food for thought #2- if the AA side was picked today on form, how many WC/Freo players would be in it?
For the Eagles, Phil Matera would have to be forward pocket, Gardiner is clearly the best ruckman in the league, and Wirrpunda would push for a place as the best back pocket candidate going around. Judd might snag a place in the midfield or the flanks if he got lucky.
For Freo, Hasleby has clearly been one of the best midfielders around thus far, Pav has been okay, but noone else suggests themself?