Riewoldt.

[Quicky]

It's a hard match up for sure. This is how i'd approach it:

1 - Win at clearances (easy to say but its a necessity)
2 - Maintain a high level of pressure all over the ground so that the quality of the delivery he recieves is not as good.
3 - Have our defenders force him to areas of the ground where he is less dangerous - wide and high.
4 - Rotate defenders on him. He is just too much of an endurance monster to play one opponent on him for the match. Most of his goals come in the second half of the quarter after he has burned his opponent.
5 - If at FF Presti; If at CHF Harry. I'd have Maxwell on him at the end of quarters (Played this role well in the past, otherwise use Reid). Reid used spare to drop off and play Maxwells role when Maxwell is manning up on Reiwoldt.
6 - Ensure the other defenders (Shaw, Toovey, Brown etc) also drop off and get third man up when appropriate.
7 - Pray >> Might need some advice from our bretheren at the HolyPies about this one.

What about Rusling?

Heres some reasons:

1 - He has very little defensive experience even at VFL level.
2 - He has been out of the game for a long time and still needs fitness which is incredibly important against Reiwoldt.
3 - He has very poor lateral movement and would get outmanouvered by Reiwoldt.
4 - Reiwoldt has several inches on Rusling and would kill him in the air.

I could probably go on but you get the gist.

 

[The Magnificent Seven]

3 - Have our defenders force him to areas of the ground where he is less dangerous - wide and high.
4 - Rotate defenders on him. He is just too much of an endurance monster to play one opponent on him for the match. Most of his goals come in the second half of the quarter after he has burned his opponent.
5 - If at FF Presti; If at CHF Harry. I'd have Maxwell on him at the end of quarters (Played this role well in the past, otherwise use Reid). Reid used spare to drop off and play Maxwells role when Maxwell is manning up on Reiwoldt.

That seems to be it for me, too. Has anyone watched to see how many defenders try to follow him up the ground? Seems worthwhile for someone to man the watchtower at HF and wait there as a floating defender if Roo decides to push past the 50 arc. Let him run a half marathon, but just make sure he can't run back with the flight of the ball back toward goal as he seems to be doing a lot.

 

[mdc]

The Saints have quality all over the field, their midfield is vastly superior to ours.

Nonsense. Geelong's is vastly superior. Hawthorn's is superior. St.Kilda's maybe marginally ahead because they don't have to play a Ball or O'Bree (since they have Hayes).

There are really two areas where the Saints kills us - KPF and tackling pressure. If we can keep their KPF quiet and match their tackling pressure, I'd be confident of an even game.

Oh, and man up Gilbert, who's just destroyed the first 2 rounds.

 

[Quicky]

That seems to be it for me, too. Has anyone watched to see how many defenders try to follow him up the ground? Seems worthwhile for someone to man the watchtower at HF and wait there as a floating defender if Roo decides to push past the 50 arc. Let him run a half marathon, but just make sure he can't run back with the flight of the ball back toward goal as he seems to be doing a lot.

Thats an idea. Have Reid play spare in defense in the hole in front of Reiwoldt. When Reiwoldt leaves to lead up the ground instruct Reid to follow him when this happens; leaving Reiwoldts F50 opponent to stay at home as the loose man (whether its Presti, Maxy, Harry or whoever). Reid has the endurance, speed, height and mobility to go with him when this happens (probably the only player we have that does). If Reid is beaten up the ground it is not as bad as Reiwoldt is not in as dangerous a position. When Reiwoldt turns back to attack the 50 have his original opponent man him up. I think it could work well if the players know their roles, don't get confused and lose him in transit.

 

[daics_35]

I think that Presti has to get him because we saw in the Nab Cup match when Presti went on him he didnt kick a goal and also with Kozi out i think he could maybe even play three on reiwoldt. Id say Presti running with him,maxwell playing infront of him and also maybe like a Leigh Brown chipping in as well. Toovey on Sneider and Harry on Milne. The loss of Kozi really leaps us in minimising Reiwoldts influence on the game.

 

[Swan4Brownlow]

If Presti doesn't play, Reid will be given first crack. Malthouse loves to give his younger players tough gigs to see if they can cut it and if Reid is going to be a future key position backman then what better way to find out if he is made of the right stuff than by giving him the responsibility of Riewoldt? Reid is basically the best match up for Riewoldt that we have physcially are aerobically, albeit he is very short on experience.

If we opt to play Maxwell on Roo then this will take away the main strength of our backline. We are great at getting the third man up in a contest and Maxwell does this better than just about anyone else in the competition.

Having said that though, if the Saints are allowed to do as they please further up the field, then there won't be any opportunities to get a third man up because Mantagna, Hayes, Dal Santo etc will hit Roo on the tit 30m straight in front.

I see this week as no different to any other. To win the game we are going to have to play hard, disciplined, accountable football, something we should be aiming to do every single week of the year, not only for games against top 4 sides. Perhaps this is a reason why we continually struggle against sides we are "expected" to beat. Playing this kind of footy has to become the standard if we are to take the next step and smash poor teams to a pulp and compete regularly with the top sides, not the exception that we look to when we play a Geelong, Dogs, Saints or Hawks.

 

[Swan4Brownlow]

The loss of Kozi really leaps us in minimising Reiwoldts influence on the game.

I think you'll fine that's what North Melbourne thought...

 

[daics_35]

I think you'll fine that's what North Melbourne thought...

Yer but honostly, Norths deffence is no where near as good as ours

 

[Swan4Brownlow]

Yer but honostly, Norths deffence is no where near as good as ours

I think that we could have put Scarlett and Lake on Riewoldt the other night, but with the way the Saints tore the Roos to pieces in the midfield, even these two guys would have had trouble stopping him. The absolute key is midfield pressure

 

[hellfire]

Nonsense. Geelong's is vastly superior. Hawthorn's is superior. St.Kilda's maybe marginally ahead because they don't have to play a Ball or O'Bree (since they have Hayes).

There are really two areas where the Saints kills us - KPF and tackling pressure. If we can keep their KPF quiet and match their tackling pressure, I'd be confident of an even game.

Oh, and man up Gilbert, who's just destroyed the first 2 rounds.

Nonsense?

I hardly see it as nonsense, given that they have three midfielders on or around the level of our best midfielder. Swan is our star midfielder, they have stars on the inside [Hayes], outside [Dal Santo and Montagna] and both [Goddard]. They also have the best tagger in the competition, who is very good on the offensive too. Pendlebury at his best is arguably on that same level, but we haven't seen it yet this year [very early I know].

I'm sorry but their midfield is comfortably better than ours.

 

[mdc]

Nonsense?

I hardly see it as nonsense, given that they have three midfielders on or around the level of our best midfielder. Swan is our star midfielder, they have stars on the inside [Hayes], outside [Dal Santo and Montagna] and both [Goddard]. They also have the best tagger in the competition, who is very good on the offensive too. Pendlebury at his best is arguably on that same level, but we haven't seen it yet this year [very early I know].

I'm sorry but their midfield is comfortably better than ours.

Look, I don't really want to get into a player-by-player argument, but let's just say I believe some of their depth players, as well as Montagna, are being pulled up by their top handful. In a vacuum, I'd take Swan and Pendlebury over any St.Kilda duo.

Really, I'd compare it to Essendon circa 2000 - they were unbeatable and everyone thought they had 22 champions and this super-happy-fantastic-awesome midfield, yet they were quickly found out.

Let's not over-react to a thrashing of a rubbish Norf side.

 

[daics_35]

I think that we could have put Scarlett and Lake on Riewoldt the other night, but with the way the Saints tore the Roos to pieces in the midfield, even these two guys would have had trouble stopping him. The absolute key is midfield pressure

Agreed. After watching the second half against the saint in the nab cup game i rekon we are a strong chance in beating their midfield as well.

 

[Mickaman]

I think that we could have put Scarlett and Lake on Riewoldt the other night, but with the way the Saints tore the Roos to pieces in the midfield, even these two guys would have had trouble stopping him. The absolute key is midfield pressure

Spot on. Doesn't matter who matches up on Roo if their is no midfield pressure. They will hit him up on the lead most times.

Another poster wrote about Reid will get the gig as MM likes to test the young fellas I think that may be true too. If he does get first shot we really need Maxwell and co to help him out 3rd man up & Jolly to drop back.

I have got a good feeling this week. I thought we might struggle against Dees (not as much as we did though). Hopefully last week might have been a good kick up the arse for us and that the Saints might underestimate us (fingers crossed).

 

[Sloth]

Double team him, with maxwell providing coverage of their other forwards

 

[hellfire]

Look, I don't really want to get into a player-by-player argument, but let's just say I believe some of their depth players, as well as Montagna, are being pulled up by their top handful. In a vacuum, I'd take Swan and Pendlebury over any St.Kilda duo.

Really, I'd compare it to Essendon circa 2000 - they were unbeatable and everyone thought they had 22 champions and this super-happy-fantastic-awesome midfield, yet they were quickly found out.

Let's not over-react to a thrashing of a rubbish Norf side.

I agree, but the same can best said of most good midfields. The "depth" players or the 5th and 6th midfielders will look better because of the stars in front of them. For the future, I would probably take Swan and Pendlebury as well! But right now, Goddard and Hayes would be the best duo I would think.

Anyway, I still think we will get soundly beaten in the midfield [at stoppages], hence why I think we will lose. We need all mids to be at their best if we're to win this one.

 

[the woodsmen2010]

Put leigh brown on him for the 1st 5 mins....

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

I would take a punt and put Chris Dawes on him, with help from Maxwell.

He's in the top 5 endurance in the club so he should be able to keep up with Riewoldt.

Tarrant has proven transforming into a defender isn't very hard. All Dawes has to do is to keep up with Riewoldt and put pressure and make him earn his kicks and marks. Keep it simple by punching the ball at every contest to try and force it to the ground.

 

[Swan4Brownlow]

I would take a punt and put Chris Dawes on him, with help from Maxwell.

He's in the top 5 endurance in the club so he should be able to keep up with Riewoldt.

Tarrant has proven transforming into a defender isn't very hard. All Dawes has to do is to keep up with Riewoldt and put pressure and make him earn his kicks and marks. Keep it simple by punching the ball at every contest to try and force it to the ground.

There is no way we can play a guy who has never played in the backline his whole life, on arguably the best forward in the game right now. Anyone thinking it's a good idea to put Dawes, Rusling, Cloke etc on Riewoldt is crazy.

 

[danielnajdek]

doesn't matter who plays on him he's gonna get plenty of shots at goal.just have to hope he misses a few.

 

[dswan]

Lets put Ben Reid on him see how he goes

 

[AFaiL]

Quite frankly, their smalls dont worry me. If we can force him wide and clutter the corridor we will be doing well. We must get number in the middle and ush him out wide on the lead. I would have Presti on him is he goes to the goalsquare or consider Brown/O'Brien if he pushes up. I dont care is he gets 25 touches and 15 marks as long as they are not inside 40 and in the corridor. We must play percentages.

I'm interested to hear other peoples thoughts and ideas on how we will combat Roo...

Tell you now, he gets those numbers, we win by 10 goals.

 

[Jedi01]

Tell you now, he gets those numbers, we win by 10 goals.

lol, um no.

He would have got near that in the NAB game and you won by a point.

 

[Swan4Brownlow]

Tell you now, he gets those numbers, we win by 10 goals.

If he gets those numbers up on the wings or half forward, who is he going to kick it to? None of your other forwards are capable of consistently beating the Pie defence in the air, NONE. Please do not come back to me and say McEvoy, Stanly or Gardiner. Milne, Schneider, Peake and McQualter are really only going to do any damage when there is a crumb situation or you guys are streaming forward and they can get the ball out on the lead. If Riewoldt gets the ball 90 metres from goal and the ball movement is slow, we win.

 

[rose jam]

I don't think the coaching staff will be too sucked in by focussing on Riewoldt so heavily. Need to kill their smaller forwards, Schneider, Milne, Peake, maybe Goddard.

And the only way to do that is to hold the backline structure and win some goddam clearances.