ferrisb
Brownlow Medallist
Sorry peeps, I didn't have time to do a proper (or on time) preview this week.
Form
We have been solid so far in 2023, without everything clicking into gear properly.
North have been better than expected, and are 2-1 but also lost to the wooden spoon faves Hawthorn last week. Oooh, that felt good. Let me say that again.... wooden spoon faves Hawthorn. They also beat WCE in round 1 who are not much chop. Had an impressive win over Freo tho.
Changes
Freo welcome LDU and Simpkin back, which will make a HUGE diff to their side. Those two are easily their best two mids, with LDU in spectacular form over the last 12 months. They lose Logue to suspension, who is a huge loss given Nth are VERY light on key defenders.
We lose Acres, who is a big loss given we are weak in the wings.
Style
North play like Carlton in 2022. Tough, contested footy. Strong on clearances, contested possessions, high tackle numbers, low kick-to-handball ratio and they struggle with uncontested footy. They have pretty low inside 50 numbers, which suggests among other things a poor quality midfield. I mean I think that is all correct, but I've based it off looking at some stats, because let's be honest no one actually watches North play.
Hawks beat North by playing a running, keepings-off game. I think we should do the same.
Key match ups
Sheezel is running amok at HBF. He sets them up from there, send someone to him. Newman/Doc/Saad? Sneaking suspicion he spends some time down fwd, where he played mercurial footy as a junior.
Larkey is their main threat - Weiters is a good match up despite Larkey kicking 872 goals on him a couple of years back
LDU - send Ed to him? Or Crippa head-to-head?
Harry & Charlie - should be too strong for their backline which consists of Aiden Corr and six medium defenders. No joke there, I mean that literally. I think they have one defender >190cm. Wayne Hughes, eat your heart out!!!
Midfield - We should be too comfortably too strong and too deep here. An on-fire LDU, talented Simpkin and ageing Cunnington are their best three mids. After that there's a bunch of kids who look promising, but are years away from being dominant plus a couple of ok-to-solid journeymen.
Verdict
We will be too strong for North in the midfield and IF we play our cards right, our tall fwds should have a day out.
Blues by a modest 91 points.
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