Need steely in the team…has earned a call upThe Tigers head on the road this week to travel across to WA to face the only other side to knock off Sydney this year in Fremantle. The Dockers have surged into 3rd place on the ladder and will certainly be a challenge for a Richmond side that is struggling to find consistency as the year from hell continues on.
Unfortunately we will likely lose Martin this week to a back complaint with Prestia a slight chance to return along with Samson Ryan. Tom Lynch is unlikely to make the trip over a they give him time to fully recover from a hamstring issue in the opposite leg that required surgery earlier this year. Even though we got beaten by 10 goals against the Blues I'm not thinking we'll see a heap of changes with Yze swinging the axe. If Prestia doesn't get up we may well see Dow return to the side after a solid outing in the VFL against Carlton. Cumberland is the other that may come into calculations for a Martin replacement inside F50.
Some may suggest that we give the likes of Green and Coulthard another chance after they both had very good games yesterday, but their month of footy before that is not what you'd be rewarding players for. I'd like to see them back it up again for another couple of games before they get considered for the senior side. The other 2 that have been in consistent form are Trezise and Smith down back and I know some constantly call for Short to be dropped, but it would be a big call to drop one of the vice captains in a period where we're so hampered by injuries.
What will be interesting in this game will be how our midfield shapes up against the Dockers midfield who are ranked number 1 in the comp for clearances, while we're dead last in that area, in part because most of our better mids have been sitting in the stands most of the season. Against Carlton we managed to break even in the clearance battle and lost contested possessions by only 6 so we were certainly up for the fight in the contest, it was just a case of when Carlton won their clearances they were able to do more damage from them than we were.
Predicted Line Up
Out: Martin
In: Cumberland
B: Miller Vlastuin Blight
HB: D.Rioli Brown Broad
C: McIntosh Taranto Ralphsmith
HF: Campbell Graham Mansell
F: Balta Bolton Koschitzke
R: Nankervis Hopper Baker
INT: McAuliffe Short Sonsie Cumberland Banks
Prediction
Much like the Carlton game I can see the Dockers getting the win rather comfortably, especially on their home deck and given they touched us up by 9 goals the last time we met, it shouldn't be a shock of the margin was something similar this weekend if not more.
Besides is a WA lad ….from Sth Freo
Trigger ( for banks) and Nigel (for Seth) should be looked at….
Dow needs another good game at VFL level