Preview Round 5, 2018: North Melbourne v Hawthorn, 22 April 2018, 3.20pm @ Etihad Stadium

[Bumpswithagrin]

Great to see Cousins and Burto back. Good team!

 

[Snake_Baker]

Does McKay play a similar role to Waite? I've heard plenty of hype about his brother but not much about your version. Tall mobile forward?

201cms & 97 kgs. Still only 20.

I don't have any doubts that he will be a player.

 

[VandoHawk]

Our team has changed so much over time.

Right now we only have Roughead from our 2008 Premiership playing. From our 2013 Premiership we only have Rough, Breust, Gunners, Smithy, Sheils and Stratton. Hard to believe.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

The Cuz.. he's in, thought you may have had better intel

Will be very interesting to see what role he plays.

 

[TheExtractorFactor]

Very happy. I was worried they would bring back Langford to play forward in replacement of Cyril/Poppy

 

[marklar]

This week screams late change, I wouldn't be surprised to see Langford back in by Sunday.

 

[Snake_Baker]

It's pretty obvious how this will be played.

Hawthorn will try to control the clearances, put a loose man behind the ball and spread & possess.

We will target Mitchell, hopefully go man on man, and go long inside 50 to get an aerial advantage.

 

[TheFourPillars]

Well it will be interesting to see where cousins plays.

 

[grumbleguts]

It's pretty obvious how this will be played.

Hawthorn will try to control the clearances, put a loose man behind the ball and spread & possess.

We will target Mitchell, hopefully go man on man, and go long inside 50 to get an aerial advantage.

Yeah nah, North will get close in the packs and nipple cripple and pinch and poke the hell out of the hawthorn players until they break. Ben Brown will be awarded the dodgiest free kick of all time at the ten minute mark of the first quarter and spend the rest of the match on his run up to take his kick which will be taken just after the final siren because of his friggin ridiculous 237 km run up.

 

[Flag08]

Well it will be interesting to see where cousins plays.

Etihad hopefully

 

[Slysh]

It's pretty obvious how this will be played.

Hawthorn will try to control the clearances, put a loose man behind the ball and spread & possess.

We will target Mitchell, hopefully go man on man, and go long inside 50 to get an aerial advantage.

Would be a lot more confident on the MCG, will be interesting to see how our game plan holds up elsewhere.

 

[TheFourPillars]

Etihad hopefully

Haha yeah what his role is because they have obviously identified one

 

[Simon Crawshay]

I've always been a fan of Langers, but my confidence dropped over multiple of his post 2013 preseasons, he'd have an interview where he talked about improving his strength, core or something. I don't know why we didn't rebuild his kick from the ground up like we did with Sewell. Nonetheless I take issue with saying his game was undeserved, before Mitchell he was the best clearance player we had, not to mention the pressure he brings to any position, let's not go overboard after a bad game and a year we were forced to play him out of position.

My biggest issue with Langford as a midfielder isn't his disposal skills. It is the fact that he generally only gets around 15 to 20 possessions which is sub standard for an AFL mid.

His biggest asset for mine is he is a surprisingly effective lead and mark forward who understands where to lead and had nice hands but then we strike the woeful kicking for goal issue.

His biggest weakness negates his strength which is unfortunate for Will.

 

[Noel Gallagher]

My biggest issue with Langford as a midfielder isn't his disposal skills. It is the fact that he generally only gets around 15 to 20 possessions which is sub standard for an AFL mid.

His biggest asset for mine is he is a surprisingly effective lead and mark forward who understands where to lead and had nice hands but then we strike the woeful kicking for goal issue.

His biggest weakness negates his strength which is unfortunate for Will.

This... been saying this for a while. love the guy, bleeds brown and gold but negatives outweigh the positives

 

[JoeHawk]

My biggest issue with Langford as a midfielder isn't his disposal skills. It is the fact that he generally only gets around 15 to 20 possessions which is sub standard for an AFL mid.

His biggest asset for mine is he is a surprisingly effective lead and mark forward who understands where to lead and had nice hands but then we strike the woeful kicking for goal issue.

His biggest weakness negates his strength which is unfortunate for Will.

Anyone been watching Langford at BH? Has there been any improvement on his disposal?

 

[badgrill]

No Silk

 

[OnceKicked50]

Their forward line is going to be way taller than our defence.

McKay - 201cm v ??? - <189cm
Brown - 200cm v Frawley - 193cm

Good. Will play a loose, bring the ball to ground and rebound quickly to the forward 50. Forward height is getting found out in modern footy.

 

[JustKickIt]

201cms & 97 kgs. Still only 20.

I don't have any doubts that he will be a player.

He will need to learn how to control his body a bit better than that or he will be in the medical room more than on the ground.

 

[SA HAWK]

Good to see Cuz get another crack and Burton back.

 

[Phil McCreviss]

Personally I couldn't care if Brown gets off the chain. The only way they win is if they beat us comprehensively in the middle and spread the goalkicking around their forward line.

We have had a history of letting key position forwards kick bags and still win the game. It's more of an issue if spuds like Waite pop up and kick 3 or 4 or Higgins kicks a handful. Brown can kick 5 but if he is their only focal point, it's a win for us.

 

[burger09]

Good luck to cousins.

He's not the perfect replacement structurally.

He's been rewarded for his form.

We would love another gun mid, just ideally one with pace.

This sentence is where I kick langford. Seems mandatory in this thread for some reason.

Burton and morrison vs hartung and anderson.
The bragging rights cup.

Think North might tag O'meara with jacobs (would be a big compliment) and send cunnington head to head with tom.

 

[Glacier]

Either way Jacobs should cop it from all angles

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

Good luck too cousins.

He's not the perfect replacement structurally.

He's been rewarded for his form.

We would love another gun mid, just ideally one with pace.

This sentence is where I kick langford. Seems mandatory in this thread for some reason.

Burton and morrison vs hartung and anderson.
The bragging rights cup.

Think North might tag O'meara with jacobs (would be a big compliment) and send cunnington head to head with tom.

I was thinking the same with a O'Meara tag, but Scott has tended to send Jacobs to the accumulative mids so far this year, i.e. Seb Ross and Clayton Oliver.

 

[moginie]

Will be very interesting to see what role he plays.

Haha yeah what his role is because they have obviously identified one

I'd say it would be exactly the same as his role in his debut game. Run hard, harass like crazy and this time he won't have 53% game time.

 

[tige19]

Will be very interesting to see what role he plays.

I reckon he's been earmarked for an inside role regardless, that's how he has earned the call up. Perhaps Impey stays forward now and plays the Cyril role full time, Punky/Gunno/Ruff/Hendo/Impey to bring the forward pressure. Not as savage with Cyril and pop out but better than most and levels above what North will bring.