It's my turn to do one of these previews, and I have drawn this charcoal and orange straw, and so in joining a recent movement and being true to my authentic self, I won't be pretending that I know about GWS's formline, or likely selection certainties and mainstays, or how they appear to be going this year, or last year, or their current captain, or what greater western Sydney even was before today. Instead I'm going to rely on how I 'feel' about this match next weekend that is a Giants home match but is being held in Canberra for some reason that I am sure somebody has explained to me before.
On the face of it I'm fairly bullish on a QLD outfit's chances of succeeding in any venture or undertaking against an opposing outfit from anywhere West of Strathfield. Or East of Burwood. Or East of Darlinghurst. Or South of Albury. So the win is a straight up certainty on those grounds without any argument at all. But for the sake of the intellectual exercise I have decided to look at some of our field structures so that we can create filler material out of that.
For the last couple of weeks my reading of Facebook has told me that our backs have begun to tighten their grip on the collective collar of the competition, led by Andrews as pe usual but suddenly, ably, supported by that Herculean unit Paine and the surprisingly reliable Joyce. With the addition of a cranky McKenna and Starcevich, a reliably penetrative (careful now) Rich, the velvet shackles of Coleman (and also he can kick the footy too), and the potential return of the dour, cantankerous, assertive, crankypants Gardner, the some'st maligned defensive unit do have that chemistry, flow, and daddy vibes that we were waiting for this year. Not knowing a lot about the GWS front six, all I can say is that the Brissy defenders would most effectively match up against, say, a slow and petulant anchor key forward who doesn't work very hard, and possible also an overstretched CFH who sits in the 'solid footsoldier' category. Probably the only thing that could allow us to match better would be one of those niggly captain small forwards with an aggro reputation who would try to ruffle the feathers of aformentioned crankypantses. Anyway, I'm sure everybody will have a fun time.
Twitter has been fairly reliable in keeping me up to date with how much more physical, hardworking and defensively minded our star-studded midfield has been 3 times out of 5, and also how Jow Biden has a few things going on right now? Anyway, the combination of Neale and Dunkley has really cranked into gear, and the occasional addition of Berry to that mix creates some much needed "* you and also the audacity that rode in on" to our midfield tone. On topf of this, Oscar's newfound realisation that he can simply reach up and grab the football, have a cup of tea and readjust his undies, before placing the footy on his boot and kicking it 80 meters has really done wonders for the mids' recovery rates. Furthermore, Ashcroft and Wilmott are such jets that even a slow-to-warm-up-to-the-point-of-notceable-absence-McCluggage's, uh, absence is barely noticeable.
I'm pretty sure that made sense. The pieces are all there.
I could imagine that were the Giants the type of midfield to want to win the hard contested ball, make like difficult for the opposition star mids at the coalface before finishing off their play with outside polish, skill and flair, the collective endeavour of the Lions inside and outside grunt will make for a wonderful and gentlemanly bloodbath. On a side note, apparently Coniglio and Whitfield are still lining up for the Giants. The last time I can clearly remember Coniglio playing was way back yonder when Daniel Merrett kicked 5 goals in a quarter, and even then Cogs looked like a 15 year veteran in the visible, non-metaphorical sense. Also Whitfield was still tossing up a career in psychopharmacology, or footy. Sliding doors, huh.
Spending a heap of time with the ressies regulars has told me that our hot and cold and sometimes frustrating midfield has been hot and cold and, sometimes, a little bit frustrating. And also that the Chelmer chippie quality has been dipping, which is quite upsetting actually. Notwithstanding said shitty chippies, Joe and Eric have really brought a bit of intent in these last couple of weeks, and as rangey and ungainly and non-Newtonian as they appear to be, they've been getting s**t done, which is a real delight to watch. As is Charlie and Cam doing what they do best, and Bailey slowly but surely but slowly regaining his form. About the only thing I miss seeing is Linc flying comically high and somehow landing it, but I'll just have to make do with watching him sprint like a maniac in tireless forward pressure. A quick look at the GWS team announcement tells me that their backline is anchored by something called a Sam Taylor, and a poor boy named Buckley who looks a bit confused a lot of the time. That poor boy.
Look, at the end of the day Football, in addition to the Lions, will be the real winner here. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to see a Demons/Collingwood style dismantling, even if it's just as simple a strategy as 'turn the pressure up to 11', which I honestly think is all that we are going to see next Saturday, and is all that will be needed. Then we can put all this silliness about football in Canberra and a 'greater western sydney football team' behind us. I'm sick of you guys trying to trick me.
Lions by 48 if Jekyl Lions show up.
Lions by the skin of their teeth, or a narrow loss if Hyde shows up.
On the face of it I'm fairly bullish on a QLD outfit's chances of succeeding in any venture or undertaking against an opposing outfit from anywhere West of Strathfield. Or East of Burwood. Or East of Darlinghurst. Or South of Albury. So the win is a straight up certainty on those grounds without any argument at all. But for the sake of the intellectual exercise I have decided to look at some of our field structures so that we can create filler material out of that.
For the last couple of weeks my reading of Facebook has told me that our backs have begun to tighten their grip on the collective collar of the competition, led by Andrews as pe usual but suddenly, ably, supported by that Herculean unit Paine and the surprisingly reliable Joyce. With the addition of a cranky McKenna and Starcevich, a reliably penetrative (careful now) Rich, the velvet shackles of Coleman (and also he can kick the footy too), and the potential return of the dour, cantankerous, assertive, crankypants Gardner, the some'st maligned defensive unit do have that chemistry, flow, and daddy vibes that we were waiting for this year. Not knowing a lot about the GWS front six, all I can say is that the Brissy defenders would most effectively match up against, say, a slow and petulant anchor key forward who doesn't work very hard, and possible also an overstretched CFH who sits in the 'solid footsoldier' category. Probably the only thing that could allow us to match better would be one of those niggly captain small forwards with an aggro reputation who would try to ruffle the feathers of aformentioned crankypantses. Anyway, I'm sure everybody will have a fun time.
Twitter has been fairly reliable in keeping me up to date with how much more physical, hardworking and defensively minded our star-studded midfield has been 3 times out of 5, and also how Jow Biden has a few things going on right now? Anyway, the combination of Neale and Dunkley has really cranked into gear, and the occasional addition of Berry to that mix creates some much needed "* you and also the audacity that rode in on" to our midfield tone. On topf of this, Oscar's newfound realisation that he can simply reach up and grab the football, have a cup of tea and readjust his undies, before placing the footy on his boot and kicking it 80 meters has really done wonders for the mids' recovery rates. Furthermore, Ashcroft and Wilmott are such jets that even a slow-to-warm-up-to-the-point-of-notceable-absence-McCluggage's, uh, absence is barely noticeable.
I'm pretty sure that made sense. The pieces are all there.
I could imagine that were the Giants the type of midfield to want to win the hard contested ball, make like difficult for the opposition star mids at the coalface before finishing off their play with outside polish, skill and flair, the collective endeavour of the Lions inside and outside grunt will make for a wonderful and gentlemanly bloodbath. On a side note, apparently Coniglio and Whitfield are still lining up for the Giants. The last time I can clearly remember Coniglio playing was way back yonder when Daniel Merrett kicked 5 goals in a quarter, and even then Cogs looked like a 15 year veteran in the visible, non-metaphorical sense. Also Whitfield was still tossing up a career in psychopharmacology, or footy. Sliding doors, huh.
Spending a heap of time with the ressies regulars has told me that our hot and cold and sometimes frustrating midfield has been hot and cold and, sometimes, a little bit frustrating. And also that the Chelmer chippie quality has been dipping, which is quite upsetting actually. Notwithstanding said shitty chippies, Joe and Eric have really brought a bit of intent in these last couple of weeks, and as rangey and ungainly and non-Newtonian as they appear to be, they've been getting s**t done, which is a real delight to watch. As is Charlie and Cam doing what they do best, and Bailey slowly but surely but slowly regaining his form. About the only thing I miss seeing is Linc flying comically high and somehow landing it, but I'll just have to make do with watching him sprint like a maniac in tireless forward pressure. A quick look at the GWS team announcement tells me that their backline is anchored by something called a Sam Taylor, and a poor boy named Buckley who looks a bit confused a lot of the time. That poor boy.
Look, at the end of the day Football, in addition to the Lions, will be the real winner here. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to see a Demons/Collingwood style dismantling, even if it's just as simple a strategy as 'turn the pressure up to 11', which I honestly think is all that we are going to see next Saturday, and is all that will be needed. Then we can put all this silliness about football in Canberra and a 'greater western sydney football team' behind us. I'm sick of you guys trying to trick me.
Lions by 48 if Jekyl Lions show up.
Lions by the skin of their teeth, or a narrow loss if Hyde shows up.
be in discussion until approx r9 ish???
