swannies
Brownlow Medallist
10k Posts
Armchair Endzone Minor Comp Winner
Armchair Endzone Participant
The Foundation Day weekend usually brings with it the expectation of a big derby, be it Fremantle or Perth. The Freo derby should be a cracker, as the Sharks will look to maintain a spot in the four and Souths want to keep contact with the top 4.
Tigers v Lions - Monday, the cubs will have a chance to deal more retribution to the Lions and put some distance between themselves and the other top 4 teams. Have the Lions learnt anything from the first round meeting?
The tigers lose Stevenson and Wilkes stays out of the team, but there seems plenty of depth to keep the Claremont wagon rolling. C.Jones keeps kicking plenty, ably supported by Richardson and anyone else who is thrown forward, like Ninyette, Crawford, Weedon, Walton, whoever. Down back Laurie and Franz are continuing to cope well with Thomson and Wilkes not in the team. Yu is wowing many viewers and Mitchell and DeNardi do their jobs. The midfield still looks as potent with Blackwell, Brabazon, Foster, Orzel, Murphy and the multitude of combinations they can play through there.
The Lions have Campbell and a host of unkowns up forward and big Kiwi is a bit of a surprise package, so what do we expect? Mark Re is a relative unkown, Ali will always contribute and lift his team, Cossom and Cockie are not noted goalkickers and neither is Hassett. Defense looks a lot more solid with Rumble, Parker, the seriously under-rated Randall, Phelan and Scott are newcomers and Broadhurst will play a roaming role. Midfield is where the Lions have some grunt with Webb, Read, Keevers, Kerr, and Blechynden and Nicoski is a nice added bonus. Newick and Rix should better Ruck and whoever, so this could be very interesting.
The Tiges by a couple of goals.
Demons v Thunder - firstly it's congrats to Troy Cook in his final game, on a fantastic career at both AFL and WAFL levels. This should be the impetus to get Perth's first win of the season, as he is a well respected figure around Lathlain Oval.
The Demons team will leave everything on the field for Cookie, but it's a strange looking team with, for example, Armstrong named in a BP?
McDougall in the ruck, with the normal no1 ruck Sullivan on the bench? Sibosado is getting a chance forward now, will be interesting to see how he goes, and along with Lang, Mzungu, Ruffles and Mather will be the forward line. Defense is led well by Billings, with Elari, Cook, Davis and Bollenhagen named there. The midfield looks to be led by Young, Siekerka and Fiegert, assisted by Ferguson, Houghton (2 forwards), Smith, White, Sneeuwajt or O'Sullivan.
The Thunder are coming off a couple of horrible losses, nearly 300 points in total, to the top 2 teams. What makes this game interesting is Brendan Jones makes his comeback to Lathlain as the opposition captain, so expect some torment from the pigpen! Good to see Mason get a crack on the wing and the ever patient R Dawson gets another league game after toiling away in the reserves for a few years. Luff and Mcleod will have an easier day back than they have the past couple of weeks, whilst Battye, Chartres, Brown, Holmes may get more opportunities forward and Williams, O'Brien, Beswick and Jones will get the chance to have first hands on the ball.
Demons should break the duck, surely!?
Falcons v Royals - often fiery affairs and because of the disappointing Royals season so far, I don't think this will be any different as they try to kick start the season. This game is also Monday.
The Falcons get the bigQ back, but will he make an impact? LeCras and Tsalikis form a decent pairing up forward, with Gobbels and the mids chipping in with more goals. Defensively is where the Falcons are best, IMO, with Hunt, Zanetti, Strijk and Lasscock providing plenty of rebound. In the mids Salecic is a super leader, with Bartholomew, Guadagnin (100th), Burns, Bewick, Pearce, James and Harvey all giving great support.
The Royals expected to be threatening in 2010, but so far haven't. If they can't get fired up for this contest then they never will be. Clarke as the no.1 ruck back in is a very good result, with Beeck named as support. Prior remains the key forward, with Cadwallader looking to continue his good year and improve it and Shepheard named on a HFF. Down back Sampey, Webster, Pickering have been quite good whilst JON has been named in the centre. Roberton and JON should give them some zip through the midfield, but JON simply has to get it more. Wolf and Glancy always give fantastic effort and they will lead the way.
Falcons by a few goals.
Bulldogs v Sharks - this is the big one, the Foundation Day Derby. Souths have some big ins, whilst the Sharks have some big outs.
The Bulldogs welcome back McGrath, A Hams and Reece Adams, along with the very promising Palumbo. Muprhy, Wilson, Collica, Phillips and Dell'Olio is quite a potent forward line. Hunt, McCarrey, Bossong and Head is the basis of a pretty good backline. Then you have Miller, Siegert, McGrath, Bairstow in the middle with support from Guglielmana, White, Adams, Hams and possibly carter, looks a good side this week.
The Sharks outs are Dalziell, Brown, Dodd and Horsbrough, so a fair bit of experience there. Houlihan and Monk are decent ins for the midfield, who should cope reasonably well with Dunn, McGough, Stevens and Hall in reasonably good form over the past couple of weeks. Warren, Spangher, Brennan, Weller and Green provides a solid defense, but they'll have their hands full. Down forward is where I see problems for the Sharks with not many noted goalkickers amongst Fasolo, Bucovacz, Bayliss, Foster and McNamara.
Tough one, but Bulldogs on home soil.
Tigers v Lions - Monday, the cubs will have a chance to deal more retribution to the Lions and put some distance between themselves and the other top 4 teams. Have the Lions learnt anything from the first round meeting?
The tigers lose Stevenson and Wilkes stays out of the team, but there seems plenty of depth to keep the Claremont wagon rolling. C.Jones keeps kicking plenty, ably supported by Richardson and anyone else who is thrown forward, like Ninyette, Crawford, Weedon, Walton, whoever. Down back Laurie and Franz are continuing to cope well with Thomson and Wilkes not in the team. Yu is wowing many viewers and Mitchell and DeNardi do their jobs. The midfield still looks as potent with Blackwell, Brabazon, Foster, Orzel, Murphy and the multitude of combinations they can play through there.
The Lions have Campbell and a host of unkowns up forward and big Kiwi is a bit of a surprise package, so what do we expect? Mark Re is a relative unkown, Ali will always contribute and lift his team, Cossom and Cockie are not noted goalkickers and neither is Hassett. Defense looks a lot more solid with Rumble, Parker, the seriously under-rated Randall, Phelan and Scott are newcomers and Broadhurst will play a roaming role. Midfield is where the Lions have some grunt with Webb, Read, Keevers, Kerr, and Blechynden and Nicoski is a nice added bonus. Newick and Rix should better Ruck and whoever, so this could be very interesting.
The Tiges by a couple of goals.
Demons v Thunder - firstly it's congrats to Troy Cook in his final game, on a fantastic career at both AFL and WAFL levels. This should be the impetus to get Perth's first win of the season, as he is a well respected figure around Lathlain Oval.
The Demons team will leave everything on the field for Cookie, but it's a strange looking team with, for example, Armstrong named in a BP?
McDougall in the ruck, with the normal no1 ruck Sullivan on the bench? Sibosado is getting a chance forward now, will be interesting to see how he goes, and along with Lang, Mzungu, Ruffles and Mather will be the forward line. Defense is led well by Billings, with Elari, Cook, Davis and Bollenhagen named there. The midfield looks to be led by Young, Siekerka and Fiegert, assisted by Ferguson, Houghton (2 forwards), Smith, White, Sneeuwajt or O'Sullivan.The Thunder are coming off a couple of horrible losses, nearly 300 points in total, to the top 2 teams. What makes this game interesting is Brendan Jones makes his comeback to Lathlain as the opposition captain, so expect some torment from the pigpen!
Good to see Mason get a crack on the wing and the ever patient R Dawson gets another league game after toiling away in the reserves for a few years. Luff and Mcleod will have an easier day back than they have the past couple of weeks, whilst Battye, Chartres, Brown, Holmes may get more opportunities forward and Williams, O'Brien, Beswick and Jones will get the chance to have first hands on the ball.Demons should break the duck, surely!?
Falcons v Royals - often fiery affairs and because of the disappointing Royals season so far, I don't think this will be any different as they try to kick start the season. This game is also Monday.
The Falcons get the bigQ back, but will he make an impact? LeCras and Tsalikis form a decent pairing up forward, with Gobbels and the mids chipping in with more goals. Defensively is where the Falcons are best, IMO, with Hunt, Zanetti, Strijk and Lasscock providing plenty of rebound. In the mids Salecic is a super leader, with Bartholomew, Guadagnin (100th), Burns, Bewick, Pearce, James and Harvey all giving great support.
The Royals expected to be threatening in 2010, but so far haven't. If they can't get fired up for this contest then they never will be. Clarke as the no.1 ruck back in is a very good result, with Beeck named as support. Prior remains the key forward, with Cadwallader looking to continue his good year and improve it and Shepheard named on a HFF. Down back Sampey, Webster, Pickering have been quite good whilst JON has been named in the centre. Roberton and JON should give them some zip through the midfield, but JON simply has to get it more. Wolf and Glancy always give fantastic effort and they will lead the way.
Falcons by a few goals.
Bulldogs v Sharks - this is the big one, the Foundation Day Derby. Souths have some big ins, whilst the Sharks have some big outs.
The Bulldogs welcome back McGrath, A Hams and Reece Adams, along with the very promising Palumbo. Muprhy, Wilson, Collica, Phillips and Dell'Olio is quite a potent forward line. Hunt, McCarrey, Bossong and Head is the basis of a pretty good backline. Then you have Miller, Siegert, McGrath, Bairstow in the middle with support from Guglielmana, White, Adams, Hams and possibly carter, looks a good side this week.
The Sharks outs are Dalziell, Brown, Dodd and Horsbrough, so a fair bit of experience there. Houlihan and Monk are decent ins for the midfield, who should cope reasonably well with Dunn, McGough, Stevens and Hall in reasonably good form over the past couple of weeks. Warren, Spangher, Brennan, Weller and Green provides a solid defense, but they'll have their hands full. Down forward is where I see problems for the Sharks with not many noted goalkickers amongst Fasolo, Bucovacz, Bayliss, Foster and McNamara.
Tough one, but Bulldogs on home soil.
