swannies
Brownlow Medallist
10k Posts
Armchair Endzone Minor Comp Winner
Armchair Endzone Participant
Well, after an upset or 2 and the continued decline of the Sharks, every round has increased significance now. The Royals kept their slim finals hopes alive, whilst the Bulldogs are right in the mix and the Falcons catapulted themselves back into the top 4. We'll start with the second biggest match of the round.
Lions v Bulldogs - The Lions are firmly in the top 4, for now, but a couple more slip ups like last week and they may not be. The Bulldogs fortunes have been up and down all year and now we're at the pointy end of the season they have clawed themselves into contention, being 1 game out of the 4. However, this game is the proverbial 8 point game for them because they lose and are 2 games out of the 4.
The Lions will need to stop the twin peaks of Murphy and Wilson. Rumble and Parker will have their hands full and will need their other defenders, Randall, Phelan and Martin to come across and help out. Cossom, Keevers, Hilde, Kerr and Blechynden will need to provide some spark through the middle and Campbell and Re will need to provide support for Broadhurst up forward.
The Bulldogs will need to keep a lid on Broadhurst, they will need a run with, tall utility to go with him, someone like Mgumbwa maybe? Hunt just needs to keep a tight rein on Campbell, he usually doesn't put up a whole lot of fight but if you keep the clamps on him the job is that much easier. McGrath, Miller, Bairstow, White are solid through the midfield while Gugliamana provides a bit of zip and Palumbo, Collica, Carter will need to provide good run and support for the veterans.
I think the Bulldogs will just get over the line, but maybe that's wishfull.
It's also a Family Fun Day at Leederville with face painting, bouncy castles and other activities from 1 - 4 pm. The first 200 kids through the gate get a Subi "truckers" cap, so Ljp, Reep, Biggie - get on down there for your caps!
On the other side of the coin, Tundra, Pacey, IP - don't let the kids get their hands on them!
Demons v Royals - This will not be as easy for the Royals as many anticipate. The Dees pushed Claremont last week and beat Swans the week before and the Royals only seem to be able to get up if there is a milestone game involved.
With the Demons it's all going to come down to run. The Royals struggle with a bit of run from time to time, but it's the key to the Dees game. When you have Young, Mzungu, Siekerka, Ruffles, Moody, O'Sullivan, Armstrong, Elari, Conca, White, Fiegert, Bollenhagen there is a lot of run. Even McDougall has been seemingly enjoying himself and running all over the field. Ferguson still provides a good target, with Houghton, up front and Billings has become a very good defender.
The Royals, as I have been saying all year, have been relying too much on their veterans, old stagers, call them what you will. Sweet has been a good find, Noakes hasn't really reached the levels of last year, neither has Merrington (injuries may be why with them), McKinley in the midfield has been a reasonable move and he'll probably continue there with Glancy, Wulff, Pickering, Swan. Beeck was super last week and they've missed him with a fair amount of injury too, I believe, so suddenly, with Clarke, they have a potent ruck division that can go forward. Clutterbuck's footballing style follows his hairstyle, daring and noticable, Seal is up and down, Prior seems to be improving and MacAulay is in and out of the side.
Royals should win, but which team will turn up?
Swans v Tigers - MOTR, Claremont are playing for retribution and to cement top spot, Swans are playing to keep alive their contention for top spot.
Swans were average in despatching Peel last week, lacked that bit of zip and zest. They were all over Peel for the first 10 minutes and then took a leave of absence. Dawson should have them up and firing for this match, they will know they have to be at the Montes from start to finish, it's how they beat them the first time. Krakouer, Roberts, Walters, Garlett, Davis, Roach will need to be at their best to combat Blackwell, Brabazon, Foster, Swift, Neates, Schammer, Yu, Ninyette.
No Hansen up forward for Swans, but there is Geappen, whilst the Tiges are without C Jones, but have Crawford, Richardson, Ninyette, Neates etc. The 2 best defenses are up against each other with Ames, Spencer, G Jetta, Pratt having their hands full with the smaller, running/mobile players, whilst Laurie, Franz, Mitchell will have 2 or 3 bigger forwards and then Walters and Krakouer at their feet. With fine weather this should be a cracking, top of the table clash.
Claremont to win, by a few.
Falcons v Thunder - The Falcons put themselves right back in the mix last week, with a big win over the Lions. The Thunder were competitive for 2.75 quarters, so will they run the Falcons close?
The Falcons got great service from R Bewick, Bartholomew, Salecic through the middle, with Brent LeCras running amok from CHB. Tsalikis, Keunen, Saylor are hard to match up on up forward. Defensively Lasscock, Tedesco, Hunt, McClintock or Zanetti are hard to shake and find room for yourself. Mitchell has been good in the ruck this year and has a pretty good running division, when they're up and about, to feed to.
Battye is a good all round footballer, wither up forward or in the middle. Crichton and Mason did good "stopping" jobs on their respective opponents last week, whilst the O'Briens pick up lots of, albeit cheapish, possessions. Luff had a good tussle down back last week and got some reasonable help from Filo, Wilson. Jones, Brown?, Holmes gave them good drive from the middle, actually their run was very good last week, whilst Harley Bennell flashed in and out.
Falcons should win comfortably.
Lions v Bulldogs - The Lions are firmly in the top 4, for now, but a couple more slip ups like last week and they may not be. The Bulldogs fortunes have been up and down all year and now we're at the pointy end of the season they have clawed themselves into contention, being 1 game out of the 4. However, this game is the proverbial 8 point game for them because they lose and are 2 games out of the 4.
The Lions will need to stop the twin peaks of Murphy and Wilson. Rumble and Parker will have their hands full and will need their other defenders, Randall, Phelan and Martin to come across and help out. Cossom, Keevers, Hilde, Kerr and Blechynden will need to provide some spark through the middle and Campbell and Re will need to provide support for Broadhurst up forward.
The Bulldogs will need to keep a lid on Broadhurst, they will need a run with, tall utility to go with him, someone like Mgumbwa maybe? Hunt just needs to keep a tight rein on Campbell, he usually doesn't put up a whole lot of fight but if you keep the clamps on him the job is that much easier. McGrath, Miller, Bairstow, White are solid through the midfield while Gugliamana provides a bit of zip and Palumbo, Collica, Carter will need to provide good run and support for the veterans.
I think the Bulldogs will just get over the line, but maybe that's wishfull.
It's also a Family Fun Day at Leederville with face painting, bouncy castles and other activities from 1 - 4 pm. The first 200 kids through the gate get a Subi "truckers" cap, so Ljp, Reep, Biggie - get on down there for your caps!
On the other side of the coin, Tundra, Pacey, IP - don't let the kids get their hands on them!Demons v Royals - This will not be as easy for the Royals as many anticipate. The Dees pushed Claremont last week and beat Swans the week before and the Royals only seem to be able to get up if there is a milestone game involved.
With the Demons it's all going to come down to run. The Royals struggle with a bit of run from time to time, but it's the key to the Dees game. When you have Young, Mzungu, Siekerka, Ruffles, Moody, O'Sullivan, Armstrong, Elari, Conca, White, Fiegert, Bollenhagen there is a lot of run. Even McDougall has been seemingly enjoying himself and running all over the field. Ferguson still provides a good target, with Houghton, up front and Billings has become a very good defender.
The Royals, as I have been saying all year, have been relying too much on their veterans, old stagers, call them what you will. Sweet has been a good find, Noakes hasn't really reached the levels of last year, neither has Merrington (injuries may be why with them), McKinley in the midfield has been a reasonable move and he'll probably continue there with Glancy, Wulff, Pickering, Swan. Beeck was super last week and they've missed him with a fair amount of injury too, I believe, so suddenly, with Clarke, they have a potent ruck division that can go forward. Clutterbuck's footballing style follows his hairstyle, daring and noticable, Seal is up and down, Prior seems to be improving and MacAulay is in and out of the side.
Royals should win, but which team will turn up?
Swans v Tigers - MOTR, Claremont are playing for retribution and to cement top spot, Swans are playing to keep alive their contention for top spot.
Swans were average in despatching Peel last week, lacked that bit of zip and zest. They were all over Peel for the first 10 minutes and then took a leave of absence. Dawson should have them up and firing for this match, they will know they have to be at the Montes from start to finish, it's how they beat them the first time. Krakouer, Roberts, Walters, Garlett, Davis, Roach will need to be at their best to combat Blackwell, Brabazon, Foster, Swift, Neates, Schammer, Yu, Ninyette.
No Hansen up forward for Swans, but there is Geappen, whilst the Tiges are without C Jones, but have Crawford, Richardson, Ninyette, Neates etc. The 2 best defenses are up against each other with Ames, Spencer, G Jetta, Pratt having their hands full with the smaller, running/mobile players, whilst Laurie, Franz, Mitchell will have 2 or 3 bigger forwards and then Walters and Krakouer at their feet. With fine weather this should be a cracking, top of the table clash.
Claremont to win, by a few.
Falcons v Thunder - The Falcons put themselves right back in the mix last week, with a big win over the Lions. The Thunder were competitive for 2.75 quarters, so will they run the Falcons close?
The Falcons got great service from R Bewick, Bartholomew, Salecic through the middle, with Brent LeCras running amok from CHB. Tsalikis, Keunen, Saylor are hard to match up on up forward. Defensively Lasscock, Tedesco, Hunt, McClintock or Zanetti are hard to shake and find room for yourself. Mitchell has been good in the ruck this year and has a pretty good running division, when they're up and about, to feed to.
Battye is a good all round footballer, wither up forward or in the middle. Crichton and Mason did good "stopping" jobs on their respective opponents last week, whilst the O'Briens pick up lots of, albeit cheapish, possessions. Luff had a good tussle down back last week and got some reasonable help from Filo, Wilson. Jones, Brown?, Holmes gave them good drive from the middle, actually their run was very good last week, whilst Harley Bennell flashed in and out.
Falcons should win comfortably.
It's the only explanation!
