Match Preview and Team Selection - Round 5

[Demonland 73,140]

WHAT ME WORRY? by Whispering Jack

I was sitting at my desk on Tuesday afternoon and I tapped out the usual message that directs me to the footy news. The headline that flashed across the screen said "Trengove set to miss rest of 2014 season" and, given that the site was that of the Melbourne Football Club and the colours of the livery around the page were red and blue, I figured it couldn't be Port Adelaides Trengove and we had another player in trouble.

The shocking depth and volume of mishaps that have afflicted the Melbourne Football Club in recent years have been so breathtaking in number that the loss for a season of another impressive young man barely touched the senses.

In past times, the news would have created an enormous feeling of loss, panic and a touch of paranoia followed by anger but these days, it's no more than another sad footnote to a sorry chapter of events presumably conjured up by sadistic football gods determined to beat us senseless because we chose Melbourne as the team to support (or perhaps it's the Curse of the Red Fox*)

The combination of all of those heavy blows that have rained down upon us has left no room for anger and while once, we might have adopted the style of Peter Finch in Network by getting out of our chairs, going to the window and shouting "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!", we now remain calm and dignified.

I'm not mad any more.

Yes, it is another crushing blow to a fine young man, but Jack Trengove will heal and he will come back. In some ways, I think it might be a relief to discover what suddenly and mysteriously caused him to lose the dynamism that had Matt Burgan likening him to Nathan Buckley in his 2009 AFL Phantom Draft ("Trengove has excellent speed, endurance and leadership. He can also play midfield, forward or back").

I now realise we need to accept that injury and other disappointments are mere setbacks that are part and parcel of the game that must be accepted in the same vein as the good things that happen - like winning the four points on offer from a side that won a final last year.

Once we realise that and refuse to wallow in self pity about the disasters that befall us, then we can shrug off the curse and start to become winners once more.

* THE CURSE OF THE RED FOX

There's an excellent article in this week's Inside Football by Brett Anderson who is a Demon supporter and who attributes our woes to the sacking of Norm Smith in 1965. He maintains that this curse is real.

Following is a sample of the bad luck, or in some cases bad decisions, of the past half century. They can be broken down into two categories: misfortune and mismanagement.

Let's start with misfortune.

In no particular order there has been David Schwarz's three knee reconstructions just is he was on the verge of rivaling Wayne Carry as the best centre half forward in the game; star wingman Stephen Tingay falling through a plate glass window, severing tendons in his wrist and taking a chunk out of his thigh; Paul Prymke's rheumatoid arthritis; Garry Lyons broken leg, then chronic back; Sean Charless multiple injuries; Allen Jakovich's back; Luke Molan's broken

There was the ill-fated Energy Watch sponsorship deal; Jim Stynes running across the mark in the '87 prelim; the Bali bombing where Steven Armstrong was burnt; the death of young defender Troy Broadbridge in the Boxing Day tsunami; Liam Jurrah's off-field woes; the deaths of former Irish imports Sean Wight and Stynes and former coach Dean Bailey of cancer, the ill-health of ex-mentor Neale Daniher; and finally Mitch Clark's early retirement.

Then we look at the things that could have been avoided, or managed differently, but weren't - the things that are our own fault.

It started with the recruitment and failure of Diamond Jim Tilbrook; trading Martin Pike to Fitzroy, letting Scott Thompson go home to Adelaide without much of a fight; the early draft busts/disappointments - Nick Smith. Colin Sylvia, Brock McLean, Jordan Gysberts, Lucas Cook. Cale Morton, Matthew Bate and Addam Maric; the decision to knock back a move to the Westpac Centre (then Glasshouse) prior to It being offered to Collingwood.

Many people don't believe in curses. I am cynical about them too, but the longer things last, and the more woe is suffered, the easier it is to starting believing.

And now Jack Trengove. No wonder we just shrug the news of his injury off without so much as a thought.

THE GAME

Melbourne v Gold Coast Suns at the MCG Sunday 20 April, 2014 at 3.20 pm

HEAD TO HEAD

Overall Melbourne 3 wins Gold Coast Suns 2 wins

At MCG Melbourne 2 wins Gold Coast Suns 1 win

Past five years Melbourne 3 wins Gold Coast Suns 2 wins

The Coaches Roos 0 wins McKenna 0 wins

MEDIA

TV - Channel 7 & Fox Sports 3 @ 3.00pm (live)

RADIO - Triple M, 3AW

THE BETTING

Melbourne to win - $3.75 Gold Coast Suns to win - $1.60

THE LAST TIME THEY MET

Gold Coast Suns 13.12.90 defeated Melbourne 10.17.77 Round 20, 2013 at Metricon Stadium

The Demons were in this game all the way thanks to Colin Garland and Jordie McKenzie giving Gary Ablett Junior a working over. However, others in the Suns' midfield stepped up. Jack Viney played the best game of his brief career and Nathan Jones worked his butt off. The game was Campbell Brown's last - he was suspended for a vicious kick at James Strauss then offended in the off season and was duly sacked by the Suns.

THE TEAMS

MELBOURNE

B: Alex Georgiou, Tom McDonald, Lynden Dunn

HB: Dean Terlich, James Frawley, Jack Grimes

C: Jack Viney, Dom Tyson, Bernie Vince

HF: Jack Watts, Cam Pedersen, Jordie McKenzie

F: Jeremy Howe, Chris Dawes, Rohan Bail

FOLL: Jake Spencer, Nathan Jones, Daniel Cross

I/C: Jay Kennedy-Harris, Matt Jones, Neville Jetta, Michael Evans

EMG: Shannon Byrnes, Jack Fitzpatrick, Jimmy Toumpas

IN: Neville Jetta

OUT: Dean Kent (calf)

GOLD COAST SUNS

B: Matthew Warnock, Steven May, Greg Broughton

HB: Sean Lemmens, Rory Thompson, Trent McKenzie

C: Matt Shaw, Gary Ablett, Jarrod Harbrow

HF: Aaron Hall, Tom Lynch, Danny Stanley

F: Luke Russell, Sam Day, Brandon Matera

Fol: Tom Nicholls, Jaeger O'Meara, David Swallow

I/C: Jack Hutchins, Kade Kolodjashnij, Michael Rischitelli, Dion Prestia

EMG: Tom Murphy, Timmy Sumner, Jeremy Taylor

IN: Brandon Matera

Out: Clay Cameron (shoulder)

OPENING DOORS

It was only a matter of a few hours before the news of Jack Trengove's navicular bone fracture broke (pun not intended), that I wrote in response to a reference about Neville Jetta getting a run for Melbourne,

"Unless another long term injury opportunity opens up Nev can't play until round 12 when we will automatically be able to elevate another rookie."

I was clearly tempting fate and suffering from temporary amnesia about the Curse of the Red Fox and it took no time for that LTI to surface (really sorry Jack).

It took not that much longer for Jetta's elevation onto the senior list and some more hours later he was in the squad of 25 to take on the Gold Coast Suns. He'll play on Sunday.

Neville Jetta is a survivor. When chosen at 51 in the Watts/Naitanui draft at the end of 2008, he (along with Jaimie Bennell) joined the club's tight knit indigenous heroes in Matty Whelan, Aaron Davey and Austin Wonaemirri. Soon after they were joined by the enigmatic Liam Jurrah, literally plucked out of the desert of Central Australia via the next preseason draft. There was a promise of indigenous excitement and there were certainly some moments but one by one, they disappeared attended by fragments of tragedy, by sadness and by injury. At the end of last year they were all gone - Jetta, who suffered his share of injuries throughout his career and was thought to be lacking in pace, delisted in October after 41 AFL games.

However, he managed to gain a reprieve in December via the rookie draft and immediately set about the process of rebuilding his career with a full preseason including some starring roles in his practice matches at Casey. These were followed by two outstanding performances with the Scorpions playing both forward and back (he was a major contributor in his team's opening round win over Essendon) and when the door closed on Jack Trengove's 2014 season, it opened for Jetta.

Such is the changing face of the game.

The same changes are in the air for Jetta's club. Despite losing two team leaders of who much was expected in 2014, the "Roosification" of the Demons is starting to take hold even if it's only happening in small steps.

Suddenly, this week's game against the Gold Coast Suns takes on a completely different complexion. Whereas, the equivalent match up twelve months ago saw the fledgling AFL club come of age with a then record 10 goal victory, this time it's Melbourne that is threatening to break out of the shackles of mediocrity.

The Suns are a much better team in their home state where they have played three of their four games and recorded their two wins to date but last week they were dismembered to the time of 99 points by the all conquering Hawks.

Very few teams recover from such shattering defeats (and let's face it the current Hawthorn side will do that to most opponents) so it's incredible to consider that the bookies have the Suns as such a firm favourite to win. It must surely be the Ablett factor because his presence makes that midfield superior to that of the Demons but it also means that if he can be covered the game is eminently winnable. And Melbourne's midfield with the addition of Tyson, Vince and Cross and a fit hardnut in Jack Viney is an entirely different one to that which capitulated so easily last year.

It's true that Melbourne still has lots to do to get up to par after so many seasons in the football wilderness. The team still ranks 17th in the competition for inside 50s this year at an average of 42.5 per game (compared to Gold Coast's eighth at 51.5) but that figure is coloured by the fact that until the recent forward line renovation which included Chris Dawes' return last week, the Demons weren't all that fully focussed or equipped to move the ball into attack despite the fact that they were getting greater use of the football. Further, Melbourne's disposal efficiency rate of 72.5 per cent (7th overall) eclipses that of the Suns who rank last at 66.2%.

I expect Melbourne's home ground advantage, renewed confidence, rebuilt midfield, "Roosified" team structure and our cooler climate to cause Bluey's Suns to become unhinged enabling the door to open for yet another breakthrough after last week's win over Carlton.

Melbourne by 30 points.

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

obviously we all loved a badly needed win last week BUT we have to be realistic about what it actually means going forward. Last week we were exceptionally fortunate that Carlton were only 2 points up at quarter time, they really dominated the first 20-25 minutes but weren't able to put it on the board. As Roos made sure to stress in his presser, they kicked 7.16, which really cost them the game. We were beaten in disposals and inside-50s and smashed in the clearances 39-25. On top of that our opponent is/was just no good! They are 0-4 with an average 6 goal loss. That's why all the talk has been about Carlton, I don't think anyone seriously thinks we have turned any sort of corner.We've had some injury issues but the reality is now that Viney, Dawes and Jordie are back, we are at almost full strength.. Jamar and Garland and the zero-gamer Hogan are all that are missing now that Mitch Clark is just a memory. Trengove wasn't even in the 22. In reality having 3 blokes out of your best 22 is pretty much par for the course so we can't really expect field a side stronger than the one we just fielded. We played GC at home in R7 last year and got done by 10 goals.

I know that's obviously a very pessimistic view of what might happen on Sunday and the rest of the year but unfortunately I think it is accurate. I'll be there though, that's for sure.

[Little Richard 6,265]

obviously we all loved a badly needed win last week BUT we have to be realistic about what it actually means going forward. Last week we were exceptionally fortunate that Carlton were only 2 points up at quarter time, they really dominated the first 20-25 minutes but weren't able to put it on the board. As Roos made sure to stress in his presser, they kicked 7.16, which really cost them the game. We were beaten in disposals and inside-50s and smashed in the clearances 39-25. On top of that our opponent is/was just no good! They are 0-4 with an average 6 goal loss. That's why all the talk has been about Carlton, I don't think anyone seriously thinks we have turned any sort of corner.We've had some injury issues but the reality is now that Viney, Dawes and Jordie are back, we are at almost full strength.. Jamar and Garland and the zero-gamer Hogan are all that are missing now that Mitch Clark is just a memory. Trengove wasn't even in the 22. In reality having 3 blokes out of your best 22 is pretty much par for the course so we can't really expect field a side stronger than the one we just fielded. We played GC at home in R7 last year and got done by 10 goals.

I know that's obviously a very pessimistic view of what might happen on Sunday and the rest of the year but unfortunately I think it is accurate. I'll be there though, that's for sure.

In the context of our form over the last few seasons, I think a win is definitely turning a corner, particularly over an opposition we haven't beaten for 6 (?) years.

It doesn't mean we are going to come out this week and thump the Suns and continue to do it week in week out but I think with the confidence of a win, we'll be more competitive, more aggressive and play with a bit more flair.

We can definitely win it, it just depends whether we can carry the momentum and confidence in from last week.

[Ted Lasso 19,549]

i reckon we have improved out of sight, could easily be 3 - 1 if we had one of our key forwards and a touch more luck,

we are good enough to beat the suns and should back ourselves to win this game.

[Blistering 541]

I think it's a question of getting our heads used to being positive when we approach a game as Chris Dawes said in the article linked to the four points.

The win was psychologically important to the team. We could easily have had it in round 1 but we messed up. Now that we've had a taste and the coaching was so evident in the outcome, we can believe in something and I agree - the team is best placed now to take in others like the Suns who are probably down in confidence after last week.

[Undeeterred 3,124]

obviously we all loved a badly needed win last week BUT we have to be realistic about what it actually means going forward. Last week we were exceptionally fortunate that Carlton were only 2 points up at quarter time, they really dominated the first 20-25 minutes but weren't able to put it on the board. As Roos made sure to stress in his presser, they kicked 7.16, which really cost them the game. .

We kicked 6.15 not so long ago, so turn that around and we're square with the universe, I reckon. We should have beaten St. Kilda and Carlton should have beaten us.

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

We kicked 6.15 not so long ago, so turn that around and we're square with the universe, I reckon. We should have beaten St. Kilda and Carlton should have beaten us.

Fair call

Some are trying to claim both!

[Adam The God 30,407]

Nice preview, Mister. And NETWORK is a sublime film.

[titan_uranus 25,043]

BUT we have to be realistic about what it actually means going forward.

OK.

Last week we were exceptionally fortunate that Carlton were only 2 points up at quarter time, they really dominated the first 20-25 minutes but weren't able to put it on the board.

First 10-15, maybe. We dominated the latter 10-15, and I don't think it's unfair to say the margin was about right.

As Roos made sure to stress in his presser, they kicked 7.16, which really cost them the game.

Well, if you want to play that game, we should have won the St Kilda game. So we'd still be 1-3.

We were beaten in disposals and inside-50s and smashed in the clearances 39-25.

So what? We've shown this year that to win a game you need to have more disposals or more inside 50s.

We only had 50 fewer disposals; we've been a lot worse of late. A difference of 6 in clearances is being beaten, but it's hardly being 'smashed'.

In addition, we had 19 more tackles, which is significant for us.

On top of that our opponent is/was just no good! They are 0-4 with an average 6 goal loss. That's why all the talk has been about Carlton

We can only beat who we play, and we all know we're not going to beat the likes of Hawthorn, Geelong, etc.

Why do we need to beat the great sides to validate our season? From where we're coming from, every side is better than us, and any win is a good win for us. There is no basis, nor reason, nor point to be gained, from saying our opponent isn't very good.

We've had some injury issues but the reality is now that Viney, Dawes and Jordie are back, we are at almost full strength.. Jamar and Garland and the zero-gamer Hogan are all that are missing now that Mitch Clark is just a memory. Trengove wasn't even in the 22. In reality having 3 blokes out of your best 22 is pretty much par for the course so we can't really expect field a side stronger than the one we just fielded.

Dawes has played one game, and clearly has no match fitness. Viney's played two games and doesn't appear fully match fit yet (he played something like 70% of the game time on Saturday). We've just made some positional changes (Frawley, Dunn, Howe) which will take time to get used to.

It's not all about getting them on the park. It's also about getting them on the park together and playing in their positions for extended periods of time.

And at any rate, why do you look at a diminished injury list (which isn't that diminished, anyway, in terms of significance) and see a negative?

We played GC at home in R7 last year and got done by 10 goals.

We played Carlton at the MCG in Round 6 last year and got done by 10 goals.

Things can change.

I know that's obviously a very pessimistic view of what might happen on Sunday and the rest of the year

No sh*t.

[Return to Glory 8,448]

We are in this game up to our eyeballs. I'd like to think that, at home, if we're close enough at three quarter time we can run over the top of them.

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

First 10-15, maybe. We dominated the latter 10-15, and I don't think it's unfair to say the margin was about right.

There was 4:44 remaining when Dawes bombed it, we were down 22-8. So you're wrong.

Well, if you want to play that game, we should have won the St Kilda game. So we'd still be 1-3.

Um no, one has nothing to do with the other. I am talking about last week if you can read... and also this has already been discussed above before you presented it as your own argument

So what? We've shown this year that to win a game you need to have more disposals or more inside 50s.

We only had 50 fewer disposals; we've been a lot worse of late. A difference of 6 in clearances is being beaten, but it's hardly being 'smashed'.

What are you dense or something, the difference between 25 and 39 is 14, not 6. That is getting smashed. That is 64% less than the worst team in the comp at clearances. That is with our full strength midfield. That is not good.

We played Carlton at the MCG in Round 6 last year and got done by 10 goals.

Things can change.

Yeah well Carlton played finals last year and now they are on the bottom aren't they smarta55 so don't you think that the change in a result just might be a reflection on them, not us?

No sh*t.

Such a wanky thing to say.

I've stated that last week's game was not really much to hang our hats on and there is going to be more pain to come, you've decided to find a way to disagree with everything I've said, so that must mean that by extension you think we are in fact a wonderful new side and we are going to win at least a dozen games. Otherwise you would be a turd that just picks arguments with people for no reason, right? So let us know, how many wins are you predicting? From now on I don't want to hear from you because you are a rude, contrary bore.

[The Song Formerly Known As 6,479]

OK.

First 10-15, maybe. We dominated the latter 10-15, and I don't think it's unfair to say the margin was about right.

Well, if you want to play that game, we should have won the St Kilda game. So we'd still be 1-3.

So what? We've shown this year that to win a game you need to have more disposals or more inside 50s.

We only had 50 fewer disposals; we've been a lot worse of late. A difference of 6 in clearances is being beaten, but it's hardly being 'smashed'.

In addition, we had 19 more tackles, which is significant for us.

We can only beat who we play, and we all know we're not going to beat the likes of Hawthorn, Geelong, etc.

Why do we need to beat the great sides to validate our season? From where we're coming from, every side is better than us, and any win is a good win for us. There is no basis, nor reason, nor point to be gained, from saying our opponent isn't very good.

Dawes has played one game, and clearly has no match fitness. Viney's played two games and doesn't appear fully match fit yet (he played something like 70% of the game time on Saturday). We've just made some positional changes (Frawley, Dunn, Howe) which will take time to get used to.

It's not all about getting them on the park. It's also about getting them on the park together and playing in their positions for extended periods of time.

And at any rate, why do you look at a diminished injury list (which isn't that diminished, anyway, in terms of significance) and see a negative?

We played Carlton at the MCG in Round 6 last year and got done by 10 goals.

Things can change.

No sh*t.

There was 4:44 remaining when Dawes bombed it, we were down 22-8. So you're wrong.

Um no, one has nothing to do with the other. I am talking about last week if you can read... and also this has already been discussed above before you presented it as your own argument

What are you dense or something, the difference between 25 and 39 is 14, not 6. That is getting smashed. That is 64% less than the worst team in the comp at clearances. That is with our full strength midfield. That is not good.

Yeah well Carlton played finals last year and now they are on the bottom aren't they smarta55 so don't you think that the change in a result just might be a reflection on them, not us?

Such a wanky thing to say.

I've stated that last week's game was not really much to hang our hats on and there is going to be more pain to come, you've decided to find a way to disagree with everything I've said, so that must mean that by extension you think we are in fact a wonderful new side and we are going to win at least a dozen games. Otherwise you would be a turd that just picks arguments with people for no reason, right? So let us know, how many wins are you predicting? From now on I don't want to hear from you because you are a rude, contrary bore.

[titan_uranus 25,043]

More?

There was 4:44 remaining when Dawes bombed it, we were down 22-8. So you're wrong.

You just said before that being 2 points down didn't reflect the state of the game. Now you're trying to say that us being 14 points down with 4.44 to go means that we were being dominated until that point.

Can't have it both ways.

We weren't dominated for much of that quarter, and for about as much as they were better than us, we were better than them. Don't forget their opening goal came courtesy of a careless free kick and a careless 50 metre penalty. Hardly a reflection of dominance.

Um no, one has nothing to do with the other. I am talking about last week if you can read... and also this has already been discussed above before you presented it as your own argument

No, they have everything to do with each other unfortunately. Your argument is that we were lucky because Carlton kicked inaccurately, and had they kicked accurately maybe we would have lost. Correct. But that is the exact same argument that says we could have won the St Kilda game, in which case we'd still be 1-3 and our season would look relatively similar to what it does now.

Funnily enough, you already agreed with that.

What are you dense or something, the difference between 25 and 39 is 14, not 6. That is getting smashed. That is 64% less than the worst team in the comp at clearances. That is with our full strength midfield. That is not good.

I'll cop that one, I mixed the figures up and saw 29 and 35.

At any rate, whilst it shows we have work to do, I'm rather pleased that unlike the Melbourne of 2013, losing the clearances didn't automatically rule us out of the game.

Yeah well Carlton played finals last year and now they are on the bottom aren't they smarta55 so don't you think that the change in a result just might be a reflection on them, not us?

First of all, Carlton did get worse. That's pretty much my point. Things change.

Secondly, Carlton getting worse and us getting better aren't mutually exclusive - they can both have happened.

Such a wanky thing to say.

I've stated that last week's game was not really much to hang our hats on and there is going to be more pain to come, you've decided to find a way to disagree with everything I've said, so that must mean that by extension you think we are in fact a wonderful new side and we are going to win at least a dozen games. Otherwise you would be a turd that just picks arguments with people for no reason, right? So let us know, how many wins are you predicting? From now on I don't want to hear from you because you are a rude, contrary bore.

Says the guy who called me a 'smarta55' and regularly takes pot shots at anyone on this forum.

Look, I responded to your negativity by noting that for everything you've mentioned, either your point wasn't very good, it wasn't valid, or even if it was, there was an equally valid positive way of looking at things.

If you think that necessarily means I 'think we are in fact a wonderful new side' then you are a perfect example of someone who does not, or cannot (or both) appreciate other sides to any argument or debate (which your last sentence confirms). Just because I don't discredit everything to do with our win doesn't mean I think we're going to win the Premiership (and you'll note I said that in the part of my post which you didn't respond to).

I didn't pick this argument with you for no reason, I picked it because your post struck me as baseless in parts, ridiculous in parts, and unnecessarily negative in parts.

[Dee Fan 3,247]

We kicked 6.15 not so long ago, so turn that around and we're square with the universe, I reckon. We should have beaten St. Kilda and Carlton should have beaten us.

When we kicked 6.15 we had all our forwards out and no one to kick goals, Carlton don't have any decent forwards and they had quite a few wild, rushed shots at goal that missed.

We had several set shots at goal against Carlton that missed and realistically should have beaten them by a greater margin.

Waite is usually good for a couple but not much more so in essence they had no one out that would have made the difference.

[Freddy Fuschia 747]

I think it's true that we've been bashed around the head as a club like no other in recent history. In the space of a week we lose one of our leadership group and a 200cm power player who can ruck or go forward for good at 26 and another leader for a whole season when he should be in the prime of his career. I also just took it in my stride as if nothing can hurt the club any more.

I think we've gotten to the stage where these things are galvanizing the club.

[RalphiusMaximus 6,088]

I'm not mad any more.

[What 18,810]

obviously we all loved a badly needed win last week BUT we have to be realistic about what it actually means going forward. Last week we were exceptionally fortunate that Carlton were only 2 points up at quarter time, they really dominated the first 20-25 minutes but weren't able to put it on the board. As Roos made sure to stress in his presser, they kicked 7.16, which really cost them the game.

Well we did the exact same thing vs St Kilda Round 1, had more scoring shots, kicked 8 points in a row at one stage,, dominated the stats and should have won

'

Its footy, these things happen. Doesnt mean we didn't deserve the win on the weekend, we did.

Just like the Saints deserve their win round 1

[Deemotivated 550]

Well we did the exact same thing vs St Kilda Round 1, had more scoring shots, kicked 8 points in a row at one stage,, dominated the stats and should have won

'

Its footy, these things happen. Doesnt mean we didn't deserve the win on the weekend, we did.

Just like the Saints deserve their win round 1

If TMac wasn't shot Riewoldt would not have had the influence he did late and we would've won.

[nutbean 8,838]

The key for me is to see improvement again.

We were OK last week and we won.

Tyson and Vince both had quiet games last week ( pleasing to me though is they both were quiet but still contributed) - Viney will be better for the run as will Dawes. Howe got better as the game went on and is playing in unfamiliar territory - I hope to see him play much better as well.

If we can lift again we should be in this game. ( I don't want to see one step forward last week and three steps back this week)

I did see the first half GC versus hawks and GC has some serious talent in that side. They were just smashed in the second half by a sublime outfit.

[CityDee 738]

obviously a massive opportunity, hopefully the intensity and tackling will be cranked up again, we will need to be better than last week/ make the most of our scoring attempts .

Will be interested to see if the Suns put work into any of our midfielders or attack exclusively.Hopefully Jake can palm a couple down and get us going.The backs will hold, and winners up foward could make for a very enjoyfull day.

The great Gaz probably best of all time - Always a joy to watch but wouldnt mind seeing him subbed out in the first due to a Dawes tackle.

[Wadda We Sing 10,685]

Jones will be all over Gaz. ... did a great tagging job last week whilst getting plenty himself.

[Satyriconhome 10,879]

I am a bit more optimistic about us going back to back after attending training yesterday, Roos seems to have finally instiilled confidence in what i would call the second tier players, Bail, Pedersen, Kent, Georgiou, Evans, Terlich etc, yesterday you could sense they were all 'up'......with all the leaders available displaying leadership on the field finally a sign we are going in the right direction-

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,909]

obviously a massive opportunity, hopefully the intensity and tackling will be cranked up again, we will need to be better than last week/ make the most of our scoring attempts .

Will be interested to see if the Suns put work into any of our midfielders or attack exclusively.Hopefully Jake can palm a couple down and get us going.The backs will hold, and winners up foward could make for a very enjoyfull day.

The great Gaz probably best of all time - Always a joy to watch but wouldnt mind seeing him subbed out in the first due to a Dawes tackle.

What a terrible thing to say.

It can be anyone of 22 players who can make that tackle.

[Young Dee 1,303]

Jones will be all over Gaz. ... did a great tagging job last week whilst getting plenty himself.

I think Gaz is too much for one player - Jones can be the main tagger but McKenzie and Dunn could provide relief and allow Jones to go on the offensive. Jones is one of our key offensive players with his accurate bullet like kicks - if he can tag and attack at the same time that would be great. We also have to worry about Swallow, Omera, Mckenzie etc. Its going to test us but if we can pull it off I and many other supporters will have renewed faith in the club.

[CityDee 738]

Maybe send Mackenzie to Gaz with a view to harrass him for as long as he is out there. Gaz can be slowed down 'once in a red moon'.

Cross plays tight on Omera and allows Jones Tyson Viney and co to hunt the footy . Although I think a contested game with less zoning and more one on ones would best suit the dees, the messier the better . Some great one on one footy was played and won last week against the carlscum.