Match Preview and Team Selection - Round 22

[Wunders 397]

I don't mind going tall, but it means we have to move the ball FAST!!! Being tall won't help if we go slow and a third play can jump up and easily spoil every time... If we get 1v1's every forward will be taller than their opposition so the bomb could work!

But we know it won't be fast movement of the ball, as that requires hard offensive running/playing on straight away which Melbourne doesn't do yet (SEN last night said Brisbane is plus 6km ish for handball receives [playing on], Melbourne is minus 2km lol [get ball handball backwards, get ball again handball backwards]).

Also on Riley i am so far unimpressed, will judge him more next year after a pre-season. Positives are his tackling, negatives are his disposal and from what ive seen his desire to always try and run back into traffic when he first gets the ball..

Anyway hope we play well, go dees

[praha 11,253]

There is absolutely no point dragging the game down into a defensive grind if you're bringing these talls in. The ball needs to be moved fast and direct to our forwards...which won't happen, even if they try.

- Drag the game down, confidence drops after 2-3 goals the other way, we lose by 10 goals.

- Pump the speed of the game up and use your talls, West Coast outruns Melbourne, we lose by 10 goals.

What a depressing team we have to put up with.

[rolly 149]

3 talls + pedersen...should be intrresting

[Coq au vin 755]

We'll be thrashed.

[chook fowler 19,734]

Strangest team we've selected all season. Last time we went tall it was a disaster. Mind you last time we went small it was as well.

[old dee 24,028]

There is absolutely no point dragging the game down into a defensive grind if you're bringing these talls in. The ball needs to be moved fast and direct to our forwards...which won't happen, even if they try.

- Drag the game down, confidence drops after 2-3 goals the other way, we lose by 10 goals.

- Pump the speed of the game up and use your talls, West Coast outruns Melbourne, we lose by 10 goals.

What a depressing team we have to put up with.

You have a small error praha 20

[Bring-Back-Powell 15,346]

There is absolutely no point dragging the game down into a defensive grind if you're bringing these talls in. The ball needs to be moved fast and direct to our forwards...which won't happen, even if they try.

- Drag the game down, confidence drops after 2-3 goals the other way, we lose by 10 goals.

- Pump the speed of the game up and use your talls, West Coast outruns Melbourne, we lose by 10 goals.

What a depressing team we have to put up with.

A 10 goal loss would be a dramatic improvement against this mob.

The closest we've gotten to WCE in the last 3 games is 92 points.

[drdrake 3,203]

The get out kick, we cant hit targets over 20m so lets get in as many talls as we can to kick long, bang it 50m to one of 4 tall options. To me this is adjust to what you have rather than keep trying the same old. Hitting targets this year has been our biggest issue, we just cant on a consistent basis and we turn it over so we take it out if we turn it over at least the ball is 50m away.

[chook fowler 19,734]

Have this vision in my head of Dunn barrelling the ball forward, all 3 talls flying knocking each other out, Hurn crumbing and setting up an Eagles coast to Coast goal.

[Nasher 33,617]

We'll be thrashed.

Thank god we've got you here to point that out. Doubt it would have occurred to us otherwise.

[old dee 24,028]

Thank god we've got you here to point that out. Doubt it would have occurred to us otherwise.

Do I detect a little sarcasm there Nasher?

But you are right it is stating the bleeding obvious.

[Pennant St Dee 13,412]

Got the flag signed for your son hey PSD sure u did!!!!

Well done.

It's one of those win wins DemonOx, if it keeps him on board and away from the Hawks/Dockers whilst we rebuild it's a win

If he jumps off it comes down from his bedroom wall and goes upstairs to the Bar

[What 18,810]

all i ask is we kick 10 goals

[La Dee-vina Comedia 17,071]

I think I understand the selection strategy. We've been looking in the wrong place. What the Match Committee has done is get all the tall players out of the Casey team so Hogan has room to move. Just to be sure, I see that Max King is in the Casey seconds.

[poita 3,914]

I expected Pedersen and Fitzy to play this week, so no surprise there. But not dropping one of Jamar or Dawes is a joke. Five tall forwards, all as slow as treacle, and no crumbers is a recipe for disaster.

Perhaps we'll continue on the recent trend of playing our forward line across half back and just build a wall to stop the Eagles moving the ball inside 50. Of course, that might work if Hurn wasn't capable of kicking goals from 75 out.

[leucopogon 1,519]

This selection has the makings of a 186 type maulilng about it. Wonder what the thinking is? We'll find out tomorrow, although, I feel we're probably unlikely to get our hands on the ball very much from the clearances

[Scoop Junior 3,573]

I was almost thinking of going with a smaller forward line this week.

The Eagles have Mackenzie who has been superb this year. Then they've also got Brown, McGovern and Schofield in defence. Pretty solid aerial combination.

I think one area they can be exposed in defence is the mid-sized forward or small forward. They were all over Essendon in the first half last week but when Thompson swung Winderlich forward and got him leading out of the square with his pace, the Eagles struggled to match him up.

I can understand the need for an extra tall against the Eagles as you need four tall defenders to combat Darling, Kennedy, Lycett and one of Naitanui/Cox.

But to have a forward line potentially comprising Gawn, Dawes, Fitzy and Pedersen (and maybe even Watts) just looks too tall and cumbersome for me and will play into the Eagles' hands of getting the ball to ground and rebounding.

[What 18,810]

why are people complaining we have too many talls when the Eagles are playing 3 ruckmen themselves?

They have NicNat, Cox and Lycett all named

[chook fowler 19,734]

I think. the strategy is to give a whole lot of players time to empty their lockers.

[P-man 13,367]

Just about the best thing ever would be winning this game and putting the final nail in their finals aspirations, giving Cox a send off he won't forget.

Shhh....just let me dream for a bit.

[Grimes Times 1,278]

Apart from talent are the talls picked any diff to others height wise.

Dawes - Buddy

Pedo - Gunston

Fitz - Roughhead

Jamar - Bailey

Gawn - Hale

All similar heights so its not like it cant work.

Lets just trust the match committee, Ive got a funny feeling they know slightly more than any Demonlanders.

[old dee 24,028]

Apart from talent are the talls picked any diff to others height wise.

Dawes - Buddy

Pedo - Gunston

Fitz - Roughhead

Jamar - Bailey

Gawn - Hale

All similar heights so its not like it cant work.

Lets just trust the match committee, Ive got a funny feeling they know slightly more than any Demonlanders.

Performances would suggest the opposite

[Scoop Junior 3,573]

Apart from talent are the talls picked any diff to others height wise.

Dawes - Buddy

Pedo - Gunston

Fitz - Roughhead

Jamar - Bailey

Gawn - Hale

All similar heights so its not like it cant work.

Lets just trust the match committee, Ive got a funny feeling they know slightly more than any Demonlanders.

You can't ignore talent in making that comparison. Of course I'd be more willing to accomodate a tall forward line containing Buddy, Roughead and Gunston than Dawes, Pedo and Fitzy!!

In any case Buddy and Roughy are quick and agile, Dawes and Pedo are not.

Of course the match committee knows much more than Demonlanders. But that doesn't mean they always get it right and should never be questioned. Case in point being the Collingwood game when they admitted we went in too tall after the game (a fact which some on Demonland mentioned pre-match).

[Bring-Back-Powell 15,346]

Round 16 1961:

South Melbourne 12.19.91

Richmond 0.8.8

Just saying

[CBDees 3,167]

I was almost thinking of going with a smaller forward line this week.

The Eagles have Mackenzie who has been superb this year. Then they've also got Brown, McGovern and Schofield in defence. Pretty solid aerial combination.

I think one area they can be exposed in defence is the mid-sized forward or small forward. They were all over Essendon in the first half last week but when Thompson swung Winderlich forward and got him leading out of the square with his pace, the Eagles struggled to match him up.

I can understand the need for an extra tall against the Eagles as you need four tall defenders to combat Darling, Kennedy, Lycett and one of Naitanui/Cox.

But to have a forward line potentially comprising Gawn, Dawes, Fitzy and Pedersen (and maybe even Watts) just looks too tall and cumbersome for me and will play into the Eagles' hands of getting the ball to ground and rebounding.

There is no guarantee that they are going to line up as named. Our interchange includes Bail, Kent, Salem and Mitchie and i expect to see them feature in the forward structure as well as rotating through the midfield.