4 minutes ago, DemonDave said:

Membrey has been their in form forward. So I assume Tom Mac goes to him, Frost could play on Riewoldt, and has the athleticism to follow him onto the wing

if need be, so the wildcard matchup is Bruce. If Oscar Mac doesnt get up as expected you'd have to bring in one of Garland or Dunn. Neither of who are setting

the world on fire at Casey.  Wagner probably due a run at Casey before returning.

Given Bruce is recorded as 197cm, Reiwoldt 193 and Membrey as 188, I doubt Tom McDonald will play on Membrey. I would have thought it's more likely that T McDonald and Frost will share duties on Reiwoldt and Bruce with one of the medium sized defenders, such as Wagner, White or Garland getting Membrey. Of course, if Oscar plays, other options arise.

Worst case scenario and Bernie doesnt recover in time from his shin injury. I'd bring Brayshaw back, hes had two games back in the VFL and is too good for that level . Oliver is a must and Wagner will help cover the loss of O Mac.

I love Harmes at half back. He is a superb grab and can rack up the footy. Could be a weapon for us there, and a nice compliment to Hunt on the other HBF.   Petracca and Billy looked cooked.

Out - Vince (inj), O Mac (inj), Petracca (rest), Stretch (rest)

In -   Oliver, Brayshaw, Wagner,  Bugg

 

B :    N.Jetta   -        T.McDonald   -   J.Wagner

HB :  J.Grimes   -        S.Frost       -   J.Harmes

C :    A.Brayshaw  -  D.Tyson        -     J.Hunt  

HF :   D.Kent          -  J.Watts       -   A.Vandenberg

F  :   J.Garlett         -  J.Hogan      -  B.Kennedy

R  :  M.Gawn       -     N.Jones      -     J.Viney

IC :   M.Jones     -   C.Oliver    -    T.Bugg   -  M.White

7 hours ago, chook fowler said:

Underestimate Riewoldt at your peril IMO

Reiwoldt, Montagna, Steven will be the top 3 players for them. Write it down.

Hey, maybe we should try to take them out of the game? What a radical idea.

Outs: Petracca, M.Jones and Grimes 

Jones and Grimes' disposal was so poor against Fremantle in an otherwise fairly efficient display by the team. 

I could live with giving Grimes another shot because he defends and tackles like his life depends on it but Matty Jones has had a couple of weeks dishing up this stuff.

Having said that, I don't think these changes are likely - just venting.

Would like to see Wagner come back in.

 

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/melbourne/melbourne-forward-jack-watts-will-resign-with-the-demons-in-the-coming-weeks/news-story/8568c47fcca67f2cf9c3165152767e34

5 hours ago, Petraccattack said:

Worst case scenario and Bernie doesnt recover in time from his shin injury. I'd bring Brayshaw back, hes had two games back in the VFL and is too good for that level . Oliver is a must and Wagner will help cover the loss of O Mac.

I love Harmes at half back. He is a superb grab and can rack up the footy. Could be a weapon for us there, and a nice compliment to Hunt on the other HBF.   Petracca and Billy looked cooked.

Out - Vince (inj), O Mac (inj), Petracca (rest), Stretch (rest)

In -   Oliver, Brayshaw, Wagner,  Bugg

 

B :    N.Jetta   -        T.McDonald   -   J.Wagner

HB :  J.Grimes   -        S.Frost       -   J.Harmes

C :    A.Brayshaw  -  D.Tyson        -     J.Hunt  

HF :   D.Kent          -  J.Watts       -   A.Vandenberg

F  :   J.Garlett         -  J.Hogan      -  B.Kennedy

R  :  M.Gawn       -     N.Jones      -     J.Viney

IC :   M.Jones     -   C.Oliver    -    T.Bugg   -  M.White

Evan though Petracca looked 'cooked' he only just had a bye the week earlier. With an 8-day break, l would leave Track in and send Kennedy back instead. Otherwise l like the changes (although Stretch is a bit unlucky).

How we can win.

1. Stop Jack Steven. Stop Leigh Montagna. They got 30+ possessions against us.

2. Man up on Saints tall fwds. T.mcd on Riewoldt, Dunn on Membrey and Frost on Bruce.

3. Stop the switch.

4. Win the contested midfield clearances.

Run and spread has killed us against teams we should've beaten. St Kilda, Essendon, etc. My fear is bringing in contested mids not noted for speed and then being overrun yet again with Roo running around 40m clear of any opponent.

1 hour ago, spirit of norm smith said:

How we can win.

1. Stop Jack Steven. Stop Leigh Montagna. They got 30+ possessions against us.

2. Man up on Saints tall fwds. T.mcd on Riewoldt, Dunn on Membrey and Frost on Bruce.

3. Stop the switch.

4. Win the contested midfield clearances.

Forward pressure would be the first place I would start....

Last time they ran the ball out of our forward line way too easily and opened us up.

Get that right and the rest will take care of itself.

10 minutes ago, rjay said:

Forward pressure would be the first place I would start....

Last time they ran the ball out of our forward line way too easily and opened us up.

Get that right and the rest will take care of itself.

Someone commented quite rightly that hunt's speed will be a big asset at ethuad and so will his forward pressure.

Amazing to think he didnt play last time against the saints and just a few short weeks later he is s crucial factor in terms of our chances.

This is a really important game for us. I will be gutted if we lose

39 minutes ago, rjay said:

Forward pressure would be the first place I would start....

Last time they ran the ball out of our forward line way too easily and opened us up.

Get that right and the rest will take care of itself.

Yep. We'll beat them if we bring the right attitude, intensity and work rate. My fear is that backing up the sweltering conditions up north will make that difficult. Let's hope I'm wrong.

How much will Darwin have taken out of our legs and which legs will be most effected? these are the questions that needs to be answered.

I do not expect OMac to be fit and there has to be a question mark regards Vince. if those two are out then I would also look at dropping Kennedy. In place of those three I would bring in Garland, Oliver and Brayshaw.

if one more set of fresh legs is needed I would drop Stretch and look at Trengove, Michie or ANB. All three would be fresh.

I reckon we'll smash them.

 

I don't but reckon our intensity will be significantly better than last time. 

 

 

4 hours ago, Ricky P said:

I reckon we'll smash them.

Relax! We've got this?

I'm hoping the presence of some sort of atmosphere at the MCG might put them off a bit.

 

Their run and spread killed us last time, as did their outside pace. Two things will make or break this game. 

1) Our defensive spread was lazy, dysfunctional and slow last time we played. Their outside pace after a turnover from us killed us and our defensive diamond didn't work at all during that game.  We need N Jones, Viney, M Jones, Hunt, and Vince to be switched on with defensive running, especially after a turnover  because they are good at it naturally. Tyson, Petracca, Kennedy, and others dont spread defensively well and need to be on their game. Oliver will come in because his defensive running is also very good. 

2) The Saints simply cannot match our forward line. With Hogan, Watts, Garlett, Kent, and Petracca growing in confidence as a unit, we can lock it in ther and score. Unfortunately, Reiwoldt has been spending some time  in defence so we might have to plan for that. 

10 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

How we can win.

1. Stop Jack Steven. Stop Leigh Montagna. They got 30+ possessions against us.

2. Man up on Saints tall fwds. T.mcd on Riewoldt, Dunn on Membrey and Frost on Bruce.

3. Stop the switch.

4. Win the contested midfield clearances.

 

15 hours ago, jnrmac said:

Reiwoldt, Montagna, Steven will be the top 3 players for them. Write it down.

Hey, maybe we should try to take them out of the game? What a radical idea.

 

23 hours ago, jnrmac said:

Win the contest and stop them switching play and we go a long way to beating them.

I couldn't agree more

So much comes down to which Saints side shows up.

They played a fantastic game and beat the Saints, and then got done by the Suns and barely fell over the line against the Bombers. 

I think we will win this, i reckon the boys will set themselves to break this one, it can't be nice being beaten over and over by a team that is a direct rival in terms of rise/ladder position.

if we win this game i think we can win 2-4 more and it'll be an amazing result for the club.

3 minutes ago, Abe said:

So much comes down to which Saints side shows up.

They played a fantastic game and beat the Saints, and then got done by the Suns and barely fell over the line against the Bombers. 

I think we will win this, i reckon the boys will set themselves to break this one, it can't be nice being beaten over and over by a team that is a direct rival in terms of rise/ladder position.

if we win this game i think we can win 2-4 more and it'll be an amazing result for the club.

Their good side will turn up, have no doubt about it.  They're at home, and will see this game as very winnable.  

7 minutes ago, Nasher said:

Their good side will turn up, have no doubt about it.  They're at home, and will see this game as very winnable.  

As should we Nasher they have won the same number of games as us but we have a better percentage.

We have won 3 of the last five games and they are 2 from 5.

Close game with the Dees by 10 points is my prediction.

3 hours ago, Biffen said:

I'm hoping the presence of some sort of atmosphere at the MCG might put them off a bit.

 

???

2 hours ago, Biffen said:

I'm hoping the presence of some sort of atmosphere at the MCG might put them off a bit.

 

Wouldn't that be nice at Etihad!

18 hours ago, Petraccattack said:

Worst case scenario and Bernie doesnt recover in time from his shin injury. I'd bring Brayshaw back, hes had two games back in the VFL and is too good for that level . Oliver is a must and Wagner will help cover the loss of O Mac.

I love Harmes at half back. He is a superb grab and can rack up the footy. Could be a weapon for us there, and a nice compliment to Hunt on the other HBF.   Petracca and Billy looked cooked.

Out - Vince (inj), O Mac (inj), Petracca (rest), Stretch (rest)

In -   Oliver, Brayshaw, Wagner,  Bugg

...

I doubt very much that a kick to the shin or a rolled ankle will keep the affected players out.

I'd consider resting Stretch, but not Petracca. I reckon the latter is a beast and will push himself to exhaustion in the same way that Cousins used to.

Can't see Brayshaw coming back - still underdone in my book. Oliver and Wagner possible ins. It wouldn't surprise me to see Kennedy given a week at Casey.

1 hour ago, old dee said:

As should we Nasher they have won the same number of games as us but we have a better percentage.

We have won 3 of the last five games and they are 2 from 5.

Close game with the Dees by 10 points is my prediction.

I agree old dee - but the Saints fans would be salivating over this one given our recent record both against them and at their ground. I'm confident we can beat them, but they're not going to do us any favours.