2 hours ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

I know it's only a JLT game but jeez I hope we win this, I love being at a game over here and beating the home side. If Watts has 25+ touches and kicks 4 and we win, I plan on making a real mess of myself.

My main wish is a strong team performance with no injuries. But beyond that, I'm hoping to see Watts dominate moreso than a win. Particularly over in the west where he cops a fair bit from behind the fence.

2 hours ago, A F said:

With no Nik Nat, not sure they're quite at full strength.

They won't have Nik Nat for the whole year so this is close to the Eagles 2017 as you're going to get in JLT. 

A win would be huge for our confidence but not essential in my eyes. A good bit out where we are not belted off the park, encouraging performances from Watts, Hogan, Petracca, Brayshaw, and Salem, and most importantly no injuries. That's pretty much what I'd like from the match. 

Looking ahead to round one I think Kent won't make it in time, Brayshaw was underdone last year and was a liability on the park, he then went on to have a really rough year with injuries and concussions. While it's not directly linked at the end of the day I think Kent will need a couple of weeks into the 22. 

Will be an interesting game.

West Coast have quite a few talls in their side, especially their backline so I'll watch for smart and purposeful forward entries from our mids. 

And whoever plays on Kennedy will be given a good test. 

No injuries please. None.

Edited March 8, 20178 yr by stevethemanjordan

On 06/03/2017 at 9:21 AM, McQueen said:

Goodwin in his own words said that this will be much closer to a full dress rehearsal for the first game and the opposistion should be a good one in the Eagles.

Tyson and Kent should return with the (remote) possibility of Watts and Jetta also suiting up.

JKH is out with injury which frees up a spot for Kent and Tyson should replace ANB for this game. There is also 2 less on the bench so young Johnstone and someone else will miss out you would think..

It's a bonus for us WA based members to see the team over here in the pre season comp given they only get over here once more this year so I'll definitely be getting along to the game.

Any other WA supporters planning on attending Thursday?

I'll be along too, happy to meet up if anyone's grabbing a beer at half time 

2 hours ago, stevethemanjordan said:

Will be an interesting game.

West Coast have quite a few talls in their side, especially their backline so I'll watch for smart and purposeful forward entries from our mids. 

And whoever plays on Kennedy will be given a good test. 

No injuries please. None.

Agree with your last sentence.

Preseason matches on hard grounds always worry me.

A win will be great but not at the cost of any serious injury, particularly knees. 

13 hours ago, Pates said:

How/why are we always such short prices favourites against the Saints?! They've had as good a pre-season as us, they've shown they are as much on the rise as us,  and it's at Etihad stadium where we've barely won a coin toss let alone a footy match (GWS & NAB barely count). 

Maybe I just don't like seeing us go in as favourites, doesn't seem to end well for us!

If we beat WC in Perth then it's justified, otherwise it should be even odds IMO. 

....exactly. The thing is they have the line (margin) at 3.5pts. So they are saying its too close to call on one hand and clear favorites on the other. 

15 hours ago, fr_ap said:

Right so perhaps 3 to 4 changes different from this squad means I have 'lost my grip on reality'. Yep.

Garlett will not play. Perhaps Kent, but will be underdone. Casey doesnt adequately prepare. See Brayshaw this time last year. 

Jetta and Frost - again only one may play, likely short of match practise. Not sure what is wrong with Frost but is nowhere to be found. 

Hibberd won't play. AVB wont play. Wagner won't play.

End result = no potent hf/forward pockets with goals in them other than Trac. One of Garland/J Smith plays. Like the kid Smith but Saints would be licking their lips at having one of these guys in the backline with an at times shaky oscar and very attacking minded melksham/vince/hunt. Goals galore beckon for one of the league's better forward lines.

These are realities mate. If all the above miraculously recover and play well despite having no match practice, we are a good chance. Otherwise we are up against it.

I agree Hibberd is a big loss and I don't think he should play R1 - too underdone.  Without Wagner and Frost then Garland is 4th choice but we're fortunate to have one, let's see how he goes against WCE.  Jetta is fit and available and has been overlooked twice, he's out of favour and I think it's because he doesn't match up well in the zone against the Saints tall forward line.

I expect Garlett to play, he's had a full pre-season, played JLT1 and has had plenty of time to get over his hammy.  I agree Kent is too underdone to play.

But I think your idea that Garlett and Kent are key to our scoring against the Saints is a stretch:

2016 R6 v Saints: Garlett 10 possessions 0 goals, Kent 10 possessions 1 goal

2016 R17 v Saints: Garlett 7 possessions 2 goals, Kent 18 possessions 0 goals

They kicked 3 goals between them in 2 matches last year.

I think the R1 side will probably have Garlett as an addition, that's not 80% that's 95% playing in JLT3.  

I don't see this line-up a liability that's certain to lose by 50 points as you predict.

B: Garland OMac Melksham
HB: Vince TMac Hunt
R: Gawn Jones Viney
C: Stretch Tyson Lewis
HF: Petracca Hogan Salem
F: Garlett Weideman Watts
I: Oliver Brayshaw Bugg Harmes

In: Garlett
Out: Spencer Trengove ANB

Let's see what happens in the west tonight.

Edited March 9, 20178 yr by Fifty-5

Oops right its tonight, nearly got caught out!...thank god for DL.....does anyone know if there's any kinda link to a match feed?

Heard last night that the turf integrity is questionable in some areas. If any serious injuries come from this game I'll be most displeased.

Don't think the coverage will work for me in China so updates would be greatly appreciated 

14 hours ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

I know it's only a JLT game but jeez I hope we win this, I love being at a game over here and beating the home side. If Watts has 25+ touches and kicks 4 and we win, I plan on making a real mess of myself.

You are quite vulgar on Demonland Ethan - one can only wonder how magnificently boorish and obnoxious you will be as a drunken supporter of the winning side.

2 minutes ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

You are quite vulgar on Demonland Ethan - one can only wonder how magnificently boorish and obnoxious you will be as a drunken supporter of the winning side.

I don't know about that bitters. I'm generally pretty reserved when refreshed, the most extreme thing I did after a win over here was throw my own faeces at some Dockers members cars as they left the ground. 

2 minutes ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

I don't know about that bitters. I'm generally pretty reserved when refreshed, the most extreme thing I did after a win over here was throw my own faeces at some Dockers members cars as they left the ground. 

Yes that was very reserved Ethan. Next time go wild and throw the coat hanger as well.

1 hour ago, McQueen said:

Heard last night that the turf integrity is questionable in some areas. If any serious injuries come from this game I'll be most displeased.

Just displeased?  Absolutely fuming will be more like it.

1 hour ago, Fifty-5 said:

I agree Hibberd is a big loss and I don't think he should play R1 - too underdone.  Without Wagner and Frost then Garland is 4th choice but we're fortunate to have one, let's see how he goes against WCE.  Jetta is fit and available and has been overlooked twice, he's out of favour and I think it's because he doesn't match up well in the zone against the Saints tall forward line.

I expect Garlett to play, he's had a full pre-season, played JLT1 and has had plenty of time to get over his hammy.  I agree Kent is too underdone to play.

But I think your idea that Garlett and Kent are key to our scoring against the Saints is a stretch:

2016 R6 v Saints: Garlett 10 possessions 0 goals, Kent 10 possessions 1 goal

2016 R17 v Saints: Garlett 7 possessions 2 goals, Kent 18 possessions 0 goals

They kicked 3 goals between them in 2 matches last year.

I think the R1 side will probably have Garlett as an addition, that's not 80% that's 95% playing in JLT3.  

I don't see this line-up a liability that's certain to lose by 50 points as you predict.

B: Garland OMac Melksham
HB: Vince TMac Hunt
R: Gawn Jones Viney
C: Stretch Tyson Lewis
HF: Petracca Hogan Salem
F: Garlett Weideman Watts
I: Oliver Brayshaw Bugg Harmes

In: Garlett
Out: Spencer Trengove ANB

Let's see what happens in the west tonight.

No Watts?????

14 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

Just displeased?  Absolutely fuming will be more like it.

I said most.

 

But yeah, [censored] [censored] right off would be more like it.

5 hours ago, stevethemanjordan said:

Will be an interesting game.

West Coast have quite a few talls in their side, especially their backline so I'll watch for smart and purposeful forward entries from our mids. 

And whoever plays on Kennedy will be given a good test. 

No injuries please. None.

McGovern looks in great touch, in a real game he's a player you have to game plan around but I'm not sure we'll change too much for a preseason game. McGovern will either have a good battle with Hogan and/or it will be a nice test for Watts/Weed/Spencer to see which of those 3 are able to compete in the air.

I expect etiher Tom, Oscar or both will get a bit of a touch up from Kennedy if the Eagles move the ball anything like how they did against Freo. As long as they don't lose all confidence I really like that our reworked backline is going to have a very stern test. Playing Carlton was really a waste of time for the defenders and even then they managed to stuff things up a fair bit.

53 minutes ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

You are quite vulgar on Demonland Ethan - one can only wonder how magnificently boorish and obnoxious you will be as a drunken supporter of the winning side.

A problem I am looking forward to Bbo.

52 minutes ago, Bossdog said:

No Watts?????

I thought I'd only include him once - do you want him named on every line?

3 hours ago, Wadda We Sing said:

Oops right its tonight, nearly got caught out!...thank god for DL.....does anyone know if there's any kinda link to a match feed?

You're better than me, up until yesterday I just assumed the game was on Saturday.

Hey lads what time is the game televised on TV Melbourne time.

1 minute ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Hey lads what time is the game televised on TV Melbourne time.

8:40

Just now, dazzledavey36 said:

Hey lads what time is the game televised on TV Melbourne time.

8:40pm start time over here, dazzle.

Cheers 

I'm actually pretty pumped about tonight's game.  I know others might think we could be in for a decent loss, but we should have beaten them over in Perth last year and even though we're missing a few we're still taking a pretty strong squad over with us.  

Their forward line could cause some havoc if our spread isn't working and we aren't winning enough clearances, but I feel as though we're taking a team over there that will be able to match them in terms of running capacity throughout the game.  I might be looking through the red and blue goggles, but I believe our midfield is a little strong than their's as well.  There is no reason why we can't win this game.