5 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Casboult McKay Weitering.. 

Im not worried one bit.

Weitering is a good player but the other two are dead set useless

Have they got a match up for Hogan? Hulkamania could run wild on Sunday

1 hour ago, TickleMeTyson said:

We certainly won't have everything our own way in the middle like we did after Q1 last week. Kreuzer is firing on all cylinders and Cripps is the best clearance player in the league, coming off a limited pre-season, he will be better for the run. Tyson is a valuable inclusion rotating through the guts, I would think Lewis and Jones will assist our undermanned backline with ANB pushing into the midfield and Kent playing his high half-forward role. The Spencer experiment intrigues me, and with Max potentially not 100%, this week seems as good as any to try it.

We're going to have to play Spencer at some time during the year. We can't go through a whole season without him having some game time if we expect to play finals. Imagine him having not played at all and then needing to be called up for a final because Gawn is unavailable. Whether this week is the right week, I don't know. But if there is any doubt about Gawn's fitness maybe he should play and Watts be required to play (for this week only) as a permanent tall defender.

I will be a lot more calm after the firt 15 minutes on Sunday.
The Blues aren't a team that can rebound with the electricity and class of the saints and don't play with nearly as much polish and pressure of the saints either.

3 big men up forward doesnt fuss me at all, I have faith in both the McDonalds, Nifty Nev and Hunty.
footy is played just as much on the deck if not more than in the air so I expect our backs to rebound with the same ferocity as last week.
Very easy to get ahead of ourselves after last week due to our performance after Qtr time but might I remind us all that St Kilda had the same amount of scoring shots as we did in the second quarter. yes we managed to convert and they didn't but it shows that on paper stats don't show the whole story.

the game will be won around the half back line and the square, Cripps is a wicked clearance player but we have Clearance Oliver too, I think we will out muscle them in the guts and run out the game with better speed and polish from our generals.

They simply don't have enough elite players to cover our entire midfield, very much like a hydra, when you vut off one head, 2 more grow back in it's place...Covering Lewis? we have Viney, Covering Viney too? we have Jones, all 3? Bring in Tyson and Oliver...Our midfield getting tired? in comes Petracca...They simply can't cover all our bases.

Between Hogan, Watts, Jeffy, Weidman, and Petracca we have enough firepower to give their backline headaches all day.

My Predictions!.

Stretch do be a quiet achiever again and get close to 30 touches.
ANB to kick 2.1
Tommy McDonald to be solid up back.
Clarry and Cripps to go blow for blow and finish the game around even.
Demons to win by 40.

Edited March 31, 20178 yr by The Sailing Demon
Additional comment

The thing about a defence that appears a bit light on for talls is that if we are winning the midfield, the problem is not so great. As long as we pressure Carlton's delivery into forward 50, we'll do well. If we are dominating the midfield and we're streaming forward, we'll crush them.

52 minutes ago, pineapple dee said:

The thing about a defence that appears a bit light on for talls is that if we are winning the midfield, the problem is not so great. As long as we pressure Carlton's delivery into forward 50, we'll do well. If we are dominating the midfield and we're streaming forward, we'll crush them.

I think Carltons delivery into the F50 wont even need any pressuring for them to butcher the ball

This has a sense of dejavu from last year. Should have beaten Bombers last year, cost us dearly years end.Anything less than a 5 goal win is not good enough . Best chance to boost percentage  is early in year. Need to grind opponents this year.

2 hours ago, sisso said:

Have they got a match up for Hogan? Hulkamania could run wild on Sunday

I'd say Rowe will play on him, but I would have thought Hogan will have him for mobility. 

2 hours ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

We're going to have to play Spencer at some time during the year. We can't go through a whole season without him having some game time if we expect to play finals. Imagine him having not played at all and then needing to be called up for a final because Gawn is unavailable. Whether this week is the right week, I don't know. But if there is any doubt about Gawn's fitness maybe he should play and Watts be required to play (for this week only) as a permanent tall defender.

I hope i am wrong but i have the feeling that Gawn wont play this week, probably just have MFC supporter syndrome.

Still think we will win and win well.    

1 hour ago, Tracca said:

I think Carltons delivery into the F50 wont even need any pressuring for them to butcher the ball

Wow. Arrogance personified. Settle down, Trac.

Just now, A F said:

Wow. Arrogance personified. Settle down, Trac.

not arrogant, just realistic. They have one of the worst delivery efficiencies into the F50.

We will smash them thats for sure, where it will be won is in the middle, I cannot see us dropping off our intensity

8 minutes ago, Tracca said:

not arrogant, just realistic. They have one of the worst delivery efficiencies into the F50.

We will smash them thats for sure, where it will be won is in the middle, I cannot see us dropping off our intensity

Okay, but to say we won't need to pressure them is arrogant and it's arrogance that we haven't earned...

8 minutes ago, A F said:

I'd say Rowe will play on him, but I would have thought Hogan will have him for mobility. 

Yep he would have to, I think Marchbank will play on Watts

1 minute ago, A F said:

Okay, but to say we won't need to pressure them is arrogant and it's arrogance that we haven't earned...

Well I thought it was darn obvious it was a bit of tongue in cheek considering Carlton are very close to being wooden spooners this year.

6 minutes ago, Tracca said:

Well I thought it was darn obvious it was a bit of tongue in cheek considering Carlton are very close to being wooden spooners this year.

I think Carlton will win the spoon, but doesn't mean they won't give us a run for our money. I think a lot of it depends on Cripps. Is he still waaay off the pace as he was last week, or has he got some match fitness?

2 minutes ago, A F said:

I think Carlton will win the spoon, but doesn't mean they won't give us a run for our money. I think a lot of it depends on Cripps. Is he still waaay off the pace as he was last week, or has he got some match fitness?

Agree RE: Cripps, he looks very slow. He reminds me of Brock McLean in his last year with us. I dont think he looks disinterested at all but he looks like hes finding it hard to get to contests. I think its probably match fitness, but the intensity is always much higher that first game.

We need to stop Murphy IMO, he was on fire last week. Stop him and it will be a belting, Gibbs is soft as butter.

My concern is that the blues will get everything right again on the day they play us. 

Ordinary players will look like stars of the comp. 

Hope I am wrong but I am nervous about this week more so than last week. 

This sounds bizarre but I have an aura of confidence now when we play. We still are a little unpredictable, but Roosey went on about it heaps last year that our worst is so far away from our best.

 

Well this year I think its much closer. And it has shown in 2 games this year that we can wrestle the momentum away from the opposition.

4 hours ago, Jaded said:

 

Top priority this off season is getting a tall defender. 

Not sure i agree. It was instructive they did nor chase a tall defender last trade period. They obviously are confident the omac boys will do the job.

Risky also as a tall key back who is actually any good will cost an arm and a leg. And if they then dont perform you have a lot of broken eggs in one basket. Early days for carlisle but he could not keep up with hogan and was almost a liabilty. An exspensive gamble by the saints. They might have been better trading in a couple of decent mid sized, mobile half backs like we did with hibberd and melksham.

There is also less need for stay a5 home gorilla keepers as there are less stay at home gorillas. Hogan is the proto type forward. Strong, can clunk marks but huge tank and gets around the ground - can even go into the midfield. Look at what hawkins has done wirh his physique and where/how he played against freo. A key back has to be able to run with the forwards now. 

3 hours ago, sisso said:

Have they got a match up for Hogan? Hulkamania could run wild on Sunday

Sam Rowe has owned hogan in previous games. Hogan owes him and I hope hogan has the same attitude this week that max had facing hickey last week

1 hour ago, Satan said:

This has a sense of dejavu from last year. Should have beaten Bombers last year, cost us dearly years end.Anything less than a 5 goal win is not good enough . Best chance to boost percentage  is early in year. Need to grind opponents this year.

Sorry Satan, my maths ability has it holes but the percentage at the end of the year just involves the totals over the year.  So it doesn't matter when in the year you add to the totals in the for and against columns. It just seems that way if you start with a 200% and watch it gradually drift down.   Just need to pull off some big wins and if we lose, lose by as little as possible.

when is the final team announced?

23 minutes ago, binman said:

 

There is also less need for stay a5 home gorilla keepers as there are less stay at home gorillas. Hogan is the proto type forward. Strong, can clunk marks but huge tank and gets around the ground - can even go into the midfield. Look at what hawkins has done wirh his physique and where/how he played against freo. A key back has to be able to run with the forwards now. 

 

Having images of Gorillas in the Mist but good point.

1 minute ago, DemonLad5 said:

when is the final team announced?

5pm

I think we will win because we will back ourselves to score more.

Carltons problem is they can't kick a big total and can't defend a small total. (In simple terms)

I think we'll go for it and it'll rain goals. Rolls of goals. Goal after goal after goal. Goal upon goal. It'll be something beautiful to behold. 23 of them to be exact. Lovely.