5 hours ago, Dee Zephyr said:

Interestingly, Ben Guthrie’s opinion is we will bring in an extra defender in J Smith and JKH the unlucky one to miss. 

Like it. I was thinking of it as well

4 hours ago, FireInTheBelly said:

The problem with playing either or both of Smith and Tyson is the Cats are professionals at gaining any advantage they can, legally or otherwise, and this includes sniping. They'll go after whoever they believe to be our most influential players, but also whoever they think is an easy target. Think back and names like Jetta, Gawn (influential) and Fritsch (young target) come to mind, only in recent times.

Smith's shoulder will be a target, as will Tyson's arm, I guarantee they've already discussed it, in fact they've probably spoken about Viney's foot, but decided the consequences just aren't worth it.

In the Elim. Final of 1987, John Law, the kangas captain, admitted he shook Robbie's hand really hard at the coin toss before the game as the rumour was Flower had a broken finger. As told by Robbie in his book also.

Nothing is off limits and the cats need to be on the lookout for AVB and Viney as well as anything Scott has in store. . Max will just go about his business.

The Scott boys nickname of the cray brothers was given to them at school. Wesley I think or St. Kevins. Leopards don't change spots as seen in the disgraceful episode on Nick Reiwoldt.

any concerns?

 

Robbie had a blinder that day against North and it took a Gary Ayres crunch to unhinge him in prelim final of 1987.

Don't get too worried about the Cray boys tactics, they have mellowed a bit and like to think of themselves as strategists now, rather than thugs. They also know the cameras pick up any malicious acts and subsequent media scrutiny is not worth the hassle.

But I do sense that Chris Scott is getting edgy about his plan to send a third-gamer to Max Gawn and he may decide to switch things a bit. I think he was hoping that big Sav would have given him a cut out, but that fell through when he barely touched it at Casey. Now he has to decide whether to send Blicavs into battle to negate Gawn's influence around ground or give Stanley injections into hsi achilles that will probably end his final series if they won. If he does go with Blicavs into the ruck, it could muck up things in much the same way that Northey let the GF88 battle get to him and chose to muck up our line up by sending Danny Hughes into the ruck and Stretch onto Dunstall. That killed us off before the bounce.

Anyway I did get to training and saw three things:

1) VDB accidentally hammered Dom in a tackle at one stage and was quite apologetic. Dom courageously played on, so in a sense he's already had a fitness test because a VDB hit is as hard as they come. he will be available, although they may have already got some other plans for this game.

2) JKH is absolutely flying. He is so up at moment and his work is way better than I've ever seen. It will be a big call to drop him.

3) I watched Bayley play the simulation drill on Jack Viney and was impressed with the Fritta - he's come a long way since his debut, looks stronger and sharper. He will be fine in the finals.

As to my original assertion on changes thread a week ago that there will be three changes - the same as ones Ben Guthrie has listed - I am starting to doubt it. Obviously Viney and Hannan will come in, but maybe the need for Joel Smith's flexibility and security as the third tall will be overridden by the Cats going smaller and the difficulty in telling either Dom or JKH they are out.

Finals is an emotional time. But having said that, I'd still do it and the reason is because both Hannan and Smith are critical to us being able to play a man-on-man game which we slipped into two weeks ago - whoops I shouldn't have told you that! 

7 hours ago, GCDee said:

Having smith in allows hibberd to play an intercept role again. 

I wouldn't mind viney, Smith & hannan in for kent, spargo (admitted himself he is buggered) and JKH.

He just a week off, I’m sure he has freshened up. 

Kent, JKH and Tyson out

Viney, Hannan and Smith in. 

hannan has to play the guy isn't borderline best 22 he is a gun - plus its an extra avenue to goal and he is capable of 2-3 goals a game. Either Spargo or JKH has to come out...

If Hannan plays he probably plays pretty close to goal, a move that worked very well against West Coast where he was able to exploit smaller opponents. The Cats are going to have a big backline that is very strong defensively in the air.

I'd probably favour getting Petracca deeper where he can get 1 on 1's in the air and swoop on to loose balls and get Viney, Spargo in there as well pressuring and crumbing. They'll also drop back and make us bomb to Weed/T Mc/Melk in which case the crumbs matter more than the one on ones.

All up JKH might make more sense as a flanker/wing option to provide more run and versatility up the ground. 

Viney's inclusion should also see Oliver and Brayshaw playing some deep forward minutes as rotations. 

I'm surprised to say this because at times I've been as big a Hannan fan as there probably is but I'd lean towards JKH if I were picking between them.

If you read a later report, the standouts at training were Nathan Jones and JKH

Reckon the decision till late Thursday and Tyson

Good to see Robbo there kicking a ball with his young son and Hassa Mann and I have just discovered, Steven Icke at training today. 

Wandered passed the Pies training, a lot more fans at their training but then I realised your average Pies fanatic is more likely to be unemployed and able to attend than our hard working Demon followers! 

VIney back, and two nice players in Hannan and J Smith pushing for selection.      We went from the thinnest list in the AFL a few years ago to possibly the deepest.   Happy to hear Vince might be right to go next week.... I hope hes eligible for Casey, though I doubt it.

Any talk regarding hunt? Was he quiet for casey?

always tempting to get some speed and run in