From afl.com.au (A top quality site by the look of it...)

Hawthorn v Melbourne – Telstra Dome, Sunday 25 February 2007 at 6.10pm*

Hawthorn squad: 2. Jarryd Roughead, 3. Jordan Lewis, 4. Rick Ladson, 5. Sam Mitchell, 6. Mark Williams, 9. Shane Crawford, 10. Chance Bateman, 12. Brad Sewell, 13. Simon Taylor, 14. Grant Birchall, 15. Luke Hodge, 16. Beau Dowler, 17. Beau Muston, 18. Brent Guerra, 20. Tim Boyle, 21. Richard Vandenberg, 22. Ben McGlynn, 23. Lance Franklin, 25. Tim Clarke, 26. Zac Dawson, 27. Stephen Gilham, 28. Matthew Little, 30. Campbell Brown, 33. Josh Thurgood, 34. Brent Renouf, 38. Travis Tuck, 39. Robert Campbell, 45. Clinton Young,

Richmond (Probably should say Melbourne here...) squad: 1. Simon Buckley, 2. Nathan Jones, 3. Clint Bizzell, 4. Ben Holland, 6. Matthew Bate, 7. Brad Miller, 8. James Frawley, 9. David Neitz, 10. Daniel Ward, 11. Paul Johnson, 13. Adem Yze, 14. Lynden Dunn, 17. Chris Johnson, 18. Brad Green, Number. Name, 21. Daniel Bell, 23. James McDonald, 24. Russell Robertson, 25. Nathan Brown, 27. Jared Rivers, 30. Simon Godfrey, 32. Cameron Bruce, 33. Byron Pickett, 35. Ryan Ferguson, 37. Matthew Warnock, 38. Daniel Hughes, 40. Mark Jamar, 41. Nathan Carroll, 45. Matthew Whelan.

No sign of Newton...

28 players to be cut to 24 tomorrow.

No suprise about Newton.

Who would we speculate to be the 4 unlucky ones to be cut.

I hope its not Buckley, Frawley, Warnock and Hughes.

No suprise about Newton.

Who would we speculate to be the 4 unlucky ones to be cut.

I hope its not Buckley, Frawley, Warnock and Hughes.

At a guess, Ferg, Warnock, Hughes and (grits teeth) maybe Dogga Brown but I hope not.

That leaves...

Davey

Johnstone

McLean

Bartram

Moloney

Petterd

Sylvia

Wheatley

White...either injured or rested.

Of the Hawks better players they are missing: Croad, Dixon, Jacobs, Osborne, Smith

I think we look better on paper (certainly more experienced) but I wouldn't be worried if we lose.

Just 2 ruckman? Surprising.

My guess to miss out:

Ward

Warnock

Holland/Ferguson

At a guess, Ferg, Warnock, Hughes and (grits teeth) maybe Dogga Brown but I hope not.

I note in an earlier post a couple of days ago you (RR) did not name Ferguson.

Is there a reason, is he injured.?

I worry we still put too much faith in Rivers to run the half back line ( even though he is the best reader of a football in flight in the AFL)

Just interested?

Surely we wouldn't play Neitz. I thought we weren't going to bother with the NAB cup until the later rounds, should we make it. I reckon playerss like Yze, Bruce, Neitz and Ward will miss.

Godfrey, Ward, Yze and Holland to miss out. Just not really needed for this game

Ward, Whelan and Brown couldn't possibly all be in the same youth-oriented side could they? At least one, maybe two to miss there as we have a lot of smallish defenders who we could rotate through there, like Bell, CJ, Buckley, along with Bruce, Green and Ooze. It's a hard choice but you'd think Ward would be the unlucky one despite his apparently good form in the intra.

Godfrey is superfluous, but probably needs a run. No need to play mature depth players now.

Wrong side to play Holland, particularly with no Croad.

So the last one is out of Whelan (interrupted pre-season, but may need the run), Brown (a little bit one-dimensional), or one of the tall defenders in Ferg and Warnock.

I have a terrible time predicting NDs emergencies, so whatever you read above, think the opposite and that's what will occur.

All 7 tall defenders on our list in the 28:

Rivers, Carroll, Holland, Bizzell, Ferguson, Warnock, Frawley.

3 is usually enough in 22, I could stretch to 4 in 24.

Logic would say that 3 of them should miss, particularly when we have 4 tall forwards also, but logic seldom applies.

Also we have 5 of 6 modern day tall running prototypes selected which is exciting:

Buckley, Bate, CJ, Bell, Bruce.

Only Wheatley missing and maybe Petterd is one too.

My guess would be that because so many players are unavailable that the younger players will be let loose and players such as Neitz, Yze, Bruce and Green will be left out. Mind you with so many running players missing who knows what the final squad will look like.

My 4 omissions are:

Hughes

Warnock

Buckley

Chris Johnson

This match is eerily similar to last years NAB cup game V the Dogs.

Bulldogs wanted to make a statement in early 06, while Melbourne were "easycome -easygo", but the Dees (with all the kids) pulled off a miracle.

Likewise this year Hawthorn are keen to make a statement by winning the NAB Cup and are playing close to a full team, while Melbourne have round 1 on their mind.

I'm tipping a 7 goal loss, due to lack of match practice, interest and injuries.

My 4 omissions are:

Hughes

Warnock

Buckley

Chris Johnson

Likewise this year Hawthorn are keen to make a statement by winning the NAB Cup and are playing close to a full team, while Melbourne have round 1 on their mind.

I'm tipping a 7 goal loss, due to lack of match practice, interest and injuries.

Could not disagree more.

Firstly, CJ is an absolute certainty to play.

Secondly, Hawthorn's team is as young and inexperienced as ours. If we lose by 7 goals I'll be very disappointed, especially at the Dome when flooding and 'negative' football is so easy to impliment. Not saying we'll win, but you're way off.

All i'm really after is a belter of a game, a chance to see a few kids out on the park, not too much aggro from the hawks kids who always like to fire up at us and a short, short short injury list (hopefully a shorter one when round two of the nabcup comes around).

A win would be nice too :D

Defnitely not tipping a 7 goal loss.

If we lose it will pretty close (less than a goal), and if we win it will also be very close (less than a goal) due to both teams having a lack of experience. It will bew nice to see the kids from both teams running around in this game, and hopefully there will be no major injuries