CHANGES: Rd 02 vs Carlton

[Pates 9,536]

5 hours ago, binman said:

Footy is back.  And so is some of the the same nonsense here on DL

Round one is irrelevant?

After a full preseason and every single key defender available (bar petty who has been ear marked as forward) who does Goodwin select to play against arguably the best forward line, with two of the best 5 key forwards? 

Omac.

On that evidence Goodwin clearly considers him best 22.

Omac plays round one and keeps his direct opponent goalless and he barely takes mark. With May, our best defender on the day. 

We don't play a game between that game and our second game. So apart from training drills and some match sims (which also took place preseason and resulted in Omac being selected in round one) Goodwin has no other game to base selection on.

Yet round one is irrelevant.  

Really?

Omac will be selected.

Whilst round one is obviously not irrelevant where i do think it might have an asterix in terms of selection decisions is with players who were really poor in that game, not the ones who played well like Omac.  

The asterix might mean Hibberd gets game. If he does he will be very lucky as he was flat out terrible in that game. 

Basically I agreed with you however, and I admit I'm not familiar with the Blues list, but who would be the direct match up of OMac?

Might be that he misses if there isn't a suitable match up for him. That said I still actually think as a defender taking the 2nd tall forward he isn't the worst going around.

Edited May 25, 2020 by Pates

[Deemania since 56 6,122]

18 hours ago, 58er said:

Dee 56 not sure your logic is correct.

Omac does  not  fill in for Lever!

Omac takes a key possie and plays totally on that player ie WC Darling or Kennedy and Lever plays his own game intercepting

What  does  happen Sometime is that our defence pushes up and Omac is left minding the oppositions nearest  goal forward on his own with no teammate nearby to help (each other) 

Hore is not a bad player BUT he is not strong enough for the monsters or quick enough for the speedsters. He in fact is an interceptor like Lever and I don't think we can carry two of that style in defence.

Also neither Hibbo or Nev really did anything to suggest they are back to their best ( or even near)  in Round1. 

I believe Rivers and Lockhart should be not far away from getting their real chances to shine and stay in the team.

Lets see but plenty of room for improvement.

May Lockhart and Oscar were easily our 3 best in Round1. Harmed was lost mostly get him on the ball or forward or maybe a wing.

I also believe Tomlinson May end up being our third tall some  times As I am still not convinced ring is his best position fir us.

Go Dees 

Good comment. Thanks for that. It is a mire of indecision at present so I guess I am looking one spot at a time, again. Cheers.

[binman 37,793]

4 hours ago, Pates said:

Basically I agreed with you however, and I admit I'm not familiar with the Blues list, but who would be the direct match up of OMac?

Might be that he misses if there isn't a suitable match up for him. That said I still actually think as a defender taking the 2nd tall forward he isn't the worst going around.

The issue is not so much match ups as structure.

Modern defensive units are all built around structure, system (primarily zone - some teams have an aggressive zone other team less so, but all employ some form of zone) and every player playing their role and being totally predictable to their defensive team mates.

Synergy is critical, which is why coaches are loathe to make changes to their defensive units.

Omac's role is to be the true full back - akin to a goal keeper in soccer. Plays behind the last line where of course usually a big forward also lurks. So takes that player.

If his player pushes up the ground (as the big forwards often do) more often than not he will let them go and rely on his teammates to cover them. He then fills that hole behind the line making, 30 or so metres from goal, making a long kick into space ineffective (remember how many goals we gave up out the back in the first half of 2018? - since then we hardly give up any up). He can mop up or if a teammate wins the ball be a switch option, which is why many of his kicks are uncontested. And unlike almost all of his team mates we can rely on him hitting a target with that kick.

But if the blues go small then will take whoever plays deep. And yes he might struggle with the speed of a smaller forward but zones work because they block space in the forward half - forcing teams to bomb the ball in and making it very hard for forwards to lead into space. So their speed is negated. 

The effectiveness of the classic zone was on full display against the Eagles. Their zone forced us to kick high where their defenders could dominate in the air. And to an extent this will always happen with good zones (unless they can be broken through speed of ball movement - as occurred a few times in the match, mainly by them unfortunately).

Teams need a true full back. One who plays that role week in, week out. Playing in that position every week. ATM ours is Omac.

Sure if his form is not up to it they will look to put someone else in that position but as i say coaches are loathe to change defensive units and it is his spot to lose. 

 

 

[picket fence 15,059]

As long as Spargo, any of the Wagners, Brown dont feature then we might win the game.

Bedford needs Development and might be unlucky, I would give Weeds another go with one simple direction, Lead hard, crash packs, and go for a few MOTYs

Jones and Salem are Shoe ins!

Edited May 26, 2020 by picket fence

[TRIGON 4,714]

13 hours ago, nosoupforme said:

The Weed has to be picked to play as he was hard done by the selectors in the 1st round. The preseason game played in the ruck and held his own with close to 20 touches  . A very useful game it was.  Remember that at the time we had injuries to Gawn and Preuss .

He  deserves  a chance to prove himself early in the season and should have been given first crack as a key forward in round 1..

I thought there was a question over his fitness for Round 1?

[whatwhat say what 18,793]

weed wasn't fit for rd 1 - nasty rolled ankle in the last winnie blues cup match

blues have a relatively small forward line, i think, with curnow still out - is mckay the same?

for mine it's a choice btw:

IN: jones, salem, weideman
OUT: bedford, o mac / hibberd / lockhart, brown

the other one skating on thin ice for rd 2 alongside hibberd for me would be tomlinson - his one good escort wizard series game saves him from the chop for rd 2; if bennell really is fit and they chance the arm on him, he'd be the one to go for mine

[Lord Travis 10,141]

Assuming no injuries to the following players, I'd go with this line up. 

B:  Jetta  May  Lockhart

HB:  Salem  OMac  Lever

C:  Langdon Oliver Tomlinson

HF:  Melksham  TMac  Petracca

Fwd:  Pickett  Weideman  Fritsch

Mid:  Gawn Brayshaw Viney

Int: Harmes Jones Petty Hannan

 

A few notes on the team above:

- Hibberd is cooked and omitted. He used to be a great rebounder who'd run then unload precision penetrating kicks to advantage. He earned All Australian selection this way. Fast forward to 2020 and his kicking is now a liability. His fitness has always been an issue, but at his age and with ongoing back and hamstring management, he now doesn't have the dash he used to. It means he takes off, can't go quick enough and then unloads rubbish barrel kicks to nothing as a result. He's probably the biggest liability in our team. I'd be replacing him with Lockhart and rotate players like Harmes and Rivers in future to the back flank.

- TMac plays best when allowed to roam up the ground as a CHF. His strength is his fitness. When anchored to the goal square, he struggles to wrestle and has poor agility. His drop off is due to poor delivery, but also not being suited to FF IMO.

- Weid to play FF and provide Pickett and Hannan with lots of crumbing opportunities.

- Inside midfield rotations to be Oliver, Petracca, Brayshaw, Viney, Harmes. Outside to be Langdon, Tomlinson, Salem, Fritsch.

- Jones to play more forward flank and either be the kick inside 50 or taking longer shots at goal.

- Petty as the interchange tall who can play either end.

- Jackson not ready yet. He's not suited to key forward roles as his contested marking is poor and he's not a natural forward. In practice matches we've seen him excel in the ruck, and be really poor as a midfielder or forward. Develop him in the VFL as a ruck resting forward. When he's ready, he can be second ruck to give Gawn a rest if team balance is maintained.  

[whatwhat say what 18,793]

1 minute ago, Lord Travis said:

- Jackson not ready yet. He's not suited to key forward roles as his contested marking is poor and he's not a natural forward. In practice matches we've seen him excel in the ruck, and be really poor as a midfielder or forward. Develop him in the VFL as a ruck resting forward. When he's ready, he can be second ruck to give Gawn a rest if team balance is maintained.  

isn't the vfl not happening in 2020?

[Lord Travis 10,141]

1 minute ago, whatwhatsaywhat said:

isn't the vfl not happening in 2020?

Haven't kept in the loop with footy news. If so, then that present a whole lot of different challenges! Regardless, I don't believe Jackson is ready for AFL level at this stage.

[Dee Zephyr 17,309]

Still hold some hope for Hunt to get back in the team at some stage. He performed ok playing forward last year. Not in many people’s best 22 here.

[Diamond_Jim 11,679]

25 minutes ago, Dee Zephyr said:

Still hold some hope for Hunt to get back in the team at some stage. He performed ok playing forward last year. Not in many people’s best 22 here.

couldn't make the practice games and without VFL his season is almost finished. If we see him it means the season is over for MFC and we are simply going through the motions. A real pity as we all like him as a player.

Training must come hard for the fringe players. I would like to see the Melbourne teams pair with another club so that their fringe players could have a match each week. It would give them some hope.

[Demon Dude 425]

39 minutes ago, binman said:

The issue is not so much match ups as structure.

Modern defensive units are all built around structure, system (primarily zone - some teams have an aggressive zone other team less so, but all employ some form of zone) and every player playing their role and being totally predictable to their defensive team mates.

Synergy is critical, which is why coaches are loathe to make changes to their defensive units.

Omac's role is to be the true full back - akin to a goal keeper in soccer. Plays behind the last line where of course usually a big forward also lurks. So takes that player.

If his player pushes up the ground (as the big forwards often do) more often than not he will let them go and rely on his teammates to cover them. He then fills that hole behind the line making, 30 or so metres from goal, making a long kick into space ineffective (remember how many goals we gave up out the back in the first half of 2018? - since then we hardly give up any up). He can mop up or if a teammate wins the ball be a switch option, which is why many of his kicks are uncontested. And unlike almost all of his team mates we can rely on him hitting a target with that kick.

But if the blues go small then will take whoever plays deep. And yes he might struggle with the speed of a smaller forward but zones work because they block space in the forward half - forcing teams to bomb the ball in and making it very hard for forwards to lead into space. So their speed is negated. 

The effectiveness of the classic zone was on full display against the Eagles. Their zone forced us to kick high where their defenders could dominate in the air. And to an extent this will always happen with good zones (unless they can be broken through speed of ball movement - as occurred a few times in the match, mainly by them unfortunately).

Teams need a true full back. One who plays that role week in, week out. Playing in that position every week. ATM ours is Omac.

Sure if his form is not up to it they will look to put someone else in that position but as i say coaches are loathe to change defensive units and it is his spot to lose. 

 

 

that's a good explanation and I acknowledge that Omac will more than likely play vs Blues, but I myself still think we are too slow in defence when playing all three of May, Lever and Oscar.

for example against the Blues, i think Hibberd, while a bit smaller in height, could quite easily take McGovern. they're pretty much the same body weight, and yes he might lose the odd marking contest but that's also why you have players zone, to help out others. and Hibberd can also expose McGovern at ground level more than Oscar ever could.

that would leave Lever and May on Mckay and Casboult, and we should be backing in both of those guys to beat those forwards, or else what the hell are we paying so much for?

I don't buy into the theory that we need a 3rd tall so Lever can just float around intercepting either, as that's not true. he plays on a man, he just backs his judgement on when to drop off them when they run to place he thinks isn't dangerous and tries to intercept instead. he zones off. before doing his knee again Lever was actually one of the highest ranked key defenders in the game over the period when it was just him and Oscar as the key defenders together.

with May, Lever an Hibberd taking those taller guys we can then play another smaller defender like Lockhart to go along with Salem, Jetta, and Harmes as our 7 defenders, as I feel that's the way we usually get exposed and get scored against the most, by oppo small forwards. 

I just think the 3 tall defence is too defensive on our part, and not needed against most teams. you might lose a bit in the air by playing only 2 tall defenders, but you can also gain at ground level by doing this with better ground ball coverage and also be more attacking with quicker better ball users who can break the lines with run. try and make the oppo forwards work defensively and get the game on our terms instead. as the old saying goes, there's more than one way to skin a cat.

if Hibberd cant get the job done each week as the "3rd tall defender" then drop him for one of Smith, Hore or Rivers who are also all more mobile than Oscar and see if one of them can get the job done. imo Oscar is not quick or agile enough and struggles with the ground ball and in general play. to me Oscar is a full back stopper only, who is behind May in the pecking order of full backs.

[whatwhat say what 18,793]

'brackets' mcgovern's one wood is his aerial strength - no way i'd want hibberd conceding a couple of inches to him

hibbo is not a 'third tall' player really - he's a run and carry and boot it indiscriminately forward player

[Demon Dude 425]

33 minutes ago, whatwhatsaywhat said:

'brackets' mcgovern's one wood is his aerial strength - no way i'd want hibberd conceding a couple of inches to him

hibbo is not a 'third tall' player really - he's a run and carry and boot it indiscriminately forward player

that's true but I still wouldn't be that worried about McGovern. on the lead Hibberd can go with him and he's actually quite a good body spoiler, and for the high ball in he will more than likely get coverage from May and Lever anyway.  if McGovern is proving too much of a handful you can always move Tomlinson back instead.

but having said that I would prefer another 3rd tall type like Smith in the role rather than Hibberd, as he is more athletic and better suited. or hopefully Rivers can be the long term option.

[Grimes Times 1,278]

10 hours ago, Pates said:

Basically I agreed with you however, and I admit I'm not familiar with the Blues list, but who would be the direct match up of OMac?

Might be that he misses if there isn't a suitable match up for him. That said I still actually think as a defender taking the 2nd tall forward he isn't the worst going around.

Take your pick. MaKay, McGovern, SOS

[loges 6,002]

4 hours ago, Lord Travis said:

Assuming no injuries to the following players, I'd go with this line up. 

B:  Jetta  May  Lockhart

HB:  Salem  OMac  Lever

?Langdon Oliver Tomlinson

HF:  Melksham  TMac  Petracca

Fwd:  Pickett  Weideman  Fritsch

Mid:  Gawn Brayshaw Viney

Int: Harmes Jones Petty Hannan

 

A few notes on the team above:

- Hibberd is cooked and omitted. He used to be a great rebounder who'd run then unload precision penetrating kicks to advantage. He earned All Australian selection this way. Fast forward to 2020 and his kicking is now a liability. His fitness has always been an issue, but at his age and with ongoing back and hamstring management, he now doesn't have the dash he used to. It means he takes off, can't go quick enough and then unloads rubbish barrel kicks to nothing as a result. He's probably the biggest liability in our team. I'd be replacing him with Lockhart and rotate players like Harmes and Rivers in future to the back flank.

- TMac plays best when allowed to roam up the ground as a CHF. His strength is his fitness. When anchored to the goal square, he struggles to wrestle and has poor agility. His drop off is due to poor delivery, but also not being suited to FF IMO.

- Weid to play FF and provide Pickett and Hannan with lots of crumbing opportunities.

- Inside midfield rotations to be Oliver, Petracca, Brayshaw, Viney, Harmes. Outside to be Langdon, Tomlinson, Salem, Fritsch.

- Jones to play more forward flank and either be the kick inside 50 or taking longer shots at goal.

- Petty as the interchange tall who can play either end.

- Jackson not ready yet. He's not suited to key forward roles as his contested marking is poor and he's not a natural forward. In practice matches we've seen him excel in the ruck, and be really poor as a midfielder or forward. Develop him in the VFL as a ruck resting forward. When he's ready, he can be second ruck to give Gawn a rest if team balance is maintained.  

Reckon this is the best balanced side I've seen.

[58er 5,593]

5 hours ago, binman said:

The issue is not so much match ups as structure.

Modern defensive units are all built around structure, system (primarily zone - some teams have an aggressive zone other team less so, but all employ some form of zone) and every player playing their role and being totally predictable to their defensive team mates.

Synergy is critical, which is why coaches are loathe to make changes to their defensive units.

Omac's role is to be the true full back - akin to a goal keeper in soccer. Plays behind the last line where of course usually a big forward also lurks. So takes that player.

If his player pushes up the ground (as the big forwards often do) more often than not he will let them go and rely on his teammates to cover them. He then fills that hole behind the line making, 30 or so metres from goal, making a long kick into space ineffective (remember how many goals we gave up out the back in the first half of 2018? - since then we hardly give up any up). He can mop up or if a teammate wins the ball be a switch option, which is why many of his kicks are uncontested. And unlike almost all of his team mates we can rely on him hitting a target with that kick.

But if the blues go small then will take whoever plays deep. And yes he might struggle with the speed of a smaller forward but zones work because they block space in the forward half - forcing teams to bomb the ball in and making it very hard for forwards to lead into space. So their speed is negated. 

The effectiveness of the classic zone was on full display against the Eagles. Their zone forced us to kick high where their defenders could dominate in the air. And to an extent this will always happen with good zones (unless they can be broken through speed of ball movement - as occurred a few times in the match, mainly by them unfortunately).

Teams need a true full back. One who plays that role week in, week out. Playing in that position every week. ATM ours is Omac.

Sure if his form is not up to it they will look to put someone else in that position but as i say coaches are loathe to change defensive units and it is his spot to lose. 

 

 

Good comment Binman 

[picket fence 15,059]

6 hours ago, Lord Travis said:

Assuming no injuries to the following players, I'd go with this line up. 

B:  Jetta  May  Lockhart

HB:  Salem  OMac  Lever

?Langdon Oliver Tomlinson

HF:  Melksham  TMac  Petracca

Fwd:  Pickett  Weideman  Fritsch

Mid:  Gawn Brayshaw Viney

Int: Harmes Jones Petty Hannan

 

A few notes on the team above:

- Hibberd is cooked and omitted. He used to be a great rebounder who'd run then unload precision penetrating kicks to advantage. He earned All Australian selection this way. Fast forward to 2020 and his kicking is now a liability. His fitness has always been an issue, but at his age and with ongoing back and hamstring management, he now doesn't have the dash he used to. It means he takes off, can't go quick enough and then unloads rubbish barrel kicks to nothing as a result. He's probably the biggest liability in our team. I'd be replacing him with Lockhart and rotate players like Harmes and Rivers in future to the back flank.

- TMac plays best when allowed to roam up the ground as a CHF. His strength is his fitness. When anchored to the goal square, he struggles to wrestle and has poor agility. His drop off is due to poor delivery, but also not being suited to FF IMO.

- Weid to play FF and provide Pickett and Hannan with lots of crumbing opportunities.

- Inside midfield rotations to be Oliver, Petracca, Brayshaw, Viney, Harmes. Outside to be Langdon, Tomlinson, Salem, Fritsch.

- Jones to play more forward flank and either be the kick inside 50 or taking longer shots at goal.

- Petty as the interchange tall who can play either end.

- Jackson not ready yet. He's not suited to key forward roles as his contested marking is poor and he's not a natural forward. In practice matches we've seen him excel in the ruck, and be really poor as a midfielder or forward. Develop him in the VFL as a ruck resting forward. When he's ready, he can be second ruck to give Gawn a rest if team balance is maintained.  

In retrospect... I really like it!! The only other possibility is Vanders for Petty!

Also, whats happening with Joel Smith whom I rate Highly!!

Edited May 26, 2020 by picket fence

[picket fence 15,059]

5 hours ago, whatwhatsaywhat said:

'brackets' mcgovern's one wood is his aerial strength - no way i'd want hibberd conceding a couple of inches to him

hibbo is not a 'third tall' player really - he's a run and carry and boot it indiscriminately forward player

Hibberd is cooked I reckon, he has slowed down, His disposal is iffy 

But unfortunately thats' the way I see it!

[binman 37,793]

5 hours ago, Demon Dude said:

that's a good explanation and I acknowledge that Omac will more than likely play vs Blues, but I myself still think we are too slow in defence when playing all three of May, Lever and Oscar.

for example against the Blues, i think Hibberd, while a bit smaller in height, could quite easily take McGovern. 

I don't buy into the theory that we need a 3rd tall so Lever can just float around intercepting either, as that's not true. he plays on a man, he just backs his judgement on when to drop off them 

. to me Oscar is a full back stopper only, who is behind May in the pecking order of full backs.

You make some good points DD. And i can the see the logic in only playing two talks back.

I think though that really lever doesnt play tall. He is poor on on one and he is simply not string enough to take s asy a darling.  But we didn't recruit him for that job. We recruited him to play the rance intercept role. And that is where we need him.

Sure May can take a big, and will but we need him to be a weapon. A player who can launch attacks from defence. Can kick a 60 metre dart from hb to hf. Can play on a big, medium or small (the job he did a job on Cameron for example)

I 100% agree omac is a full back stopper. Meat and potatoes. Play a clear role that involves team high one percenters (spolis basically). A role every team needs to fill.

f he Omac doesnt fill there May would have to if you only played two bigs.. And he can't be a weapon there.

A couple of other points. I agree omac's lack of speed is a worry. But disagree about the other two. May is super quick for such a big bloke and lever reads the ball well. 

And forget Hibberd one on one. He's worse than lever. Not strong enough, cant leap and spoil to compensate (like say smith) and doesn't read the ball well enough. Mcgovern, or any half decent big, would kill him. Which is ok because it is not his go. 

Besides out problem is not our defensive bigs. Look at who scored against us last year, and again in round one. Small and medium forwards.

[DistrACTION Jackson 6,395]

32 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Hibberd is cooked I reckon, he has slowed down, His disposal is iffy 

But unfortunately thats' the way I see it!

I wonder how the death of his brother may affect him also?

Obviously an extremely sad situation for him.

[binman 37,793]

1 minute ago, Collar-Jazz-Knee said:

I wonder how the death of his brother may affect him also?

Obviously an extremely sad situation for him.

It sort of got lost in all the drama about covid. Devastating for him and his family.

[Demon Dude 425]

23 minutes ago, binman said:

You make some good points DD. And i can the see the logic in only playing two talks back.

I think though that really lever doesnt play tall. He is poor on on one and he is simply not string enough to take s asy a darling.  But we didn't recruit him for that job. We recruited him to play the rance intercept role. And that is where we need him.

Sure May can take a big, and will but we need him to be a weapon. A player who can launch attacks from defence. Can kick a 60 metre dart from hb to hf. Can play on a big, medium or small (the job he did a job on Cameron for example)

I 100% agree omac is a full back stopper. Meat and potatoes. Play a clear role that involves team high one percenters (spolis basically). A role every team needs to fill.

f he Omac doesnt fill there May would have to if you only played two bigs.. And he can't be a weapon there.

A couple of other points. I agree omac's lack of speed is a worry. But disagree about the other two. May is super quick for such a big bloke and lever reads the ball well. 

And forget Hibberd one on one. He's worse than lever. Not strong enough, cant leap and spoil to compensate (like say smith) and doesn't read the ball well enough. Mcgovern, or any half decent big, would kill him. Which is ok because it is not his go. 

Besides out problem is not our defensive bigs. Look at who scored against us last year, and again in round one. Small and medium forwards.

yeah I guess it just come down to how each person sees it. I don't have anything against OMac and I don't want him to fail either. I just feel we could be a little more dynamic for lack of a better word.

i think people can sometimes over rate how dangerous some tall forwards actually are in the modern game, with pressure on the ball carrier going through the roof and with the defensive systems used in the modern game. 

not many teams have 3 good tall forwards. last year only about 10 of them managed to average 2 goals or more a game. and on the other end of the scale some of those are more of a second ruckman than a forward and don't really pose that much of a threat in my eyes. should we be paying those guys respect, or should we be trying to exploit them. its a fine line.

i will admit that using Hibberd probably wasn't the best example, but I was trying to show a different way of thinking and how a mismatch of a smaller defender can actually work in your favour, especially in a zone defence, but i'm sure you got that picture.

anyway we'll see how it all unfolds during the season as I reckon the coaches have made their minds up in regards to playing OMac and they'll stick with it for the now. hopefully we win plenty of games, us MFC fans need it!

[WERRIDEE 5,198]

B: JETTA, MAY, LEVER

HB: SALEM, O.MCDONALD, HIBBERD

C : LANGDON, PETRACCA, TOMLINSON

HF: PICKETT, T.MCDONALD, JONES

F: MELKSHAM, WEIDEMAN, FRITSCH

FOLL: GAWN, OLIVER, VINEY

IC: HARMES, BRAYSHAW, LOCKHART, PETTY

EMERG: BEDFORD, HANNAN, NEAL-BULLEN, SMITH

With Stevens ruling Bennell out that's good enough for me. Petty comes in as the 3rd tall as he could do some damage with T.Mac who has a good record against the Blues. Lockhart breathing down Hibberd's neck if he doesn't perform soon he could be replaced.

 

CARLTON

B: DOCHERTY, JONES, PLOWMAN

HB: SIMPSON, MARCHBANK, WEITERING

C : MURPHY, CRIPPS, NEWNES

HF: MARTIN, MCKAY, DOW

F: BETTS, MCGOVERN, GIBBONS

FOLL: PITTONET, WALSH, E.CURNOW

IC: NEWMAN, PETREVSKI-SETON, KENNEDY, CASBOULT

 

[Half forward flank 1,022]

G

Quote

 

 

4 minutes ago, WERRIDEE said:

B: JETTA, MAY, LEVER

HB: SALEM, O.MCDONALD, HIBBERD

C : LANGDON, PETRACCA, TOMLINSON

HF: PICKETT, T.MCDONALD, JONES

F: MELKSHAM, WEIDEMAN, FRITSCH

FOLL: GAWN, OLIVER, VINEY

IC: HARMES, BRAYSHAW, LOCKHART, PETTY

EMERG: BEDFORD, HANNAN, NEAL-BULLEN, SMITH

With Stevens ruling Bennell out that's good enough for me. Petty comes in as the 3rd tall as he could do some damage with T.Mac who has a good record against the Blues. Lockhart breathing down Hibberd's neck if he doesn't perform soon he could be replaced.

 

CARLTON

B: DOCHERTY, JONES, PLOWMAN

HB: SIMPSON, MARCHBANK, WEITERING

C : MURPHY, CRIPPS, NEWNES

HF: MARTIN, MCKAY, DOW

F: BETTS, MCGOVERN, GIBBONS

FOLL: PITTONET, WALSH, E.CURNOW

IC: NEWMAN, PETREVSKI-SETON, KENNEDY, CASBOULT

 

Good side on paper. Hope Jetta and Hibberd can find form in the backine. Not their last chance but need to get some confidence back May and Lever must earn their keep. Get Fritta and Weed leading. Mids work hard and kick to in front of the forwards. Max and Viney to lead the way.