My Round 10 Preview and Prediction

[CHF 2,738]

9-0

9 Rounds played…..9 wins….. 36 points in the premiership bank. Pinch me…. I gotta be dreaming. If I am, I am not sure I want to wake up.

I love to win against Carlton. Let’s face it, who doesn’t? We are getting a lot of my favourite scalps this season. To go along with Carlton we have Richmond, Geelong, Hawthorn and North….. hate em all and love to beat em. There are a few more scores to settle this season. Bring em on!

Watching the game on Sunday had a strangeness to it for me. We had a number of players that were down on their early season form, but the teamwork covered the individual form dips, and I was never worried. Always had the answers and the big thing that I noticed was that we had a hell of a lot more run left in us in the last quarter than the Baggers did. I have seen a lot of references to being “May Premiers” and “peaking too soon”. Anyone that has watched our last few matches will have to concede that we are not really “peaking” in any sense of the word.

Want to see “peaking’? Look at North against the Hawks last week…..

And so, to the Round 10 encounter with the Crows over in The Land that Time Forgot on Saturday afternoon at Adelaide Oval. The Crows started the season on a high with Walker kicking a bag each week and they were sitting 3-1. Not bad. However, they have lost their last 5 games and now sit 15^th on the ladder. Bad. They have a few problems.

The facts:

We are coming off a cruisy win over the Carlton - Advantage us

They are travelling back from a loss in Perth – Advantage us

We are playing on their home turf – Advantage them

We have one day extra rest – Advantage us

Problem areas of the game for us. Some areas have small problems and others have even smaller problems……. Problems, nevertheless.

On the travel again this week. Of the first 9 rounds we have traveled and won in Canberra and Hobart and now move on to a trip to Adelaide. I get the feeling that, after last season with all the disruption and last minuet travel plan changes, that MFC has a positive outlook to interstate games. Look at it as a chance to get together.

I am amazed at the way our defence is working. Good structure and the right players in the right place at the moment. May and Lever as the rocks, the generals, that the rest of the defensive squad build their game on. Petty looked better this week and did his job very well. Hibberd is solid and experienced, and Salem is in the best form of his career. Add Rivers and Hunt and there is a very well-balanced structure that is the best defence in the league at the and drives a lot of our attacking movement. Noticed a couple of Demons helping out back there at times in Spargo and Weideman. Good to see. The Crows forwards do not look to present too many problems, but I expect to see Walker back in the team this week. Hello May. Of their forwards last week McAdam and Berry kicked a few between them and may bear watching. We have them covered in this area of the ground.

Not sure what to make of the midfield. Why can we not at least break even on center clearances? It is not up there with Brain Surgery and Rocket Science is it? Is Viney so essential to us in this area? Really want to see us sort this out. I know that the mids bring great pressure on the opposition around the ground and also at stoppages and that is critical to our success. However, it would make their lives easier if they cleared the ball a bit more. Crows have a few quality mids in the two Rorys and Keays. After that the quality falls away a bit. Keays we will need to pay a bit of attention to as well as Sloane. Would love to see Petracca put in a good one beside Oliver. Love it when they are both on song. I could go on about the midfield but you all know the quality we have out there.

Max was better this week. Seemed to have his head back in the game. Knew what needed to be done and did it. Adelaide will have problems matching up in the ruck against him and also around the ground. O’Brien rucked for them last week with forward back up of Frampton. WC had double the hitouts that Adelaide had. WC won the clearances 32-30 so the Adelaide mids were sharking the ball at the stoppages well.

Now for the forwards…….

The good; we kicked a winning score last week, again.

The bad; the forward 50 looked to be standing room only it looked so crowded.

The ugly; Max and Chandler spoiling marks for Brown and Weideman. More Talk!

TMac is in excellent form and with Fritsch will again present the biggest problems for the Adelaide defenders. The beauty of having Brown, and to a lesser extent Weideman in the forward 50 is that Fritsch gets a mixed bag of defenders on him and TMac causes problems because he drags his man all over the ground and generally runs their legs off. A hard structure to match up. Our forward 50 is where Adelaide looks to have the most problems with manpower. Their defence does not have the KDPs that they need to cover our rotating talls. Their defence has conceded 850 points so far this season. To put that in context, we  have conceded the least number of points, 560. While we did not gel in this area last game, I think we need to have another look at this set up.

Spargo and Pickett were good again. I would give Chandler another run to see how he settles.

Not sure if there will be any changes to the team this week. Would look at bringing Viney in if he is 100% and match fit. If there is any doubt keep him in our pocket for next week. Possibly Sparrow as Med Sub for Melk.

Bathwater Express in Cruise Control but I do have a nice new set of blue bags in the boot. Had to add a few more seats as we were near capacity. The road ahead is flat and straight for a good way, but I do see a few hills up ahead that we will need to navigate. All good at the moment. Purring along.

I thought/hoped we would win by more against Carlton. My winning margin was wrong. A bit more conservative this week. 4 goal win after it being tight at ¾ time.

Go Dees!!!!

[Superunknown 4,217]

Good assessment - Adelaide over there should hold no fear given our team . I’d love to know if home ground advantage presents any real advantage in recent times given how much playing away from home last year. Perhaps Optus and the Gabba might be a factor still

[CHF 2,738]

With the team selections I have decided to revise my prediction.

Dees by 8 to 10 goals.

[Bleed red and blue 59]

Dees by 45 points our defence is too strong atm and the weid to kick 4 and keep brown out

[Ted Lasso 19,517]

We need to show a really dominant performance soon, hopefully this week 

[Dr.D 1,771]

as much as I'm loving these wins, I wouldn't mind winning a game that's not neck and neck in the last quarter. 

[ILLDieADemon 804]

I stopped coming onto this Forum a couple of years ago because I was sick of the demon flogging on here.
Now we are 9-0 it seems like an exciting place to be. 

[Engorged Onion 10,215]

2 minutes ago, ILLDieADemon said:

I stopped coming onto this Forum a couple of years ago because I was sick of the demon flogging on here.
Now we are 9-0 it seems like an exciting place to be. 

9-0 and it's still happening. ? Just block the fekkers that are repeat offenders...

[Engorged Onion 10,215]

14 hours ago, Patches O’houlihan said:

We need to show a really dominant performance soon, hopefully this week 

Why do we 'need' to @Patches O’houlihan?

Is that about scoreboard cosmetics?

I'd say any time we have 8 or more scoring shots a game than any other team, it's a domination... at times it's just not a goal fest.

6 times out of 9 matches is tracking really well.

[leave it to deever 17,511]

15 hours ago, Bleed red and blue said:

Dees by 45 points our defence is too strong atm and the weid to kick 4 and keep brown out

It was so exciting to see Fritta kick six a few weks back. Got a feeling Tommy will do it today with support from Fritta and Sam .

Hopefully dry conditions and a big thumping of crows just to make dogs nervous.

Still hard to fathom we could be TEN wins in a row by the end of the day.

So glad Lj is back. I hope Melksham gets back to his old form like Tmac has and Viney is back next week.

Looking fwd to seeing if Anb plays well again and see what Sparticus offers again. And Kozzie of course. Sooner or later that bloke is going to smash a game.

 

Edited May 22, 2021 by leave it to deever