My Round 13 Preview and Prediction

11-1 (should be 12-0 except for some rubbish umpiring)

11 Rounds played…..11 wins….. 44 points in the premiership bank. A game clear at the top of the ladder and 3 clear of 3^rd…… Love it.

Stress free weekends and Monday morning hangovers….. I could get used to this. I have to put my hand up and say I cheated a little bit. Watched the game live at lunchtime Friday my time and had a few during the afternoon and had a beauty on Saturday morning. Rested during Saturday and then on Sunday watched a replay and did it all over again. Hence, another slow Monday morning…. All good though.

This season just feels more and more like I have entered a parallel universe where My Demons Team is doing exactly as I always knew what they were capable of, winning games from whatever position they find themselves in. Watching the game on Friday, I never felt a twinge of nerves. I just believed they would work the lions out and ease away. A big pat on the back to the coaching setup for what they did at halftime. No big problems, just get back to the basics that we know work. Trust your teammate and go when it is your turn. We went for being half a pace behind the Lions to half a pace in front.

And so, to the Bye. The boys have earned a rest. Most likely have a few days off and then a light training run around the witch’s hats to get the legs moving……. Ah….. I may have that wrong. Just checked and we play the QB match against Collingwood at the SCG on Monday. Still, the opening few sentences may still stand. Just so there is no mis-understanding, I hate Collingwood. Very happy to see them in a world of hurt both on field and off field. I do not like to kick a man when he is down but, hey, this is The Filth, where are the steel capped boots?. I am still not sure why Eddie resigned. Was it because of the systemic racism in the club? Was it the chronic mis-management of the list? Was it because of the everyone in the club was completely fed up with him?

What ever it was, it should have happened years ago.

The facts:

We are coming off an excellent comeback win at the Giants stadium against quality opposition – Advantage us

They are coming off a fall-over-the-line win against Adelaide in Adelaide– Advantage them

We have one day extra rest – Advantage Us

We are playing on the SCG – Advantage Not sure. Could be us…. Hope it is.

Problem areas of the game for us. Who to leave out.

Just let me remind you….. this will be 1^st Vs 16^th. We are 1^st and the Filth are 16^th….. Yeah, yeah, I know…… All that rubbish about … “coming before a fall”….. I don’t care. I will rub it in while I can and take the consequences next Tuesday morning

Our defenders in the first half looked a little discombobulated*  by the lack of the usual pressure from our midfield. May and Lever in particular needed to step up in the second half. I like what I see from Petty. He is sticking the marks and stepping to the fore when required. He just needs to stop giving away a silly free or two per game. This week I would like to see the defenders ‘on’ from the first bounce. Elliott will need a minder as will De Goey. Between them last week they took 15 marks with Elloitt kicking 6. Mind you, he was the only multiple goal kicker. They got singles from a few mids so we will need to keep the pressure on in that area.

We will need to work on a couple of the Pies mids during the game. Sidebottom, Pendelbury and Daicos were responsible for 18 of their 31 clearances last week with Crisp picking up a lot of possessions just off the pack. Will be interesting to see how we rotate the matchups during the game. Just on that I did notice at a center bounce early in the first last week that a runner went out during the break and then Jordon and Brayshaw swapped sides, to get the match up right. I like to see these things happen. I think we have the players to really get on top in this area.

Liked Jordon filling in for Langdon. I was surprised at his turn of speed and the tank he has.

Really enjoyed Max’s game last week. I like the way the game is developing between him and Jackson and I like the leadership Max is showing. They strike a good balance. Would love to see Jackson stick a mark. Lynch to ruck for the Pies? Will they bring in Cox? Without Grundy there looks to be a giant step down to the backup Ruck.

Now for the forwards…….

The good; We kicked a winning score last week… again (love typing that!)

The bad; Not a lot of that last week. Weid could have had a good game if he had kicked straight.

The ugly; some of the posters and easy misses… I am not asking us to nail everyone, but just to take a bit more time and care to see if we can get a few.

Against a quality defence we did well as we built in the second half. I liked the speed of delivery on the turnover and the space we found. This week while the pies have a couple of handy defenders in Moore and Roughead, a lot of their drive from defence comes from Noble and Quaynor. We will need to keep the pressure on these two to keep the ball in our forward 50. Roughead, Quaynor and Moore are all strong in the air.

Selectors will have a one cheese platter night this week. Langdon to come in and Melksham to step to the Med sub. Very good play from Sparrow has to be rewarded. I expect Weid to play in a show of faith by the selectors.

I picked up a new cassette for the Bathwater Express when we made a loo stop for Flat Track on Friday night. A song I have always liked. The Tokens, ‘The Lion Sleeps tonight’. An easy one to sing along too.

Weeheeheehee dee heeheeheehee weeoh aweem away
Weeheeheehee dee heeheeheehee weeoh aweem away

In the stadium, the Giants stadium,
The lions slept tonight
In the stadium the quiet stadium
The lions slept tonight

My prediction last week was close…. This week I just hope the boys do not start their Bye too early. Dees to dominate the middle two quarters and then do what needs to be done in the last to hold the Pies. First might be a good contest.

Dees by 7 goals.

* Always wanted to use that word in a preview.