13 hours ago, CYB said:

Petty on McStay is the matchup that worries me the most. one-on-one McStay will outmuscle Petty so if we dont pressure the source this avenue to goal will be problematic. 

 

McStay is one of those players who in the past has played well against MFC. Yes we are different side, but im yet to exercise those demons.

Are you sure?

don’t think anyone has really out-muscled Petty this year. 

13 hours ago, Demon Disciple said:

Well Joe isn’t exactly the strongest forward going around, so maybe.

I like that match up 

16 hours ago, Demon Jack said:

Or Bowey...  

Or Smith

15 hours ago, CYB said:

Petty on McStay is the matchup that worries me the most. one-on-one McStay will outmuscle Petty so if we dont pressure the source this avenue to goal will be problematic. 

 

McStay is one of those players who in the past has played well against MFC. Yes we are different side, but im yet to exercise those demons.

I have exercised my demons.

My demons is the name of my poodle.

1 hour ago, 1964_2 said:

Are you sure?

don’t think anyone has really out-muscled Petty this year. 

Yes they have.

Which is no knock on Petty, he's no Steve may.

His go is to out read and use his body to out manoeuvre.

And of course use his pace to zone off ans take intercept marks.

We don't want him in a wrestle with McStay.

May on McStay is the go, and has the benefit of rhyming.

I could actually see Smith take Daniher.

One on one Daniher has his measure but he is not a  stay at home forward and takes most of his marks up around half forward.

So Smith would likely not get isolated against him very often and has the leap to negate his height.

Daniher gets up the ground, which suits Smith because he can easily go with him.

And daniher is over rated and not fit enough. Smith could expose that lack of fitness by running off him at every opportunity and pressing up high to help trap the ball inside our 50.

That would leave Petty with their third tall and Lever to float as the intercept player.

 

Delete.

Edited August 25, 20214 yr by Colin B. Flaubert

59 minutes ago, binman said:

Yes they have.

Which is no knock on Petty, he's no Steve may.

His go is to out read and use his body to out manoeuvre.

And of course use his pace to zone off ans take intercept marks.

 

 

Yet... 

2 hours ago, binman said:

Yes they have.

Which is no knock on Petty, he's no Steve may.

His go is to out read and use his body to out manoeuvre.

And of course use his pace to zone off ans take intercept marks.

We don't want him in a wrestle with McStay.

May on McStay is the go, and has the benefit of rhyming.

I could actually see Smith take Daniher.

One on one Daniher has his measure but he is not a  stay at home forward and takes most of his marks up around half forward.

So Smith would likely not get isolated against him very often and has the leap to negate his height.

Daniher gets up the ground, which suits Smith because he can easily go with him.

And daniher is over rated and not fit enough. Smith could expose that lack of fitness by running off him at every opportunity and pressing up high to help trap the ball inside our 50.

That would leave Petty with their third tall and Lever to float as the intercept player.

 

I dont mind that match-up either (Smith on Daniher). I think we'll do whatever is necessary to ensure Lever has an exploitable match-up. Fagan is no dummy either and will have a few forward defensive match-ups to choose from that we may not be able to predict. Probably boil down to how effectively they (Lions) can do their role, but he will most definitely be held to account.

The tactic that will be important is numbers around the stoppage - we typically setup to have one less around the stoppage and have that free defender in the backline. I cannot see the Lions allowing that so getting our defensive match-ups is a key to winning this game.

20 minutes ago, CYB said:

I dont mind that match-up either (Smith on Daniher). I think we'll do whatever is necessary to ensure Lever has an exploitable match-up. Fagan is no dummy either and will have a few forward defensive match-ups to choose from that we may not be able to predict. Probably boil down to how effectively they (Lions) can do their role, but he will most definitely be held to account.

The tactic that will be important is numbers around the stoppage - we typically setup to have one less around the stoppage and have that free defender in the backline. I cannot see the Lions allowing that so getting our defensive match-ups is a key to winning this game.

The problem for the lions is their game plan relies on winning contested ball and around the ground stoppage clearances. 

Given the strength of their midfield even numbers at those contests works against most teams.

Not so well against us, given  we have viney, tracc and Oliver - three contested ball bulls who have the advantage of feeding off maxy.

The other problem for the lions is the more they look to negate our strengths by moving players around, the more they have to adjust their own game plan.

This is one of our key advantages over other teams this year. We might tag the occasional mid, but by in large we make minimal positional changes.

And whilst we might make the occasional tactical tweak, by in large we stick with our system.

It means we are proactive, dont waste energy worrying about opposition plans and remain predictable so our players alwas know what is happening.

Whereas we force other teams to be reactive and focus on us. 

 

The Lions scare me more than any side. They are 14-6 since Round 5 and are ranked second on the Squiggle's Flag Pole. They have been able to bully us in the midfield the last two times we played them. Last year they scragged us at the stoppages and the umpires were too lenient on holding the man. This year they were too tough in the first half before we were able to turn the tables after half time. We need to make sure we break even in the clearances and Max needs to continue to take the ball out of the ruck.

Daniher is also a worry because he is unstoppable when on. Cameron is also a very tough match up for any opponent.

We should be confident but we will need Lady Luck on our side this week.

22 minutes ago, binman said:

The problem for the lions is their game plan relies on winning contested ball and around the ground stoppage clearances. 

Given the strength of their midfield even numbers at those contests works against most teams.

Not so well against us, given  we have viney, tracc and Oliver - three contested ball bulls who have the advantage of feeding off maxy.

The other problem for the lions is the more they look to negate our strengths by moving players around, the more they have to adjust their own game plan.

This is one of our key advantages over other teams this year. We might tag the occasional mid, but by in large we make minimal positional changes.

And whilst we might make the occasional tactical tweak, by in large we stick with our system.

It means we are proactive, dont waste energy worrying about opposition plans and remain predictable so our players alwas know what is happening.

Whereas we force other teams to be reactive and focus on us. 

 

The problem? I think they draw confidence from the fact that they know they are superior in this aspect, just as we are superior in our defensive brand. So we will try to negate their strength at the contest and they will try to negate our defensive game plan with the numbers. 

The winner of this game will boil down to the battle in the tactics mentioned above. 

26 minutes ago, Fat Tony said:

The Lions scare me more than any side. They are 14-6 since Round 5 and are ranked second on the Squiggle's Flag Pole. They have been able to bully us in the midfield the last two times we played them. Last year they scragged us at the stoppages and the umpires were too lenient on holding the man. This year they were too tough in the first half before we were able to turn the tables after half time. We need to make sure we break even in the clearances and Max needs to continue to take the ball out of the ruck.

Daniher is also a worry because he is unstoppable when on. Cameron is also a very tough match up for any opponent.

We should be confident but we will need Lady Luck on our side this week.

Just one point on this....  since playing us in round 12, they have only come up against one team inside the top 8, which was Geelong in round 15.

(in the same period, we have played five top 8 sides).

No doubt they are a tough opponent, and their current form is good, but for me they are a little hard to get a read on when they haven't played any of the higher ranked sides for a couple of months.

 

Edited August 26, 20214 yr by JTR

1 hour ago, Fat Tony said:

The Lions scare me more than any side. They are 14-6 since Round 5 and are ranked second on the Squiggle's Flag Pole. They have been able to bully us in the midfield the last two times we played them. Last year they scragged us at the stoppages and the umpires were too lenient on holding the man. This year they were too tough in the first half before we were able to turn the tables after half time. We need to make sure we break even in the clearances and Max needs to continue to take the ball out of the ruck.

Daniher is also a worry because he is unstoppable when on. Cameron is also a very tough match up for any opponent.

We should be confident but we will need Lady Luck on our side this week.

(14-4, not 14-6)

It's been covered already but of those 14 wins, 10 of them were against sides not playing finals. The only top 8 sides they beat in those 14 wins were:

1. Essendon, in Round 5 when Essendon was worse than they are now, and at the Gabba
2. Port Adelaide, in Round 7, and at the Gabba
3. GWS, in Round 11 when GWS was worse than they are now, and at the Gabba
4. Geelong, in Round 15, and at the Gabba

See a theme there?

Indeed, they only played 5 games since Round 5 against finalists, the 5th game being their loss to us in Round 12.

By comparison, since Round 5 we are 13-1-4, we played 8 games against finalists in that period, won 6 of them, and that included wins vs the Dogs at Marvel, Brisbane on neutral territory, Port Adelaide in Adelaide and Geelong in Geelong.

Having said all that, they are a good side and deserve our utmost respect. They do have a strong midfield and we know from the first half in Round 12 that if they dominate stoppages and hold marks forward of centre they can put a big score on us.

Edited August 26, 20214 yr by titan_uranus

1 hour ago, CYB said:

The problem? I think they draw confidence from the fact that they know they are superior in this aspect, just as we are superior in our defensive brand. So we will try to negate their strength at the contest and they will try to negate our defensive game plan with the numbers. 

The winner of this game will boil down to the battle in the tactics mentioned above. 

But they are not superiors to us at winning contested ball and around the ground stoppage clearances.

Their numbers might be touch better at around the ground stoppage clearances, but that is because we have one less players at stoppages then they do. 

Its a problem for them becuase t if they don't win contested ball and around the ground stoppage clearances they don't win. It is their one wood.

We are likely to match, or beat them in both areas on Saturday night. But as we have shown many times this year, particularly in regard to clearances, even if we don't we are likely still going to win. Because we don't rely on winning in these areas to win games.

Our one wood is our relentlessly effective defensive system. 

Much harder to negate an offensive strength (eg clearances) than a defensive one. Which is key reason why the dogs have fallen in a heap.  

5 minutes ago, binman said:

But they are not superiors to us at winning contested ball and around the ground stoppage clearances.

Their numbers might be touch better at around the ground stoppage clearances, but that is because we have one less players at stoppages then they do. 

Its a problem for them becuase t if they don't win contested ball and around the ground stoppage clearances they don't win. It is their one wood.

We are likely to match, or beat them in both areas on Saturday night. But as we have shown many times this year, particularly in regard to clearances, even if we don't we are likely still going to win. Because we don't rely on winning in these areas to win games.

Our one wood is our relentlessly effective defensive system. 

Much harder to negate an offensive strength (eg clearances) than a defensive one. Which is key reason why the dogs have fallen in a heap.  

The big problem with the stoppages is it is an area where we have the ruck advantage but the Lions have been able to dominate us in the last 2.5 games. We will need to bring our A game on the inside to win.

40 minutes ago, Fat Tony said:

The big problem with the stoppages is it is an area where we have the ruck advantage but the Lions have been able to dominate us in the last 2.5 games. We will need to bring our A game on the inside to win.

Not particularly interested in years prior to this one. Last time was about a 40-60 split (first half-second-half). We can do it again.

Saying we need need to bring our A game in a final is like saying we need to kick a higher score ... a truism.

2 hours ago, binman said:

Yes they have.

Which is no knock on Petty, he's no Steve may.

His go is to out read and use his body to out manoeuvre.

And of course use his pace to zone off ans take intercept marks.

We don't want him in a wrestle with McStay.

May on McStay is the go, and has the benefit of rhyming.

I could actually see Smith take Daniher.

One on one Daniher has his measure but he is not a  stay at home forward and takes most of his marks up around half forward.

So Smith would likely not get isolated against him very often and has the leap to negate his height.

Daniher gets up the ground, which suits Smith because he can easily go with him.

And daniher is over rated and not fit enough. Smith could expose that lack of fitness by running off him at every opportunity and pressing up high to help trap the ball inside our 50.

That would leave Petty with their third tall and Lever to float as the intercept player.

 

Smith wont play on Daniher........the end. 

 

15 hours ago, DeezNuts said:

Wow, finally a team that has fans that can communicate in proper English… I don’t mind the Lions to be honest, no hatred at all, so just looking forward to a standard good honest match with Oliver dragging a blood-saturated mane across the boundary line after the siren, staring into the horizon  and looking to the next match…

I hate them all

"How good are Melbourne though? It's amazing what happens when you run both ways the entire game. We can learn a lot from them"

Have to say their supporters on Bigfooty were pretty good - no whinging or bitterness