PF: Melbourne vs Geelong

[DeeZee 6,889]

I think the only danger of us losing on Friday is Geelong winning the centre clearances  by a lot and give their forwards quick looks.

Looking forward to another mongrel animal game from Viney to prevent this from happening.

Edited September 6, 2021 by DeeZee

[Fat Tony 4,557]

1 hour ago, RodGrinter14 said:

This makes sense. I've been counting down the days for Hunt to return and replace Smith but looking at the Cats forward structure (3 talls and Rohan) I can no longer see that happening. Smith can play a role (even if having him in the side increases my anxiety by 50%) on a tall and free up Lever - neither Hibberd or Hunt can do that. If they need Smith to play tall he stays in the side, if the likely match up for him is a small he gets dropped for either Hibberd or Hunt if fit. Can't have Smith playing on the most dangerous small forward like he did against Brisbane. 

So how does Hunt get back in the side? I think the only way is if we are lucky enough to get into a GF and come up against Port and we need a defender to match up on Fantasia, Rozee or Grey. I love what Bowey is offering but i'm not sure he can play a lockdown role and compete in one on ones with Port's dangerous smalls as well as Hunt can. Having said that it would be a huge call to bring him into a GF side after 6 weeks off. Anyway, I'm getting well ahead of myself now. Go Dees!

I think we will go with either Smith or Hibberd to play as the deepest small defender.

Who plays the main stopper role with a small defence of Bowey, Salem, Hunt and Rivers?

I expect Hunt will come in for Bowey this week or next (fingers crossed).

[Willmoy1947 3,825]

59 minutes ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

Week leading up to prelim = 🤢  

It’s game-day on steroids. 
It’s five consecutive game-days.  
It’s five consecutive game-days on steroids 

I may not survive.  

Yea, you blokes have got to stop talking about the game 🎲 🎲 🏀 ..

[McQueen 17,864]

Ticketmaster start gates....

 

 

[binman 39,239]

2 hours ago, jnrmac said:

Geelong know one way to play. Ball control and possession.

Take that away from them and they struggle.

 

Agree.

An issue for the cats against us is that their controlled ball movement plays into our hands on two fronts.

One, it allows us to set our defensive zone up - and in doing so making it hard for the Cats to transition from the back half, and therefore hard to create one on one opportunities for their forwards. 

And two, it is a model that is susceptible to the sort of intensity we bring, as we push right up on them up and every possession becomes a turnover risk. And if it is turned over it is often in our half. 

Their best chance of beating us is really fast ball movement because that is their best shot of isolating their forwards and scoring enough to beat us.

In a funny way, their burst of goals in round 23 is the blueprint - not so much how they generated those inside 50 entries (because they are unlikely to get so many clean centre square clearances again), but more the speed of ball movement and engineering one on ones. 

They definitely looked to move the ball quicker from HB against the giants. Tuohy was a big factor as he looked to run and carry at every opportunity. So you'd think they will try to do so against us. Maybe.

I say maybe, because playing fast creates a catch 22 for them as we are at our most dangerous when there is speed on the ball.

Play fast and if we create a back half turnover we move it super quick down the ground against a defence that has not had time to get back and set up their zone. This play is our most potent offensive weapon.

In much the same way soccer teams that don't have the firepower of an opponent often play, the Cats might decide their best bet is to take as much time out of the clock as possible and try and win a low scoring dirge.

Edited September 6, 2021 by binman

[Ethan Tremblay 28,664]

Just booked five tickets for the game. All Eagles supporter mates coming but they’ve all agreed to wear Demons scarves. 
 

[McQueen 17,864]

18 in the bag for me all up  

Thanks to Uncle Bitter for half of those numbers. 🔴🔵💪

[deva5610 970]

I'll be there along with a Freo supporting mate in Dees gear! Let's do this!

[FarNorthernD 5,848]

No idea where to post this but check out Chandlers run from the 25 sec mark. 

 

[grazman 6,698]

5 minutes ago, McQueen said:

18 in the bag for me all up  

Thanks to Uncle Bitter for half of those numbers. 🔴🔵💪

Let me know if you need a couple more barcodes!

[In Harmes Way 7,617]

4 minutes ago, FarNorthernD said:

No idea where to post this but check out Chandlers run from the 25 sec mark. 

 

Is this Jonesy trying to rip Dogga's head off for a game?

He's just heart and soul. Love the bloke.

[DubDee 21,621]

The spirit in the group is fantastic. Never has it looked better. Plenty of laughs but plenty of teaching going on and intensity. The future and the present look really bright

[drdrake 3,058]

1 hour ago, Fat Tony said:

I think we will go with either Smith or Hibberd to play as the deepest small defender.

Who plays the main stopper role with a small defence of Bowey, Salem, Hunt and Rivers?

I expect Hunt will come in for Bowey this week or next (fingers crossed).

May V Hawkins

Petty V Cameron

Smith V Rohan

Lever V Ratugolea

Bowey V Miers

Salem V Menegola(he pushes up to be extra Mid leaves Salem alone)

Rivers as bench.  The only thing you might consider is bringing in Hibberd for Bowey, Hibberd goes to Rohan, Smith to Ratugolea, Salem to Miers with Lever to Menegola so he can zone off.  

Just think though we will go in unchanged get the ball to ground in defensive 50 and back Salem/Bowey/Rivers to really hurt them on the D50m Rebound. 

Edited September 6, 2021 by drdrake

[darkhorse72 1,765]

Got my 4 tickets in bay 138 all family.  The tickets went bloody quick for the best seats.  Need to login earlier for GF to get I that queue they setup.   I guess with GF it won’t be as bad it will be purchasing 1:1 per membership. 

[darkhorse72 1,765]

29 minutes ago, FarNorthernD said:

No idea where to post this but check out Chandlers run from the 25 sec mark. 

 

Eagles home base and facilities…guess their on holiday 😁

[Vipercrunch 2,818]

Geelong handed MelbourneFC arguably the darkest day in our history.  And now they stand between us and our best chance of a premiership in most of our lifetimes.  It's going to be a very, very long 4 days....

As a Geelong based Melbourne supporter, the thought of losing to them on Friday night fills me with absolute dread.  

[dazzledavey36 49,592]

Interesting article by Isaac Smith.

https://www.afl.com.au/news/674734/-they-made-us-look-like-fools-how-geelong-plans-to-avoid-history-repeating

[OhMyDees 1,382]

Mum, sister and brother-in-law from Perth all got tickets on my barcode.

Brother-in-law is a Collingwood supporter but he’s barracking for the Dees on Friday! ❤️💙

Edited September 6, 2021 by OhMyDees

[Robbie57 1,996]

My family is confirmed at 16 "good" seats with plenty of scarves on the way (always knew a scarf a year for everyone in the household would come in useful). I hope they are seated with the other faithful. 

[Demonland 66,676]

 

[Robbie57 1,996]

27 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Interesting article by Isaac Smith.

https://www.afl.com.au/news/674734/-they-made-us-look-like-fools-how-geelong-plans-to-avoid-history-repeating

As I said above I dont see how 3 talls helps them, we just halve the contests it leaves us a much more mobile unit on the rebound. 

Add: Just looked Ratugolea's stats AF 30, to see if they came close to justifying the rave reviews and fear mongering in the media. 1 Tackle 1 Mark. If he is there to impact the packs I dont see how that helps them. I'd be genuinely interested in other views on this.

Edited September 6, 2021 by Robbie57

[Stevienic23 1,056]

Any idea how ticket sales are tracking atm? Will it be a sell out?

[binman 39,239]

26 minutes ago, Robbie57 said:

As I said above I dont see how 3 talls helps them, we just halve the contests it leaves us a much more mobile unit on the rebound. 

Four talls - Rohan, Hawkins, Ratugolea and Cameron

And I 100% agree.

Dalhous makes way for a big. Parfitt is out. They have Close. And obviously some good mids.

But surely four talls creates a huge issue for them in terms of winning ground balls inside their 50 - or even just creating stoppages. 

And when we win defensive ground balls or intercepts, we will look to run off their talls at every opportunity. 

They are a slow team as it is. Four bigs, two of whom are lumbering types, just makes them slower.

Edited September 6, 2021 by binman

[binman 39,239]

1 hour ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

Just booked five tickets for the game. All Eagles supporter mates coming but they’ve all agreed to wear Demons scarves. 
 

Ethan (and other Perth based posters), what's the vibe like over there atm in terms of the footy?

I was amazed the Cats v Giants game had a crowd of 44, 000. Incredible, particularly given one assumes there is no historic giants fan base.

I was even more amazed people were still booing the iumpires!

[cookieboc 687]

43 minutes ago, S_T said:

Geelong handed MelbourneFC arguably the darkest day in our history.  And now they stand between us and our best chance of a premiership in most of our lifetimes.  It's going to be a very, very long 4 days....

As a Geelong based Melbourne supporter, the thought of losing to them on Friday night fills me with absolute dread.  

its hell living here when Geelong are winning let alone when they are beating us