12 hours ago, RyanD said:

Sorry, didn't know where to post this.

 

Coming from Brisbane tomorrow. Will I need a jumper tomorrow night? Keep in mind where I live lol. 

Maybe!! 

9 hours ago, John Crow Batty said:

Much talk and had wringing about our defence. I would not be surprised if Tmac get a run down back and Smith up forward if it’s not working. Still our best defenders May, Lever and Salem are all still there.

Too early to tell yet but I rate Bowey too to join that esteemed group and i have great confidence in him for tonight.. Especially as an elite ball user and decision maker.

We'll be fine with May directing traffic but sure there'll be a  few nervous defensive moments. 

13 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

River's for me has that speed and power in being able to play on the likes of Weightman, Hannan and Johanisson. Not only that, we lose his dash and long kicking out of defence. Watch the GF and you'll see he won some very crucial one on one's and also made some critical spoils. Huge loss for our team.

Completely agree with this daz. He has a great balance of defensive accountability and knowing when to run off his player. And I love how he hoof's the ball. Him and Salo on the half back line are a great pairing.

May will obviously line up on Naughton. But Petty is the best match up.

Not sure who will line up on English when he is on the forward line. He doesn't pose much of a threat (famous last words!) so perhaps Lever who usually gets one of the weaker forwards, or Smith who can play on talls.

7 minutes ago, Winners at last said:

May will obviously line up on Naughton. But Petty is the best match up.

Not sure who will line up on English when he is on the forward line. He doesn't pose much of a threat (famous last words!) so perhaps Lever who usually gets one of the weaker forwards, or Smith who can play on talls.

Or our resting ruckman sticks to him whether he is on or off the field.

Lots of options :-)

Smith still has a lot of scope for improvement.  He has only ever played half a dozen games in a row. If he can play a full season, he will surprise a few on Demonland. He is one of the most athletic players in the competition and his skills are not as bad as is made out. (Here's hoping my views are the same at 10pm tonight!)

14 hours ago, RyanD said:

Sorry, didn't know where to post this.

 

Coming from Brisbane tomorrow. Will I need a jumper tomorrow night? Keep in mind where I live lol. 

Bearing in mind it’s Melbz, I’d recommend you pack the following (not SOME of the following, ALL of the following):

Tank top, thongs, hand warmers, sunscreen, cardigan, raincoat, sun hat, puffer jacket, thick socks, beanie, sleeveless vest, lightweight shorts, thermal underwear, T-shirt, balaclava, singlet, scarf, sandals, mittens, thick woollen overcoat, sunglasses, rain-proof pants, ugg boots, one of those furry Russian hats, and that should just about cover any possible weather sitch. 

Unrelated: I am SO not getting any work done today 🙃

33 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Or our resting ruckman sticks to him whether he is on or off the field.

Lots of options :-)

I agree. Gawn for me plays down back to help out when their ruck is resting forward. 

Without wanting to jinx us, neither English nor Martin are big goal kickers. The issue for us will continue to be ground level ball. They killed us at ground level entries in the second and third quarter of the GF. This could also be why we've gone with a more agile option in Smith over Tommo. We know they will work hard on getting the ball to ground in their forwardline, because they probably won't get a heap of it in the air, unless Naughton has a massive game.

That is why I worry less about not playing Tommo and more about not having sufficient coverage for Rivers and Hibbo at ground level. Hunt and Smith are very athletic, but they are hit and miss both with game sense and ball use. 

But of course it all starts in the middle. If our mids are loose and let the Dogs sneak forward and kick multiple goals, we will be in trouble either way. 

Teams will be looking at ways to disrupt our defensive set-up, and one of the more successful attempts last year was in dragging Lever away from the zone. Hence I imagine Smith's inclusion, due to his better closing speed and aerial ability and the flexibility for a more mobile one-on-one rolling-off system where required. 

On the flip-side, I reckon Goody would have spent a good deal of time planning to negate Caleb Daniel's influence, and I wouldn't be surprised if he deploys Harmes for a forward-tagging role (ignore the team-sheet). Harmes is a proven shut-down player who is also a genuine threat going the other way if given space inside 50. 

Turning into a pearler of a day. Rain cleared, sun coming out

I reckon the Queenslanders can start taking off their jackets and gloves! 😂

1 hour ago, Skuit said:

Teams will be looking at ways to disrupt our defensive set-up, and one of the more successful attempts last year was in dragging Lever away from the zone. Hence I imagine Smith's inclusion, due to his better closing speed and aerial ability and the flexibility for a more mobile one-on-one rolling-off system where required. 

On the flip-side, I reckon Goody would have spent a good deal of time planning to negate Caleb Daniel's influence, and I wouldn't be surprised if he deploys Harmes for a forward-tagging role (ignore the team-sheet). Harmes is a proven shut-down player who is also a genuine threat going the other way if given space inside 50. 

Harmesy is a wonderful pest.

Geez I'm leaving soon. I can't take anymore waiting around.

Edited March 16, 20223 yr by Longsufferingnomore

I don't like Harmes as a HB because 2 years ago they tried this experiment and it failed because Harmes is a natural attacking player but gets lost when to defend and when to attack which means he loses his creativity and becomes a liability rather than an asset.

I hope I am wrong but this may become a weakness in the defensive structure.

I am expecting Brayshaw to play in defence, Jordon on the defensive wing and Harmes as the fourth midfielder. It will be a big game for Jordon to show he can break into the best 22.

18 hours ago, Billy said:

Everyone seems to have forgotten that Hunt had a good season & played 20 games before getting injured just before the finals.

Would’ve been a premiership player if didn’t get injured 

Some people have very long memories and very rigid mindsets.  And seem to be unaware players can improve.

3 hours ago, Winners at last said:

May will obviously line up on Naughton. But Petty is the best match up.

Not sure who will line up on English when he is on the forward line. He doesn't pose much of a threat (famous last words!) so perhaps Lever who usually gets one of the weaker forwards, or Smith who can play on talls.

Didn't May have Naughton for most of the GF, even with Petty in the team?

17 hours ago, Turner said:

as soon as the carlton game finished i said to dad, and posted in the post game thread smith was in our top 4 or 5 on the ground, generally looked hungry in the tackle and combative in the air and i said tomlinson looked like he was protecting his knee when turning or slowing down just a little bit too

i rkn this is one of the biggest myths in footy, why? because they look similar? they both wear long sleeves? hunt repeatedly gets run down (strange situation to find yourself in when you're the quickest bloke on the park supposedly) and doesn't necessarily improve langdons game any more than anyone else does, if anything he's more likely to hinder it by taking kicks off him and being a poorer distributer or simply skipping him altogether with his 60m roosts to contest

you're wrong dazzle, no one needs to play on hannan 

isn't this the entire reason why we are tinkering? obviously if we had our best players available then we wouldn't but we dont therefore we must change something so we still have the best side we can out there and clearly jordon is a stronger candidate than turner, dsmith or HBBaker 

Tinkering with personnel due to injury is different to tinkering with our structure I think. Moving Brayshaw to half back impacts our wings as well rather than just bringing in another defender.

Jordan will likely get a run at Half back with Harmes or Brayshaw to swap back as the break glass in case of emergency situation.

2 hours ago, Fat Tony said:

I am expecting Brayshaw to play in defence, Jordon on the defensive wing and Harmes as the fourth midfielder. It will be a big game for Jordon to show he can break into the best 22.

That makes sense to me - Brayshaw has trained in defence for this very situation and Jordon  showed last year he is able to do the job on the wing.  Harmes got tried there a few seasons back - never again.  Is a very handy second string midfielder!

Don't know if true but someone posted Lever out tommo in on Melbourne fan Facebook site 

7 minutes ago, demon3165 said:

Don't know if true but someone posted Lever out tommo in on Melbourne fan Facebook site 

Lever ‘late test’ I saw on Twitter. Not a great sign 

Lever confirmed out makes it a hell of a lot tougher now.

The bottom line is that now four Grand Final defenders are out, but...they've been replaced by three dudes who could have played in the Grand had they not been injured: Smith, Hunt and Tomlinson.

Still, it does make it tough.

Then again, as Mister Spargo put it, one in, one out...

21 hours ago, John Crow Batty said:

Much talk and had wringing about our defence. I would not be surprised if Tmac get a run down back and Smith up forward if it’s not working. Still our best defenders May, Lever and Salem are all still there.

 

15 hours ago, rpfc said:

Not in round 1.

Maybe in Round 1…

Although we were down to May when Lever and Salem were down.

He did well.