I've been rewatching the prelim final and I feel much better now. We'll be fine

Bedford is an obvious inclusion given his role as sub for the the year. I think we may go small and wouldn’t be surprised to see Baker or Chandler get a run.  Both played senior footy last year and Chandler was given a very good run in the preseason.

My guess:
OUT: Smith, Pickett, Jackson and Sparrow
IN: Lever, Viney, Bedford and Chandler.
Sub: Baker

Stand by for more covid changes I'm thinking!

Might be time to unleash some “Majak”. Would be a great story and reward for getting back. 

The rain may make this more interesting than it would otherwise be. I think there’s two likely scenarios:

Standard structure:

out: Jackson, Kozzie, Sparrow, Smith

in: TMac, Bedford, Viney, Lever, Melksham(sub)

Going ‘small’ for the wet:

Out: Jackson, Kozzie, Sparrow, Smith

In: Melksham, Bedford, Viney, Lever, TMac(sub)

In scenario two Gawn and Weideman would ruck with Gawn playing far more ruck than usual, Melksham and Petracca to play the third forward role, Bedford the small forward role. Still have TMac in case a big man goes down. This might be a better option if we get the 35mm some are predicting although if I was betting I’d say we go with our standard structure.

6 hours ago, picket fence said:

Stand by for more covid changes I'm thinking!

I hope you're wrong, but I'm fearful you may be correct. And I think it's more than MFCSS.

My thoughts:

• Lever back is good ... Smith out
• Apparently doubts about Viney ... fingers crossed
• Daw won't get a game unless both Max & Jacko are out
• It's a no from me to Melksham ... he simply doesn't buy into defence first philosophy
• I'm not a fan of Bedford's, but I guess he comes in for Kozzy
• TMac in for Jacko, but Weid to give Max a chop out in the ruck and TMac forward

 

 

Edited April 27, 20223 yr by Winners at last

11 hours ago, A F said:

Jack Riewoldt's poster in the second (?) was a direct result of Smith getting his positioning completely wrong. He did a couple of nice things and a couple of ordinary things. Our defenders these days rarely do ordinary things, so it sticks out.

May's handball was cut off on the wing, which ended up rebounding to Riewoldt. Smith simply handballed under little pressure to Lynch, who turned around and kicked a goal. Not really the same thing IMV. 

It probably isn't worth getting into a debate here but I think when Joel handballed there was also a Melbourne player on the other side of Lynch - perhaps he just handballed to the voice it was a pretty hectic situation. I wouldn't agree that it was under no pressure. With the new HTB rule if he had of been tackled and failed to get rid of the ball he would have given away a free directly in front of goal.  

No disputing that he made an error but its difficult to imagine getting through a whole game without making some sort of error or miscalculation. Pretty sure I could find a mistake with every player in the team in every match if I tried hard enough

No way does Majak play. It's going to be bucketing down raining. They'll go for the extra small whether that's Melksham or Chandler.

Whereas you shouldn't go too tall in the wet you also can't go too light in case it becomes a physical slog.

It's still a few days out, but the current forecast is suggesting the rain should be over by the time the match starts (see below).  Given how well the MCG drains, I don't think the rain will be a factor at all and shouldn't affect selections. Waiting eagerly to hear if  there are other cases before thinking about my ins and outs.

 

"Cloudy. Very high (95%) chance of showers, most likely in the morning. Showers easing during the afternoon. The chance of a thunderstorm in the morning. Winds northwesterly 15 to 20 km/h tending westerly 20 to 30 km/h during the morning then becoming light during the evening."

I think the changes are pretty simple

Out: Kosi  In: Bedford - like for like 

Out: Smith In: Lever - 100% improvement

Out: Sparrow In: Viney - and Dunstan stays in, so we are covered for clearances 

Out: Jackson In: Nobody. Bedford is elevated from the sub position and we get Weideman and Brown to share the extra ruck duties. Gawn has played as sole ruckman for years. Weideman can pinch hit and Brown can take the forward ruck contests. 
 

We  are lucky that Hawks are playing a kid in the ruck, and that it will be very very wet. A great chance for Bedford to show he can really make his mark, and we won't miss Jackson as much. Dunstan had a good game and will get another run. I think he will do well in the wet weather.

If Viney doesn't come up, I would bring in Melksham as he can run through the middle as well to relief the other rucks and we can rotate ANB and Trac at half forward as well. The other smokey would be Baker, and we can push JJ into the middle and get Baker to run the wing. But I rather not mess with the wings, as JJ has really settled into the role so I think this would be my least preferred option.

No point bringing in Tmac or Majak when it's going to be wet and they will struggle. It will just wreck their confidence and won't do anything to help us win. Hawks are fast. We need the speed to keep up with them, not more tall timber. 

 

 

3 hours ago, Jaded No More said:

I think the changes are pretty simple

Out: Kosi  In: Bedford - like for like 

Out: Smith In: Lever - 100% improvement

Out: Sparrow In: Viney - and Dunstan stays in, so we are covered for clearances 

Out: Jackson In: Nobody. Bedford is elevated from the sub position and we get Weideman and Brown to share the extra ruck duties. Gawn has played as sole ruckman for years. Weideman can pinch hit and Brown can take the forward ruck contests. 
 

We  are lucky that Hawks are playing a kid in the ruck, and that it will be very very wet. A great chance for Bedford to show he can really make his mark, and we won't miss Jackson as much. Dunstan had a good game and will get another run. I think he will do well in the wet weather.

If Viney doesn't come up, I would bring in Melksham as he can run through the middle as well to relief the other rucks and we can rotate ANB and Trac at half forward as well. The other smokey would be Baker, and we can push JJ into the middle and get Baker to run the wing. But I rather not mess with the wings, as JJ has really settled into the role so I think this would be my least preferred option.

No point bringing in Tmac or Majak when it's going to be wet and they will struggle. It will just wreck their confidence and won't do anything to help us win. Hawks are fast. We need the speed to keep up with them, not more tall timber. 

but that's 4 out and only 3 in

Better COVID week off than an injury week off. Gives us the chance to give some players a run which we did not get a chance to do last year. All pending we win of course.

Would not mind Majak getting a run to see whether he is up to AFL but the chances of both Gawn and Jacko out at the same time are minimal. So i doubt he will be selected.

24 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

but that's 4 out and only 3 in

No it's not because Bedford is in the starting 22 not sub.

We will need to bring in another sub. Could be Melksham. 

8 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

No it's not because Bedford is in the starting 22 not sub.

We will need to bring in another sub. Could be Melksham. 

well unless i missed something

out: dogga, kozzie, sparrow, smith

in: bedford, viney, lever

4 out, of 22, 3 in, to 22

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

 

Debut against the club he supported growing up.

What a thrill for young Callow.

22 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

well unless i missed something

out: dogga, kozzie, sparrow, smith

in: bedford, viney, lever

4 out, of 22, 3 in, to 22

It's 4 out of 23, 3 in to 22. (The trickiness of the medi-sub.)

12 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Debut against the club he supported growing up.

What a thrill for young Callow.

and the dork initiate another callow youth to their ranks

13 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

It's 4 out of 23, 3 in to 22. (The trickiness of the medi-sub.)

no it's not. bedford was medi-sub

4 out, of the 22 in round 6

Predominantly for the purpose of procrastinating from the project I should be progressing I'll add my prognostication:

I'd love to see Majak selected to reward the work to recover from the deep dark place but, given the selection committee's history, I'm with the consensus:

Out: Smith and the Covid trio

In: Lever, Viney, Bedford, TMac and toss a coin for the sub.

Out of excuses, back to work.

 

I thought we were wanting Weideman to succeed at CHF. Why do posters now want to put him into the ruck in place of Jacko? I think he needs consistency in the role he was drafted for. Surely there are other options - TMac or Daw - to replace Jacko. 

Edited April 28, 20223 yr by Neil Crompton

7 minutes ago, Neil Crompton said:

I thought we were wanting Weideman to succeed at CHF. Why do posters now want to put him into the ruck in place of Jacko? I think he needs consistency in the role he was drafted for. Surely there are other options - TMac or Daw. 

Has he ever played CHF? Even last week he seemed to play close to goals. Max said that Weid has been training for the role of backup ruckman. 

With Tmac still having another 2 years on his contract, and JVR waiting in the wings, it's every man for himself. By that I mean the inform player will get the gig. Weid will not get preferential treatment.

More positive cases to be announced shortly from MFC