After a disappointing loss to the Magpies by 7 points in the Qualifying Final the Demons will now face Carlton in a sudden death Semi Final next Friday at the MCG. Who comes in and who goes out?

There’s no way Schache could have played worse that TMAC tonight. Given Van may go, he has to be considered. However much he’s maligned. For starters, he’s a great set shot

Jumping the gun a bit. Should be SF, not PF.

 

TMac and Hibbo out. Grundy and Tommo in. Tommo isn't great, but we need to get the three talls down back

I want to know how Gus is. 

Team selection is secondary 

Presumably will be Grundy in for JVR (suspension). Someone in for Gus - JJ I guess.

Tmac looked so immobile, but a JVR suspension presumably saves him. Laurie almost unsighted, but apart from JJ it's hard to see who might be sub otherwise - maybe Woey?  Room for Disco for a bit more height and youth down back? Maybe for hibbo? Love Hibbo but he's not super quick these days.

[censored] I am gloomy right now. 

Bring it on. We'll be ready. 

Petracca to play more forward and JJ to come in. If Roo gets week I'm backing Grundy unless BBB is 100%

JVR's elbow has probably saved TMac. Bring Grundy in, play him 80% ruck and put Max forward.

We're out of options.

I don’t know if I have it in me to go out in straight sets to Collingwood and Carlton. 

What's all this about Hibbo? After the first quarter he was right on top of Elliott, who is a VERY good player!!

6 minutes ago, Mickey said:

JVR's elbow has probably saved TMac. Bring Grundy in, play him 80% ruck and put Max forward.

We're out of options.

While ya at it, drop Hibbo ( too slow these days but love ya service.) for Disco, bring in JJ for Smith and yeah - play Grundy.. God bless yo Brayshaw hope you come through O.K.....

Grundy in. Tmac out.

Tomlinson/turner. Van Rooyen out.

JJ in. Brayshaw out. 

 

We need 3 kpd. 

Salem to be forward. Been trash for weeks. Maybe try as Melksham type.

 

Salem fritch anb

Koz grundy Chandler.

I'm drunk. 

 

 

 

Again like last year, I wasn't planning on going to the footy next week. Will get back to you 

12 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

I don’t know if I have it in me to go out in straight sets to Collingwood and Carlton. 

I most certainly can’t.

It would make a straight sets exit to Sydney and Brisbane a walk in the park with a smile on your face.

The way too early forecast has next   Friday with a minimum/maximum of  15-24 degrees with no rain.

Please make this happen.

In: Turner/Tomlinson, JJ, 

Out: Laurie, Hibberd 

Out:

Brayshaw (inj)

Laurie - has a future but showed he is nowhere near ready for finals

JvR (sus) - predicting he'll get a week

In:

Jordon

Turner/tomlinson

sub - harmes/woey

 

Didn’t like the forward balance. Smith and Tmac foward and one of Turner/tommo back makes us look better in my view.

Edited September 7, 20231 yr by Nascent

The barrel has been scraped

I don't know. It's hard. But something needs to change with our forward line but I don't know what.

 

At a point where I honestly don't care.

Still bloody shattered. I had too much faith pre game thinking we'd beat them and beat them well.

Slim pickings anyway. There's nothing there that'll improve our forward system anyway.

 

OUT: jvr, gus, laurie
IN: grundy, jj, woey 2.0

our forward line is a mess

Schache is no chance for JvR yeah?

Between injuries, suspensions and [censored] form, our key forwards next week might well be Schache and Jefferson. Heaven help us.

4 minutes ago, Neil Crompton said:

Between injuries, suspensions and [censored] form, our key forwards next week might well be Schache and Jefferson. Heaven help us.

Don't forget Brodie 'working on his forward craft' Grundy

The whole week will now be spent talking about our dysfunctional forward line and it's up to the boss to figure out how to reconfigure. and with van Rooyen a monte to be out, we have to do so.

But to me, Grundy has to play - yes we all know he's not a forward but he allows us to use Gawny up there for a little bit and he is a big body to try and spoil. With Brown unfit, he's just got to play. He's also a tackler and we will need that with Brayshaw out.

The other change is that we have to go back to playing Trac up there for more minutes - yes I know he is a clearance beast, but we have cover in that department with Sparrow and Viney and Rivers if we want, but we don't have an option now - we need someone to kick goals and Trac and Fritter and Kozzy are our three most likely.

To me our seven forwards are: Fritsch, Kozzy, Trac, Grundy, ANB and then a decision on whether we play Spargo or go radical with the pace of Moniz-Wakefield instead of Chandler. And as much as people will hate it - Harmes has to play as well - unfortunately at finals time you need a mix of grunt and Chandler is classy, but just not physical enough for night games. Harmes is. The sub can be T-Mac - yes he's too slow, but at least with the pace off the game, he may be able to make an impact after half time and he at least can also play defence if we get an injury.

I also left out Smith, but we just have to add him to our defence - we need his pace to help counter the over the back play that Papley (if Swans win) or Motlop (if Blues win) that the Pies exploited and the good thing is we can still send him forward if things aren't working - just as he should have been sent back in the first term against the Pies. You are allowed to swap players mid-game Goody! And by sending Rivers into the midfield rotation, we make room for Smith who can play on bigs or smalls.

The only other player in doubt is Salem - he really has just not been able to get back to his 2021 form, but it's now probably too late to make the hard call on him. 

Out: Brayshaw, Van Rooyen (susp), Chandler, T-Mac, Lawrie (sub)

In: Jordon, Grundy, Spargo, Harmes

Sub: T-Mac

B: McVee May Smith

HB: Bowey Lever Hibberd

C: Langon Sparrow Hunter

HF: ANB Grundy Harmes

F: Kozzie Fritsch Petracca

Ru: Gawn Oliver Viney

Int: Spargo (fwd), Rivers (mid), Jordon (mid) Salem (def)

Sub: T-Mac