team from H,UN tonight ,thurs'

MELBOURNE

B: Paul Wheatley, Nathan Carroll, Colin Garland

HB: Ricky Petterd, Daniel Bell, James McDonald

C: Brad Green, Brock McLean, Simon Buckley

HF: Cameron Bruce, Brad Miller, Adem Yze

F: Michael Newton, David Neitz, Russell Robertson

Foll: Jeff White, Aaron Davey, Nathan Jones

Int (from): Jace Bode, James Frawley, Mark Jamar, Paul Johnson, Brent Moloney, Cale Morton, Isaac Weetra

New: Isaac Weetra (Port Adelaide), Cale Morton (Claremont)

Well that's a letdown.

No Bartram, Rivers or Whelan.

Serves me right for taking note of the Footy Show!

Bench should be: Frawley, PJ/Jamar, Moloney and Morton.

Well that's a letdown.

No Bartram, Rivers or Whelan.

or Dunn...

i think the bench should be...

Paul Johnson, Brent Moloney, Cale Morton, Isaac Weetra

this is the first time i have seen davey named rover!! wow i hope he kills it. two players that need to stamp there name are brad miller and adam yze. playing forward line will hopefully see em take there chances with both hands and kick a few

C'MON DEES!!

Well that's a letdown.

No Bartram, Rivers or Whelan.

Serves me right for taking note of the Footy Show!

Bench should be: Frawley, PJ/Jamar, Moloney and Morton.

I heard that Buckley is in doubt. so add Bode or Weetra

I would take Weetra, Morton, Moloney and Johnson.

so since last night that is:

IN

Wheatley Garland Bode Morton Weetra

OUT

Holland Bartram Whelan Maric Dunn

thats a lot of changes within 24 hours. i reckon that perhaps we're playing some funny buggers.

Can the initial post in this thread please be changed to reflect the correct team?

It's very confusing.

buckley is named on the wing

Assuming the listed 18 will be playing, it's interesting that Garland's been listed. Good to see Buckley on the wing, we need some pace.

From the interchange, I'd take PJ over Jamar, Frawley for an extra option down back, and also have Moloney and Morton.

Edited March 20, 200817 yr by Nasher
Removed stuff about the thread merge (good idea, did it, thanks ;))

What! I picked Bartram in my SC team on the basis that he was named and he is very cheap. Poo.

I really hope Morton plays. How exciting if he does.

Bode has probably been picked to play on Rioli. Frawley has to play for team balance and Moloney and one of the ruckman will likely make up the bench.

We've definitely got a midfield edge. McGlynn must be injured as well for the Hawks.

Will probably line up something like this

Rioli Roughead Williams

Bode Miller Frawley

Boyle Franklin Dew

Wheatley Carroll Bell

Young Bateman Ladson

Green Jones Moloney

Davey Newton Bruce

Osbone Murphy Birchall

Yze Neitz Robertson

Guerra Croad Gilham

Campbell Sewell Mitchell

White McLean McDonald

Taylor Tuck Stokes Ellis

P.Johnson Garland Buckley Petterd

If we play deep him deep and Yze is in form up forward, Hawks will have plenty of trouble controlling both him and

Robbo. If we cant beat Hawthorn on Sunday, we're in a bad way.

Will probably line up something like this

Rioli Roughead Williams

Bode Miller Frawley

Boyle Franklin Dew

Wheatley Carroll Bell

Young Bateman Ladson

Green Jones Moloney

Davey Newton Bruce

Osbone Murphy Birchall

Yze Neitz Robertson

Guerra Croad Gilham

Campbell Sewell Mitchell

White McLean McDonald

Taylor Tuck Stokes Ellis

P.Johnson Garland Buckley Petterd

If we play deep him deep and Yze is in form up forward, Hawks will have plenty of trouble controlling both him and

Robbo. If we cant beat Hawthorn on Sunday, we're in a bad way.

If we line up like that, we're in a bad way. There's no run or creativity in our backline, let alone any lockdown players.

As for our forwardline, I would have loved to see a forwardline of Yze Neitz Robertson, but that was 3 years ago.

buckley is named on the wing

cheers, sorry didnt balance that out properly...

Very excited to see Buckley, Garland, Petterd and hopefully Morton

Cant wait to see Beamer running around again.

Thrilled that Davey has been named as a rover. Bailey thinking outside the square.

Bring on Sunday.

Bruce playing at HF gives me a raging hardon.

My guess at a line up:

Wheatley Carroll Petterd

Yze Miller Bell

Buckley Mclean Davey/Green

Bruce Newton Davey/Green

Robbo Nietz Weetra

R: White Junior Jones

Inter: Johnson (but would not be surprised if Jamar gets the nod) Moloney Garland Bode (Bode ahead of Frawley because otherwise the bench is too tall)

I dont like the line-up and am generally trying to group the backs mids and forwards. Not sure where Bruce will play and I hope I'm wrong

i've only seen him play once against geelong in the NAB cup, but garland seemed to move pretty well for a big bloke... after being named down back, could he be given the job on buddy? out of all our defenders he seems to be the best match up... could be an inspired move from bailey...

Very excited to see Buckley, Garland, Petterd and hopefully Morton

Cant wait to see Beamer running around again.

Thrilled that Davey has been named as a rover. Bailey thinking outside the square.

Bring on Sunday.

I will be there too with the kids, but it will be the Hawks by 70 points.

Just check out their forward line. Strewth.

Biffinator

i've only seen him play once against geelong in the NAB cup, but garland seemed to move pretty well for a big bloke... after being named down back, could he be given the job on buddy? out of all our defenders he seems to be the best match up... could be an inspired move from bailey...

I've got a feeling Bell will play on Franklin when he is up the ground. He may not have the height, but he does have the pace and mobility to go with Franklin on the lead and on the ground (where Franklin is most dangerous) and he also has the strength to move him under the ball. When Franklin pushes closer to goal, perhaps a bigger opponent will switch onto him.

Here is how I think the teams will line up:

Robertson 187 Neitz 191 Bruce 190

Murphy 189 Croad 190 Gilham 192

Weetra 184 Newton 193 Yze 187

Osbourne 178 Birchall 193 Guerra 182

Davey 177 McLean 184 Green 184

Ladson 179 Bateman 175 Young 189

Frawley 193 Miller 194 Petterd 185

Boyle 194 Franklin 196 Dew 183

Bell 186 Carroll 191 Buckley 190

Williams 180 Roughead 193 Rioli 177

White 195 McDonald 180 Jones 180

Campbell 199 Sewell 181 Mitchell 179

Johnson 199 Moloney 182

Taylor 200 Tuck 188

Wheatley 189 Garland 191

Ellis 187 J.Morton 191

Some observations:

While both sides have significant players out, I don't think there will be a much better time to play Hawthorn than this Sunday.

I think playing Bruce in the forward line for a considerable period of the match is important because it commits the Hawks to play a tall like Gilham on him. This potentially frees up Robertson to get their fourth best "tall".

Yze could be quite potent as he is likely to have a height advantage over Guerra or Osbourne. Because I rate Osbourne, I hope the match ups go this way, I'm willing to sacrifice Weetra in his first game to let Yze potentially beat a Guerra.

If the centreline matchups go this way I think we have more class.

Just as Melbourne can stretch the Hawks defense, the Hawks will test out backline talls and therefore that is why I think Frawley, Garland and Wheatley have to be in the side at the expense of either Bode or Morton. I have put Wheatley on the bench purely on the basis of his restricted pre-season and I would not be surprised if he does not play at all. If so in comes Bode. Cale's time will come.

If Bell is cut up by Williams given that Williams is very very smart and Bell is very, very .............. (It's too early in the season to be canning players) I think Buckley or Wheatley are the obvious choices - either way, if it happens I would make the move early because Bell is a confidence player and can still be a very good attacking half back if he does not become too introspective.

Mitchell is a champion, but Jones is a great competitor - I expect both to deliver.

As I said there will never be a better time to play the Hawks than this week. I think the Hawks start logical favourites, but don't write off the Dees just yet.

We can win! We can win. (At least thats what I will be saying to myself up until the final siren this Sunday.

And the bench is

Morton, Weetra, PJ and Moloney.

Well done to the two debutaunts!

And the bench is

Morton, Weetra, PJ and Moloney.

Well done to the two debutaunts!

Edit: Just saw the article on the website. Here is a link for anyone who is interested.

Surprised that both Frawley and Bode missed out. If Williams or Franklin run riot, we won't have many options to switch the backline around.

Congratulations to both Morton and Weetra. Fantastic for both of them to be selected this early in the season.

Is this confirmed?

Surprised that both Frawley and Bode missed out. If Williams or Franklin run riot, we won't have many options to switch the backline around.

Still, if that really is the bench for Sunday, I wish both Morton and Weetra the best of luck!

Yes.

MELBOURNE

B: Paul Wheatley, Nathan Carroll, Colin Garland

HB: Ricky Petterd, Daniel Bell, James McDonald

C: Brad Green, Brock McLean, Simon Buckley

HF: Cameron Bruce, Brad Miller, Adem Yze

F: Michael Newton, David Neitz, Russell Robertson

Foll: Jeff White, Aaron Davey, Nathan Jones

I/C: Paul Johnson, Brent Moloney, Cale Morton, Isaac Weetra

EMG: Jace Bode, James Frawley, Mark Jamar

bode and frawley are both emergencies, do we think there'll be any late changes. i can see there being at least one late change to that team.