Wiseblood

Melbourne Footy, the person who uploads these videos, deserves lots of kudos for this. Constantly uploads great stuff to YouTube after every win and I've watched some of them countless times. Not sure if he/she posts here but, if they do, thanks very much for your quality uploads each and every week!

You would expect Kent goes to half forward which releases someone like ANB to play more midfield minutes. The same with Joel Smith, as that may release a Jordan Lewis or Bernie Vince to spend more of their time in the midfield as well. The selections do make sense.

I agree, although with Tom Mac and Pedersen down there, both who are capable of clunking marks and kicking goals, it gives us more options than normal. Their back line outside of Casboult is not particularly tall or strong so we can leave them both down there. The big test will be making sure we get it down there often enough. It's nice to see us playing a little taller now as we've missed it!

No Maynard? I was way off, then. Great to see Jesse and Jeffy back in our forward line. Just having Hogan back should give the boys a huge lift coming in to this game. Vince and Lewis are both named on back flanks, but you would assume that they will spend far more time through the midfield this weekend. For that reason you could assume that Wagner keeps his spot and Joel Smith also comes into the side. Neither gives us a huge amount of run but they may get rotated through there with Hibberd and Hunt. After those two it's a raffle. I don't think Weideman plays, so it's down to Kent, JKH, Stretch and Trengove. It's anybodies guess from those 4 players. Edit - and underestimate our midfield at your own peril. It's a little light on for depth, but we will still run plenty of experience and talent through there during the game.

Oh LH, you are too innocent for your own good!

Has officially re-signed with the Suns. It's a two year deal, so he could be back in play in 18 months time, but it takes him off the table for now.

True. Harsh, ET. I thought you would appreciate it!

Corey Maynard set to debut! Exciting stuff!!

Considering that Casey, even with the return of Spencer, are still relatively light on for tall players it doesn't bode all that well for his future. He still has time to turn it around, but he hasn't exactly done a whole lot for Casey over the last 18 months.

True - if Hogan and Garlett return then it adds some real bite to our forward line, one that was missing last weekend. Do we go with T Mac down there as well, or do we send him back? The big test, as others have mentioned, will be breaking down their defense. They stick to their structures very well and rely on the slingshot from the turnover. Curbing the influence of Docherty and Simpson will go a long way to stopping this, although you could argue no club has really stopped Docherty this year. We just can't allow ourselves to play into their hands, otherwise we're in for a long day.

It's sad, but true. Pedersen has always been a depth player and, while his efforts this year have been immense, he still isn't ahead of Watts and Hogan, and may lose his spot based on that. I'd say Watts is still a fortnight away so he has a little time to make an impression and a case for being a second/third tall up forward, but the reality is that he may be squeezed out regardless.

With Viney, Jones and probably Tyson all missing, we do have three ready made replacements who can step into a full time midfield role over the next few weeks - Lewis, Vince and Melksham. While all three have had a run in there recently, they are players who have plenty of experience playing in the midfield and they can bring a little class, bigger bodies and ball winning ability with them to support guys like Oliver and Petracca. I'm not saying that they will totally fill the void, but I think discussions around our midfield being smashed are a little premature. This isn't 2014 Melbourne that has little depth, this is 2017 Melbourne that has much more of it. We can still match them in there IF these three can really step up to the plate and improve somewhat on their output so far this year. Fingers crossed we can add Hogan and Garlett back to the mix, while it would be terrific to see Hunt in the backline again alongside Hibberd.

I have no idea why some are quick to write us off for this game, even if with the injuries. We've proven this year that we are never out of games - regardless of how badly we played last week, we were still within striking distance. This game will be close to be say 'we won't win' is wrong and we've proven that time and time again this season.

Agree on both points. Will Goody pull a few rabbits out of the hat and throw a Harmes into the middle for some centre bounces? We know a guy like ANB can find the footy and lay some strong tackles, so hopefully he gets the opportunity to spend more time in the middle, especially with Garlett potentially returning. And having Hunt off half back with Hibberd has to be the way to go. It clearly didn't work last week and Goody doesn't strike me as a stubborn coach. If it's not working then he's happy to change it. Let's hope we see him across half back at 3:20pm this Sunday.

@dazzledavey36 - spot on and great post, mate. Well said. @praha - your post was a ripper as well and is a good summation of where we are at in terms of the money being thrown around the effect social media can have on players, younger ones in particular. I'm glad in some ways that these players are learning how to deal with depression and are getting to a point where they are confident to talk about it and step away to look after themselves. Sadly, Boyd won't be the last player to step away from the game for depression, but hopefully clubs know how to deal with it better than they did 5 years ago.

If we play like we did against them in Round 2 then we lose. We can't allow them to choke us and then hit us on the rebound. Bolton knows they aren't much chop and he's got them playing super defensively. If we just bomb it long and turn it over then we're in trouble. However, if we can move the ball quickly and play footy that is similar to what we played against the Dogs and West Coast then we win, even with the injuries we have. It will be harder to do with two of our best midfielders out, but we CAN do it.

Even with 8 wins on the board I still think we'll need a little luck to slip into the finals with our injury list. I firmly believe we can make it and we should have a fit list to pick from which means we can cause some havoc, but the next three weeks will tell us plenty about our chances. Win 2 and we're almost there. Anything else leaves us on the edge.

I can't really argue that, and I did say my theory was rather simplistic, but I still think it's relevant. North is North and they don't sell papers. Even with a rebuild they have lost 20 of their last 24 games and that's pretty poor by anybodies standards. But, as you say, because they have gone with the rebuild they tend to be given a little more leeway with how they are going. But if you were a North fan you would be questioning whether Brad Scott is the right man for the job.

It sounds a little simplistic in terms of an explanation, but it could come down to something as simple as the club being one of the most irrelevant in the competition. They could go with these stories, but, who really cares? To me they have the most apathetic supporter base and people might raise an eyebrow at those stats but nothing more. Collingwood, on the other hand... it would be all over the back page.

And.... it's Ty Vickery. My thought process went 'Thank God it's not someone from Melbourne' to 'I'm hardly surprised.'

Misson's injury report: - Garlett, Hogan and Tyson all facing fitness tests. Sounds like Hogan and Garlett are big chances, Tyson is 50/50. I assume he'll be picked and they'll give him right up until Sunday to play. - Watts is a definite out. Still a week or two away, same as Salem. You would assume that Hogan and Garlett will get picked, but the changes outside of that could be anyone's guess this week.

If the Dogs really do feel that Stringer needs to move on, and that he isn't in a good head space, then you would assume he would aim to get out of Victoria and start fresh. It's a big if though, can't see them giving up on him like that.

Mills wasn't knocked out. And Fahour's was far worse. Doesn't excuse Bugg, but Fahour ran from a mile away to deck a bloke. That's worse in my book.

Is there an indication he wants out of Freo?

Will get a fitness test on Thursday to determine if he plays or not. I still expect him to miss but it's a more positive outlook than we might have first hoped for.