Bring-Back-Powell

Yeah, Phillips and Draper kicked 5 between them and dominated Grundy. Be interesting to see if they bring back Goldstein to further dominate our rucks at the expense of a runner. Or whether they leave Goldstein out because Draper will dominate on his own and keep that extra runner. And will we bring Fullarton in or have a committee of ruckman in JVR, Petty and Turner. One thing we should not do is make our best forward play 70% or more in the ruck.

The AFL website’s match reports suggested Melksham could be in trouble over an off the ball incident on McGovern. Anyone see it?

No as in the top level of the Ponsford and Warne are closed.

No.

No.

Didn’t make the most of his chances last week to warrant a full game. Dropped a costly mark with 90 seconds left that lead to the winning goal by McCluggage. Hopefully Goodwin utilises a fresh player for more than the last 3 minutes of a game.

I don’t watch Casey but McAdam’s kicked 6.2 in the last fortnight. Is that enough to warrant a recall? Bear in mind that our accuracy has been generally atrocious this year and he might able to assist in that area.

Kind of hope we win by 1 point just so our percentage will be exactly 100.0 (on a serious note, hoping for a solid 4 quarter performance, apply scoreboard pressure during the second half, build on the gains of last week and take advantage of the reported upheaval at West Coast)

Yeah, Essendon’s going to be a tough assignment next week.

I wouldn’t say it’s the first sign, particularly when it comes to footy.

Melksham, Salem and Bowey all confirmed ins while Tomlinson dropped again. Ins look good on paper, but feel as though Petty's absence upsets our forward structure. Goodwin mentioned post game last week that the forward line was finally starting to get some continuity.

*One week at a time BBP* But there's a stupid scenario that has us jumping up a whopping one spot to 11th even if we're good enough to beat West Coast and Essendon, and the following also happens: Essendon beat Collingwood but lose to us (1-1) Collingwood lose to Essendon and then beat Geelong (1-1) GC beat North and Port at home (2-0) Port beat Dogs and lose to GC (1-1) GWS beat Carlton and Richmond (2-0) Therefore I hope Collingwood, North, and Carlton all win. Not the end of the world if Port beat Dogs because their percentage is poor and they could very well lose to GC away next week.

With Petty out I think we need some height up forward and JVR to stay in the forward line for the entire game aside from when he's on the bench. Therefore I wouldn't be opposed to Fullarton getting a gig. It would mean that Kolt would probably get dropped from the extended bench and most would be against that.

Results to favour the Dees: Essendon to beat Collingwood North to beat GC Dogs to beat Port Hawthorn to beat Geelong Carlton to beat GWS Richmond to beat Freo Adelaide to beat Brisbane Wrap that into a multi and it's paying $2,149 - $1 Didn't include St Kilda and Sydney as that game has absolutely no affect on us.

It will be interesting to see how our forward line operates with Melksham and Fritsch together as there is potential headaches for the opposition. The good news is that either player can play that defensive role on a Harris Andrews/Jacob Weitering star defender. Perhaps one of them takes McGovern on Sunday. They only played together about 6 times last year, and in their last 2 games together Fritta went off injured in Alice and then Melk went off injured at the SCG, but they combined for 7 goals that day.

I could be wrong but I’m sure I’ve seen other clubs name a player in the starting 18 on Thursday but then relegate him to sub on game day. Hence I’m tipping Woewodin to start as sub. I was surprised he was listed in the 18 to start off with.

I’d say the other 2 on the bench will be Salem and Bowey which means Tomlinson and Tholstrupp will be dropped. Alternatively Bowey plays a not altogether undeserving game at Casey. and Kolt keeps his spot. Woewodin will be the obvious sub.

So when JVR is either rucking or on the bench we have Turner as our sole fall forward. Seems logical. Maybe Fullarton gets considered but I can’t see it.

Hopefully Petty gets up, even though we were all screaming for him to be dropped a couple of week back. When JVR is in the ruck or on the bench we'll only have Turner as a tall forward which will mean McGovern and Barrass will mark everything. Actually, if Petty is out, do they look at T Mac up forward and Tomlinson retained down back?

A poster on the West Coast bigfooty saw Waterman at a clinic and was limping around with a bandage to his knee.

As I said in a previous post, we need to get our percentage to about 105 this weekend in order to stay viable with other teams. Collingwood, GC, GWS and Geelong are all around the 105-108 mark. That's a 100-40 kind of win which is probably a 0% chance of happening given we can't score. But at the end of the day, I'll be appreciative of a win full stop given what happened the last time we met.

Gerard's Whateley's doomsday prediction on AFL 360 is Melbourne losing to West Coast. "They surely couldn't, could they?" - Whateley

Pretty healthy injury list assume Petty, Salem and Bowey are available.

Highly recommend attending the event if you enjoy watching neutral games as I do. Although to be fair, beating Adelaide to open up Gather Round really added to the weekend, as opposed to getting done by the $4.50 outsiders in Essendon the year before. Managed to get return flights and 3 nights accomm for $900. Not great but not a financial disaster and would probably cost the same as a 2 night trip to travel up to a game in QLD.

Can't disagree that he's had a poor 5 weeks by his standards, but law of averages suggests that there's a 5, 6 or 7 goal game around the corner.