Hoping the first kick for Tsatas he has some space to settle and finds a target, or out in front of team mate.
Though knowing Brad, I wouldnāt be surprised if itās Tsatas taking Kakos forward pocket time.
He has a sick addiction to height in what he hopes are those good old āwe canāt control the weatherā wet conditions. Another genius week of selection by the untouchable Brad.
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The reality is Prior is more stronger, physical and better defensively than Johnson. Not every possible kid available needs to play. He still is very young has areas to work on. Pick in the 70ās and already played 13 senior games (yes some as sub). I dont think myself Robey should have been selected tbh. Still needs some extra fitness to my eyes. Happy to see him and hope he kills itā¦ but Scott is rushing him in too quickly for me. We need to start settling a side down. Melbourne for me are comfortable favourites as so much of our group selected have hardly played together. We need some long term cohesion desperately. I am sure Scott wants Sharp in when ready (maybe for Parish if form continues) and once that happensā¦. i am looking at minimal changes for awhile. Langford out of form yes but i back him in still to change it.
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Nup, heās the tagger, so weāll jsut see the classic Tsataās low TOG %, and never know if the tank has improved or not cos brad the genius only ever has one move
Robey needs a good solid month or so of playing footy. If the VFL didnāt have the week off Iād suspect he wouldnāt have been selected in the ones this week but with a week off he is better off playing up even if reduced minutes IMO.
There is a strong body of evidence to suggest that itās more than just being out of form. Perhaps this is genuinely āitā for him and we are never going to see his best again. How long do we keep backing these same senior players in that continue to fail?
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There are some options which allow us to search for advantages.
The wings is likely to predominantly be Duursma. Roberts, Langford, Durham, ADW (heās not tried there, but he has the running capacity) and Gresh can all rotate through there.
Midfield rotation is likely to predominantly be Merrett and Caldwell. Parish, Tsatas, Kako and Durham can rotate through that spot.
One tall forward is likely to be coming off the bench. Iād say thatās May. That means Blaki will rest by going straight to the bench, 2MP into the ruck and the May moves forward. There will also be the normal 2MP, Caddy, Edwards & May rotation at play.
I suspect that Reid will be a close watch during the captainās run. If heās out, then hopefully Johnson comes in. But Iāll assume Reid is in for now.
Itās clear that Ridley, McKay and Reid are the preferred talls in our best backline. Weāll gamble on either Reid or Ridley to take a smaller forward who gets lost in a contest and we create the loose man in the backline. Something we havenāt been able to generate as often this year. A loose Reid or Ridley gives us a chance to control the backline.
Iām interested to see how the midfield goes. Melbourne have switched from a contest heavy midfield to one with Steele and speed surrounding him. Iām not sure how sustainable that is long term but because they have the best tactical ruck in the league, theyāre more likely to get advantages from it in the short term. This would have been a great game for Bryan to come in, but Blaki deserves his chance here. I donāt think 2MP is a better option against Gawn. Weāre just going to have to contest the ruck as much as possible and hope we donāt smashed by the hiteouts.
Iām not too worried about Langford playing wing. Melbourne push Harvey Langford out there at times instead of having him in the contest, so they are using one of the wings less as a pocket to pocket runner. They also shift Chandler, Lindsay and Windsor out there so there is a chance we have some awkward matchups. Duursma v Langdon matchup is important though.
Forward line is tall. If itās dry, then we should get an advantage against one of McDonald, Lever or Petty. But we need to keep them isolated and not allow a third man up in the contest. Another thing weāve struggled to do. If itās wet, then weāre a tad screwed and hopefully we make the late change and have another runner off the bench instead of May and live with two talls in the forward line when Blaki goes to the bench for his rest.
Good luck to Tsatas. Heās earned his opportunity. Now he has to own it. Heās not going to be a full time mid and heās not getting more than 70% gametime. So whenever heās not in the midfield, he has to be active and noticeable. Just like Sharp has been. Same will be asked of Robey.
I still think this is a 30 point loss. Theyāve been able to score more freely than us and I donāt think we can score much more than 70 points (weāve only scored 100+ six times since the end of 2023. Theyāve already done it 3 times this year. They are in form and their premiership leaders are putting in the effort. This isnāt the same Melbourne team we beat last year. And it isnāt the same Melbourne team we beat in 2023 in Gather Round. Itās flipped the other way.
The best case scenario for us is that we play the way we did from halfway through the second quarter to the end of the game last week for at least three quarters. Hopefully its from the opening bounce as our starts this year have been grind or miss.
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I disagree a bit cause that form is amongst being in and out due to frequent injuries and never really settled with consistent game time. I suspect Scott thinking is similar. I kind of felt myself Scott was going to give Parish and Langers a guaranteed first 6-8 weeks. Whether thats right or wrong but thats how I see it due to their recent history last few years of no continuity.
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I think Parish will be a late out and one of El-Hawli or Johnson will come in, not Cox because we are tall enough.
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Parish trained fine i hear. There was a report of rehab group but i think that was well over blown.
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I dont mind these changes - Perkins has done nothing to keep his spot & Guelfi is mehā¦
I think Langford will play wing now SEH is out, hopefully 2MP more ruck time also. Think we may line up a little more like this;-
Ridley McKay McGrath
Roberts Reid Farrow
Langford Caldwell Duursma
Robey Caddy Gresham
Edwards May Kako
2MP Durham Merrett
Bench: Parish Tsatas ADW Prior Blaki
Comon Dons..!!
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Gee I hope Reid doesnāt pull up with a hammy. He deny awarevess, scan clear. I hope itās not another Wardlaw situation. 6 day break.
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I got 2 out of 4 right.
Im not advocating prior to be dropped. I want langford & parish dropped. The fact you mentioned you feel they are being given 2 months to work into the season, if true, shows what a joke selection is. They can have continuity in the VFL. If your not performing, you shouldnāt be playing. They have had a month, and have been garbage. Thats enough time
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Even if it doesnāt rain we are going in too tall.
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Yep, this is due to the list balance. We lack small zippy players on the list, so instead play extra talls back and forward.
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Gut feel is that we are far too tall.
Footywire does averages for the selected sides along with age, games etc. Ours is 189.1cm which puts us at the 4th tallest side for the round. Western Bulldogs the tallest at 190.1cm. Pretty much every side sits in the 187-190cm average range.
So while it may feel like we are a giant side we are pretty much in line with what everyone is doing.
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I donāt think this is true to be honest we have Huss Guelfi Nyugen Unwin who could all play in that forward line and be no worse
Itās not about raw height so much as the lack of pace and defensive pressure in our forward line.
Caddy for example is tall but is quite quick and chases defensively. Langford for example is a similar height but plods around about as fast as peter wright (whoās 2m tall). Gresham is small in height and about as good at putting opponents under pressure as Wright and Langford.
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ANNOUNCE KENWYNE JONES
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