hmmm, the reinforcements are going to arrive late i fear. We absolutely need one win over the next three weeks to be any chance of finals, preferably two.
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Yeah that was fairly optimistic of me to include Shiel and Caldwell. Fingers crossed at least Langas coming back.
Our finals chance will mostly boil down to winning vs GWS I think, it’s the classic ‘8 point game’. If we beat them then we only need 2 of the last 4
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I am going to read in this thread right throughout the week (already have) about how GWS are some indestructible force and we are going to get beat up.
Hey, it’s not 2016 anymore.
This is a club that is currently below us on the ladder, an inferior percentage and a number of key injury concerns/players in isolation.
This is their recent form:
Round 13 - (18th) North Melbourne (Draw)
Round 14 - (12th) Carlton (Won by 36)
Round 15 - (17th) Hawthorn (Lost by 18)
Round 16 - (1st) Melbourne (Won by 9)
Round 17 - (14th) Gold Coast (Lost by 1)
Round 18 - (6th) Sydney (Lost by 26)
Hardly some sort of force. Yeah on their day they can pull out a good performance and we still could get done… but the fear-mongering about GWS is laughable.
We can win this.
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Out: Smith, Cutler
In: Johnson, Johnson
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Are you suggesting they all get vaccinated.
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Reading between the lines, Shiel is a chance this week.
In: our best talent available
Out: serial sub par performance
Doesn’t need to be like for like just best talent and players can be moved to fit the structure.
Assuming Langford, Jones, Shiel & McGrath are not available.
In: Francis
Out: Smith
Other possibility
In: Hird
Out: Waterman
If we did both I think Francis and Hird forward would improve our forward line pressure and marking ability.
No way. Waterman is talented with a hard at it body!
If Francis comes in it must be at the expense of Cutler.
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I reckon Waterman has offered little of late. One goal in his last four games. Struggling in the air and not crumbing when ball hits the ground.
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I doubt that Francis will play forward if he comes in for a number of reasons. One would be that I don’t think it is doing him any favours given his recent struggles.
I hope he comes in, but straight into the backline.
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The bank/or boomer landlord owns your house too?
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I’d like to see Waterman dropped. Playing at Metricon at night (joke how we have to play there) means there’s less reliance on bigger bodied forwards with little athleticism like Waterman. I’d bring in Shiel if available; if not then Clarke and then move Smith to permanent forwards rotation and not in the midfield mix like yesterday.
I wouldn’t be against shuffling things around and making Smith the sub for a week.
Maybe Francis (or even Gleeson?) comes in as the 7th defender, allowing Cutler/Guelfi/Durham/whoever to spend more time up on a wing.
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We will win easy. Draper will have 60 hitouts and Parish will have 50 possessions.
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I think Hooker playing would be next to useless in the greasy Gold Coast conditions. They hopefully “rest” him and have a smaller forward line.
Would gladly cop a free kick/50 metre penalty if Dev Smith drops Finlayson
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This is the most important match in our run home.
If we were to win, we are not only banking another 4 points but we are denying GWS a win.
Also, although it’s fraught with danger trying to predict other results, there is a massive chance that all the other teams around us lose this weekend.
- Cats should beat the Tigers
- West Coast at home should beat St Kilda
- Sydney should beat Freo
If those results went that way, things look like this after the completion of the round:
Putting our head above water and having a game and % on our side might also just allow us to not pull the trigger on guys returning like Shiel, Langford, McGrath if an extra week of conditioning would be more helpful.
Lose this week though and we are gonna be playing catchup and leave barely any margin for error.
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He kicked 4 goals in torrential rain vs Brisbane
He’s about the only one likely to take a mark in poor conditions
We are already playing smaller fwd line than have for most of season with Jones out
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Greene out and possibly Kelly too is huge for us. Kelly was arguably BOG against us last time, and Greene had 20 and kicked 2 goals. Couple that with the fact that GWS might not have a ruckman playing (and DeBoer out), guys like Merrett, Parish and Stringer could run riot. The Giants will have gained Coniglio & Hogan, however.
For us, we will have gained Draper, and to a lesser extent, Stringer (he was subbed out early against GWS last time). On the flip side, we’ll have lost McGrath (had 12 clearances last time), Jones and Langford, who both hit the scoreboard.
We SHOULD win this. But we will need to come into the game with the right attitude. Hell, we saw what happened when we rocked up to the last GWS game with a ■■■■ attitude. They jumped out to a 5 goal lead and we had to play catch-up the rest of the day.
If we can navigate passed the Giants, we will get some players back leading into the Swans game. Our finals chances are in our own hands. If we are good enough, we can make it
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So we lost Jones and you are wanting to drop Hooker and Waterman?
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