Preview 2023 Preliminary Final Carlton vs Brisbane Sat 23rd Sept 5.15PM @ Gabba

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TEAM IS IN …


IN: Jordan Boyd, Jack Martin, Harry McKay

OUT: David Cuningham, Brodie Kemp, Matthew Kennedy, Matthew Owies








Backs:Alex CincottaJacob WeiteringAdam Saad
Half-backs:Caleb MarchbankMitch McGovernNic Newman
Centreline:Blake AcresPatrick CrippsOllie Hollands
Half-forwards:Tom De KoningHarry McKaySam Docherty
Forwards:Lachie FogartyCharlie CurnowJesse Motlop
Followers:Marc PittonetAdam CerraSam Walsh
Interchange:Jordan BoydMatthew CottrellGeorge Hewett
Jack Martin
Emergencies:David CuninghamBrodie KempMatthew Kennedy
Matthew Owies
 
Last edited:

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Channel 9 reporting that Owies and Cincotta not playing, mentioning that Boyd being considered....

This is going to sound harsh but if Cinc misses I’d be ok with it…he hasn’t had the greatest final series….was well beaten last week

If it’s Boyd…hope he’s match fit


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I’m too nervous to post - just want us to give the best account of ourselves as possible - it’s been a dream to share a run like this with my kids for so long.

Go Blues!!!!
Feeling the exact same way. I have 2 boys, 29 and 24. When I went to hug my 24 y.o after the siren, his eyes were red.
We then went to get a pizza with the other 9 who are part of our group. All the kids (aged 17-29) were just lapping it up. Just soooooo happy for them as they video-ed the chaos of Lygon St

Go Blues!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
8 more quarters
 
Same could be said for Cunningham tho.

In front of goal when the games on the line I trust Owies more to convert than Cunningham

Either way it's going to be a hard call for someone
Owies is somewhat of a sharpshooter from set shots, agree on that. Does have the good sense to be in dangerous positions quite often as well. Love his passion, has had a great season. Though his two finals games have been below par.

Cuners has the versatility that Voss loves, his ability to chop out in the mid-field is important. Admit his form has tapered off the last few weeks. Had no pre-season, getting tired by the looks.

Tough call between the two, but if it was me Cuners is the one I would retain. Has Owies covered for size and strength, tackling ability. Has more pace and x factor. Eight day break should hopefully really help freshen him up a little. If selected I would trust him to come good and have a positive impact in this game.
 

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Seems a strange take to me - I've always seen Cunners as a much better set shot, a longer set shot, and a calmer character, whereas Owies has struggled a bit from long range, and had some pretty inexplicable misses from medium range too.

Maybe my memory is off though?

I would agree with you prior to this year, but this year Owies has really scored some clutch goals when the games been on the line. I trust him to score anything within 45m these days, with the understanding that players can't convert 100% of the time. He has a very deliberate routine

Cunners to me sometimes seems very lazy in his routine. Maybe thats the calmness you are talking about but he has missed goals from kickable positions a few times in the last 5 weeks. Whether thats lack of game fitness or he needs to work on his routine, i dont know.

Owies is somewhat of a sharpshooter from set shots, agree on that. Does have the good sense to be in dangerous positions quite often as well. Love his passion, has had a great season. Though his two finals games have been below par.

Cuners has the versatility that Voss loves, his ability to chop out in the mid-field is important. Admit his form has tapered off the last few weeks. Had no pre-season, getting tired by the looks.

Tough call between the two, but if it was me Cuners is the one I would retain. Has Owies covered for size and strength, tackling ability. Has more pace and x factor. Eight day break should hopefully really help freshen him up a little. If selected I would trust him to come good and have a positive impact in this game.

My only "concern" if you can call it, is that we have been hoping he will turn his form around for the last 4 weeks. We already have three players playing injured which means the other players need to play a little harder and longer to assist their load. Which means we can't carry average form into this game.

I have a different opinion on him in the midfield. I think he believes he is a midfielder not a half forward which results in an overconfidence in his ability. I also wonder if he is caught up on possession numbers when in there. I think if he tries to mimic Martin's game style he could be a scary half forward player. I just don't know if he sees himself that way. He Is very talented but I think he would be my pick to make way

At the end of the day I'm happy if we win
 
Reasons we win

- We have won 10 out of our last 11 games. That includes wins over top 4 teams Melbourne (twice), Collingwood and Port Adelaide. It's fair to say we are the form team in the competition.

- Our list is fit. We have forever been a team of excuses due to injury. All of a sudden the only player who could possibly be best 22 who isn't available for selection is Zac Williams.

- We can beat them at their own game. Brisbane are a tough contested team and at our best we are one of the best. If you match or beat a team at one of their main strengths then you take the bullets out of their gun. And that's how you beat good sides.

- We are match fit. We are coming off two highly contested and competitive games. One think I hated when I was fit and young and playing well was a week off. Nothing worse. Lions have played 1 game in three weeks. Could we jump them?

- We are good enough. There is no doubt that we are good enough. We can beat anyone anywhere on our day if we pick the right team and play well. We are a good enough team to beat anyone, we have to beat two more teams.

- Luck. If you believe in these things then perhaps we have been saving our luck for the last 23 years. Just waiting for the right moment. Luck has played a huge part in getting here, it could play a part in another win.

- Our defence. It's been a rock for the second half of the year. It's what kept us in both finals, as our midfield was getting beaten, our defence proved it could stop scoring. We are an odd size in defence, we can intercept pretty well, we may prove a problem if we start taking a lot of marks against them.

- Two good tall forward. There aren't many sides who run two tall forwards well. We are on Brisbane is another. I think we will keep their defence honest.

- A giant is awakening. Perhaps all we needed was two tough games, a bit of luck to win them and we get back on our feet. Walsh and Cripps woke up last week. Cerra and McKay could wake up this week. We haven't been firing on all cylinders. Perhaps this is the game everyone clicks and plays well. We have had a few games this season where every player has played really well. This could be our moment, it's setup to be.

- This feels a little bit like '99. Yeah we have come from the dumps, we finished the season well to get into finals, we have played ok, got the job done and got here. Everyone is expecting the the quality of opposition and the challenge is now too great and this is the end of the road for us. It doesn't have the big rivalry 1999 had nor the jabs from our president over past incidents but it has all the rest. A different kind of history behind it that brings about the same feeling. Deep down you would feel that Vossy may have something to prove. Knock out his old side who sacked him. More to the point we as a club have a lot to prove, for where we have been and where we have come from this means everything. There is a difference between getting a Carlton into a grand final and a Sydney or a Geelong. This has to mean more to everyone for where we have come from. No one expects us to win this, and that can be a big reason we will.

- While the Lions are really good, 2nd on the ladder, they have shown weakness. In their last two months of footy they only got home against St Kilda by 2 goals, only beat Adelaide by 1 goal, beat Freo by 3 points, Beat Geelong by 11 points, Lost to the suns by 43 points and lost to Melbourne by 1.

- A big heavy physical side may not have been ideal against Melbourne and Sydney but could be ideal for Collingwood and Brisbane? Perhaps this has been our plan all along. Build a team to beat the top 2 and hope we can get there with that team. Perhaps this is where we are coming from. This is a similar team that beat Collingwood.

- We are hungry. 10 years out of finals, most haven't played finals, we are close to the big one, what's another two wins in a row? 23 years in the wilderness as a club. Last year's heartbreaking finish. Playing at a club which clearly measures success in premierships and nothing else. Make no mistake, we are hungry.

- Injuries. Payne is a big out and not one you want to be playing hurt. Ashcroft, Gunston. They would probably want them playing and not being under injury concerne.

Reasons we lose

- We have had a lot of luck and we have come this far on luck. It's fair to say we should have lost both our finals. 11.8 to 19.14 and 9.17 to 11.7 it's fair to say that we were gifted both these wins by opposition who outplayed us but couldn't finish their work off. Brisbane kicked 19.9 in their last match so it's only natural to assume that we will not be gifted the opportunity to win again from poor kicking from the opposition. You could fairly argue we are lucky to be there.

- Winning the last two games has glossed over some major deficiency in our sides. While they were wins it wasn't because we out played the opposition, it was because the opposition made mistakes. While our defencive aspects have been excellent, our old problem of ball movement issues has reared its ugly head. The ball movement that helped turn our season around has hardly been seen this finals series. A lot of which was generated by fast runners and elite kicks at half back as well as forward run from stoppages. With Dow playing no part and Saad our only recognised runner at half back there is no doubt we have missed these aspects of the game. When we were carrying the footy, going up the middle and switching play a lot the opposition struggled to keep up with us and we burnt teams out. We moved it quickly, beat the zone and went into an open forward line a lot where we scored heavily. We haven't done that this finals series. I'm worried our obsession with contested footy has killed our run and carry and ball movement. I've been saying it all season. The game is more outside than it has been in years. It's less contested and more about speed. Teams who have embraced leg speed to run the ball and run down the man and apply pressure have done well all season and Brisbane, GWS and Collingwood, the remaining sides are teams who have this finals series demonstrated that this game can be played in finals. I have some major doubts over our team structure/selection. Our tactics and team selection IMO do not include enough leg speed run and carry for modern football IMO. They did, through our whole winning streak but currently they do not. In the middle Walsh is generating enough run and carry but Cerra hasn't. But that can change. Fisher and Boyd have been massive in our streak at generating fast play but have been replaced with a medium/tall. Dow has been dropped, a player who was massive with run and carry in the middle, Cerra hasn't come back with a run and carry game and has looked gassed a lot of the time. Running forward with the ball is important because if you can run it quickly and kick it long it's more than likely going to go over the zone and into space where our forwards can get one on one in space and kick goals. This also makes the opposition run extra hard defensively, which slows them up and burns them out if you keep playing this way. Again, I think not enough run in defence, not backing Hollands, Not backing Fisher/Boyd and not using Dow has been a mistake we have gotten away with.

Long story short, is our leg speed and our ball movement going to be good enough to put them under real offensive pressure? Are we going to be able to kick a good enough score, run them out of steam by moving the ball quickly and have the closing speed to apply elite pressure on them? Or is our bigger, heavier side the side that is setup to beat them?

- Brisbane at the GABBA have appeared unbeatable. Haven't lose there all season. A good side with a dedicated home ground is always a greater challenge as we have seen with Geelong for years. This is a huge challenge.

- Our record against the Lions is really poor. 26, 33, 18, 17 are our margins in the last 4 games against them. All losing. You have to go back to 2019 when we won by 15 points ar Marvel to find our last win against them.

- Are the Lions fresher? We are coming off two hard games and have a number of players playing with injuries. Not uncommon, especially in finals, but are the Lions fitter and fresher?

- They can beat us at our own game. If they beat us out of the middle and out of contests, we probably have the defence to hold them off but we don't have the rebound, leg speed and ball movement to play rebound footy and beat them that way. We pretty much have to beat them in the contests or we lose IMO. I think we could beat them here but lets not get ahead of ourselves, they are elite in the contested and clearance game, easier said than done.

- Two tall forwards V 1 tall defender and a group of medium/tall defenders. Not sure how this will go, keep the ball on the ground and we will do ok but Hipwood to me feels like a threat. Whoever plays on him is going to have to be good and is going to have to have a little help.

- The Lions are a genuinely good side. They finished 2nd, they earn the right to be one of the real premiership contenders. Forget the home ground and all of that, they are the real deal and genuinely a very good side. Their thrashing of Port Adelaide suggests they have some form and are hungry for finals.

- After a few failed finals campaigns, they will feel they have their s**t together. One home win away from a grand final. The Lions would have to be hungry for this. They haven't tasted a premiership yet, they have had their own disappointment.

- Injuries. Acres and Docherty playing hurt. Yeah, better than them missing. But you'd love them to be 100%. We'd probably want Williams out there too but haven't had him all season. How match fit is McKay? Did I hear Owies, Marchbank and Cincotta are sore?
So who wins ?????
 
Gotta back the MC in from here. Can only assume from the whispers across the interwebs it will be:
IN - McKay, Martin, Boyd
OUT - Owies, Kennedy, Cincotta/Marchbank

Hopefully we stick with Hollands as sub.
I’ll be ok with that, but a bit harsh on Cincotta

I would have thought we could do with an additional small defender - not a replacement
 
Owies is somewhat of a sharpshooter from set shots, agree on that. Does have the good sense to be in dangerous positions quite often as well. Love his passion, has had a great season. Though his two finals games have been below par.

Cuners has the versatility that Voss loves, his ability to chop out in the mid-field is important. Admit his form has tapered off the last few weeks. Had no pre-season, getting tired by the looks.

Tough call between the two, but if it was me Cuners is the one I would retain. Has Owies covered for size and strength, tackling ability. Has more pace and x factor. Eight day break should hopefully really help freshen him up a little. If selected I would trust him to come good and have a positive impact in this game.

Think the main reason we'd go Cunners is cause he plays midfield minutes, giving the team flexibility and ability to rest our other mids. That extra bit of insurance in case of an in game injury to a mid...imagine we went with Owies then a mid gets injured in the first quarter...we'd be light on for full time pure mids.

Both he and Owies have had equally quiet finals series, but think that's what gives Cunners the edge.

Also Owies had quite a few clangers last week, missing open targets inside f50. If not for his goal, he'd have had almost no positive influence on the game and a number of negative ones.
 
I'm no expert but put trust in the MC...they got us this far ..............may view our half back line with Cincotta is a bit slow for the Brisbane forward line ........Boyd quickens it up a bit but is he ready after a long lay off......
 
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