- Nov 23, 2015
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- #1
What a heart-stopping but magnificent win against the Melbourne Demons in round 1. Missing a couple of key players especially Jesse Hogan and Keiren Briggs, but regaining Tom Green for the mid-field battle, it was a see-sawing battle in the first half, then we were behind for all of the second half until that final clutch goal by Lachie Keeffe inside the last minute. Importantly, it sees us sitting 2-0 to start the season, against two teams who are likely top 8 contenders, so a good position for the Giants to be in.
The boys now have a fortnight break until our next game against the high-flying Hawks. For us it means a chance for our injury list to heal itself, and also the majority of our suspended players to be available again. Given that we played that (wet) game with just the one tall (Aaron Cadman - who held his own in the circumstances) and Callum Brown (still dropping marks inside 50), it will be a certainty that Hogan comes into the side. The question will be whether Stringer does too, and if so, who does he replace - Keeffe (after his heroics) or Brown? Hogan, Cadman, Stringer and Keeffe just seems too tall to me, but Kingers won't want to drop Keeffe after that lion-hearted effort.
The small forwards actually didn't do as well as I expected. Jones was held a bit (both literally, by Demons players at times, and figuratively). Binga went off injured, but hopefully he'll be OK after some rest. Toby was magnificent; he stood tall as captain in that last quarter, playing a lot of midfield time. The medium forward Brown competed well, and was excellent as the chop-out ruck, but again dropped some gettable marks inside 50.
Finn Callaghan was outstanding again in the middle; just has the ball on a string and his running game is breathtaking. Tom Green was strong in the hard ball game, while Josh Kelly complemented them nicely. Toby Bedford defended soundly, and will be required to tag Will Day in 2 weeks. Stephen Coniglio is still down on form, but his 3 goals were as important as they were impressive, while Xavier O'Halloran had his usual mix of good and bad. I expect that they will all feature against the Hawks, but James Leake had a quiet game and might well make way as others come into the team.
I think defence is set, and although Connor Idun had a poor game (poorly directed fists led to 2 Demon goals), there won't be any changes there. Conor Stone was sound without being great again, but he just needs to play first grade and build both his confidence and his skills.
So, who comes in apart from Hogan, Briggs and possibly Stringer? Riccardi - no, Fonti - no; Harvey Thomas and Toby McMullin possibly - but who goes out? We were down on tall forwards for this game, which I can't see Kingers replicating when guys are available. So, Hogan replaces Gru (but comes into the starting line-up), Briggs for Leake essentially, Stringer for Keeffe or Brown. Personally, despite Lachie's heroics and Brown's ongoing butter-fingers, the best set-up would be Brown (to create 3 talls, 1 medium, and 3 smalls). Cadman and Brown can take the secondary ruck duels. That means for me there is no room for Thomas or McMullin to break into a twice-winning team in my mind.
Depending on how Kingers sees the structural importance, I also wonder if Wehr - who to me would be a candidate to drop back into the sub role - might hold his spot on one wing, in which case it could be Brown or O'Halloran who drop back to that sub role.
So, this is what I'm thinking at present:
Himmelberg Taylor Idun
Ash Buckley Whitfield
Kelly Callaghan Ward
Daniels Cadman Stringer
Jones Hogan Greene
Briggs Green Bedford
Stone O'Halloran Coniglio Brown
Sub: Wehr
Hawthorn will have the luxury of playing next week, so will be well battle-hardened by the time our round 3 game arrives. And we never do well off a bye, so it's a real clutch game for us (away in Tasmania, too!). They play Thursday, so will be well-rested, and we can only hope that Carlton provide more opposition to them than training cones ... denting their confidence and roughing them up a bit would be useful to us. The Hawks mids and defenders are proving to be excellent; while their forwards are making do with a mix of Mabior Chol and their small forward brigade (Dylan Moore, Jack Ginnivan and the Wizard), so we will need to be sharp in taking them on. Let's analyse the Hawks-Blues game next Thursday, and come back for more discussion on their game play.
What are your thoughts?
The boys now have a fortnight break until our next game against the high-flying Hawks. For us it means a chance for our injury list to heal itself, and also the majority of our suspended players to be available again. Given that we played that (wet) game with just the one tall (Aaron Cadman - who held his own in the circumstances) and Callum Brown (still dropping marks inside 50), it will be a certainty that Hogan comes into the side. The question will be whether Stringer does too, and if so, who does he replace - Keeffe (after his heroics) or Brown? Hogan, Cadman, Stringer and Keeffe just seems too tall to me, but Kingers won't want to drop Keeffe after that lion-hearted effort.
The small forwards actually didn't do as well as I expected. Jones was held a bit (both literally, by Demons players at times, and figuratively). Binga went off injured, but hopefully he'll be OK after some rest. Toby was magnificent; he stood tall as captain in that last quarter, playing a lot of midfield time. The medium forward Brown competed well, and was excellent as the chop-out ruck, but again dropped some gettable marks inside 50.
Finn Callaghan was outstanding again in the middle; just has the ball on a string and his running game is breathtaking. Tom Green was strong in the hard ball game, while Josh Kelly complemented them nicely. Toby Bedford defended soundly, and will be required to tag Will Day in 2 weeks. Stephen Coniglio is still down on form, but his 3 goals were as important as they were impressive, while Xavier O'Halloran had his usual mix of good and bad. I expect that they will all feature against the Hawks, but James Leake had a quiet game and might well make way as others come into the team.
I think defence is set, and although Connor Idun had a poor game (poorly directed fists led to 2 Demon goals), there won't be any changes there. Conor Stone was sound without being great again, but he just needs to play first grade and build both his confidence and his skills.
So, who comes in apart from Hogan, Briggs and possibly Stringer? Riccardi - no, Fonti - no; Harvey Thomas and Toby McMullin possibly - but who goes out? We were down on tall forwards for this game, which I can't see Kingers replicating when guys are available. So, Hogan replaces Gru (but comes into the starting line-up), Briggs for Leake essentially, Stringer for Keeffe or Brown. Personally, despite Lachie's heroics and Brown's ongoing butter-fingers, the best set-up would be Brown (to create 3 talls, 1 medium, and 3 smalls). Cadman and Brown can take the secondary ruck duels. That means for me there is no room for Thomas or McMullin to break into a twice-winning team in my mind.
Depending on how Kingers sees the structural importance, I also wonder if Wehr - who to me would be a candidate to drop back into the sub role - might hold his spot on one wing, in which case it could be Brown or O'Halloran who drop back to that sub role.
So, this is what I'm thinking at present:
Himmelberg Taylor Idun
Ash Buckley Whitfield
Kelly Callaghan Ward
Daniels Cadman Stringer
Jones Hogan Greene
Briggs Green Bedford
Stone O'Halloran Coniglio Brown
Sub: Wehr
Hawthorn will have the luxury of playing next week, so will be well battle-hardened by the time our round 3 game arrives. And we never do well off a bye, so it's a real clutch game for us (away in Tasmania, too!). They play Thursday, so will be well-rested, and we can only hope that Carlton provide more opposition to them than training cones ... denting their confidence and roughing them up a bit would be useful to us. The Hawks mids and defenders are proving to be excellent; while their forwards are making do with a mix of Mabior Chol and their small forward brigade (Dylan Moore, Jack Ginnivan and the Wizard), so we will need to be sharp in taking them on. Let's analyse the Hawks-Blues game next Thursday, and come back for more discussion on their game play.
What are your thoughts?
