Preview AFL Round 14 - Geelong v North Melbourne, Skilled Stadium, Sunday 4 July 1:10PM

[witsend]

I agree...although it just sounds like from the major vein bleeding thing that it might be a big ask for Harry to come up this week.

The side does look much more tougher, and it's balanced too. You're taking out 2 mids and a small (as I selected it) and bringing in 3 tough midfielders, and you're replacing 2 talls with 2 talls (now yes one of them's a ruckman, but when everybody else is injured or suspended sometimes that's what you gotta do).

Just hope Bartel comes up.

Yeah..get's a bit scary if Bartel, Taylor, SJ and Mooney go out.
Still..that's the good thing about early wins in the bank. You can ride out the tough times. All top teams will have a tough patch here and there.
In RD 21 last year the entire AFL had written us off and look how that ended up!!
I still believe structurally and form wise we are in better shape than last year.
Even on Friday, after being there and watching the replay, I don't feel worried. St Kilda were breathing fire and bent on revenge. It simply meant more to them. They played as well as they could, almost every 50/50 decision fell their way, the weather was appalling, we were missing way more top line players, and had injuries during the game, yet they didn't put us to the sword. They had one good quarter.
I would also suggest having Riewoldt play again is not a guarantee of success. He still has to perform at his elite fitness level to make any sort of difference ad if he's the slightest bit early in his return he will be in big trouble.

 

[rizzo]

Good chance for Christensen to finally get a game..

 

[winty]

Good chance for Christensen to finally get a game..

I'd have thought Menzel might be knocking on the door to make his debut too after kicking a few goals each week for the last month or so, especially if we're without SJ, Moons and possibly Pods (if rumours of an injury are correct) and Chapman if we decide to rest him again.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Good chance for Christensen to finally get a game..

Hmm maybe although I wouldn't bank on it.

He did say a couple of weeks ago he doesn't have the fitness (yet) to play afl midfield yet and while we do need forwards, I think with chappy plus the three amigos, we don't really have room for another small forward.

What we really need is a tall forward so hopefully Pods can play and we make do with whatever else we can cobble together.

 

[cats2rise]

In: Joel Corey, Paul Chapman, Mitch Duncan, James Kelly, Tom Hawkins (only if he is right to go)
Out: Harry Taylor (inj), Steve Johnson (sus / inj), Cameron Mooney (sus), James Bartel (inj), Ryan Gamble (omit)

Wow, they are some crazy 'ins.' If Hawkins isnt right, surely they would try Gamble up forward? Who else could come in from the VFL? No talls of any sort. West up forward with another ruckman say, Dawson as a back up to Blake?

 

[Gaz_Brownlow]

Don't think Menzel or Christensen purely on team balance, but Mitch Brown maybe seriously looked at. Would really like to see Hawkins back in as we need the bigger bodies...Ottens would be another bonus. With our three amigos we have enough small power....they don't seem to work well without having the bigger forwards (or should i say harder) forwards to complement them.

Im hoping Trav pulls his finger out this week....really needs to demonstrate that he is ready to consistently take the next step. He should be marked a bit more harshly these days as he has the potential to go further.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Wow, they are some crazy 'ins.' If Hawkins isnt right, surely they would try Gamble up forward? Who else could come in from the VFL? No talls of any sort. West up forward with another ruckman say, Dawson as a back up to Blake?

I suppose Gamble could be tried although he isn't really a second tall. I just think he may be dropped but we will see.

There really are no other tall forwards in our VFL team. Johnson is still raw and on the rookie list, Brown is promising and I know everyone here seems to think he's the next big thing, but he's only played 3 games of footy and is skinny as all heck so I don't think we should be sending him out yet, especially to be driven mad by Scott Thompson.

The West idea, which I suggested, is not crazy in fact it's what we did in the Essendon game. The only difference is bringing in Dawson also which I went with because I think given North have two good ruckmen in HMac and Goldstein, you wouldn't want to ask Blake to go one out.

 

[magic_johnson!]

Good chance for Christensen to finally get a game..

4 goals on the weekend in the 2s when we got thrashed...
Welcome bundy!


I'm looking forward to seeing the big couch on a crane over the Ablett Terrace also..

 

[RichyRich]

Sorry to see your injury list from the weekend guys.....and suspensions!
Hope they all come back soon

I whinced when I saw the Bartel incident, he won't get up for this week for sure!
(The fact that there is a bit of new saying he will makes me think a bit of game-play is going on).

 

[cats81]

West out for Ottens
Gamble out for Corey
Duncan in for Johnson
Brown in for Mooney (if Hawkins is not right)

If Bartel and Taylor dont pull up I would like to see Gillies and Cristiansen to get a gig but it would more likely be Gillies and Hogan

 

[winty]

West out for Ottens
Gamble out for Corey
Duncan in for Johnson
Brown in for Mooney (if Hawkins is not right)

If Bartel and Taylor dont pull up I would like to see Gillies and Cristiansen to get a gig but it would more likely be Gillies and Hogan

No Chappy?

 

[witsend]

Ottens for Mooney.
Chappy for SJ
Kelly for Gamble
Corey for T. Hunt
Hawkins for West if Hawkins is good to go, but I'm doubtful.

I'm presuming Bartel and Taylor recover in time because we have a 9 day break.
Not too shabby really.
You have a nice Forward/Ruck Combo of Ottens/West and Blake shoulders the brunt of the tap-work.
I think we forget just how important Ottens is structurally. He can impact a game with limited possessions, and it will be good for a guy like West to see him up close in an AFL game.
If Bartel is out T. Hunt stays in.
If Taylor is out, Gillies comes in.
Problem solved.

 

[SJ]

Ottens for Mooney.
Chappy for SJ
Kelly for Gamble
Corey for T. Hunt
Hawkins for West if Hawkins is good to go, but I'm doubtful.

I'm presuming Bartel and Taylor recover in time because we have a 9 day break.
Not too shabby really.
You have a nice Forward/Ruck Combo of Ottens/West and Blake shoulders the brunt of the tap-work.
I think we forget just how important Ottens is structurally. He can impact a game with limited possessions, and it will be good for a guy like West to see him up close in an AFL game.
If Bartel is out T. Hunt stays in.
If Taylor is out, Gillies comes in.
Problem solved.

What if Ottens, Chapman, Corey and Hawkins aren't fit?

 

[Cohzee]

Re: Training this week

still cant get tickets for this game!!!

Use your membership...

 

[AM]

Could we have a forward line of Ottens, Hawkins, Gamble, Stokes, Varcoe, Byrnes??[/quote

Please not the showboat. Duncan or Christensen. Pods will play.

 

[AM]

What if Ottens, Chapman, Corey and Hawkins aren't fit?

Bomber said on 774 on Sunday that Chappy and Corey could have played on Friday. They just opted for the conservative approach. I'd be surprised if Ottens played. Not sure about Tomahawk.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Sorry to see your injury list from the weekend guys.....and suspensions!
Hope they all come back soon

I whinced when I saw the Bartel incident, he won't get up for this week for sure!
(The fact that there is a bit of new saying he will makes me think a bit of game-play is going on).

I know, our injury list is almost as bad as yours!

I laugh at people writing is off at this time of the year. We had 6 of our best 22 out on friday and thats before SJ and Mooney got suspended, and we're still managing to be on top of the ladder. We'll be right we just need them all back later in the year.

On Bartel, we're only thinking he may play because he said on Sunday that he probably would. Unlikely Sheedy and the Essendon flu, we don't tend to do tricks when it comes to injured players and selection.

 

[Tas]

Will Ling go to Harvey and if so, how does Harvey usually handle the tag? His lowest DT scores have been against St Kilda and Freo where no doubt he was heavily tagged.

Ling usually does a very good job on Harvey, he isn't a huge fan of the hard tag, but he plays a lot more as a forward now and has a license to run around the middle where previous years he played a fair bit as a follower.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

What if Ottens, Chapman, Corey and Hawkins aren't fit?

Then we get Harry Taylor's fiancee to somehow produce 3 more father sons in 4 days and get max rooke to turn them from babies to men in one week.

More seriously, if none of those guys play, then probably all of Simpson, Hogan, Duncan and maybe even your man Gamble, will play.

4 goals on the weekend in the 2s when we got thrashed...
Welcome bundy!


I'm looking forward to seeing the big couch on a crane over the Ablett Terrace also..

As good as his form is, I still see no place for Bundy. Chappy, if fit, is a straight swap for SJ. Whoever replaces Mooney needs to be somewhat tall. We have 3 small forwards and we don't need 4. Thus Bundy is only a chance to play if Chappy doesn't, and even then Duncan may get the nod ahead of him.

I am looking forward to seeing that crane too...wish I was in it.

 

[Tas]

Besides North usually go reasonably tall so I don't think that's too top heavy.

Not of late. Our FF is currently Hansen and McIntosh or Goldstein (whoever isn't rucking) sometimes push forward when not on the bench. Other than that our forward line is usually Warren (med), Thomas (small), Campbell (small), Harvey (small), Wright (med).

Hale hasn't been playing recently and Petrie has pretty much missed the whole year.

 

[Tas]

Its r14 and so far the only time we have looked like being beaten is when our mids where poor and the other side had a dominant small forward.

Now our mids , are quality. No one could argue with that. But our small defenders are questionable. All year we have played a tall backline. Lonergan has unbalanced the height factor , he has been good but facts are facts.
Now we are playing North who only a couple of weeks ago had one of their smalls kick 7. If Taylor misses we can try to find another small defender. We probably won't but , someone like Djkurra who is struggling to find a spot , maybe its his chance.

Chapman , Kelly ,for sure. Corey , Hawkins if they are fit all have to come back. Perhaps Menzel he has kicked quite a few goals.

That was Thomas, he kicked 7.5 and had 20 disposals, 8 tackles, had a really good game but Carlton had nobody really that could matchup on him so a lot of our inside 50s went his way to expose them, anyone who gets a ton of inside 50s go their way should kick 3 or 4 goals imo.

We played Port last week and they had a much better small defender, I think it was Surjan and Thomas only kicked 1.3 but we didn't go to Thomas as much as we did the week before so we spread the goals a bit more as the other forwards got more supply.

I think Wojcinski is a pretty good zippy small defender, have often had Rooke and Varcoe play on our smaller forwards in the past, Rooke is injured but you probably have a lot better options than Carlton or Port did.

 

[ZosoCat]

ok so could mitch brown come in for mooney? is that a possible inclusion? who else is looking to come back this week?

we will have johno and moons out but who is coming in? surely corey, ottens, hawkins and rooke aren't too far off now? Also chappy and kelly should come straight back in the our best 22.

I predict we will win quite easy but am worried about the injuries and suspensions because it's past the half way mark now and want to get a settled team very soon.

 

[BlueNWhite]

ok so could mitch brown come in for mooney? is that a possible inclusion? who else is looking to come back this week?

we will have johno and moons out but who is coming in? surely corey, ottens, hawkins and rooke aren't too far off now? Also chappy and kelly should come straight back in the our best 22.

I predict we will win quite easy but am worried about the injuries and suspensions because it's past the half way mark now and want to get a settled team very soon.

Hawkins in for Mooney, Ottens in for West against the 'Roos... Rooke is still indefinite and Corey will probably play Magoos this week.

Gut feel is Chapman for Bartel (elbow) and Kelly in for Dog...

 

[ZosoCat]

Hawkins in for Mooney, Ottens in for West against the 'Roos... Rooke is still indefinite and Corey will probably play Magoos this week.

Gut feel is Chapman for Bartel (elbow) and Kelly in for Dog...

looks like bartel is going to play this week right? we need to get rid of gamble also!

 

[BlueNWhite]

looks like bartel is going to play this week right? we need to get rid of gamble also!

I'm not sure if Bartel will line up this week - elbow hyperextensions can be difficult to get over. Benny Graham took several weeks to get over the one he suffered against the Dees years ago. Hopefully Bartel pulls up well, but I reckon he won't play this week.


Prove me wrong Jimmy!