Preview AFL Round 9 - Geelong v Western Bulldogs, Etihad Stadium, 7:50PM Friday 25 May

[RobDog18]

Smedts and Kelly(Calf) out, hope it's nothing serious.

 

[Jimmy Yamazaki]

FFS are we ever gonna have a full team out there?

 

[Jimmy Yamazaki]

Bulldogs:

In Cooney, Veszpremi, Roughead, Pearce

Out: Addison, Grant, Jones, Smith

 

[Gaz_Brownlow]

Dogs dstrength is contested ball and midfield strength....fortunately they arent the strongest forward line going around. This will be a close game judging on past form.

I like SJ playing more of a midfield role at moment...prefer to see chapman deeper and SJ up ground. simpkin and Stringer are both honest toilers and will give us presence and we may get away with this against dogs, but we do need additional mid strength...no Kelly and no christensen hurts. Minson has been rucking well to, but we can e,pose him with two interchanging rucks.

Key is going to be applied pressure, we just simply must appky greater ferocity around ball and expose the weaker links in dog side under pressure.

 

[The Rusty Clam]

Good luck to Simpkin. I don't like debuting another player in such a crucial game, but I guess he'll probably start as sub and only get on for a quarter anyway.

If Scarlett is a late out with Kelly already out I'm going to be worried. We need this one.

 

[vinum coupe]

The dogs have a chance to end the dynasty tomorrow.
We're lucky they aren't what they used to be. Because we sure aren't


God knows who can stop griffin.
On the plus side even I could stop cooney.

 

[CatTricks]

Dogs dstrength is contested ball and midfield strength....fortunately they arent the strongest forward line going around. This will be a close game judging on past form.

I like SJ playing more of a midfield role at moment...prefer to see chapman deeper and SJ up ground. simpkin and Stringer are both honest toilers and will give us presence and we may get away with this against dogs, but we do need additional mid strength...no Kelly and no christensen hurts. Minson has been rucking well to, but we can e,pose him with two interchanging rucks.

Key is going to be applied pressure, we just simply must appky greater ferocity around ball and expose the weaker links in dog side under pressure.

The Dogs have Minson, Roughead and Cordy to rotate through the ruck..

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Kelly out is a huge blow, needed him for this game. While they are rebuilding, Dogs are still very strong in mid contested ball.

Debutant or not, Simpkin simply HAD to come in with another ballwinner sidelined, we are short enough on ballwinners as it is. Who else could we have brought in who is a inside ballwinner? Assuming Hogan is injured, nobody.

I assume Kelly must have pulled up sore yesterday though, no way they would have played Simpkin on Sunday if they thought he'd have to come in tomorrow (with that many ballwinners out we could use a full game from him rather than sub which he surely will be). Oh well, Chapman full time in the guts, Bartel has to play a full game there this week, Corey needs to lift and Duncan to continue his recent form turnaround.

I still believe Pods and Hawkins can get well on top of their opponents if we can win the mid, but that is a big IF with no Kel and no Bundy.

Huge game, almost a final for us, looking forward to it.

 

[you pick one]

Good luck to Simpkin. I don't like debuting another player in such a crucial game, but I guess he'll probably start as sub and only get on for a quarter anyway.

If Scarlett is a late out with Kelly already out I'm going to be worried. We need this one.

Don't go putting the white ants into me,over 1/3 of the side Friday night will have less than 90 games between them,there is a challenge to start with.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

The dogs have a chance to end the dynasty tomorrow.
We're lucky they aren't what they used to be. Because we sure aren't


God knows who can stop griffin.
On the plus side even I could stop cooney.

Poodle will. The form he's been in, he can definitely limit his influence.

That's not my worry.

Whether West and Orren can quell an in form Minson, and whether our mids can win enough ball themselves, is my worry.

That said, we turned a mini corner last week, if we bring that intensity we can win this even with our outs.

We have to.

 

[you pick one]

Dogs on a 6 day break coming back from Darwin won't hurt our chances.

 

[Gladbaqs]

Check out that bench.

Almost 20 games experience right there.

 

[The Rusty Clam]

Don't go putting the white ants into me,over 1/3 of the side Friday night will have less than 90 games between them,there is a challenge to start with.

I should have said 'even more worried'.

 

[vinum coupe]

Poodle will. The form he's been in, he can definitely limit his influence.

That's not my worry.

Whether West and Orren can quell an in form Minson, and whether our mids can win enough ball themselves, is my worry.

That said, we turned a mini corner last week, if we bring that intensity we can win this even with our outs.

We have to.

I'm not worried about the dogs.
If we lose we are done.

But griffin will kick 3.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

I cannot for the life of me foresee how that Dogs forward half will kick over 10 goals, whether we lose the clearances or not.

 

[maceman]

Dogs dstrength is contested ball and midfield strength....fortunately they arent the strongest forward line going around. This will be a close game judging on past form.

I like SJ playing more of a midfield role at moment...prefer to see chapman deeper and SJ up ground. simpkin and Stringer are both honest toilers and will give us presence and we may get away with this against dogs, but we do need additional mid strength...no Kelly and no christensen hurts. Minson has been rucking well to, but we can e,pose him with two interchanging rucks.

Key is going to be applied pressure, we just simply must appky greater ferocity around ball and expose the weaker links in dog side under pressure.

Hey Guys. Can you tell me how long christensen is going to be out for? Cheers.

 

[SJ]

I cannot for the life of me foresee how that Dogs forward half will kick over 10 goals, whether we lose the clearances or not.

Probably through their midfield and half-forwards, like every team has against us this year.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

Hey Guys. Can you tell me how long christensen is going to be out for? Cheers.

Should be back next week, but take our medical departments assessments with a grain of salt.

 

[winty]

I cannot for the life of me foresee how that Dogs forward half will kick over 10 goals, whether we lose the clearances or not.

Was thinking the same thing, especially with Jones and Grant being omitted.

 

[rooke33]

I cannot for the life of me foresee how that Dogs forward half will kick over 10 goals, whether we lose the clearances or not.

They have dropped Grant and Jones, so it would appear their key forwards will be Roughead and Cordy rotating with Minson. So a pretty inexperienced key position line up, however most teams have had midfielders kicking bags against us (e.g. Pendlebury, Ziebell, Bastinac) so have to be mindful of Griffen, Cooney and Sherman.

Dogs on a 6 day break coming back from Darwin won't hurt our chances.

Certainly helps us.

Still a danger game, if we use the ball well going into 50 and kick straight I think we will be alright.

 

[maceman]

Should be back next week, but take our medical departments assessments with a grain of salt.

Heh heh heh...too true. Thanks mate.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

Probably through their midfield and half-forwards, like every team has against us this year.

Judging by the last quarter and a half last week, our pressure won't allow this to happen. The first time all year we used last years successful game plan and Collingwood struggled at times to break through. The Bulldogs havn't got the calibre of players Collingwood had at it's disposal, running through these areas of the ground. Poodle will do the job on Griffen (hopefully) and we'll get the job done. With Scarlett back i honestly can't see them kicking enough goals to seriously threaten.

 

[CatTricks]

I just hope we stop bombing the ball in long to Hawk and Pods..

Lake loves that.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

I just hope we stop bombing the ball in long to Hawk and Pods..

Lake loves that.

He can only take 1 of them. We need to be a bit smarter with the options we use in the forward half and try to isolate Austin one out with whoever Lake doesn't take.

 

[Duskfire]

I cannot for the life of me foresee how that Dogs forward half will kick over 10 goals, whether we lose the clearances or not.

I would have said the same thing for the North game, or the Richmond game. But we have been bleeding goals all year, especially when it comes to the midfield. We're just not exerting enough pressure in the middle, and the Bulldogs, despite being a shadow of once they still were, still have a pretty decent midfield.

We should win, but the last few games have made me relatively pessimistic. This is a must win game for both clubs, and I worry the Bulldogs, who have had better form then us of late, may be fit and firing and raring to go, while we continue to dribble along in second gear until the last quarter.