News Blues squad to tackle Cats

[blues4flag]

Should be interesting. Was hoping Walker would be back, but alas not to be. A baptism of fire for the younger guys - let's hope we can keep it within 150.

Hopefully Yarran stays fit and can run out the game. Might even get a run through the midfield given our inexperienced it is going to be (might freeze to death if he's left in the forward pocket all night).

Looking forward to watching the boys on the idiot box for the first time this season.

 

[Warsaw]

Pretty peeved that Robbo won't play. Sort of get it but still. Stoked that we finally get to see Rhys and Stanton. And Yazza.

 

[lily of laguna]

Gee, it will be great if the young lads can put in a good performance and show us what they have.

It will also be good to see some good leadership from some of the older guys!

Very exciting game to watch I reckon

 

[Blue Girl 4 life]

Im very very surprised at the choices we've made in this squad. When i heard that Judd and Fev, Murphy and Simmo will be rested , i was a bit shocked, but when Gibbs, Waite, Houlihan, Robinson were also rested, that surprised me.
I think its great that we can see what our young young guys can do, so they can learn the speed of afl, what it takes to play against a very strong side like Geelong.
I was seeing the games experience we have taken out to what we've put in, just to see, and it was around 774 games out and bringing in 45 or so,
so its quite a big gap,

I'll be at the game, even if we get totally smashed, as it will be good to see the youngsters out in force and i hope a lot of supporters will turn up as it will show that we dont just rock up to see Judd, fev etc we go to see our Boys no matter what the squad.
Imagine the confidence our boys will get from beating Geelong,

also , i thought that the confidence gain our players will get from winning the nab cup or making it to the grand final, i know its just a bunch of pre season matches, but its a minor premiership and we would have beaten Hawthorn and geelong and north melbourne, three teams that smashed us last year,
the look on our boys faces after the two wins this year , really showed how proud they were

Go Blues

 

[Blue Bawls]

Consider this: We throw in a full strength team and perhaps win in a tight and physically exhausting struggle, then have to get up again for a "grand final" against most likely Collingwood. There's niggle, Collingwood eager to redeem themselves after we pantsed them twice last year; it's a tough, close match, someone swings a punch - melee - reports - suspensions - injuries. On top of that we're all buggered for the first round when the points really count.

Imagine if we had won the first two matches last season. It would have been enough to get us into the finals.

 

[krayfesh]

I'm trying to judge how awesome this is.

Hard to work out exactly.

Look to Stevens to stand up in the game.

Sad that Tiller isn't playing.

25+ possessions for JR.

3x Small Forwards to get 8 goals between them.

Austin to rock CHB to move Waite to the wing.

And the rest.

 

[The Coach]

We won't get flogged unless the cat's play a full list. Be prepared to be suprised. Doubt we'll win though.

I was surprised that the suggested line up did not look too bad

That's my concern as well!

I find it odd that we played near to a full strength side in the first two weeks and as we get closer to the GF they drop all our big names.... I understand that they are focusing on round 1 but still odd don't you think?

Why not play the young kids in round 1 and bring in the guns as we progress through the weeks of the Cup/Challenge?

What about the promotion of membership to prospects? Surely a win against Geelong could've boosted our membership numbers... centre stage Saturday night as well...

Regardless, will be good to see the kids have a go but against a near full strength Geelong side could be dangerous.

Could it be that the MC's long term plan did not include us still being in the NAB cup

Hate to seem pessimistic (and I reckon we'll do very well this year), just got home from work and going to go straight to the TAB and put something on Geelong win 39.5+ that squad is bloody young and inexperienced and Geelong are playing ablett, bartel, corey, johnson, scarlett, chapman plus others

I would be surprised if you can get $1.10 for Geelong to win by 69.5+

I'm trying to judge how awesome this is.

Hard to work out exactly.

Look to Stevens to stand up in the game.

Sad that Tiller isn't playing.

25+ possessions for JR.

3x Small Forwards to get 8 goals between them.

Austin to rock CHB to move Waite to the wing.

And the rest.

You have me mesmerized Kray - now describe a Dream Girl for me and it will be sweet dreams

 

[blue gunslinger]

No injuries -no reports-cotton wool the stars - focus on Richmond
I am already happy with the result.
The kids might surprise you!

 

[Silvagnis]

So wait, we don't have:
Judd, Fevola, Murphy, Gibbs, Simpson, Waite, Robinson, Walker, Carazzo, Scotland.

Holy crap.

We're odds on to lose after resting Robinson...

Great management by Ratten.

I suspect Kreuzer and Yarran could have played last week if it was a H & A game, but we're just giving everyone a taste of it before the real stuff starts.

Great selections.

Our rucks and young players need all the exposure they can get against senior players from top sides.

Most of the squad have played against men before, so I don't know why a few supporters have their knickers in a twist about playing the Cats.

It's not like we're sending Tiller out there to play on Milburn.

The players would walk across hot coals for Ratten.

Except for Houlihan who has a pedicure booked for the next day.

Kreuzer.

 

[blue gunslinger]

Pedicure - my sources say he is having his tips done for Mardi gras

 

[bLuEbOy1984]

great chance for our younger core group to stand up and show a little leadership.. alot of people are misguided by this appraoch, our appraoch is for round 1 not to win the NAB we want our core players to be fit and ready to go for round 1.... this game could highlight alot of positives for our team aswell as negatives but if we see a player like Grigga or Jamo come up and show their worth and leadership skills it will be a vital thing for the blues going forward... i think the people are looking towards only loosing thing, experiance and development is a key thing.... going forward it may help a player 5% and thats a postive infraction.. the bigger picture is Round 1

 

[celtic_pride]

LOL i hardly think an 10 goal plus point belting (which is on the cards btw) is actually going to be 'helpful' for the kids development ... And most of the kids playing on sat night won't play many (if any) games for the senior squad this yar, i think it's just the club has thrown in the towel already, which I find annoying

This is like throwing lambs to the wolves and frankly it's hard to justify/fathom so many stars been dropped at one time ... Please explain the 'niggling' injuries that Fev or Gibbs were carrying, they should be playing just to build up their momentum for the season proper.

There is very few positives to come from this, and the potential for bad negatives/repurcussions is enormous.

 

[Shambolic]

LOL i hardly think an 10 goal plus point belting (which is on the cards btw) is actually going to be 'helpful' for the kids development ... And most of the kids playing on sat night won't play many (if any) games for the senior squad this yar, i think it's just the club has thrown in the towel already, which I find annoying

This is like throwing lambs to the wolves and frankly it's hard to justify/fathom so many stars been dropped at one time ... Please explain the 'niggling' injuries that Fev or Gibbs were carrying, they should be playing just to build up their momentum for the season proper.

There is very few positives to come from this, and the potential for bad negatives/repurcussions is enormous.

Nah I just dont agree. Your lambs to the wolves is their opportunity. Theres lots of good to come from this. We have a far deeper list than at any time since 2000 and these kids might actually show something.

I doubt theres anything to lose.

The whole 'we might be scarred' mentality may have belonged to Carlton under the hard fist of Denis Pagan, but our Coaches are far more in tune with the needs of our young players.

Go Blues.

pity Saturday night is going to suck but its about Round 1.

 

[krayfesh]

Saturday night is going to rock.

Say what you will, we've all wanted to see the youngsters playing together. I'm sick of only seeing a couple a year.

This will unlock the next big thing for us.

Whether it's Yarran kicking a few goals or Austin destroying CHB.

Or <blank> doing <blank> well.

I can see the headlines now.

 

[Jimthegreat]

Fancy some of us wanting our footy team to win a game, or at the very least put in an competitive effort against one of the benchmarks of the competition ...

BTW This 'NAB Cup' theory was revoked last year by St.Kilda, they won the pre-season comp, and finished in the top 4 at the end of the season (made the prelim final)

Most of the players rested, esp Fev looked in top/sharp form, and I don't think there is/was any injury clouds hanging over there ..

Isn't it better to try and let them keep up their good form and build up momentum for the start of the home and away season .. Winning form is good form, even in the pre season ...

No mate. It's a glorified practice match series. Only the naive think it's a "real" match and take take it real seriously. They've had a whole pre-season. They'll be fit by round 1. We want then fresh too. It's a long season.

 

[1981]

We have won two of these things in recent times, and now we're a side that should be thinking about the real stuff more so than trying to obtain some confidence for our young players via the glorified practice match competition. We've been down that road.

And you never know, you might be surprised.

I find it hard to believe the Cats' no.1 priority is to win the NAB Cup, irrespective of the fact they lost the big one last year. I would expect Bomber to experiment a bit on Saturday night, I mean what has he got to achieve otherwise?

And it will be good for a Hadley to play a major role in midfield, let's see what he's made of.

And it will be great to see Betts, Yarran and Garlett all on the same forwardline at the same time - Ratts hinted a couple weeks back that he is really keen to see this combination together. h the game evolving into a very defensive spectacle, I would argue the teams that move the ball into their forwadline quickly (a la Geelong, and like the way we have trained all pre-season) will stand the best chance of overcoming the flood and roaming zone defenses.

And it stands to reason if you're trying to move the ball inside F50 quickly, that having quality small forward pockets will be a huge advantage. I honestly think there's no surprise we went and got Yarran and Garlett, given the current climate of the AFL. Go look at the game plan we have practiced so far this off-season, it revolves around getting numbers back and then as quick as possible trying to run the ball through the middle using your best midfielders/runners, linking up with handball.

 

[Warsaw]

It'll be like Fasta Pasta.

 

[drusswaylander]

Good to see the prophets of doom out

It will be nice to see the kids. We have been cutting kids who haven't even had a NAB cup game over the last few years, at least this way some on the cusp can show their wares in the ones. Sometimes the extra pressure of playing in the seniors helps a player step up a level and we could get a pleasant surprise or two

The Dome is a tough surface to play on. Players playing too many in a row there would not help us for round one.

This is not a full strength Geelong by any means, but still should beat us pretty easily.

If we do win (even at full strength not a sure thing) the hype of a grand final against the wobbles or bombers would be a distraction for round one.

We have a fitness plan geared towards round one and a long season where we will be in a pretty even fight with a number of teams for a finals spot. It is not geared towards winning the NAB

I couldn't give a stuff about the NAB, I want to see us playing finals in the real stuff So I don't have a problem with this attitude.

 

[J-Train]

It'll be like Fasta Pasta.

A messy, steaming pile of slop where the final outcome gives me a stomach ache?

 

[Blueboys7]

As if we are going to tackle the Cats? Silly thing to say IMO

 

[thylacine60]

Ratts wants to avoid any contact till Round 1.

 

[Blueboys7]

Ratts wants to avoid any contact till Round 1.

Well thought out strategy if you ask me. Ratts has been quoted as saying that instead of fielding the above named squad, a team consisting of a piece of paper and a stick. But then realised that he was infact refering to Russell and Garlett.

(HOLD OFF ALL OF YOU I MEANT NO HARM OVER THE RUSSELL COMMENT A JOKE AMONGST FRIENDS)

 

[blues4flag]

What happens if we win?

 

[The Cranium]

Deja Vu

 

[BlueBelle]

Could it be that the MC's long term plan did not include us still being in the NAB cup

Why play close to a full strength side in the first two weeks if they didn't expect/want to win?