Preview Changes & Preview for Semi Final 2 vs Hawthorn @AO

[Willsy10]

I don't see how those changes are that bad. In hindsight we would've been much better off rolling the dice on Sinn then putting DBJ into defence, essentially robbing Peter to pay Paul. Sinn whilst he is a gamble at least means we can move DBJ back forward where he has played well all season and replace one of the spuds in Evans or McEntee.

Marshall just has to play, too good of a player to have on the sidelines when we've got such a dysfunctional forward line at present. He may not have had a great season and has been unreliable but his ceiling is much higher than Esava or Dixon right now. But i don't see what we lose with replacing Narkle with Marshall, Narkle is so non-descript it's not funny. When your smalls are so bad you may as well throw in an extra tall. One which is actually capable of hitting the scoreboard and also hitting targets by foot.

 

[pstew2dstew]

The closer it gets the more convinced I am of losing by a big margin.

I just cannot see us winning this in any way bar the midfield which right now looks like its number 1 is gone or badly injured.

I don't want us to lose but I just cannot see an avenue to a win.

 

[Adz2332]

Donut's is one brainless coach, but him doing this would be a little bit of a stretch
If this is true Sam Mitchell would be laughing at us
View attachment 2107544

Don't mind it. Change narkle for McEntee and that's what Id do. And it's what we should have played last week

 

[PowerBaz]

The closer it gets the more convinced I am of losing by a big margin.

I just cannot see us winning this in any way bar the midfield which right now looks like its number 1 is gone or badly injured.

I don't want us to lose but I just cannot see an avenue to a win.

We are at complete opposites.

Hawks have a young coach, flying high and I bet they can't wait to get on a plane to bury us and progress with their amazing year.

We have a used by his use by date coach and a team full of head issues who would rather play at Mars Stadium in front of 3 people.

The end is nigh, I feel the closer it gets too the Hawks might teach us a lesson.

If we lose they better get on with sacking Ken by Tuesday.

 

[Willsy10]

Honestly, it's all warranted but it has really frustrated me how much we've been dismissed as any threat whatsoever for this Friday night. For our home final, Hawthorn just need to show up for a training drill and smash our pathetic mob.

This is how quickly things have turned in a week, after we were predicted to account for Geelong and most predicted Hawthorn to lose to the dogs and now we are out in straight sets and they are through to a prelim before the ball has even bounced in the semi.

Forget Ginnivan, most of the media commentary has already turned to a Swan v Hawks prelim.

If this club has any pride, this should put so much fire in the belly, and this Friday night should be the line in the sand moment for us in finals.

This is win at all costs. This reminds me a lot of the 2002 semi against Essendon, where we were a finals laughing stock and just had to bloody win that game.

 

[Scodges]

Donut's is one brainless coach, but him doing this would be a little bit of a stretch
If this is true Sam Mitchell would be laughing at us
View attachment 2107544

Nope, knuckle should be getting a full game, not dropped !


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[Willsy10]

The other thing i remember is Richmond rolling into town for the 2014 elimination, hot to trot like hawthorn after 9 in a row and knocking off the top team on the road in the final minor round game. Many thought we wouldn't win, but we weren't going to let anything stand in our way that day. And our form going into finals was patchy, and Richmond had accounted for us fairly easily only a few weeks earlier, we'd wrestled ourselves out of a massive form slump but we were far from out of the woods.

But we had total buy in that day, everyone was pulling in the same direction, and we played with no fear and obliterated Richmond.

 

[Stryke]

We just simply can't afford to play Narkle, Jed and McEntee in the same team so those changes are good IMO. I personally feel Narkle is the best of the the 3 (and Jed is the worst). It was diabolical call including all three last week but not where we lost the game.

We are no chance if Butters is out or hampered in anyway (which it seems like he will be).

 

[chachi11]

The other thing i remember is Richmond rolling into town for the 2014 elimination, hot to trot like hawthorn after 9 in a row and knocking off the top team on the road in the final minor round game. Many thought we wouldn't win, but we weren't going to let anything stand in our way that day. And our form going into finals was patchy, and Richmond had accounted for us fairly easily only a few weeks earlier, we'd wrestled ourselves out of a massive form slump but we were far from out of the woods.

But we had total buy in that day, everyone was pulling in the same direction, and we played with no fear and obliterated Richmond.

That 2014 game was nuts...Wingard, Gray White, Schulz, Westhoff, younger Wines and Boak...so much talent.

Then you get the plebs saying Hinkley never had a great list....fcuk me dead.

 

[bringbackbucky]

Surely Dixon cannot play...

 

[bringbackbucky]

I can't believe I went in last week feeling reasonably confident with a line up line up that had DBJ back, and a fwd line consisting of Narkle, Evans, McEntee, Ratagoulea and the corpse of Charlie Dixon

22

Charlie Dixon

Age

34

Ht

200cm

Wt

110kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.7

3star

K

6.9

3star

HB

4.7

3star

M

4.0

4star

T

2.2

4star

G

1.6

5star

D

10.5

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

3.5

2star

M

5.0

5star

T

1.5

2star

G

2.5

5star

D

8.2

2star

K

4.4

2star

HB

3.8

3star

M

2.0

3star

T

1.8

4star

G

0.8

4star

... What was i thinking?

 

[Enviable Tradition]

If we go that tall it will be very interesting to see who Sicily goes to.

On SM-G975F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Who is Michael Tripodi? Didn't he make some bogus call last week?

 

[PortWTF]

Dixon, Marshall, Georgiades and Ratugolea all in the same forward line? That would be a recipe for Hawthorn to score half a dozen end-to-end goals. We're already pathetic at defending if we can't lock it in the forward 50, this would guarantee we wouldn't lock it in.

Most finals series show us that tall forwards rarely do anything because the pressure is higher and there are rushed kicks and lots of spoiling. The ball will spend more time on the deck. We need more crumbing forwards than tall forwards, but we only have Rioli and DBJ that are passable. Once the ball hits the deck both Ratugolea and Dixon are pretty much useless. If they aren't marking they are a waste of space.

 

[Addy23]

I'm not sure what's given you the idea that McEntee has speed. He does not.

he just pumps his arms and legs fast to give an impression hes quick. But, he is brutally slow.....

I get the McEntee bashing and look I'm CEO of that club but if you honestly think he's brutally slow and isn't quicker than Narkle or FEvans to play that tag role then that's just delusional. McEntee's only positive attribute is speed. I'd still delist him end of the year but gotta go into this game with what we have

 

[luca77]

Not sure if you guys have got a separate thread for well wishers, but jeez I hope you flog those dipshytes.
Will be barracking hard for your club, possibly for the first time.
Good luck, start well!

 

[sobrave]

I get the McEntee bashing and look I'm CEO of that club but if you honestly think he's brutally slow and isn't quicker than Narkle or FEvans to play that tag role then that's just delusional. McEntee's only positive attribute is speed. I'd still delist him end of the year but gotta go into this game with what we have

Dude wtf have you been watching? His pace is very much below average for an AFL player.

 

[Gryllis]

If Evans and Narkle are out, but McEntee is still in, don't rule out Marshall as sub. Ken will think he's a genius.

 

[Coobk001]

Honestly, it's all warranted but it has really frustrated me how much we've been dismissed as any threat whatsoever for this Friday night. For our home final, Hawthorn just need to show up for a training drill and smash our pathetic mob.

This is how quickly things have turned in a week, after we were predicted to account for Geelong and most predicted Hawthorn to lose to the dogs and now we are out in straight sets and they are through to a prelim before the ball has even bounced in the semi.

Forget Ginnivan, most of the media commentary has already turned to a Swan v Hawks prelim.

If this club has any pride, this should put so much fire in the belly, and this Friday night should be the line in the sand moment for us in finals.

This is win at all costs. This reminds me a lot of the 2002 semi against Essendon, where we were a finals laughing stock and just had to bloody win that game.

Forgetting the 'warranted' or not thoughts. Do you think with the way we're going up forward, the losses down back and monkey on our back that we are a good chance?

Sportsbet have Hawks at $1.61 and Port at $2.33, I'd say those odds are generous to us.

I'd probably rank the top 6 personally as:
1. Brisbane
2. Sydney
3. Hawthorn (above GWS because of the benefits of being a Vic club)
4. GWS
5. Geelong
6. Port

Injuries, poor form and everything has just caught up with us. We probably needed to lose one of our last 3, to trigger a few selection changes ahead of finals so that we felt in a better spot. Right now though, no Finlayson, Lord having not played in a while, Marshall even longer, Soldo having been on the outer for a while, no Farrell, no Houston, no SPP, Rat not having played back for a while, DBJ being messed around, Lorenz not being given the opportunities he probably should've gotten earlier, same maybe with Sinn (but he's always injured), etc. There's just issues everywhere, then you consider McEntee looks like he'll get a game despite his absymal form and Mead is also way out of form now. It's a recipe for disaster. Especially when our best player is carrying ribs and unlikely to be anywhere near his best. In hindsight we have likely peaked too early and our injuries/suspensions are going to catch up with us here.

 

[Alberton Proud]

Jed could be the next Kane Cornes!

I actually don't mind what Malcom TM is saying there

 

[backtozero]

Sliding doors moment. Drew doesn't fumble that absolutely beautiful first clearance of the game. He kicks it forward and we mark and slot a goal. Crowd goes crazy with a goal within 30 seconds, team lifts and isn't on the backfoot from the very start. The whole game is different and we aren't playing this week.

Instead it sets the tone of the whole night and we play like scared little boys.

Sure Buddy.

 

[Rash]

Don't mind it. Change narkle for McEntee and that's what Id do. And it's what we should have played last week

why go tall when hawthorns backline will just all spread and rebound off the backline leaving our big imobile key forwards in the dust. this is exaclty what mitchell wants.

This wont work unless the key forwards start clunking some makrs and kicking some goals.

in the last 3 games our key forwards have kicked a whopping total of 3 goals.

 

[Rash]

Who is Michael Tripodi? Didn't he make some bogus call last week?

Some bloke on PAFC Uncut facebook group

He is accurate like 8/10 times.

 

[Rash]

I think that Mcentee wont tag sicily if we bring in an extra key forward, becuase it holds him more accountable.

For example if he goes on gerogiades and wants to peel off him, geroge will be by him self, if anohter hawks defender rolls on to georgie, we will have a lose in our forward 50.

if we bring in an extra key forward, Jed has not be dropped!

 

[Willsy10]

Forgetting the 'warranted' or not thoughts. Do you think with the way we're going up forward, the losses down back and monkey on our back that we are a good chance?

Sportsbet have Hawks at $1.61 and Port at $2.33, I'd say those odds are generous to us.

I'd probably rank the top 6 personally as:
1. Brisbane
2. Sydney
3. Hawthorn (above GWS because of the benefits of being a Vic club)
4. GWS
5. Geelong
6. Port

Injuries, poor form and everything has just caught up with us. We probably needed to lose one of our last 3, to trigger a few selection changes ahead of finals so that we felt in a better spot. Right now though, no Finlayson, Lord having not played in a while, Marshall even longer, Soldo having been on the outer for a while, no Farrell, no Houston, no SPP, Rat not having played back for a while, DBJ being messed around, Lorenz not being given the opportunities he probably should've gotten earlier, same maybe with Sinn (but he's always injured), etc. There's just issues everywhere, then you consider McEntee looks like he'll get a game despite his absymal form and Mead is also way out of form now. It's a recipe for disaster. Especially when our best player is carrying ribs and unlikely to be anywhere near his best. In hindsight we have likely peaked too early and our injuries/suspensions are going to catch up with us here.

Poor form? We had won 8 out of 9. No one thought we had poor form last week.

As mentioned in another post too 21/23 that dismantled the top team by 112 points played in the QF.