Preview Changes & Preview - Ports vs Carlton Round 12 Thursday May 30th @ Adelaide Oval

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I'm hoping they give Anastasopoulos a run with Rioli out. ( Calf or Achilles strain has to be a concern in 5 days?)

Ruck. Sweet out. Soldo in if fit.

If Soldo isn't fit.

If Pittonet doesn’t front up for Carlton and they are going with De Koning I don't see the piont of Sweet going around.

De Koning is 202cm and 102kgs. Dante is a reasonable match up.
 
can see Burton going out for Evans and Dixon for Rioli.

Carlton have the twin talls, but I think the loss of Rioli will hurt more than not playing Burton.
 
If Rioli doesn't come up, Anasatasopoulos has to be a silly chance. He is very slight but quick and he is a natural forward who can football.
 
Assuming Rioli will be out. Really not sure who should come in for him. 80% chance of rain on Thursday according to my phone so I don't like the idea of playing 4 talls in the forward line. Hence, I would drop Finlayson and bring in Dixon. Provided Soldo is good to go, I'd play him ahead of Sweet.

Getting back to Rioli, they probably just play Lachie Jones in that role and then move Evans to the sub. Personally I'd rather play Narkle in Rioli's role and keep Jones as the sub this week (leaving Evans out), but I don't see that happening.

Massive game on Thursday though irrespective of who plays. A win entrenches them firmly in the top 4 going into the bye which will set things up well for the second half of the year. Whilst a loss wouldn't be the end of the world, it would be a massive opportunity lost to create distance on the chasing pack.
 

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Dixon has become one dimensional because of his lack of mobility. In his early days he was surprisingly mobile. Was good below his knees and quick on the lead. That mobility is gone. Now he just battles away in marking contests.

It’s a low % play kicking it long to Dixon. And to make matters worse we don’t have instinctive small forwards to crumb when the ball hits the ground apart from Rioli. It’s normally swept away by defenders.

I think his return will hinder rather than help.
 
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Massive game on Thursday though irrespective of who plays. A win entrenches them firmly in the top 4 going into the bye which will set things up well for the second half of the year. Whilst a loss wouldn't be the end of the world, it would be a massive opportunity lost to create distance on the chasing pack.

It's a massive game against a finals contender and we have yet to beat a proper contender this season.

Sorry Geelong, you're cooked and may not feature in the finals. Essendon has had a soft draw. So both teams don't count as contenders.
 
Given that Sweet missed two weeks of footy, he was very competitive in the ruck against a form ruckman and hits to advantage were in our favour. Soldo was on limited minutes in the SANFL so it would be a bit of a risk to entrust him with the job just yet.
 
It's a massive game against a finals contender and we have yet to beat a proper contender this season.

Sorry Geelong, you're cooked and may not feature in the finals. Essendon has had a soft draw. So both teams don't count as contenders.

Your notion of "proper contender" is purely a subjective one.

Looking at this objectively, outside of Sydney, every single team in the top 8 have had significant issues in multiple matches this year. If you are to ignore thrashing Essendon and beating Geelong in Geelong, should we write Melbourne off because they lost to West Coast last week? GWS lost to Essendon only a few weeks ago so based on your logic I guess you can draw a line through them too. Even Collingwood only just got up against the Crows, and could only manage draws against Essendon and Freo - two teams Port have beaten this season.

Port have the 2nd highest percentage in the 8 - but only a tad over 117 at the half way point of the year shows just how bloody even this season is.

Literally every team in the 8 is a contender right now, albeit playing at a level below the top rung of Sydney.
 
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