Unofficial Preview Changes v Geelong (Preliminary Final)

[Nathan Barley]

I hope not. We look best defensively with Lester, Payne and Andrews helping each other out. Lester also had some critical plays against GWS, one in particular he moved up to a stoppage, got the clearance and kicked inside 50 which lead to a goal.

I agree but we don’t see it enough

 

[3KZ is Football]

Could we put Lester as the sub? Someone might have to play tall but could give us some more run

 

[3KZ is Football]

I agree but we don’t see it enough

 

[Grasshopper17]

We are at a disadvantage in terms of Geelong having the week off whilst we had a hard fought, bruising win this week, however, you cannot underestimate the galvanisation mentally and morale wise after a win like that.

Look how united the players and coaches were after that win.

Geelong haven’t played a final yet(The soft kill v Port does not count as a final intensity wise). We are battle hardened.

We will have to start well. Qualifying Final winners have a record of starting their Preliminary Final slowly since the pre finals bye was introduced. We know this all too well after our prelim against Carlton last year.

This will be an opportunity we must capitalise on. The flipside of Geelong having the week off means it will be very difficult to expect us to run down a(nother) deficit on Saturday night.

 

[3KZ is Football]

We will have to start well. Qualifying Final winners have a record of starting their Preliminary Final slowly since the pre finals bye was introduced. We know this all too well after our prelim against Carlton last year.

This will be an opportunity we must capitalise on. The flipside of Geelong having the week off means it will be very difficult to expect us to run down a(nother) deficit on Saturday night.

Nobody was really rating Geelong that highly in terms of the Top 4 coming into the finals. Then they thrashed Port and suddenly they were the next big thing.

I suspect that we are going to beat them comfortably.

 

[bungalow_bill]

https://www.afl.com.au/news/1222789

 

[Thomasno]

The gambler in me says it's time.

There was the non htb to Bailey down at Geelong.

Personally I count that game as a win.

That was a moral victory that the English sports media would be proud of

 

[SL16]

I’m sure means nothing but Lachie was meant to appear on tonight’s episode of “AFL 360” but pulled out very last minute. Zorko took his spot

Love the mind games.

Only thing that would've been better is if he did a Danger and came on with crutches, wrapped up like a mummy.

 

[mpal6]

Nobody was really rating Geelong that highly in terms of the Top 4 coming into the finals. Then they thrashed Port and suddenly they were the next big thing.

I suspect that we are going to beat them comfortably.

Boys were after grand final redemption since OR, which took their eye off the ball in season. Now they are one step away from where they wanted to be all year.

I believe we are going to see a really good game from everyone and a good win.

I hope Sydney wins too, which would mean we'll be underdogs in Grand final as well.

 

[3KZ is Football]

View attachment 2113710

I didn’t write it. I’d love to see this though. Fingers crossed.

 

[Nathan Barley]

It's going to be an interesting game for Zorko. He's going to have an opponent who we can't afford him to zone off of too much

 

[Dalions]

It's going to be an interesting game for Zorko. He's going to have an opponent who we can't afford him to zone off of too much

That’s why we need to keep Answerth in the team as extra defensive cover.
All team have 1 that want to run off.
Key is to not turn the ball over in dangerous positions.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Who will run with Holmes and Dempsey? Don't know if Dunkley has the wheels to keep up with either of them. Reckon Berry gets a job and maybe Fletcher. Ah Chee running with Stewart?

 

[Nuggo]

Who will run with Holmes and Dempsey? Don't know if Dunkley has the wheels to keep up with either of them. Reckon Berry gets a job and maybe Fletcher. Ah Chee running with Stewart?

Get the pill first will help with this. Can't shut down everybody.

 

[Angus Young]

Best pubs to watch it in Brisbane?

 

[Nathan Barley]

Who will run with Holmes and Dempsey? Don't know if Dunkley has the wheels to keep up with either of them. Reckon Berry gets a job and maybe Fletcher. Ah Chee running with Stewart?

Are we tagging half the team?

 

[SeaOfFire]

Best pubs to watch it in Brisbane?

I haven't been to Brisbane for many years, but any of the pubs near the Gabba would be my vote - I have nfi if they are still operating though.

 

[Kernel Kurtz]

Best pubs to watch it in Brisbane?

Take your pick, there are plenty that will have it on in the sports bar.
The Pineapple , close to the Gabba, The Stones corner pub is great for a footy game , the Story Bridge Hotel.
My Son was at the Crown Casino sports bar on Saturday night, that went off.
I'm either going to the Stones or my local the Manly which also has a great sports bar.
But as long as it has a sports bar should be good to go.
The Pineapple should also be going off.

 

[Section 5]

It's going to be an interesting game for Zorko. He's going to have an opponent who we can't afford him to zone off of too much

Like last week

 

[Nathan Barley]

Like last week

Might just need the wingers to cover for him

 

[Bucking Beads]

Are we tagging half the team?

I think there is a few guys we give extra attention to. Be nice to see us be proactive on some of their players.

 

[Section 5]

Might just need the wingers to cover for him

I was more thinking about Zorko's opponent being Pleatling who appeared to have that defensive forward role
Once an attacking defender like Zorko gets loose and moved more forward he just hopes his teammates can cover the situation for a short period. Maybe he told them maybe not. It's a toss-up in that it can pay off or backfire on a turnover.
Who knows maybe Peatling moved downfield to be an extra around the ball and Zorko followed?
The game needed to be won with some goals kicked.
The experienced Zorko probably thought i can't help us score sitting between wing and half back
Roll the dice and see what happens

 

[McIvor]

 

[Nathan Barley]

No pressure on young Will

 

[Grasshopper17]

Lions should win midfield battle either way but the key isn’t stopping Jezza or Stewart or Danger….its the high half forwards and small forward brigade.

Miers, Dempsey, Close, Mannagh and Stengle all play really high to overwhelm with numbers at the contest and stream back towards goal with run and carry. Number 1 ground ball team in the comp so it suits putting it out in a scrubby way to the smalls and letting them go to work. Lions MUST NOT let them goalside (like opponents do with Charlie) and punish them the other way.

Yes. We'd like to think that playing against the Giants' on ball brigade would be a good tune up for this. Geelong do it slightly differently tho in that their method of clearing congestion is a little more brutal. It's all about gaining territory out the front, regardless of whether it's with ball in hand, or simply indiscriminate handballs or kicks forward into space. It worked a treat against Port, yet it also has echoes of wet weather footy oddly enough, and with showers on the horizon on Saturday the weather may play into Geelong's hands.

So it will be interesting to see how we prepare for that. Do we instruct our half backs to stay defensive side of stoppage/congestion, to reduce the success of those indiscriminate clearances by Geelong? If we set up like that, Geelong may take advantage of their overload at the source by simply handballing their way through. So then it becomes a question as to whether our midfielders are able to adequately pressure those first couple of disposals.

Do we simply trust our skinny side winger to play this anchor role at the back of the stoppage? If so, it may limit our ability to send someone like Berry to Dangerfield (more on this below).

Or do we bring up a half forward to the contest to offset our instructions to our half backs to not overcommit around the ball in midfield? If we do that, it will open up opportunities for Tom Stewart to get himself free behind the ball and wreak havoc as he did in our 2022 prelim.

I think Plan A needs to be a one on one approach, at least to start, and back ourselves in to win contests. If that fails, Plan B I think would be to hold our half backs a little deeper, anticipating their surge disposals out of congestion, and trust our pressure at the source to disrupt their attempts to chain out using their outnumber.

I don't think we can afford to bring up a half forward to stoppages. To me this would be an absolute last resort, would play into Geelong's hands in allowing Stewart to get loose behind the ball, thus requiring us to try to chain out of congestion by hand, inviting Geelong's pressure which has been excellent overall this season. So this is Plan C for me. In fact it's probably Plan D, with daylight in between.

(It looks like Saturday's forecast has improved since I checked earlier in the week. The showers that were originally forecast for game time are now expected on Friday night and Sunday morning/lunch time.)

With regards to matchups, we simply cannot allow Tom Stewart to run around doing what he likes as we did 2 years ago. So I'm starting Cal Ah Chee on him, in a pretty tight role as he managed on Lachie Whitfield.

Geelong may counter that by starting Stewart in the middle or on a wing. If on a wing, we send Berry to him and make his life as miserable as possible. Stewart will try to drift back into defence, while their 6th "defender" becomes another midfielder. Ideally when this happens we want to try to hand over from Berry to Ah Chee.

Meanwhile I think our Plan A is for Dunkley to go head to head with Dangerfield. But if Stewart starts in the midfield, I'm breaking that matchup, sending Dunkley to him, and Berry comes into the centre square to take Dangerfield. Then when Stewart drifts back into defence, ideally Dunkley changes with Ah Chee, but even if that's not possible in the moment, happy for Dunkley to play as a 6th forward with overhead marking capacity, while our 6th forward (Bailey/Rayner/Ashcroft) drifts up to the midfield.

This means we run the risk of a one paced starting 3 of Berry, Dunkley and Neale. I'm combating this by instructing Oscar to thump the ball forward of the clearance wherever possible, creating opportunities for our half forwards, while also negating the impact of Geelong's. He'll have a height advantage on both Stanley and Neale, so we should get opportunities to do this.

With any other starting 3 I'm happy for Oscar to be a little more judicious with his tap work. Either way the ruck battle will be a huge challenge with Oscar likely to be double teamed, yet it's one we will have to win to be any chance in my opinion. Another reason why I'd be happy for Oscar to belt the ball clear: it reduces the likelihood of repeat stoppages, which may wear Oscar out over the course of the game.

Our guys in total covered 309kms on Saturday, our highest tally this season by quite a margin, so how much do we have left in the tank? Ultimately, I think probably the best, and potentially the only, way to win on Saturday, will be to start exceptionally well, take literally all of our chances, unbalance Geelong, force them to throw all their pre-game planning out the window and resort to a plan b of their own.

Either way we simply cannot afford to let them to run around doing what they want, which is exactly what happened 2 years ago, when we knew what was coming and we let them do it anyway.