Dees vs Tigers Friday Night

[davey_magik]

Won't be as big as the QB but still huge, and I hope it will be a similiar result.

I just watched the tape from when we played them last year, and although we won by 56 points, we were belted in the clearances and hardball gets. At one point the clearances were 18-4 Richmond's favour, yet we were up all game.

I think now we can win our fair share of clearances and only need to break even with the opposition at times since we have arguably the best foot skills in the competition and can finish and hit forwards.

Richmond have improved since then, but so have we and I'm expecting us to win by 20 with Neita kicking 6, though it could be closer and we can't get complacent because I can assure you the Tigers will come out firing.

Post thoughts on matchups, changes and crowd size here.

 

[melbournemartin]

Neitz - Gaspar
Robbo - Kellaway
Yze - Raines
Dunn/Miller/Smith - Patrick Bowden
Pickett - Joel Bowden

The last one is interesting. I'm really not sure what Bowden will do. Maybe put someone like Bruce on him and make him be accountable or put someone like Pickett on him and let Bowden run off, knowing that Pickett's touches will be more damaging.

Have to be careful when Simmonds floats forward and I think Fergy should take Dutchy's spot mainly for the purpose of stopping Simmonds when up forward as Carroll will be busy with Richo. Rivers will also need to help out.

who takes the in form Pettifer? Whelan takes Brown so I'm guessing Ward? Or maybe Wheatley who was apparently BOG for Sandy.

 

[chipper]

just warning you Richmond blokes that you haven't seen how good our younger blokes have come along. Mclean, Bate, Sylvia, Dunn, Bartram etc. Your blokes wouldn't have come across them too much yet. Be concerned, be very concerned! You might want to think about a tag for a few of the abovementioned before worrying about Trav and how he'll go

 

[davey_magik]

my melbourne friends how r we all, the clearances will still be in our favour with young foley starting to come along.
just warning u blokes trav johnstone will not get a kick friday night, kane johnson will shut him down too easily, fantastic player when hes up and running but dont think he can shake a good tag. good luck fellas

Mate Kane Johnson has played one good game as a tagger.
With McLean, Bruce, McDonald and Sylvia in the side, I'll be pretty confident we can win our fair share of the clearances.
They will struggle to match up Davey or Yze because Newman is out. We can match up their forwardline, with Richo and Brown obviously the main worries. Mark my words Brown will be out to kill us (On the scoreboard that is) as he would think he has a point to prove, but I'm confident the Wrecker can break even with him.

 

[lanky_wes]

my melbourne friends how r we all, the clearances will still be in our favour with young foley starting to come along.
just warning u blokes trav johnstone will not get a kick friday night, kane johnson will shut him down too easily, fantastic player when hes up and running but dont think he can shake a good tag. good luck fellas

obviously didnt watch the game on saturday night? jono was statless after the first quarter because of close checking but still ended the game with 20 touches. has played on tougher opponents than johnson and been able to give them the slip.
we should be much better in the clearences this year with brockers and jmac in the middle. our midfield should be far superior to theirs (especially with cogs out) and players like pickett, davey and whelan pushing up into the centre. i would leave holland in the team to play on stafford/simmonds. carroll to play on richo and rivers to play on the third tall and help the others out.
pretty likely gaspar will play on neitz but if our disposal into the forward line is like it was on saturday night it wont matter who plays on him. greens kicks to neitz in the third term were just superb.
i think if we play our physical pressure style football the tigers will head sidewards and play straight into our hands. should be a good game but i think we should wear them down and win comfortably by 30-40 points.

 

[davey_magik]

Also forgot Schulz. He has looked good the past two weeks and the Tigers may try and stretch us. If Richo plays up the ground I'd have Rivers on him straight away because Richo won't really hurt us with his disposal if its outside 50 and Rivers will peel off and do what he usually does.

 

[Bartram_Class]

They'll be on a high after there win over the Port, a real danger game this one.

Carroll needs to forget about Bradshaw, we need him back on form and quickly.

 

[Bartram_Class]

No offence Lids but i think you're overrating your team slightly.

No-one except for Nicoski has really "held" Davey this year, Yze is in almost career best touch and i doubt your midfield will go with ours "easily"

 

[CaptainDavey]

I reckon Wheelie Bin is going to do a massive job on Brown. Nullify Brown and there goes half the attack I reckon. Also White V Simmonds should be a sweet ruck contest, especially around the ground, not just in the center

 

[Stuck21]

Mate Kane Johnson has played one good game as a tagger.

Sorry but that is not correct.

When tagging opponents this year he has:
Kept Chris Judd to 16 possessions
Kept Luke Hodge to 12 possessions
Kept Josh Carr to 12 possessions
Kept Shaun Burgoyne to 3 possessions

 

[banzai]

Neitz - Gaspar
Robbo - Kellaway
Yze - Raines
Dunn/Miller/Smith - Patrick Bowden
Pickett - Joel Bowden

I would be amazed if Joel Bowden went to Pickett. Surely he would go straight to Dunn/Miller/Smith or whoever you guys decide to play at CHF.

 

[melbournemartin]

Why wouldn't Patrick Bowden take our CHF?

but you never know we may play 2 of the mentioned 3 melbourne CHF options but it is unlikely

 

[banzai]

Why wouldn't Patrick Bowden take our CHF?

but you never know we may play 2 of the mentioned 3 melbourne CHF options but it is unlikely

Joel will always go to a tall opponent and surely Gaspar will go to Neitz, also Patrick is not good enough defensively.

 

[Count Chocula]

I don't think Raines will take Yze, IMO he's our only option for Davey who has been unbelievable this season. Neitz almost always kills us when we lose to you guys, it'll be a good game but i think we have to step up again to be competitive to win we'd need to improve 3 or 4 goals on Saturday's win. If we can get up and going early then our forwards may present some real headaches just through their height & weight advantages. But it's a big if.

 

[Lightning In A Bottle]

Fellas! Don't get caught up in tiger fans bull****. We are a much better team than them and when we turn it on its pretty to watch. Real pretty! Tigers lower the standard of the game when they beat teams (see vs adelaide and pt. adelaide) but they'll struggle to control us on the G. I'm not cocky but look at our quality players compared to theirs.

Johnstone, Bruce, Yze, Davey, Robbo, Neitz, McLean, Pickett, Green, White, Whelan. It's just not possible to stop all at once. The Tigs do need to be taken seriously though or we will lose in a scrap game. We will continue on our merry way.

Lightning.

 

[Madtiger2006]

don't worry about last years game at Telstra. Our game plan was rubbish and we congested our own forward line, while you guys had an open forward line. We play miles better at the G. As long as we stick to our game plan we can definately win because we have a strong forward line like Melbourne and a similar midfield and defence. Should be a pretty even match. Don't forget that Brown is back to his best now. Raines could take Davey, but so could Deledio who can definately match him for pace. I can't wait when we outnumber your fans by 3:1 . Our players will have the crowd advantage and it will spur the young exciting Tigers to a 4 goal win.

 

[CaptainDavey]

We have better quality in our team and we're alot more mature. I think maturity will get us over the line, we've been in this position before and we've done well. Big game experience counts for alot, like the QB. It would be deeply upsetting if we don't win this. I think ND will focus on not underestimating Richmond and we're going to have to pay alot of respect on the field. I can see this being a very hard at it game, not very free flowing. We shouldn't be afraid. The Brisbane game wasn't a sign of fading, it was a sign of progression, Melbourne teams of old would not have won that game. We'll do OK on Friday

 

[Drunken Wookie]

this will be a good game, win this and it will go a long way to instilling confidence in our young side against our previous thrashers in wb and sydney. we'll need to force this game to be played on our terms as we've done so effectively before, let melbourne get on top and we're gone.

we can definately win this one with all engines firing.

 

[davey_magik]

There is no doubt the Tigers need a good start because if we get our game going we will win comprehensively. However I have a feeling Wallace may try some basketball-crap again and really make it slow, but we're disciplined enough to man them up and stop it. Plus I think our tackling and pressure on them will really help.
Their supporters are overrating their side a bit though. Match us in the midfield? We have the 3rd best midfield in the competition.
Remember though Dees, we have to be switched on because the Tigers are a confidence side.
Having said all that, I think we'll win by 30 after pulling away in the second half. If we play like we did in the QB (Our last big game) we won't have many problems.

 

[CaptainDavey]

Me thinks the Tigers might be too inexperienced and have no big-game experience

 

[lucas_hsv]

no big-game experience

We have played infront of big crowds this year. This is a rough guess, but im positive the games Vs Collingwood, Carlton, Essendon all had 55-65,000 crowds, and yes the only real quality team (most of the year) was Collingwood, and against them we played fantastic. Surely the Dee's havn't played infront of many more big crowds than us this year.

 

[boppa]

We have played infront of big crowds this year. This is a rough guess, but im positive the games Vs Collingwood, Carlton, Essendon all had 55-65,000 crowds, and yes the only real quality team (most of the year) was Collingwood, and against them we played fantastic. Surely the Dee's havn't played infront of many more big crowds than us this year.

Watch all the tigers fans come out of the woodwork on friday night. Should be a big crowd although, i feel that the tigers may get a bit of a lesson just like round 10 last year

 

[lucas_hsv]

What do you mean come out of the woodwork? I don't have stats, but I'd be confident in betting our crowd averages for home games would be pretty high this year, more so than melbournes. Happy for you to proove me wrong though, will eat humble pie.

 

[CowboyFromHell]

wat all of the tiger faithful are saying is ur midfield is good and all class and we give ours the credit it deserves which is, it can match ur midfield.
tiges by 14

You are joking aren't you?

Name the midfielders of yours who can go with:

Bruce, TJ, Green, McLean, Pickett, McDonald, Yze etc. Name them.

Off the top of my head I can think of Johnson and Tuck. Who else? Brown plays mainly up forward. Foley? Polo? Deledio?

No chance. Our midfield owns yours. Only way you will win is if Wallace resorts to his rubbish game plan (and, again, makes a game horrible to watch), but even then we have shown we are more than capable of beating that game plan.

Dees by 6 goals.

 

[Madtiger2006]

I don't think we are overrating our side. Our forward line is definately very good. Richo and Brown are stars and are ready to fire. Pettifer has become a very good player and Schultz obviously has talent and loves playing at FF. He deserves a good run with injuries and he will have a good career. Hyde has become one of most exciting players to watch over the last 2 years and Krakouer is an opportunist. Our defence is solid. Our midfield is missing Coughlan and Newman. But our youngsters in the middle are loving the opportunity. It all will come down to the team with the best game plan and the team that goes in the hardest. The only reason why we were beaten by 9 goals last year was because we had a poor forward set up all night, while Melbourne players lead from the goalsquare with an open forward line. The difference was not talent, it was structure. Our own players congested our forward line, allowing Melbourne to defend and rebound. While Melbourne had the forward 50m open and easy for the forwards to lead. Hopefully Wallace will sit Schultz and Pettifer in the goal square and have the forward 50m arc open